Tock.
She sat up slowly. Scrapes covered her wrists and elbows. She had managed to catch herself by the bottom of the railing and drag herself up, but only with the exchange of blood. Despite the red blotches smeared on her arms, she stared blankly in front of her, unknown to the pain. Benji walked toward Sam with a weightless soul.
Mayor Perkins knelt by Sam’s side and wrapped his trembling arms around her. “Samantha,” he whispered.
“Sam,” Benji echoed, taking another step forward.
“Get away from my daughter!” The back of Mayor Perkins’ neck was so tense it left Benji petrified. “Go ahead and leave. Do it. I’m not stopping you.”
Benji couldn’t bring himself to move. “Sam.” Rain streamed over his eyes, blurring his vision. “Say something, please!”
The color returned to her skin, and she pushed her father away from her. “You idiot.” She smiled with dry lips, her eyes on Mayor Perkins, but Benji knew she was speaking to him. “Just run.”
Benji shut his eyes and let the water roll over his face in a refreshing massage. A simple phrase, but he’d been longing to hear it his entire life. With a final breath of Wishville’s sour air, he climbed over the hood of Mayor Perkins’ car, jumped to the other side, and sprinted to the LEAVING WISHVILLE sign.
He reached the end of town.
And he kept going.
Running.
Ran.
CHAPTER 34
shine
The first step outside Wishville was not how Benji imagined it would be. He thought he’d be ten times lighter, and each of his footsteps would glide gently across the dirt. But as he ran from town into the unknown, his feet were heavy and slammed with each step. His breaths were dangerous, as if each wad of air was afraid it’d be the last.
The extension of Candy Road was nothing strange until it came to a curve. He followed through this unfamiliar twist, believing it would lead to a monster planning to eat him alive, or a forest fire ready to burn him. But all he saw was the same old road, leading to nothing but a blur of darkness in the distance.
Benji slowed and came to a stop. He peeked over his shoulder for the first time, yearning for a final glance of Wishville, but all he could see were trees.
Somewhere in town was his mom. All of his old friends. Sam was being eased into the car by Mayor Perkins. Chloe was probably explaining the crazy night to her sister, James under his covers without a book and a flashlight, and Jett wondering where his bike had ended up. For a moment, Benji felt as if the entire town had given up on him. They had all tried so hard to bring him back to normal, to bring him back to the kid he used to be before all the madness occurred. But then, in the middle of thought, Benji realized he had it backward.
He had given up on Wishville.
“And I really hope I made the right choice.” He took a deep breath, raised his chin, and continued down the road, forcing himself through the blackness. If I’m gonna die, Benji thought. I’ll die as far from Wishville as possible.
The rumble of darkness continued to move at the same steady pace he was running at. The trees all looked the same, and to Benji it felt as though he was going nowhere. It was only when he met a fork in the road that he received a feeling of progress. He took a left without debate, a soreness spreading through his legs. He had run too much today.
So he slowed down, noticing his glimmering watch. 11:54. Five minutes. He gulped.
Five minutes was the amount of time Mr. Trenton would give them for a short break during class. Benji remembered not doing much during those breaks. He might draw something, or maybe bother James by distracting him from his book. At those times, five minutes were so meaningless. But now he only had five minutes left to live. Five minutes until his last breath. He started to run again, the various possibilities of his death flashing through his mind. Maybe lightning would strike him from the dark clouds above, or a tree would crash down on his skull. Maybe a rabid animal would hop from a bush a few moments from now, licking its last meal off its lips. But what scared Benji the most was the uncertainty of it all. Goosebumps raised on his arms, and when he stopped running, he didn’t have the strength to start again.
That’s when he saw it.
A bright light illuminated through the trees. He heard a clashing sound, like a million construction workers hammering metal. It was followed by the roar of a billion growls and chuckles, one right after the other. The noise grew louder, and the blinding light never ceased to shine. Benji spun around, facing the familiar darkness once again, his eyes wide. Whatever was beyond those trees, he wasn’t sure he was ready to know.
He felt the last of his oxygen sucked out of his body, as if some invisible being had punched him in the gut. Each breath was more rapid than the last. He tried to breathe steadily, but the air continued to slip. Falling right in front of him. Tangling itself in his shaking fingertips as his heart pounded faster. Faster and faster, beyond control.
Adrenaline rushed through him. His legs twitched from the inside, eager to rush into the woods and away from danger, but too exhausted. Crossing a threshold of panic, he leaned forward, preventing his insides from slipping out of his mouth. He was tumbled in a bag. Everything spun, and his area of vision grew smaller by the second.
The rain rushed mercilessly. It showered him in waterfalls, streaming from his fingertips into a puddle formed at his feet. It took all of his strength to face the shining lights a second time. He moved forward slowly, weighed by the heavy water that submersed his ankles.
The water started to move.
The pool rushed in circles, attempting to trip him. As the rain intensified, the water grew taller. It reached his knees.
Benji took another step, but the ground beneath him declined, leaving the water deeper than before. The raindrops summoned waves that stole Benji’s control. He lost his grip on the dirt, pulled away from it by the frosty water. His legs scrambled, searching for support, but it wasn’t there.
The water raised to his neck, and Benji slipped below the surface.
CHAPTER 35
gone
Drip. Drip. Plop.
The rain accumulated on the overhang of Ms. Camille’s shop, dripping onto the concrete in hefty bulbs. Under the dense gray sky, James watched the water fall from the neon green shop and burst against the ground. Mist fell on Wishville, dampening his clothes, and he shivered. The date was May 30th, a week since Benji left, and it was a week where gloom filled the town more than ever.
James stood by the courtyard fountain, the light rain trickling down his windbreaker, the flow of water surrounding him—trickling through the fountain, plopping from the building overhangs, streaming down the side of Main Street. He flipped the hood over his head. The green paint was all he had left of Benji, and he found himself coming here without even knowing it.
The building was closed. Ms. Camille had decided to retire only a few days ago. Now the flower shop stood empty in the square, not a single bloom in sight through its new window.
“James!” A figure rushed toward him through the courtyard. Lauren had one hand on her head, as if it might somehow protect her from the rain. She dropped it to set her arm around his shoulder, leading him into Seaside Cafe.
The building was warm. Lauren set him at the closest table and shot a look at Ricky, who nodded and brewed a new drink. James’s icy hands stung as they thawed.
With the normally-filled tables of Seaside Cafe deserted, it seemed like Lauren and Ricky had nothing more to do than talk and stare at the rain.
“Hey, you can’t keep doing this.” Lauren sat across from him, and James faced the wooden table, observing its grain. “At some point, you’re gonna have to go back to school.”
Ricky spilled a pot of beans behind the counter, and Lauren frowned. “Keep it down over there!”
“Sorry, I just . . .” He took a deep breath before
leaning over to clear the mess.
“You’re a smart kid.” Lauren grinned. “There’s only a week until graduation, and you need to be there.”
James grew sick at the thought of going to school. He wanted to stay in his room, curled comfortably under the covers, ridden with guilt. Lauren didn’t understand that school was the least of his worries. How could it be more important to him than Benji?
Somehow, she read his mind. “This isn’t about Benji anymore, it’s about you. And by you, I mean all of you.”
“All?”
“Think about Sam and Chloe.” James shivered, and Lauren stood to wrap her scarf around his neck. “They need you as much as you need them.”
He was warmer now, besides his feet. They were numb, coated with a layer of wet socks. For the first time that James could remember, he wanted to cry. He wouldn’t, of course, but the urge lingered. And as Ricky set a mug and a blueberry muffin in front of him, James used every ounce of strength in his body to raise his head and thank him.
The two watched him eat. The muffin scratched its way down his throat, and each sip of coffee made him more nauseous than the one before. He didn’t care that he wasn’t a coffee drinker, or the fact that he hated sweets. He choked it all down faster than he could taste. How long had it been since he last ate?
“Your parents must be worried.” Lauren leaned against the backrest and crossed her arms. “They know you came here, right?”
James nodded. “They—they know I need time.”
The muffin vanished, and his mug emptied out. Ricky pulled it from him immediately. “I’ll get more.”
James waited for Ricky to reach the counter before speaking again. “I lost my sister, and now my best friend.” His voice was raspy. “If I had just—”
“Stop.” Lauren’s stare burned him until he finally looked into her eyes. “Listen to me. Everyone feels guilty right now. You think I don’t? The night before Benji left, I arranged for Sam to come talk to him. If I’d never done that, they wouldn’t have made plans to meet. Maybe none of this would’ve happened. You think I never feel guilty about that?”
James yearned to look away from her, but no matter how much willpower he used, he couldn’t manage it.
“Everyone feels what you’re feeling, but are you just gonna watch them sulk? Or are you gonna stand up and tell them they’re not alone?” Lauren shut her eyes for a moment, holding her composure. “Because right now, that’s what I’m telling you.”
James allowed her words into his mind, although he wasn’t sure what any of it meant. Eventually, Ricky returned with another cup of coffee, and James gulped it down faster than the last.
The empty cafe was colorless, but chatting with Lauren had somehow brought a hint of color into the room. The air filled with a warm orange hue, lighting everything with a dewy glow. Maybe—just maybe—she was right. Perhaps he wasn’t alone.
“Are you saying I should go to school?” James set his empty mug on the table.
She stared out the window, watching the seagulls gather in colonies by the sea. “I think that if Benji were here, he’d want you three together.”
* * *
“You tried to kill him,” Sam muttered.
Mayor Perkins had his hands wrapped loosely around the steering wheel. “Of course I didn’t.” He caught Sam’s eyes for a moment, and she turned to the window, watching the trees whiz past them.
“You tried to shoot him.” Sam hugged the backpack on her lap, pulling it into her chest. Her brothers sat in the back seat, silent. They hadn’t been told a hint about the tragic night last week, although after Sam and the mayor’s frequent arguments, they had probably pieced together the story by now.
“No, that’s not what it was.” He sighed. “For the hundredth time, I never intended to harm him. All I needed was a way to pressure him into the car. How else could I help? Samantha, he was willing to leave town—to leave everyone behind. The only threat strong enough to faze him was death before leaving. You know I did the right thing.”
Sam banged a fist on the car door, her head boiling. “You did anything but the right thing, okay?” Her eyes watered. “This whole time, you never cared about Benji. You didn’t even try to understand him!”
He raised his voice. “I did everything I could to keep him safe.”
“You tried to kill him.”
“He almost got in the car.”
“You tried to kill him.”
“If you hadn’t interfered, I would’ve driven him home that night.”
“You tried to kill him.” Sam’s backpack fell to the car floor, and she breathed into her palms. “I never should’ve told you about how he tried to leave. I shouldn’t have held a grudge over some stupid argument. If only I’d gotten over it and—”
“Samantha.” His voice was stern, and his grip intensified on the steering wheel. “You did the right thing by telling us.”
Sam didn’t know which was right—telling the adults about Benji’s failed escape, or helping him leave last week. No matter how many times she told Mayor Perkins he did wrong, the guilt never left her. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was her who tried to kill him. Maybe Mayor Perkins was right. Maybe if she stayed home that night—if she never agreed to meet at Blueberry—Benji would still be alive.
“I’m getting out here.” She retrieved her backpack from the floor.
“If you want to make things harder on yourself,” he pulled over to the side of the road and gestured to the door, “go right ahead.”
“You’re gonna be late,” one of the twins said.
“Oh, shut up.” Sam stormed out of the passenger seat and onto the sidewalk. As soon as she shut the door behind her, the car zoomed down the road without hesitation.
An arm wrapped around her shoulder. Tobias had abandoned the safety of the back seat to join her. They walked to school together in silence.
Sam had dreaded class lately. Everyone was shocked about Benji leaving town, but no one knew she was there when it happened. She intended to keep it that way, but it was painful to bottle the truth inside of her. Listening to their few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle made her sick.
She walked slowly, hoping to show up as late as possible. Instead of rushing, Tobias matched her pace.
“You’ll be late,” Sam said.
“I know.”
“Your finals are coming up.”
“So?”
“And now Dad’s gonna be mad at you, too.”
“Let him.”
There was a certain spark in Tobias’ eyes that she hadn’t seen before, and she welcomed it.
* * *
Ever since Benji left, school had been unbearable, but today was exceptionally awful. With only a week left until graduation, Mr. Trenton reviewed dress requirements and how to fine-tune their speeches. As he spoke, the class was restless. Audrey folded her hands in her lap, leaning over her desk as though she were sick. Chloe had on the same sweatshirt she wore after Nina’s death. She pulled the hood over her head, immersing herself deeper into the darkness, and this time, Mr. Trenton didn’t mind.
Chloe peeked at James’s desk. Still empty. He hadn’t come to school since he heard the news that night.
“I know you’re all dealing with some . . .” Mr. Trenton paused. “Things. But it’s important to focus right now. In only a week, you’ll be out of here.”
“Focus?” Jett held his back straight in his seat for once, feet firmly on the floor. “How do you expect us to focus with Benji dead?”
Dead.
The word hit Chloe like a bullet. It was an avoided word, always replaced with softer terms like lost or gone or left. No one but Jett was brave enough to say it, yet now that the word floated through the air, the students loosened.
“I know it’s not easy.” Mr. Trenton broke a grin. “But don’t forget tha
t your big day is coming up. Pretty soon, you’ll be high schoolers, running around with the big kids.”
“I don’t care about school right now.” Audrey leaned her head on her desk. “Can’t we go home for the week?”
Peyton sniffled. “Can’t we go home forever?”
“Or just skip graduation?” Noah added. “I’d rather not go.”
“This is non-negotiable,” Mr. Trenton said. “Graduation is your big day.”
Chloe rubbed her eyes. “Well it was Benji’s big day, too.” And maybe if she hadn’t turned against him at Blueberry, everything would be okay. Maybe if she trusted him and never vandalized Stricket’s home, Benji would be sitting in class with her, breathing the same air.
Mr. Trenton broke his eyes from the room, focusing on his desk. He stacked a few piles of paperwork and sorted through them. Stamping them. Turning them. Filling them with more marks than necessary.
Sam rose from her seat, her sharp words penetrating the dense air. “I thought Benji was one of your favorite students.”
Mr. Trenton stared at Sam with marbles for eyes. His grip tightened on the paper in his hands.
“I don’t know what the heck happened that night,” Jett said. “But you know what? I’m glad he stole my bike.”
Noah removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “He knew how to ride a bike?”
Sam bit her lip as she sat, concealing a grin.
“Shocking, right?” Jett’s smile was contagious. It spread through the room, and soon everyone was laughing. Even Chloe.
“Alright, that’s enough.” Mr. Trenton made eye contact with each of them, killing the humor one student at a time.
Leaving Wishville Page 19
