Something About Roses (Editing)

Chapter 1

Dedicated to paraenesis for the awesome covers. Check out her work!

My nerves were frayed thin, much like the windscreen wipers that swished and shuddered doing battle with harsh torrents. I wiggled in the seat, butt numb from driving through this horrendous storm for more than an hour. My teeth clamped down on lip, keeping them from chattering.

It's bloody freezing.

Fiddling with the heater, I adjusted the air vents causing hot air that smelt like fumes to blast at my face. The lesser of two evils at this point. I'd rather get temporarily poisoned than die of hypothermia.

It was my own fault. I should have checked the forecast. And normally I would have, but today was different. It was an ending and a beginning.

I mean, I could have come with mum and the movers' van or told Tilly and Zoe I couldn't do a farewell lunch. Of course they dragged it out and made a huge fuss. Let's be realistic, we all knew I was the third wheel in that friendship. They wouldn't miss me anyway.

In the end, I'd sum it all up to mental exhaustion and bad stupid luck.

And now, I'm stuck in a gyrating thunderstorm. Yes, gyrating.

The car stuttered along the winding country lanes towards South Tipton--my new town. The anxiety of sliding into the steep gullies had my stomach plunging and my knuckles white on the wheel. Gusts assaulted and rain hammered the windshield like mini miners with pickaxes, drowning out the phone's undeterred directions--the only voice of reason in this foolishness.

I took a sharp left, tires slicing an aqueduct on the corner. Lightning flashed. A clap of thunder. I jumped, slamming the breaks. Skidding. Headlights swerved.

The engine jolted, giving up the will to function, and cut out leaving me in blackness on the abandoned road.

My poor old girl. The car was fifth-hand and wasn't fit for such abuse. I took in a shaky lungful of air and turned the key in the ignition.

Come on, please work. Please, please, please.

The car choked then rumbled. The lights flickered, refracting off something metallic in the distance.

What is that?

I squinted. The shiny surface was too far from the road to be a sign. I edged the car forward.

Again, thunder boomed and lightning whipped the murky shadows. My head reeled with the sight, hands clamping even tighter.

Hell! It's a car!

Smashed windows. Twisted body. A mutilated vehicle wrapped around the trunk of a tree.

It took me less than two seconds to pull over and launch out the door. Freezing rain drenched me in moments.

Is there anyone in there?

I sprinted to the road's verge. "Hello!?" my voice carried with the howling wind. No reply. "Damn it."

I bent my knees, calculating the distance between me and the other side of the channel where water gushed like a flash flood. I swung my arms.

One, two--

A pair of luminous orbs swung around, casting my target into full light.

I froze.

Abandoned?