Phoenix

Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

I rolled over on my soft bed and slapped at the clock.

"Shut up," I told it.

King pressed against my legs. The dog was sprawled unabashedly across the majority of my queen sized bed, leaving me a tiny space to curl up in.

"Get down," I commanded.

King put his tan paws over his black pointy ears and wagged his stubby tail. But he didn't move his gigantic body.

I unfolded myself from the bed.

It was so early. And it seemed even earlier in the cold dark. I wished I could die, but I was going to do my best to get better and be less of a burden for my mother.

I walked past Mom's sewing room on my way to kitchen. There was light under the door. She'd probably been up all night. I wished I hadn't told her about Lexia.

I wished I hadn't seen Lexia. Especially not as an elven ranger.

That particular bit, I would keep to myself. I wasn't about to admit I was seeing the ghost of my dead sister as an elf. I could already see all of my Magic cards going up in flames in the fireplace.

I found a pan and turned on the stove. Then I took eggs out of the fridge and cracked them into melted butter. I peeked down the hall to the sewing room to see if Mom was coming. She wasn't. I grabbed the carton of orange juice and gulped straight from the container.

"Cups, Phoenix," Mom called from her sewing room.

How did she know?

The eggs sizzled in the pan. I sprinkled them with salt and pepper and put a lid on them.

The phone in the front pocket of my hoodie buzzed. I pulled it out and flipped it open.

"You coming or what?" Pete asked. "Jake won't wait forever."

"I'm coming, just a sec," I said. I threw my backpack over my shoulder and grabbed my basketball duffel bag. I scraped the eggs onto bread and shoved them into my mouth in one bite. They weren't quite done, and they were hot. I choked them down, gagging on the yolk a little bit.

"Bye Mom!" I yelled, slamming the door behind me.

My breath curled in wisps above my head. I hurried to the car and jumped in the back seat.

"Where's your coat?" Jake asked, looking over his shoulder from the driver's seat.

"I don't know," I said. Jake turned back around and turned the music up. Deep bass thumped through my bones. Jake accelerated around the bend in the driveway, almost fishtailing the back end of the car into the rock retaining wall.

"Holy crap!" I yelled, "Learn to drive!"

"Yes mother," Jake replied. Eremil looked at me, shrugging his shoulders.

I buckled my seatbelt.

Jake rocketed down 8th Street's slick hill, skidding through instead of stopping when we came to the stop sign on Kentucky. We flew sideways across the intersection.

He's going to kill us, I thought. My fingers hovered above the seatbelt release. Maybe Jake's driving could succeed where the fire had failed. If I let it. I left the seat belt buckled.

I tried to make myself stop thinking about how much better everything would be if I was gone. I closed my eyes.

The Darkness is in your mind, Lexia's voice whispered in my head. I saw her as an elf in my daydreams, dressed in leathers, ready for adventures. I saw her scratch Princess's white blazed nose with her slim white fingers. It almost felt like I was there with her.