Ch. 07: Lost in the Storm (Pt. Two)
I felt like I had been run over by a tractor-trailer, washed off of the road, and stretched by a steam-roller.
The cold, winter air was like a bitter knife. It cut into me from every direction. A violent torrent of snow flurries came down all around my face, the cloud of white so thick that I could barely see the hand that desperately pushed branches out of the way in front of me. Was I lost? Not exactly. Terrified, yes, but not lost. I was somewhere near the road, down by my old school. I could hear the whistle of cars as they whizzed by. I had to be careful not to –
Just then, an ear-splitting honk of a horn tore me out of my silent reverie. Heart pounding in my ears, tearing at my chest like some kind of pick-ax, I raced back in the direction that I had come from. The car went by and I landed in a snow drift, unharmed. The fall had caused some of the snow to leak into my clothes and now I was soaked to the bone. Unable to suppress a shiver, I took a deep breath, and started back toward the unknown.
Soon, the terror turned to cold. The tears that leaked from my eyes froze on my frost-kissed cheeks. My body started to stiffen and all at once I realized just how dire my situation was. Now closer to the road than I had initially believed, I knew that I wasn’t by the school. That meant that I was lost. I was lost in the middle of a North Dakota winter, soaked to the bone, and would die of hypothermia before the storm let up. This was just my luck.
And yet, I knew if I had to do it over, I would. Even if I didn’t love Eddie, I still felt something for him. Something still stirred in me when I looked at him, as much as it pained me to admit it. We had only known each other for a few days, but it felt like more than that. In fact, on the day that I first met him, I could’ve sworn that I had seen him before. He looked so familiar, but at the same time, he was as mysterious as ever.
--
Claudia raced down the halls as if she were on fire, her smile more radiant than a 100-watt bulb. “Amor, I think that I have finally met ‘him’.” Claudia cheered. I smiled, thankful to see her so excited after her break-up with Darren.
“Oh, really?” I could barely hide the note of honest interest in my tone. As much as I hated to think it, I would love to meet the man who could survive a ‘love-attack’ from Claudia. Her hugs were brutal. “What’s his name?”
“Edward. Edward Matheson. But he likes to be called Eddie for short.” Claudia told me proudly. “You remember that exchange program for the seniors?” I nodded. “He switched with my brother for a semester.”
I couldn’t help but flinch. I was both impressed and fearful for the poor boy’s life. “That’s wonderful news, Claudia! Where is he? I can’t wait to meet your catch.”
“Oh, he’s over there with a bunch of other senior boys. He doesn’t like to talk about ‘us’ in front of other people.” Claudia said. She tried to play it cool, but I could see her mask as it started to crack.
“You haven’t actually asked him out yet, have you?” Sigh. Eye roll. A frantic nod.
“Please, Amor. You have to help me! You’re so much better at this than I am.”
And like the sucker that I was, I agreed to help her out. I don’t know what compelled me to do it. We were both sophomores, virtually invisible to the big, bad seniors. Please. As if we didn’t realize that they hung out behind the school to smoke, drink, and have meaningless flings that nobody would remember the next morning? A lot of the sophomores (if not some juniors as well) did it too.
But there was something odd about this Eddie Matheson. He seemed to have this aura about him, it drew you in. From his charismatic smile to his overpriced designer jeans, he looked to be more apt to be the captain of the football team then to date someone like Claudia. Silently, I cursed myself. Someone like Claudia. What the hell kind of friend thought a man was too good for her BFF? No, my BFF is too good for your lousy ass.
I meandered over to him and weaseled into the crowd, earning a few looks of disapproval from the senior girls that flocked to him like babies to their mother. I shot them a cursory glance. Their breasts were practically popping out of their low-cut v-necks, which barely covered their stomachs (most had their belly buttons pierced by now), and their skirts showed more skin then I ever needed to see. How did they expect to earn respect like that?
“Eddie, can I talk to you for a second?” I asked softly. Ignoring the brutal stares from the harpy-bitches proved harder than I had expected, and subconsciously, I heard my voice tremble a little bit.
Eddie looked me over curiously. “Do I know you?” He asked slowly.
Blinking a few times to clear my head, I answered, “No. I don’t believe we’ve ever met before.”
“Then what could you possibly want to talk to me about.” Eddie said haughtily. His little inner-circle of girlfriends laughed as if his were the funniest words in the world.
“Ha-ha, very funny. We have loads to talk about, Matheson.” My tone was all business as I crossed my arms over my chest. “It has to do with my friend Claudia. And it’s private. So, if you wouldn’t mind…” I waved at the harpy-bitches.
Eddie nodded in their direction. “Claire, Denise, Katelyn, I’ll see ya’ll at lunch.” They waved to him flirtatiously, before they stalked off to find better meat to sink their claws into. “Now, what’s this about Claudia?”
So, I told him. The entire story. I told him how Claudia had been head-over-heels in love with Darren Hendrickson, who had chosen me. I felt bad about it, sure, but Claudia had moved on well-enough. She was still attracted to him, I could see that. As it turned out, it was easy to kill love, but not attraction. Attraction was a pesky little bugger, kind of like wasps. It can sting you over and over again, leaving you with a painful reminder of what once was.
Eddie ran a hand over his wheat-colored locks, an awkward look on his face. My stomach tightened. I knew what that look meant. I had seen that look on Darren’s face when Claudia had asked him about his decision. Me or Amor? And he had sadly chosen Option B. It was the calm before the storm, the sadness before the inevitable rejection that would cause everyone involved to be a little bit broken in the aftermath.
“Wow. I never knew that she felt that way about me. I’m… sorry to say that I don’t feel the same way.” Eddie just seemed to brush it off like unwanted lint on his letterman jacket.
“Well, at least you were honest about it.” I sighed. I hated myself for not being able to stay mad at him, but I just couldn’t. “Unlike some people…”
“Your boyfriend?” Was it possible to have such an accurate ‘lucky’ guess?
I looked down at the floor. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”
But then, all of a sudden, Eddie’s hand came up beside the side of my face, pinning me to the nearest wall. He smiled at me and it sent my heart into mad palpitations of a hundred beats per minute. “Well… I may not like Claudia…”
I swallowed hard, anticipating the words that would come next. “But?”
“But there is someone else that I’m rather fond of. Her name starts with an ‘A’. She’s headstrong, almost cocky, but loves her friend to death. She’s got a killer body. And she’s in her sophomore year.”
Blinking dumbly, I stared at him blandly. “Who?”
He chuckled. “Let me know when you find out.”
--
I walked on a little ways further. I was almost certain that all of my hard work had led to a total circle around… well, wherever it is that I was. That brick wall looked awfully familiar. If it was, in fact, a brick wall. Slowly, I made my way over to it. Letting a hand slide over the cool surface, I realized that it wasn’t brick, but stone. I was on the ritzy side of town, then. A little further and I would be back on the track to Eddie.
But which way was ‘further’? I had lost all sense of direction, which in itself was kind of scary. My fingers were numbed by the cold, so I sucked them back into my jacket and continued on. All little while down the road, I could make out the faint glow of street lamps from underneath the haze of white. If they were on, that meant that night had fallen. I wondered if this was the first or second time. How long had I been out here? How much longer would I last?
However, there was one pleasant aspect of the street lamps. As the name may suggest, it meant that I was near the road. I only had one chance at this, and it could be the difference between life and death. I could better search for Eddie when I had all my bearings, but right now, I was about to pass out from utter exhaustion and would no doubt die from hypothermia, if frost bite didn’t claim all of my ligaments first.
Sticking out my thumb, I waited for a few seconds for a car to come by. This weather wasn’t exactly conducive to hitch-hiking, I realized, and the cars most likely couldn’t even see me. That, and only a lunatic would be out in this kind of weather anyhow. Why would anyone want a crazy in the car with them? But I kept it out anyway, in silent hope that someone (anyone) would come to my rescue before the inevitable claimed my life.
Just then, the obnoxious screech of tires on wet snow could be heard. My heart pounded in my chest as I walked over and the woman rolled down her window. I could barely see her face. “You lookin’ for a ride, missy?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I told her kindly. She unlocked the door and I slid into the passenger seat.
“Where are you headin’?” She asked. She had a faint southern accent, which affected her words ending in –ing.
“Anywhere is better than standing on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, ma’am.” I told her.
She nodded, smiling a lecherous smile. She made sure to manually lock her doors, even if they did so automatically. “That’s damn-well true, darlin’. That’s the honest truth.”
And if I had been looking closely, I would have noticed the unnatural color of her eyes and the abnormal fire to her already vibrant red hair…