Attracting Trouble

Chapter 18: Dying of Thirst

As soon as I shut my bedroom door behind me, my phone buzzes in my pocket.

I know who the text is from before I even look at the screen. It's Will asking if I'm doing anything tonight.

I glance at my alarm clock to see it's eight o'clock at night at the moment. I waiver my options.

I could go with Will and allow him to tell me all the things I've been dying to know since the day he left me behind, or I could fall into my bed and go to sleep like I so badly want to.

I guess there's something about secrets, and finding out what they are, that always draws people in. I know I shouldn't do it and my parents will have my head when they find out I snuck out, but I feel like it's worth it.

Not only do I want to know, but I need to.

I jerk my nice clothes off and pull on a pair of old jeans and a sweatshirt, then head to the bathroom to scrub the makeup off my face. My bruise is clearly there and when I accidentally forget about it and rub a towel over it, I wince. It's still yellow and blue, but I don't want to put makeup on it. Especially if I'm only going to see Will.

I pull the hood of my sweatshirt up over my head and make my way outside to get into my car.

The air has moved from a cool breeze to a chilly breeze in the matter of 30 minutes. It's probably 60 degrees, but still I find goosebumps rising on my arms.

I pull out of the driveway and call Will to ask him where I'm going. He gives me the directions to his house again, refreshing my mind from the last time I was there.

The rain begins to pound on the earth just as I'm halfway to his house.

"Well, let's get off the phone so you can focus on driving," Will tells me. "I'll see you in a little bit."

"Okay, yeah," I say, my voice calm. The wind is pushing the rain sideways so that it looks as if it's flying right at me. "I'll see you later."

I hang up and toss my phone onto the passenger side seat, but it bounces onto the floor. For a moment I think about grabbing it, but I'm too scared to take my hands off the wheel.

I can feel the panic rising in me as the rain comes down harder. A few cars pass by me and it seems like I can feel the air that rushes between their cars and mine.

There's one thing that calms me down, gets my mind off things.

I look at the rain that's flying at me and notice that in my headlights it looks like I'm  flying through space and all the stars. They shine brightly against the black backdrop of the night sky.

I smile and think of how dumb I am for having to distract myself like this.

Then two bright lights come into view and my distracted mind doesn't think anything of it. Maybe I'm just tried.

They look like the sun - well, two suns - shines against the stars.

It turns out they're headlights.

But that doesn't register until they've crashed into the front end of my car, forcing everything in motion to come to a stop. I feel my head jerk forward and it smashes against the steering wheel.

Then everything becomes a dream, blurry and unreal.

*

I can't get my eyes to open when my brain wakes up. It's like they're cemented shut and no matter how hard I try to open them, they will not bust.

My ears are working, though. I can hear the murmurs outside of my body by people and the constant beeping that is in rhythm with my heart. My smell is too; I can smell the disinfectant as it clogs my airway. I wish I could turn that part off.