cruel summer | ray hall [panic]

chapter 26

chapter 26 - TRUST

☀︎☀︎

After the argument with her mom, Grace let herself wallow for a day. She sat in her sadness about a summer wasted playing a game that she didn't win.

The next day though, she made herself get up and out of bed. It was a new day and she found herself met with some new, surprising information.

The girl got a text from Heather. She'd been talking with Anne, the woman whose farm she'd been working on to earn money when Dodge came over to help with the horses. They had been talking about Dodge and his sister Dayna and Anne confessed that she wasn't hurt in the hurricane but rather in a hit-and-run. Natalie's suspicion proved right and Anne said the person that did it, the person that the Sheriff believed did it at least, was Luke Hall.

Grace was familiar with Luke in the way that all of the Carp residents knew about him. If Ray had a reputation, Luke had a worse one. Known for constantly causing trouble, more often than not trouble that landed him in jail.

The girl stored the information in the back of her mind, not feeling that it was immediately important. Natalie was going to talk to Dodge and the two of them could figure it out together.

Instead, she texted Ray, asking if she could come over. She wanted someone to talk to, about her challenge and everything else going on. And she needed someone who would just get her.

As soon as he texted back saying he was free, she hopped on her bike and began pedaling over to Ray's house. 

Grace truly loved her bike. As much as she hated the inconvenience sometimes, she loved being able to smell the fresh air as she rode, feel the sun on her skin and the wind in her hair. Her mom taught her to ride when she was young, no older than eight years old, but it came so naturally to the girl. When she was riding her bike, she didn't miss being able to drive a car, because in Carp, it wasn't a pain to not have one. And she loved her bike. So her anxieties and fears about driving were always pushed to the back of her mind when she rode.

When Grace arrived at Ray's, she parked her bike along the side of the front porch. She called out for Ray, assuming he'd be close and awaiting her arrival, but there was no answer. So she made her way to the door, knocking just hard enough to be sure she was heard. She rocked back and forth between her toes and the balls of her feet, waiting patiently.

"Ray!" she called again, still with no response. He knew she was coming, so Grace figured he couldn't be far, either just deep inside the house or somewhere on the large property.

Grace could see inside the entrance of the house through the glass of the outer front door, the inner wooden one being open wide. It was inviting, or as inviting as the Hall house could be, and when Grace checked the handle, the door was unlocked. She opened it and stepped over the threshold.