Through Her Shattered Eyes ✔

Chapter 15

It is a miserable morning. The July sky is completely covered with dark and sinister-looking clouds, not a single spot of blue sky to be seen anywhere. It is also beginning to rain. I usually never enjoy rainy days because they always make me feel depressed. In this case, however, it's not like that. As we near the town and exit for Winston-Salem, I suck in my breath. Erika's grandmother's house isn't far now. We're only thirty minutes away from the city, driving past seemingly endless hills of green pastures with cows and sheep in them. Something felt like it was flipping around in my stomach.

The drive up to North Carolina was a very interesting ride for the two of us. Like he promised, Nathan did pick me up at my house early this morning at six o'clock exactly. From there, we took the I-285 ramp to pass Atlanta, then took the exit for I-85 going north toward Greenville. Our objective was to try getting around Atlanta traffic and go on our way with ease. However, that plan didn't work out too well. Turned out everybody and their grandmother had the same idea Nathan and I had in mind. We ended up in standstill traffic for an hour (I kid you not) before being able to get out of it.

Once both of us reached the exit for I-85, it was smooth sailing for about three and half hours. When we entered Fort Mill in South Carolina, the tire on Nathan's cop car blew. So, he pulled up at a nearby gas station to quickly fix it. An hour later, here we are now. I'm glad the nuisances came to pass. I think Nathan is as well. The look on his face from earlier confirmed he was vexed with the couple of setbacks that occurred. But at least we made it in one piece.

The exit for Winston-Salem comes up and Nathan merges onto the lane for the ramp, spinning around in a loop and stopping at a traffic light.

As we wait for the green light, he turns to me and asks, "Where do we need to go from here?"

"Um..." I look down at my phone where I have the address programmed on MapQuest. "...it says to turn left right here."

Once we get the light, Nathan turns and we drive down a straight road, eventually leaving the city behind. I stare at the buildings in the rearview mirror. The way Winston-Salem looks is like a mixture of quaint and modern blended together. It's quite interesting. I understand why Erika's grandmother wanted her to live here instead. It seems nice enough for families to live in.

After driving down the road for some miles and making a couple more turns, we wind up in a really nice residential area. Believe me when I say nice. The majority of the houses look so huge and grand and beautiful. The lawns are very well-kept and very green as were the trees and plants. Some of the residents here have BMWs, Jaguars, and Corvettes. It boggles my mind a little at how these people live. A small part of me is envious.

"Do I continue to stay on this road or do I turn somewhere?" Nathan asks, his voice breaking through my thoughts.

Pay attention, Ali, I tell myself. There's no time to get sidetracked.

I shake my head to get it out of the clouds. I look back down at the list of directions.

"You turn right into another residential neighborhood called Oak Landing," I say.

A half a mile passes, and the sign for Oak Landing is within sight. Nathan makes a left and we enter through the association. This neighborhood is older and isn't as fancy-looking as the previous one but it still looks nice.

Nathan stops and pulls up to a ranch style home, turning off the ignition. The house is pretty. The exterior is painted a dark yellow color, the shingles on the roof are completely black, the columns and the front door are all as white as milk. On the front porch are two black rocking chairs, facing the driveway. Small, trimmed shrubs are planted by the porch, tiny differently colored flowers blooming from them.