Chapter 6
Morning was announced with the continuous beeps of Arianna’s alarm clock. Normally, the sound would have been unwelcome, but on this day it had provided relief. It interrupted the nightmare she’d been having the entire night. Her sleep had been filled with terrifying images of burnt flesh and the sound of a girl screaming. She had woken several times, twisting and writhing, feeling intense heat, heat unlike any she’d ever felt before. Each time she had gone back to sleep, she’d expected the dream to have ended. But it had not. It had continued. Dreams – good or bad – had never continued for her in the past. There had been times when she’d wanted nothing more than to return to Brad Pitt who waited for her on his motorcycle, but had been unable to. Yet this one, this awful nightmare, had refused to end for the entire night. Some of it lingered still. She was wide awake, but kept with her the feeling she’d had, a panicked feeling that was laced with what could only be described as guilt. She did not know why. But now, and in her dream, she had felt somehow at fault.
In the light of day, of course, none of it made sense. Try as she may to remember the exact details of her nightmare, she could not. Disjointed pieces of it flashed in her head like black-and-white film running through an old projector. Images, horrific yet blurred, wound around her mind illogically. Determined to not dwell on a dream that was little more than brain garbage, Arianna sat up and kicked her covers off. Her pajamas felt damp and her skin felt cold. She ran a hand through her hair and found that it, too, was moist. She was covered in sweat and needed to shower again before leaving for school. She groaned aloud. Showering would set her back at least ten minutes. Ten minutes lost in the morning translated to her missing breakfast. She quickly gathered the clothes she would wear and dashed down the short hallway into the bathroom. She grabbed her toothbrush, turned on the shower and began brushing while she waited for the water to warm. As the water ran and heated, the mirror above the sink began to fog. Little by little, condensation accumulated on the lower edges of it and crept up slowly. She watched as her reflection was unhurriedly consumed by opaque vapors, and the panicked feeling she’d felt during the night returned. Her heart began to beat wildly, her mouth went dry and she refused to blink. All of a sudden, she began to feel hot. Her feet and legs blazed as if she stood submerged to her hips in a cauldron of boiling water. The feeling traveled up the length of her body slowly, insidiously. She was about to scream, the inexplicable heat she was feeling too intense to withstand a moment longer, when a knock at the door ended it all abruptly.
“Baby, you in there?” her mother called.
“Uh, yeah,” she said and took a deep breath. “Who else would it be?’
“Ha, ha wiseass. Are you going to be long in there? ‘Cause I want to get an early start on my job hunting.”
Arianna breathed deeply again and opened the door, “I’ll be quick. And I’m glad you’re looking for a job today. I’m doing the same after school.”
“Good, good,” her mother said and looked at her strangely. “Are you okay? Your face and neck are all red and your hair is sweaty in front. You look like my mama when she was having a hot flash.”
Arianna ducked her head down and looked at her feet embarrassedly. “No hot flashes for me, just hot in here. I’m jumping in the shower now. I’ll be out soon,” she said and shut the door.
She stripped out of her tank top and sweatpants and stepped into the shower. Warm water, cooler than her body temperature, felt refreshing. She would have liked to relax beneath the stream for several minutes, but needed to rush. She washed her hair and body, combed in conditioner then rinsed a final time before turning off the faucet, climbing out and wrapping herself in a towel. She dressed and arranged her hair in a thick braid down her back. She would be cold going out with a wet head, but did not have time to blow-dry her hair.
“Bathroom’s all yours,” she called to her mother from the hall.
She grabbed her boots from her room, slipped into them then headed to the kitchen. A jar of peanut butter sat on the counter and she took a spoon from the drawer and scooped a heaping spoonful of it onto a piece of white bread. It wasn’t the best breakfast in the world, but it was something to put in her stomach. She ate it as she gathered her books, jacket and backpack.
“Bye,” she yelled and walked out the front door.
She shoved the last of her peanut butter sandwich in her mouth, put her helmet and backpack on and sat astride her motorcycle. Rain had fallen the night before. The sky was still cloudy and overcast and she hoped more rain had not been forecast for the day. Her bike performed well in the rain, but maneuvering it in driving rain was a challenge. It was also generally unpleasant to get soaked.
Luckily, the sun peeked through thinning clouds in some spots and promised clearing as she traveled along increasingly familiar streets. Houses and shops stood out as recognizable landmarks. She felt confident she would be acquainted with the town of Heralds Falls in no time. She passed an intersection and the stretch of road where she’d seen the mystery man. Her eyes scanned the woods for movement. Nothing stirred as far as she could tell and she felt relieved. The gas station she’d stopped at the previous morning was up ahead in less than a mile. She glanced down at her fuel gauge to see if she needed to stop. The needle hovered around the halfway mark. When her eyes returned to the road after taking them off it for a split second, a figure loomed in the distance once more.
The same figure she’d seen the previous day appeared impossibly, from nowhere, and waited, watching. She could feel his eyes on her. The fine hairs on the back of her neck rose and quivered. For reasons she could not explain, she felt afraid, threatened. She glimpsed in her side view mirrors and checked for oncoming cars before twisting the accelerator handle toward her. The bike lurched forward, and the world charged at her. Her speed increased from the forty-five miles an hour to more than sixty miles an hour. She did not look in his direction as she passed, but knew he watched her. When finally she’d passed him and was at what she felt was a safe distance from him, she decelerated slightly and twisted her upper body to look over her shoulder at him. She expected to see him standing there still, facing her expressionlessly as he had the day before. But he was gone again. He had disappeared.
Arianna’s pulse began to race. She reached for the brake lever on her right handlebar, the system that controlled her front brakes, and squeezed it gently. At the same time, she stomped down on the foot pedal the activated her rear brakes. Only something had gone wrong. She felt it immediately. She had braked too hard on her rear brakes and not enough on the front. The tires of the bike tried in vain to grip blacktop slickened from overnight rain, but skidded as the back end of it kicked out. Both the motorcycle and Arianna slid along the pavement. Metal shrieked in protest. Sparks rose and evaporated like fireflies in a night sky. Her shirt and sweater lifted and the ground tore at her skin like innumerable razor blades, slicing and chafing every exposed part of her. The world fell silent. A blur of colors rushed at her. Greens, grays and brown, all melded together in a jumbled mess. She was rolling, tumbling into wet grass and down an embankment.
The embankment was not steep and she landed hard on her back. Every part of her ached and smarted.
“Holy shit,” she said to no one, shocked that she was alive.
She lay there, still, for several seconds, afraid to move, afraid that movement would confirm she’d broken several bones. Sound returned to her and suddenly the world was alive with sound. A car horn blared, birds squawked, and fallen leaves rustled. The rustling of leaves made her heart race dangerously. She wondered if perhaps the mystery man was approaching. A sudden urge to survive superseded her fear of broken bones and she sat upright quickly. To her surprise, the stabbing pain she’d assumed would accompany serious injury did not follow. Even the blistering pain she’d felt as her bare skin had scraped along the road had dissipa
ted. Leaves crunched again close by, too close by for comfort. She snapped her helmet off and looked to her left expecting to see the man from the side of the road, the man who’d watched her and disappeared, but saw instead a plump, gray rabbit.
“I survive a bike accident but Peter fucking Cottontail almost gave me a heart attack,” she mumbled and stood.
The rumble of a car engine and voices could be heard from the ridge she’d careened over seconds earlier. Someone approached. A slim form dressed in dark clothes dashed down the grassy hill. Arianna looked down at her clothes. She supposed she should not have felt self-conscious. After what she’d just been through, grateful should have been all that she felt. But looking down at her torn, muddied clothes, she felt vulnerable. The back of her pants had been completely shredded and revealed her thong underwear, and what was left of the back of her shirt and sweatshirt could not be used to cover her exposed skin.
As the person approached, she realized he looked familiar. She knew him. Luke rushed toward her, and stopped several yards from her, recognition touching his features.
“Holy shit! Arianna, is that you?”
“Uh, yeah, but don’t come any closer, please, my clothes are ripped to shreds and my ass is hanging out,” she said.
“I saw your bike go down. I saw you wipe out in a massive skid. How the hell are you standing? And why are you worrying about your ass?”
Arianna laughed. She couldn’t help herself. She stopped abruptly when she looked up and saw another familiar face. Blonde hair glowed like a halo backlit by emerging sunlight. Luke’s girlfriend glowered down at them from the road. Arianna felt confident she would not venture down the hill. Though the slope was not steep, her high heels were, and certainly not conducive to hiking down wet earth.
“Seriously,” Luke said and took several steps toward her. “How the hell did you survive that?”
She thought for a second. “Honestly, I have no idea.”
“How did it happen? I mean, I saw most of it. I saw someone on a motorcycle, you, just totally skid out. No other car. No collision. What happened, you lost control of it?”
Arianna wanted to tell him she’d been twisting her body dangerously to look behind her at some man who appeared and disappeared from the side of the road. Of course, that would sound ridiculous and he’d think she was insane, so she kept it to herself. Not even her nutty mother who believed in horoscopes and Ouija boards would believe her claim, much less a boy she’d just met.
“I thought I saw something, an animal I guess, and I tried to brake to avoid hitting it. I didn’t brake hard enough in front and overcompensated with the rear. Next thing I knew, I was skidding across the pavement.”
“Damn,” he said and raked a hand through his dark, spiky hair.
“Oh shit. What time is it?” she asked in a panic.
Luke checked his cell phone. “It’s seven forty. Why?”
“I’m going to be late on my second day,” she mumbled.
“You should be dead, or at least seriously fucked up right now, your bike is totaled, and so far you’ve worried about me seeing your ass and being late for school. Am I missing something, or are you crazy?”
She chewed her lower lip and pushed errant hairs that escaped her braid from her brow. “When you put it that way, I guess I’m crazy.”
Luke took several more steps, slowly closing the distance between them. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want you to get in trouble at school or anything, and I’d love to see your ass, but I don’t know, I thought you’d be more freaked out than you are.”
“I am, trust me,” she said. “The whole thing was just crazy. And I’m so very flattered by your ass remark,” she said sarcastically.
Luke laughed, and she liked the sound of it. But a quick glance up the hill reminded her that he was taken. Never one to ignore the three-hundred pound blonde gorilla in the room, Arianna decided to comment on the heavily lined eyes that watched them. “I’m sure your girlfriend wouldn’t like to hear you say that either. She looks like she’s ready to kill me just for talking to you.”
“My girlfriend?” he asked. “I don’t have a girlfriend,” he said then followed her gaze with is eyes to the road. “You mean Stephanie?”
“Is that her name?” she said and heard the edge of jealousy in her own voice. “What are you guys if she’s not your girlfriend, friends with benefits?” she asked coolly.
“Eww, no! Benefits? No! That’s gross!”
“What, hot blondes aren’t your type?”
“Hot blondes? Stephanie’s not hot! She’s my sister!”
Arianna felt a trickle of relief seep through her. “Your sister?”
Then, as if on cue, Stephanie waved him toward her angrily.
“Your sister is waving to you. And she seems pissed,” she said smoothly.
“She’s always pissed. It’s some sort of personality deficiency,” he said and turned to her and gestured with his index finger. He turned back to Arianna and said, “She has two moods: bitchy and pissed.”
“Not much difference between the two if you ask me.”
“Oh, there’s a difference. Trust me,” he said and quirked an eyebrow at her. “But we can discuss Stephanie later. Right now, you’ve got to come with me,” he said stooped and picked up her helmet then reached out a hand. His hand cupped her elbow and he gently led her forward.
“Wait, what? Where? I can’t go anywhere without my bike,” she protested and allowed herself to be led slowly up the hill. “Or with my ass hanging out.”
“Here, take my jacket,” he said and removed his lightweight jacket. She tied it around her waist immediately.
“Thanks,” she said. “At least one problem is solved. Now I’ve got to get my bike taken to a repair shop.”
“Lucky for you, I have a pickup. We can put the bike in back and worry about the rest later.”
“First of all, I’m going to worry about it all day. I’m not exactly loaded and this accident is going to set me back a lot of money, money I don’t have. And second of all, there’s no way you and me can load my bike into your truck by ourselves, and I doubt Stephanie is going to help.”
“Don’t worry. There are other cars up there that stopped,” he said and didn’t address her other concerns. “I’m sure someone will help loading it.”
“More cars?”
“Yeah. Just two or three, though. It was a pretty big thing, you know. And once they see it was a girl riding, a girl that looks like you no less, any guy around will line up to help.”
As they reached the lip of the slope she’d tumbled town, she saw flashing lights, a decrepit pickup truck and two other SUVs.
“Fuck Luke! We are so late now,” Stephanie snapped. “Let’s go. She’ll be fine. The police are here.”
“Nice to meet you too,” Arianna snapped back. “I’m Arianna, by the way. I saw you yesterday, remember?”
Stephanie seemed surprised that she had answered her in the same tone, that she’d had the nerve to be huffy right back.
“Yeah, I remember you,” Stephanie replied, the edge in her voice softening slightly. Then to Luke she added, “We’re going to be late.”
“Then we’ll be late ‘cause I’m going to load her bike into the back of my truck.”
“What? No! I’m on academic probation as it is! If I’m late,” she let her voice trail off. Stephanie eyed Arianna, allowed her gazed to examine her tattered clothes. “Jesus, there’s not a scratch on you, but your clothes are shredded to shit.”
“I know,” Arianna added solemnly.
“I have a bag in the back of Luke’s truck, clothes and stuff. We’re about the same size,” Stephanie said in a much gentler tone. “You can change on the way, if you’re not too modest,” she added with more bite.
“Modest? My whole ass is hanging out right now. The only thing between it and everyone right now is your brother??
?s jacket.”
“And what a lucky jacket it is,” Luke called from the distance.
“How the hell did he hear that?” Arianna asked.
“Who the hell knows? He’s a pervert like every other guy.”
“I heard that! And thanks, sis!”
“Huh,” Stephanie said and ignored Luke’s comment. “Looks like he got a few guys to help him load your bike. I guess looking like that,” she said and gestured to Arianna. “Well, I’m sure it helped.”
Arianna wasn’t sure how to respond. Stephanie’s comment sounded more like an accusation than a compliment, so she let it slide.
Once the bike had been loaded into the back of Luke’s pickup and the other men had left, Luke chatted with the police officer who had stopped. They spoke briefly and Arianna watched as Luke pointed to her then, with the officer, approached.
“Arianna, this is Ricky, I mean Officer Arnold,” he said then added. “Sorry man. Still hard to think of you as a cop, you know?”
Officer Arnold rolled his eyes and nodded. He looked about twenty. Pudgy and baby-faced, he seemed genuinely uncomfortable in his uniform. “Uh, ma’am, I mean miss,” he stumbled. “Are you all right? The bike was in pretty bad shape. Are you in need of medical treatment?”
“No, no, I’m fine,” Arianna answered honestly. “I don’t know how, but I’m okay.”
“Um, I’m not even sure what to do here,” he said. “I guess you can give me a statement, you know, tell me what happened and I’ll write a report.”
“Okay, sure,” she said and proceeded to tell him the same story she had told Luke, that she’d thought she’d seen an animal and had swerved to avoid it.
“You’re lucky to be alive,” Officer Arnold said when she’d concluded then added, “Later Luke”
“Later Ricky!”
“You girls ready to roll or what?” Luke asked.
Stephanie rolled her eyes and sighed loudly as she climbed in the passenger side.
“Here Arianna,” Luke said and opened the driver’s side door. He moved his seat forward and she saw that the cab had a second row. She climbed in and sat uncomfortably next to a duffle bag.
“Sorry. There’s not a lot of room back there. Just put your legs up on the seat,” Luke said.
“Thanks,” Arianna replied. Then to Stephanie she said, “Are the clothes you said you’d lend me in this bag?”
“Oh yeah,” Stephanie said, annoyance lacing her words. “There should be a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt.”
“Thanks,” Arianna said. “You’ll get them back tomorrow, washed, of course.”
Arianna opened Stephanie’s bag and took from it the two pieces she’d been offered. She untied her boots and slid them off before tugging her tattered leggings off. The cotton and spandex material was in shreds and she was left with just her thong underwear, which did not offer much in the way of coverage. She had placed Luke’s jacket over her pelvis and began sliding the yoga pants up her legs.
“I am so jealous of that jacket,” Luke said. She glanced up and saw that he’d been stealing glimpses of her.
“Hey! Eyes on the road!” she ordered. “No more accidents today.”
“It’d be worth it,” he said and smiled mischievously.
“Oh God, kill me,” Stephanie groaned loudly. “You’re such a douche, Luke!”
Though she had feigned annoyance at his peeking, Arianna was secretly thrilled that Luke had tried to see her as she’d dressed. She pulled off her shirt confidently and didn’t bother trying to hide behind his jacket. The front of the truck jerked as she tugged the tight T-shirt over her head.
“They’re just boobs, idiot,” Luke’s sister admonished. “And they’re in a bra!”
He looked at Arianna in the rearview mirror again. “And I missed them!” he complained.
Stephanie laughed. Her laughter was a surprisingly pleasant sound, sweet and mellifluous. Arianna didn’t know why, but she had half-expected Stephanie’s laugh to be a maniacal cackle instead of the honeyed sound it was. She found herself laughing as well.
When the laughter died down and just the radio broadcast crackled from the ancient speakers and filled the truck, Arianna began to think about the accident. She closed her eyes and the entire scene replayed in her mind. She saw the man on the side of the road, saw his face. Though she did not know him, she was convinced she had seen him before. She did not know where or when, just that he was familiar to her. It was hard to imagine that a man that looked as he did would not be more memorable. Men who looked like models didn’t exactly constitute the vast majority of the male population. She racked her brain, struggling to place where it was she knew him from, yet came up empty. She decided to focus on the other question that plagued her: Why hadn’t she been hurt? She had felt pain as she’d scraped along the road. She had ached at every bump as she’d tumbled down the embankment. Yet there was not a mark on her, not that she could see at least. No blood, no bumps or bruises, not a scratch. It did not make sense. Her brain reasoned that it wasn’t possible for her to walk away from the accident unharmed, but she had.
She opened her eyes and Herald Falls High School came into view.
“You okay?” Luke asked her.
“I’m fine, why?”
“I saw you with your eyes closed, that’s all. Don’t die or anything, okay? We don’t want Officer Jumbo to lose his job.”
“You mean Officer Arnold,” Stephanie corrected.
“Ooh, so protective,” he teased. “You must love him!”
“Shut up, asshole,” Stephanie hissed.
“Don’t worry. I think I’ll live,” Arianna interrupted their bickering. “I was just resting my eyes. The adrenaline rush wore off I guess.”
And it had. The trembling charge she’d felt earlier had left her. What remained were questions, too many questions. Each weighed upon her with leaden heaviness. Chief among them was her escape from the accident unscathed. That point nagged at her, demanding attention like a willful child. It had also birthed yet another issue: she could not remember ever being hurt. As far back into her childhood as she could recall, she had never been injured. No broken bones, no stitches, no trips to the emergency room. It wasn’t as if her mother had been watching her every moment of the day either. To the contrary, her mother had let her roam freely. And she had been a daring child, climbing trees, skate boarding, inline skating, ice-skating. None had produced a scratch worthy of so much as a plastic bandage.
Her recollections were interrupted by Luke’s truck rumbling to a stop in the rear parking lot.
“We’re here. Welcome to paradise,” he said sarcastically.
“Or where happiness comes to die,” Stephanie added. “I’m off. See you later.”
“Yep,” Luke replied.
“Bye. And thanks again,” Arianna said.
“Whatever,” Stephanie added uncomfortably before walking away.
“My sister, the wordsmith,” Luke said. “We’re really working on her social skills.”
He smiled, and Arianna smiled, too. Luke had an easy way about him. She felt comfortable around him.
“Thanks,” Arianna said to him. “You really saved my ass today.”
“Literally,” he said and leaned as if looking at her backside.
Her pulse quickened a bit and butterflies filled her stomach.
“You know what I mean,” she said. “If you hadn’t passed by when you did, I’d still be back there with Officer Arnold and God-only-knows-who else. So thanks for stopping, and for helping.”
“No need to thank me. Thank whatever force let you live today. Man that was a nasty wipeout.”
“You don’t need to tell me,” she said in agreement. “I got lucky, very lucky.”
“Speaking of getting lucky, meet me here after last period,” he said and flashed a playful smile again. Amusement danced in his eyes.
“Excuse me???
? she asked sharply.
“I’m just joking around. I’m assuming you’ll need a ride, right?” he said.
“Yeah, but no one’s getting lucky, got it?”
He laughed. “All right, point taken. Can’t blame a guy for trying, right? But kidding aside, I’ll meet you back here after school, and take you wherever you need to go, okay?”
“Yeah, that would be great. Wow, that’s really nice of you, but,” she began.
“And don’t freak out about the mechanic thing,” he interrupted as if reading her thoughts. “I know a guy who fixes bikes, and he’ll take care of it for you, no problem.”
“Really?” she brightened. “Are you serious?”
“Yep, I’ll introduce you to him at my place after school today if you want.”
“Yes! Please! That would be great. I was supposed to go job hunting, but that can wait ‘til tomorrow. I’ll need that job to pay your guy!”
“He’s cheap. Don’t worry,” he smiled broadly, a warm smile that she swore made his gray eyes shimmer. “Be here at the end of the day.”
“You got it!”
He hesitated for a moment and searched her eyes. A strange expression touched his features, flickered there for a fraction of a second, as if he wanted to say something else to her. But instead he turned and walked away. Alone, she slung her backpack, now frayed and ragged-looking, over her shoulder, and began her second day at Herald Falls High School.