Pack Secrets || WLW

Tell Me No

 I don't say goodbye to June. I just turn and walk away from the man in front of me as fast as I can. The man who looks so familiar and so different at the same time. Older yet still the same in his jacket, Levi's, and work boots. Portions of his mustache are gray along with his hair but it's still mostly brown and kept short enough to be kept out of his face but not too short.

"Sawyer, wait!" he shouts after me but I don't stop. Not even when I hit the road and realize June drove me here. I keep walking past the officer who's directing people where to search and continue down the long highway, glad I have a flashlight. The highway doesn't have as many streetlights as the town. I can only see what my flashlight illuminates unless a car speeds past, providing a brief glimpse of the forest on my right and the rest of the two lane road on my left. I don't know how long it's going to take to get back to my hotel room but I don't care. I'm more focused on June back in the forest with my dad.

I can only imagine how awkward it must be. A shiver runs down my spine. I can't stop replaying my dad's voice in my head. He sounded so... Broken. He's sounded like that since my mom left him. Left us. He sounds like that until he drinks too much. There's no sadness left in his voice once he's past three whiskeys.

I pull my phone out and scroll through my contact list. I don't know anyone out here who will come over and distract me for a while. I'm on my own tonight, I think as I shove my phone back into my pocket. My hands ball into fists on their own. I never should have come back to this stupid town. I should have known my alcoholic father would find me in a town with a population smaller than my graduating class in the city. I've been here for days and I'm nowhere near finding Angela. Every morning when my feet hit the floor I'm reminded Angela's even more likely to be murdered.

A pair of headlights illuminates the highway from over my shoulder and I move to the side instinctively but the headlights follow me and soon, I'm completely backlit. The vehicle is recognizable when I turn around. It's June's truck and she's sliding out of the driver's side.

"Sawyer, hey!" she shouts over the cars whizzing by. "Get in my car! This isn't safe!"

Instinctively, I want to tell her I don't care but instead I let out the breath I've been clenching in my chest and backtrack to her truck.

Once we're in the warmth of her truck, I relax, sinking lower in the seat. "Did he say anything to you?" I ask.

She shakes her head but it's too fast, too quiet. Instead of looking at me, she pulls onto the highway.

I let out a single laugh. "You're a shitty liar."

Her lips pull into a smile. "He asked me to talk to you."

I roll my eyes. "About what?"

"He wants to apologize," she explains. "Says he's different now."

"Mhm." I cross my arms over my chest. "I've heard that before."

June dares a glance my direction. "Why do you hate him so much?" She almost flinches when I look at her. "You don't have to answer. I just... I just want to know you."

"No one in this town knows me, June." I say the words before I realize that no one knows me at all. Not here, not back home. "No one knows anything about me besides Angela and now she's..."

June's voice is light, all feathers and sugar. "I'd be honored to be one of the only people lucky enough to know you."

I can't help the goofy smile that spreads on my face. I shove her shoulder playfully. "You're such a dork."

She laughs and with a voice hardly above a whisper she says, "You like it." Her jaw clenches. Her hands are tight around the steering wheel as she refuses to look at me, like she's afraid of my response.