Chapter 4: On the Run
I didn’t know where we were going, but I couldn’t ask, not yet. I needed to get my head straight, and none of the thoughts running through my mind seemed to help. Who were those men? It seemed like they were after me, though I couldn’t know for sure.
I turned corners without thinking; right or left wasn’t a question, I let my hands do the deliberating on that matter. The most important question—the only one I needed to know this moment—I couldn’t quite put into words. What happened with Skylar was past my comprehension, you don’t see things like that every day.
“What was that?” I blurted, hoping he would understand what I was asking.
“I—” he stalled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You moved us, from my bedroom to the living room and then outside. I saw lights—”
“Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked in a condescending manner. I slammed on the brakes and looked back at him.
“I know what happened. Don’t even try to make me feel like I’m crazy, that was real.”
“Then why do you have to ask?” He retorted.
“Whatever Skylar, where are we going?”
“Home,” he replied. “I mean to your home town. You’re going a little out of the way, but you’re headed in the right direction.”
“Why are we heading all the way down there?” I asked, confused. “What about my mom?”
“We can’t go back there. I’m sure your mom is fine.”
“So why are we going to Sunny Bay?”
“I’m going to help you find the truth,” he answered.
“What if—what if not knowing for sure is better than what I find out. I mean, even if I didn’t do it, what if she is dead?”
“If she’s dead, then we avenge her death. If she’s not, then we’re her only hope.”
“Avenge her death? What do you think we are, superheroes? How are we going to find her if the police couldn’t even—”
“The police weren’t as involved as your mom has led you to believe,” he paused. He was holding something back. “I believe very few people know anything at all about this.”
“No, that can’t be right.” In a small town like Sunny Bay, a disappearance and possible murder was all the town could think about. Posting pictures, making search parties, I’d seen it before. I was twelve. A sixteen-year-old girl had disappeared in the middle of the night. They searched for a whole year, but she was never found. “Even if everything about that night wasn’t well known, don’t you think everyone would still wonder where Grace was?” I pointed out.
“Do you want to hear something sick, something absolutely horrifying?”
“Not really,” I mumbled.
“Her parents don’t even remember her.”
“What? That’s ridiculous.” I kept my eyes on the road even though I wanted to hit him.
“It’s true. You saw what I did,” he said.
“So now you want to talk about it?”
“Forget about it for now,” he insisted.
“How do you know—” I paused. “No, how do you think you know so much about this?”
“It’s complicated.”
I drove for a while longer, I wasn’t going to get anything out of him right now, and that was obvious.
“Maybe we should pull over and get some sleep, or you should let me drive for a while.”
He hopped up into the front seat. I drove a little further. I knew where we were, we were about to go by the hospital. As I pulled up to the gate, I realized something wasn’t right. None of the nurses’ cars were there. It looked abandoned, and the weirdest part of all, the sign no longer stood in front of the building. I got out of the car.
“What are you doing?” Skylar called after me.
“This is the hospital, I—I don’t understand,” I stuttered. “It’s empty, the sign is gone, it was here this morning. I know it was.”
“That’s weird, but we should go,” he said.
I ignored him. I walked over to the gate; it creaked as I pulled it open.
“Scarlett, we need to leave,” he urged.
I walked slower and slower with each step, trying to steady my breath. I went up to the door and cleaned the glass with my sleeve. It looked the same as when I left, but no one was inside. I grabbed the handle, the door opened. Skylar ran after me, he grabbed me before I could step inside.
“Let go of me,” I snapped.
“What do you hope to accomplish by going in there?” He demanded.
“Something isn’t right.”
“Obviously, but that doesn’t answer my question,” he nagged.
“I’m going in. You can wait outside if you want.”
He was reluctant, but he followed. Behind the main desk was a filing cabinet. It groaned as I opened it. Only one file was inside. I picked it up—it read Scarlett Summers. I dropped it on the floor and opened the other drawers with urgency, nothing. “What—” I gulped.
“Let’s go,” Skylar begged.
“What does this mean?” I whispered to myself.
I ran to the hallway that my room was down, busting open every door on the way, but they were all empty. When I reached my room, everything remained. I didn’t know what to think, my hands were shaking, and my face felt numb.
“Okay, are you done now?”
“You don’t think something is wrong here?” I choked.
“Something is definitely wrong here, but there is nothing we can do about it right now. We’ll come back, I promise, but first we need to find Grace.”
We returned to the car. I was shaking so bad that I couldn’t possibly drive. Skylar turned right on a dirt road. He kept going for a few miles, and then he turned into a cornfield.
“What are we doing?” I wondered.
“We’re going to stop here for the night and get some sleep.”
“I’ll take the backseat,” I said after he parked.
“Okay,” he agreed as he climbed all the way into the back of the car.
“Do you think my mom and your dad were meant to be together? I mean, if they weren’t, I would have never met you, and you wouldn’t be helping me,” I blurted out of nowhere.
“They were sneaking around long before... what happened.”
“What?” I sat up, shocked. “How long?”
“I don’t know for sure,” he sat up. “I need to tell you something…. What I was trying to say before,” he put his hand on his forehead. “This isn’t going to be easy, but I hope you realize—”
His words faded away. I was thrown into a parallel universe or a dream of the past—something that had never happened before.
I was at a party, alone. I felt as if I was waiting for someone. I saw Grace walk into a room behind some guy; I saw only his hand holding hers. She was wearing the dress she wore the night she disappeared. I felt as if I was half conscious in one world, and half in another.
“I was at a party,” I mumbled. It sounded like I was miles away from myself. “Did I drink, is that why I don’t remember?” I whispered to myself.
I walked over to the door that Grace had just walked through, and leaned my head up against it.
“We shouldn’t do this,” the guy said.
“What? Are you worried about Scarlett?” she hissed. “She doesn’t even know I told you.”
“Told me what?” He slurred.
“Oh come on, you know, but it doesn’t matter. You want to, I want to, what are we waiting for?”
I turned away, and went to sit in a chair across the crowded room.
“Dante,” I mumbled.
“What?” I heard Skylar ask. He sounded so far away, and I couldn’t see him. I could only see what was playing out in this vision.
The room began spinning; my head was in my hands. No wonder Dante didn’t try to contact me. Aside from thinking I was a killer, I was the killer of his girlfriend or whatever she was to him. I hated her for this, how could she do this to me? Was this reason
enough to murder someone? No, I couldn’t have done it.
The door remained closed, and I wasn’t sure how much time had gone by. I jumped up and headed over to the room and busted in.
Dante sat on the edge of the bed putting his shoes on. Grace still lay on the bed wrapped in a sheet.
“Scarlett,” she gasped, but I didn’t buy it. She was happy that he was now off limits.
I walked out of the room and leaned up against the door frame. I started to walk away, but she grabbed my shoulder.
“I hate you,” I snapped, and knocked her arm off me.
“I—”
“You knew how I felt about him,” I enunciated.
“You don’t understand—”
“Oh I understand. Just leave me alone.”
She went back into the room, “Dante, where did you go?” I heard her ask, then I heard the sound of a door sliding open.
I ran out into the front yard and sat on the porch. From somewhere deep in the woods, I heard a scream.