CHAPTER FOUR
Jane drove passed the town square, which lay in the very center of Burnwood. The Square housed all of the businesses in a strip-mall style, which is why it was called the Square. There was a park in the center of the Square with a lone swing set, but no one was there. In fact, there wasn’t a person in sight. Even the local pub closed early on weekdays.
Jane turned onto a narrow dirt road, flicking on her high beams as she drove into the darkness.
I tugged on my seatbelt, ensuring it was properly fastened. “Is it far?”
She shook her head. “It’s near the lake.”
“There’s a lake around here?”
She smiled and nodded. “The old mill grounds make for the best beach parties and bonfires.”
“Haven’t anyone’s parents figured it out yet? I can’t imagine a place like that could stay a secret for long.”
“The Burnwood parents aren’t exactly… vigilant.” She paused and bit down on the side of her lower lip. “That’s just a nice way of saying they don’t give a crap.”
I leaned back in my chair and rested my head. “I don’t have much experience with parents, but I can tell you that over protective guardians are issues of their own.”
She laughed. “I take it your uncle is one of them.”
I nodded. “You have no idea. On my seventh birthday he refused to let me ride the ponies. He called them dangerously overactive, untrained beasts. Even worse, for my Girl Scouts’ campout, he showed up with a fully loaded motorhome. He didn’t even let me roast marshmallows around the campfire.”
Jane’s mouth dropped open. “No!”
“I’m afraid so.” I crossed my arms and pouted. “I was the only one who didn’t get their camping badge.”
“Oh crap!” Jane jerked the steering wheel and made a sharp right turn. “Almost missed it.”
I grappled for the door handle as the car veered off the narrow dirt road and into a small opening through the dense forest. We emerged from the trees into a clearing the size of roughly three football fields.
The area lit up from the headlights on the car, illuminating a tall, weathered building in the far corner of the makeshift parking lot. It must’ve been the old mill Jane had mentioned.
Adjacent to the parking lot was a sandy beach front framing the lake. A large fire burned from the center of an enormous dugout in the sand, and people had already started to form around it.
Jane parked next to the rest of the cars, excluding the big black truck parked near the fire pit with three large kegs and a bunch of red plastic cups staked high in the back.
I fidgeted with my zipper. “There are a lot of people here.”
Jane turned off the car and looked at me. “It’s not really the people, though, is it?”
I opened my mouth to deny it, but stopped. She was right. It wasn’t the people.
“Come on, Annabelle. You’re 100 percent city girl… and I like that about you, but you’ve been around crowds your whole life. It doesn’t seem like making friends is your problem.”
I turned and looked out the window as a cluster of noisy teenagers passed by.
“You’ve been here since like… forever, right?” I asked, turning to face her.
“Yes…”
“Well, try to imagine it from where I stand. I’ve never been in one place for more than six months at a time, sometimes less. It’s like my life is in a constant state of flux, never settling down anywhere.”
“So what? You’re afraid of liking us?”
I stared ahead silently.
“I think this time is going to be different,” she said.
I arched a brow. “What makes you so sure?”
She shrugged. “I just have an incredibly good feeling about it. Don’t you?”
I smiled, wishing I could share her optimism.
Tick! Tick!
Startled, I turned to find Alec’s face smooched against the window as he continued tapping his finger on the glass.
Jane laughed and stepped out of the car. I waited for Alec to back away from the door and joined her.
“Annabelle!” He lifted his red cup into the air and then gulped it down. “You know… I knew you would come. I knew you would because of that drink you owe me.” He looked down at his cup and frowned. “Someone drank my drink.”
I laughed. “That was you.”
“And she makes it!” Cruz stepped out from behind the white pick-up truck Jane had parked beside.
“Of course she made it,” said Jane. “I never doubted it.”
I shot her a questioning look.
“What time is it?” said Jane.
We all simultaneously reached into our pockets and pulled out our cellphones.
Jane shook her head. “Does no one own a watch anymore?”
Alec held his phone up and smiled. “You don’t need a watch when your life support tells the time.”
Jane rolled her eyes, but I agreed with him.
It was sad how dependent the world has become on technology. The day of the hunter-gatherer was over and if a zombie apocalypse hits us, I’m as doomed as the rest of my generation. If only I got that camping badge in Girl Scouts.
“It’s a quarter to ten,” said Cruz, tucking his phone into his back pocket.
“Crap!” Jane started for the beach. “I’ll be right back.”
“What? Where are you going?”
“I’m supposed to meet someone,” she called over her shoulder. “Alec will take you to get that drink you owe him.”
Alec grinned and raised both thumbs in the air. “Sure thing.”
Jane stopped and looked him over. “On second thought, Annabelle, maybe you should keep him away from the drinks.”
I waved her on. “We’ll be fine.”
Jane nodded and took off across the lot.
Alec, Cruz and I began to follow, but after a few feet Alec stumbled and fell. He rolled to the side, laughing and clearly oblivious to the tiny cut over his cheek bone.
I kneeled beside him, placing my hand on his shoulder. “Alec, are you okay?”
He stared up at the sky and mumbled something before falling back hard onto his back.
“Relax, he’s just passed out,” said Cruz.
“We should do something? Maybe take him home?”
“Home? That might be the worst idea I have ever heard. Alec hasn’t been home in two years.”
“Why not?”
Cruz made a face and I was certain he had already shared too much. “Let’s just get him to my truck. He can sleep it off in there.”
Cruz and I pulled Alec to his feet, managing to keep him awake long enough to make it the 20 feet to Cruz’s truck. We helped him into the back and he flopped down onto his side. I bunched up his sweater and used it to prop up his head.
I turned to Cruz and nodded. “I think he’s good.”
I hopped out of the truck and Cruz closed the door with a heavy sigh.
“Are you okay?” I said.
Cruz nodded. “You look like you could use a drink, or at least I know I could use one.”
I looked out across the lot. The keg was not far from the bonfire and in the same direction Jane had left. “A drink sounds like a good idea.”
I followed Cruz to the truck holding the keg. There was a line of people waiting before us, but Cruz didn’t seem to notice. He walked up to the front of the line and grabbed two red cups and filled them.
Everyone stared at him, but oddly enough no one said anything.
He returned with our drinks and we wandered over to the bonfire with whispers slowly fainting into the distance.
There was a bunch of logs surrounding the pit and I found one parallel to the beach and sat down. He sat down on the log beside me and smiled triumphantly at the fire. “I got here early to build this.”
I gazed at the fire, feeling its warmth wafting up from the pit. “It’s beautiful.”
He shook his head. “Not the word I would use. Lighting that th
ing nearly burnt my arm.” He turned his forearm so I could see the singed hair, but my mind was elsewhere.
I stared straight ahead at the wild red and orange colors dancing in the center of the dugout. Fire appealed to me for reasons beyond my understanding, but I was drawn to it. Its warmth and ferocity was comforting in the strangest ways. It made me feel powerful, but along with that came the immense feelings of guilt and shame. After all, how can I be so connect to the thing that destroyed my family?
“Well are you?”
I blinked and turned from the fire’s entrancing warmth. “What?”
“I said you haven’t touched your drink,” said Cruz.
I looked down at my cup and shook my head. “Sorry, I guess I was a little distracted by the crowd.”
I lifted the cup to my lips and tipped it up.
“Annabelle!”
Lowering my cup I stood up and surveyed the crowd. “I heard my name.”
Cruz stood up, too, and looked around. “It could’ve been anyone.”
Suddenly, a group of boys wearing the same red and black leather jacket I had seen Cruz in earlier that day surrounded us. They looked angry and I turned to Cruz for answers.
Cruz smiled down at me as they began to circle us, chanting “Fire Lords.” Finally, the circling stopped and everything was quiet. Waited, knowing more was to come. Suddenly, they shouted and charged at Cruz. I raised my arms and shielded my head as they all shuffled passed me and hoisted Cruz up onto their shoulders. The crowd around us cheered and shouted as they followed the mesh of red and black leather jackets along the beach.
I stepped aside and let the crowd pass. I walked down the beach in the opposite direction of the noise, confused yet no longer concerned for my safety.
“Annabelle.”
I turned. “So it was you who called my name. I thought I recognized the voice.”
Carter smiled. “Strange how that happened just as the football team came in to claim their captain.”
I laughed. “You were behind that?”
He winked. “Of course not.”
“Right…”
I lifted my untouched drink to my lips and…
“Don’t drink that!”
“What?” I lowered my cup and examined it. “Why not?”
“There’s a… there’s a bug in it.”
I stared at the bubbly liquid in my cup. “There’s no bug in here.”
Before I knew what happened the cup was on the ground, its contents spilling into the sand.
“Sorry,” he said. “Let me get you another drink.”
He hurried down the beach as I stood staring down at my empty cup, its tasty goodness absorbed into the ground.
What just happened?