"Jordan!" I cried, rushing forwards to give her a hug. I was holding on to her for what felt like dear life when she let out a sound that was similar to a goat's bleat.
I pulled away and gawked at her. "Was that you?"
"Uh," she looked as if she might puke, "The fire's spreading quickly, we better get moving."
I looked at the flames steadily roasting the door. Flashing her a look saying, "I'm not going to let this go." I opened the door and looked over to tell Jordan to hurry up and saw that she was practically having a seizure.
"Jordan," I said. "I know you probably think it was stupid to set the house on fire, but I can explain."
She pointed to the door with a shaking finger. I turned my attention to the door. Where there was a vague outline of some bat-hag thing that was as ugly as anything in this terrifying world could get. So, I'm guessing that the surprised face was really a terrified face.
"Get in! Now," I screamed at her. She blinked herself out of her haze then ran and got in the car. I ducked down into the driver's seat, turned on the engine, and reversed down the driveway.
"Since when can you drive?" Jordan asked. I looked over at her and saw her gripping the seat as if the gravity had been turned off. I couldn't contain my giddiness. I was almost doubled over with a fit of hysterical giggles.
"Stop laughing! You might kill us! Lilly? Lilly! Are you even listening to me?"
I looked over at her with the best blank stare I could make. "What?"
She slapped my arm. "I'm not kidding!"
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm just glad I'm leaving."
"It's fine. But we need to pick someone up before we get too far out of town."
"What? We need to get as far as we can, well, at least I do. We don't have time!"
"Yes, we do. Now go to 1512 Roundwood Road," she said calmly. Even though It was my life that was in danger, I could hear that she was completely serious and I know she wouldn't put my life too far out on the line.
"Fine," I whined, letting my head roll to the side where I could see her then quickly looked back at the road.
"What happened to your face," she shrieked.
I swallowed my hopes of keeping my injuries away from her watchful eyes. "I tripped and fell down the stairs."
"Seriously?"
I nodded. Technically it wasn't a lie, I really did jump then fall down the stairs.
"Idiot."
We drove the rest of the way with the song "Mine" by Taylor Swift blasting our ears off with the combined voices provided by me and Jordan.
"There," Jordan shouted over the music.
I turned the radio down and looked at the house. "That's the place?"
"Yep."
"So, who am I looking for?" I asked.
"A guy named Will." Great. A boy. Just what we need to make this trip easier.
I opened the car door and started walking up the pathway that led to the front door that was a deep red. The exterior walls were bricks painted tan with a rustic overhang that was above the front door. The house itself looked well-built, but it had no landscape at all as if they had just moved in.
I tore my eyes off the house and rang the doorbell. I was disappointed when someone actually opened the door.
A girl who looked to be fifteen or sixteen stood in the open doorway. She had bleached blonde hair that faded into red, reaching to the lowest part of her back. When I focused on her face I realized that she looked exactly like Kylee. She was the one who would try to make me fight her and call me a wimp when I would say no. But she left for high school before I could do anything too stupid.
"You," I snarled, marching towards her. She seemed different, but at this point I didn't care. I pulled my arm back, aiming for the bridge of her nose so I could get a clean break.
"Hold it, kid."
"Hold it?" I questioned. "All you ever wanted me to do was fight you and the one time I try to, you stop me?"
"I am not Kylee."
I raised my eyebrows. "You're not Kylee?"
"No."
"Then why do you look exactly like her?"
"It's a long story that I don't care to tell you." She said the last part in a way that sent me the message that the topic was being closed. "Anyways, what do you want?"
"I'm looking for someone. I was told that they were here." I didn't know who it was, so I was trying to pretend to be mysterious and act like I was some super cool spy person sent from the CIA.
"Probably won't find them here. The only person that lives here is a good-for-nothing pig who only knows how to make a huge pile of dirty dishes," she replied with a disgusted look on her face. I was resisting the urge to gag.
"'Good-for-nothing pig'?"
She nodded her head.
"Sounds like a boy. That's who I'm looking for, a boy." Good. I sounded super smooth and all secret agent-y. Not.
"Okay, well, if you want to take death head over there you can, but you'll have to do something for me in return. Just to balance things out."
"Balance things out? Okay, but make it quick and let me see who it is first."
"I want you to clean the dishes that the boy didn't clean himself."
"Deal. I'll be on it as soon as I see that I'm getting the right pig," I countered while sticking my hand out to seal it because that's what they do in the movies. I could tell by her facial expressions that she wanted me, the boy, and the dishes out of her sight as soon as possible.
She looked at my hand with the same look on her face then muttered something that sounded like, "Sea spawn. Athena was right, they do think they're equal to us."
The statement confused me, but I quickly pulled my hand back to my side.
Maybe I accidentally offended her when I tried to punch her. She probably calls everyone she doesn't like sea spawn.
I followed her into the house that opened up into a nice-sized living room. On the wall across from me there was a normal sized tv with a football game playing on the screen. I could see from here that the score was 7 to 0 at the end of the first quarter.
I took a step closer and looked over the top of the couch to catch a glimpse of the mystery date Jordan and I would be dragging along with us. When I looked over the edge I saw him again. And he lost his shirt. I don't me to sound weird but I couldn't help but notice he had great abs. Yes, I mean great. He practically had an eight pack, but they weren't so defined that they looked fake.
"Why are staring at me?" He asked.
"I wasn't staring at you." As if he was going to believe that. "I was waiting for you to go look for the shirt you've seemed to have lost while I do the dishes. We'll leave after that."
"We're leaving already?"
"No, I came just to see you."
"Really?" He rolled his eyes at my sarcastic answer.
"Just get your shirt so we can leave."
I turned around to face whatever-her-name was. "Lead the way."
She went through the door to my left that led into a kitchen that had a good balance of light and dark colors. I looked around the room and found the sink, well, at least the general area because all I could see was a mound of dishes waiting to be cleaned.
I looked at her concerned. "Isn't that a health hazard or something."
She just ignored me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After almost flooding the entire kitchen and giving myself another what I think is a ruptured appendix, I finished. I brushed the sweat off my forehead and told her I was done.
"That's nice, honey. You and death head can leave now," she said as she was reading a book that was about medieval torturing methods. How encouraging.
"You made me wash a pile of dishes almost as tall as Mt. Everest and all you say is, 'That's nice, honey'? I should be far from here! I literally risked my life to wash those dishes."
"Are you going to leave or not? Because I am eager to try some of these techniques," she said nonchalantly.
"I'll leave, but don't think I'm ever going to do you any more favors."
"Careful, you don't want me as an enemy."
"I'm sure," I replied somewhat sarcastically.
"I know you know I'm right."
"I just need to get out of here."
She gestured for me to go past her into the living room. When I walked into the living room I saw Will standing next to the door waiting for me.
"Let's go to the car now," I told him.
"And thank you for finding your shirt. It's good to know that you know what that is," I added.
"That's the only time you've seen me without it and your acting like it might burn your eyes," he complained.
"Just go to the car."
He rolled his eyes, earning second place in the world's biggest eye roll. I'm in first, obviously.
Will opened the door then stepped aside to let me pass. "Ladies first."
I scoffed, "No, thank you."
"What? I'm trying to make up for that whole shirt thing," A part of me started to get soft and for a split second I considered letting him be a gentleman.
"I have to keep an eye on you."
Even though he didn't look very happy about it he walked out the door.
As we were walking down the driveway he slowed down so we would be walking side by side.
"Who's driving?" He asked.
I wonder how he'll react when he figures out that I would be the one doing the driving.
"You'll see," I teased with a smile looking up at him.
"Seriously? You're really not going to tell me?" He said, sounding a little irritated.
"Seriously." I know it's mean to annoy people on purpose but he looked hilarious. His eyebrows were pulled together and his jaw was tensed. I don't know why I found it funny. It was probably because it reminded of a child arguing with their parent about something and they know they're right. Except they have to shut up otherwise they get something taken away.
I let a small laugh escape. As soon as it came out I covered my mouth with my hand. I was supposed to look like some hardcore person that shouldn't be messed with, not some silly little girl.
I looked out of the corner of my eye at Will to see if he heard the little slip-up.
"So where are we going?" He asked. I'm guessing the awkward silence was getting to him.
"I don't know," I admitted, but made it sound like I wasn't really worried about it.
"You don't know?" He sneered. I can understand why he was a little frustrated at me for not knowing where to go, but it's not like he had motherly monsters trailing after him.
"Nope."
"Oh my gods," he muttered.
"Gods? Isn't there only one?" I've never really been one religion or another because of my living situation but I'd always thought there was only one God.
"Never mind that. Just think of an idea of where to go that isn't your house," he answered quickly as if it was forbidden to answer any questions about religion.
"No problem." There was no way in hell I would go back there willingly.
"Anybody in their right mind would immediately want to go home," he stated as if everybody had a perfect home life.
"It's not a problem because I don't have a home."
"Why don't you have a home?" How many questions does he have? Maybe I should just start answering with "Because."
"We need to walk faster. We've already been here too long."
He nodded in agreement and looked at me expectantly. Then I remembered he didn't know I was driving.
I looked through the window to make sure he would be sitting in the back. But, with my amazingly bad luck, Jordan had moved into the back seat. She knew I wouldn't want to sit next to a male specimen. The ones I have met have all been smelly, had no personal hygiene what-so-ever, and were rude. I don't know if he was any of these and I didn't care to find out.
She saw me looking in the car and gave me a double thumbs up along with a huge, amused smile.
I rolled my eyes and pressed my lips together.
I turned back to Will who was still standing there waiting for a response.
"You got shotgun," I congratulated him, forcing a small smile that was way too fake for comfort.
"Who's driving?" He repeated from earlier.
I answered his question by climbing into the driver's seat.
When Will leaned into the car I looked over at him. "I am."
"No," he said shaking his head, "You can't drive. It's illegal and not to mention you haven't had any actual lessons. You're like-"
"Twelve," I filled in for him.
"And I'm supposed to believe that you can drive us without crashing?" He practically yelled.
"That would be nice of you did."
I turned the engine on then glared at him until he buckled his seatbelt. I turned the car around then turned back on to the main road.
"Do you have any kind of license?" He sounded like Jordan did when she found out I could drive.
I handed him the fake I.D. Alex had made me a year ago just in case I got in trouble on the road.
"Penelope Hondros, 16 years old. Isn't your name Lillian?" He said accusingly.
"Lilly," I growled. I pushed the pedal down as we got on the highway.
Looking up, I noticed that the sun was setting in the sky. "We won't be able to drive for much longer. We can pull over at a motel or something."
"You ignored my question about your home. Why?"
My hands tightened around the steering wheel and all my feelings, thoughts, and movements retreated.
"Will," Jordan said softly, "I would shut up if I were you."
"It's okay, Jordan," I reassured her. "And Will, I would shut up if I were you."
I cracked a smile at Jordan who grinned back.
However, I did have a house, but I burned it. So, obviously I don't have anywhere to go back to even if I wanted to."
"So... when are we going to stop for the night?" Jordan asked in an attempt to break the awkward silence.
"We'll pull over somewhere at the next exit."
"Thank gods, I can't wait to take a shower," Jordan sighed.
~~~~~~~~~~
Again thank you for reading! I hope your enjoying the book so far and please comment feedback so I can make the story better! Please be patient with me as the story picks up pace in the next few chapters. I know it's a little slow and uneventful but believe me it gets better. I know that sounds cocky but I'm writing the book that I would want to read myself.
Don't forget to vote!!!
Love you bb's❤️
-Ava