***
Our house was twenty minutes outside the city limits of Salem. As we got closer the tension in my body gave way. I went a second, then another, without bracing for aftershock of my headache or a haunting whispering.
Just before Kara turned on our road I glanced over the treetops. In the distance, I thought I saw the top of a castle. It was a brown brick with wide oval corners that broke out from the house.
“One day I will build you a castle, too. All our own.” Those words swam through my thoughts. The voice was deep, velvet, and sensual, pure perfection.
The jade eyes that now had a name behind them, surfaced in my mind, painlessly. I didn’t push past this victory seeking another. One second at a time. I was letting it all come to me at its own pace.
There aren’t very many houses on our winding road. Most of them are close to a mile apart and just as far off the road. I could always recognize our driveway because halfway down, there was a covered bridge. A small stream that ran beneath it, vines surrounded it.
Past that point, there was a row of trees hiding the brick house I was born in. From the outside, our house only looked like it was a large three-story home. Inside, there were five levels. The floor plan was stacked, the bottom floor opened to two levels, one to the right and the other to the left. Above them was another large level that led to the top level, which was just an open room. It sounds bigger than it is.
It didn’t look much different as we pulled up to the house that had been in Kara’s care since we moved to the city for mom’s work.
Kara followed the driveway around to the back of the house, where the garage was. As we turned the corner, I saw my mother leaning against the side of our house. Kara stopped and put the car in park.
“You’re leaving your car here? What’s wrong with the garage?” I asked, pulling my seat belt off.
“A little crowded,” she said, pulling her keys loose.
I cringed, imagining a summer of organizing this house. Kara wasn’t messy in a bad way. She was just creatively distracted.
I hesitated as I stepped out of the car. I could still hear the whispers, but they were so quiet they almost sounded like the wind blowing. A smile came across my face. I was really starting to like being at home.
My mom held her hands behind her back and walked over to me. “I have something for you.”
I was hoping it was my phone. If it wasn’t that, I was prepared to plead for a trade. She pulled her hands from behind her back and handed me a small black box with a red bow on top of it. I knew it wasn’t my phone, but I smiled anyway, thinking that if I was grateful for this I could talk my way into getting my phone back.
I wanted my music back, but I also wanted to break into my case and read that note again. The night I found it was more so a blur, today, seeing Draven, having those flashes in my mind—I need to feel something real in my hands, a proof that fragile mind could not change.
“You didn’t have to get me anything.”
I opened the box. Inside, lying on a silk pillow was a set a keys. My eyes widened. I tried to say something—to at least ask what they went to, but I was speechless.
“Do you want to see what it goes to?” Mom asked.
“Oh my God yes!” I said, reaching up to hug her.
She squeezed me tight and then pulled me around to the garage. Inside, I saw a brand new dark blue Volkswagen bug with a huge red bow on top of it.
“I can’t believe this! You got me a car! I—I just don’t know what to say.” This was not my mom’s gig when I was walking the straight and narrow path. And most definitely not something I’d expect after her coming home and finding me drugged.
“’Thank you, ‘Can I take it for a drive’ that’s a good start,” Kara said, laughing at me.
“There’s a gas card in the console, and the insurance card is in the glove box. This is all yours. Happy graduation,” Mom said, pulling me to her so she could hug me again.
“Thanks, Mom,” I whispered in her ear.
“Go ahead, take it for a drive. There’s GPS if you get confused. I know you haven’t even driven out here before.”
“Yeah, but it can’t be any harder than learning to drive in the city. I’ll wait to take it out. I know you have to leave soon, Mom,” I said, running my hands across the body of the car and tasting my first flavor of freedom.
“No, take it out. I’ll be here when you get back,” Mom said, opening the door and taking the big ribbon off.
I slid into the driver’s seat and let my hands run across the wheel as I breathed in the new car aroma around me. I reached for my seat belt before putting the key in to turn the car on. I’d never had anything brand new before. I sorta liked the vintage vibe in what I called my own, but this—I don’t know, it was just unexpected enough to make me fall in love with it.
I gripped the distraction of it like it was my favorite vice.
“Wait,” I heard Kara say.
I looked through the windshield to see her walking around the side of the house. I thought for a second she was going to come with me, but when she came back around the house, she was carrying my purse. She handed it to me through the open window.
“You need your license.”
“Anything else?” I asked, daring to hope that they’d hand me my phone next.
“Drive safe.”
I took in a deep breath as I turned the key. The driveway circled our house, so I turned the opposite way from where Kara’s car was parked. As I crept down the driveway, I fumbled with the radio, trying to find a station to listen to. All I heard was commercials, so I turned the volume loud enough to cover any distraction that the whispers could possibly bring.
When I reached the road, I turned back the way we’d come before. Madison’s house was almost directly across the street from ours. I could see a ton of cars parked down her driveway. She graduated today too. I decided to wait to see her. I needed to scope out how much damage my stunt caused her before I walked in her house all smiley and such.
I weaved through the long roads around for almost forty-five minutes. The sun that had shined all day began to fade as gray storm clouds covered its glare. I held my breath and reached for the radio. As I turned it up, the station lost its signal. Panic came over me as I stared forward at the shadowed road. I heard the hiss of whispers over the radio that was tuning itself in and out.
Of course, cue the anxieties...
The shadows across the road began to change form then before I knew it they looked like large dark figures reaching for me. In my panic, I drove faster. The shadows took over the entire road. I lost sight of where I was going. Knowing the road had sharp curves I slammed on the brakes afraid I was racing toward a tree. As the car started to spin, I squeezed my eyes closed and once the car had stopped, I sat frozen. I could hear the angry hisses and feel my car gently rocking. I started to hum. At first it was just noise, but then I managed to mimic one of my father’s tunes. A few seconds later, it was silent. In that instant, I heard someone honk.
I slowly opened my eyes, trying to catch my breath as my heart raced in my chest. I saw a minivan in my rearview mirror. I was at a four-way stop, and I had no idea how I got there. The van honked again, urging me to go. My trembling hands gripped the steering wheel as I pulled to the side of the road to let the van pass. All at once, the station found its signal. The loud, abrupt sound made me jump, but I didn’t bother to turn it down. I wasn’t taking any chances when it came to hearing this darkness.
I fumbled with the GPS and pressed ‘Home.’ Nothing happened. I then pressed every single button I could manage to hit. A warning box flashed on the screen, saying ‘No signal.’ Frustrated, I threw it in the seat then looked up. Two of the paths were dark, covered by the shadows of the hills. One had the aging sun brightly showing its path.
I chose that one, obviously.
As I drove down the road, I passed countless streets. None of them looked familiar. I was completely lost. Righ
t when I was about to freak, I heard the GPS beep, then say “Enter address.”
I decided to turn into the next driveway I saw and figure out where I was. I slowed down. All at once the whispers erupted into a violent hiss above the blaring radio. It sounded like millions of swarming insects trying to say my name. It felt like my head was going to burst in two—the sound was unbearable.
I turned into the next driveway. Twenty feet into the driveway, I slammed the car in park. At that instant, I realized they were gone. I slowly reached to turn down the radio, knowing that at any moment I should hear them again.
My heart pounded as I chased the darkness....
The radio was completely off, and I still couldn’t hear them. I held my breath, thinking that I was somehow covering the sound, but it wasn’t there. It was completely silent. A weight slowly fell from my shoulders. I’d never once heard…silence. The sound of a chirping bird made me jump. Once I realized what it was a smile spread across my face. I looked behind me, wondering how the sound could go from being so violent to absent.
I pulled slowly forward in the driveway, trying to find a place to turn around. I had to follow it uphill to where I thought it opened in the distance. Once the trees passed, I saw the brown brick castle-looking house I’d seen over the treetops earlier. My ears started to burn. Soul-seizing adrenaline rushed through me. Of all the freaking houses, I picked this one. I tried to think of what I’d do if that Hummer was here, if Draven or his dad happened to be outside. Nothing I could come up with made any sense. I was humiliated.
Even though I could see the house, it was still far enough away that I could sneak out of here. I didn’t see the Hummer, but I could see the top of a silver car. I decided just to carefully turn around in the straight driveway. I had to turn and back up three times before I managed to turn completely around.
I looked in my rearview mirror to see if anyone had seen me or was outside. I froze when I saw my mom and Evan. He was putting something in the trunk of her silver car. They weren’t looking at me. I was sure they hadn’t seen me. They were acting too casual toward each other. Evan hugged my mom and opened her car door for her to get in.
I panicked and took off. I looked back to see if they’d heard me, but they gave me no signs that they did. Not thinking, I turned right out of the driveway which meant I was going in the same direction as before. I reached for the GPS to hit ‘Home,’ knowing I’d lose my signal any minute. The whispers slowly started to come back. I hummed to myself as I read the directions that pretty much said turn around you idiot.
I threw the GPS down in the seat and turned the radio up. The whispers vanished behind the song. Inside, I was falling apart. I knew they’d never go away, but on the outside, I was chill enough. Once I turned around at the stop sign to head back in the direction of the castle, I prepared myself for just about anything.
I sat up in my seat. I had this fear that my mom would pull out as I passed and that I’d be in the awkward position of asking her what she was doing there. I glanced up the driveway as I passed by, but I didn’t see anyone coming down it. I relaxed into the seat. A mile later, though, my heart found another reason to race: I was sure I saw the dark gray Hummer coming from the other way. I held my relaxed composure, even though every muscle tensed in my body.
At that moment, the whispers began to grow louder. They sounded like a violent thunder. I couldn’t understand the words they were saying across each other. All I knew was that my name was laced within their cries. I started to hum casually to myself as I watched the gray Hummer come closer, and closer.
Draven was driving and in the passenger seat was his twin Aden. They had the windows down and the sunroof open. I could hear the sound of screaming guitars long before I reached them. I stopped humming and focused on the guitars. At that instant, the whispers vanished. As I passed them, Draven happened to look down at my car. A sexy grin lingered on his lips. When I looked in my side mirror, I caught his eyes looking back at me through his mirror. I literally stopped breathing for a second then looked forward and gripped the steering wheel.
He had to be a good guy, right? If I put the breaks on Britain and this guy enflamed my soul then yeah. My issue? Nothing inside of me agreed.
I kept replaying the sound of those guitars in my mind as I drove the last few miles home. When I reached my house, I saw that my mom’s car was back. As I pulled my car in the garage, I breathed out and tried to look calm and unbothered as I got out of the car.
I wasn’t going to let my crazy destroy my first freedom ride. As far as Kara and Mom would know, I just had the time of my life.