Wings From Ashes Trilogy

by Linda Nelson

  This morning, she had seen her dad leave early, just as the sun was coming up. Her mom, most likely would continue to sleep until nine or ten in the morning.

  Karla was dressed as soon as her dad had left. She had a quick bite to eat and was slipping out of the house to run down the street to the basketball court by eight to meet Max. She was quite surprised to see Carol already there sitting on the bench with her head tilted back and her eyes shut. A car in need of a good body job was parked next to the sidewalk not far from the bench, the radio inside it was blaring some sort of hip hop music with a heavy bass.

  Rod had a car – nice – beat up but nice.

  The closer she got to the basketball court, she could make out Max heading toward her. He had some sort of backpack just like Carol. Were they planning something, Karla wondered?

  “How’d it go last night,” Max asked her as he took hold of her hand and escorted her to take a seat on the bench next to Carol.

  “Fine, why?”

  “Your mom didn’t give you anymore hassles?”

  “Her – no – she was already passed out and in bed when I got home. Dad didn’t say much either, so all was fine.”

  “And this morning,” Carol asked.

  Karla grinned, “I got out of the house before she woke up and my dad had already left to go to where ever it is that he goes. He never tells me what he does for a living. My guess is that he is some sort of salesman. Anyway, it was a piece of cake.”

  The four of them chuckled.

  Carol said,“Sounds like your night was uneventful.” She rubbed her cold hands together trying to generate some warmth in the November cold air. “I had a fight with my Mom. She searched my room and messed it up.”

  “Really, now? What the hell was she looking for?” Karla had no clue.

  “I don’t know, probably money,” Carol lied. “But I’m not going to take her crap anymore.

  I want to leave home, find my own place. I’ll live on the street if I have to.”

  “Funny you say that,” piped in Max, “My folks kicked me out just because I don’t have a job. I tried to tell them that the economy is not job friendly, but they didn’t want to hear another word.

  My dad said that I was too old to live at home.

  Man, I’m only 18; I don’t know what he is complaining about. He told me years ago how he had lived at home until he was 25. That was when he met my mother. He said something about how they met in college.”

  “Your dad went to college,” Karla asked.

  “Supposedly he went to Princeton.”

  “Wow, really?” Karla was impressed. “So where are you going to stay?”

  “I don’t know.” Max replied, “I know I won’t be able to stay with you. And even if I could, I don’t think I would want to, no offense of course…I just don’t think I would be able to put up with your mom.”

  “I don’t blame you. Sometimes I wonder how I put up with her myself.”

  A police cruiser passed by the basketball court, the sight of the car made Rod nervous. He was standing beside his car, and thinking about joining them on the court up until he saw the cruiser pass on by.

  “I had a fight with my mom last night,” Rod piped in from where he stood, “and I’ve had enough of her crap. I want to get out of here too. Any of you want to come along?”

  “Yeah, sure,” replied Carol, “where are you going?”

  “Just out of here for a while,” he replied.

  Max tugged on Karla’s hand pulling her off the bench. “Come on Karla, let’s go for a ride.”

  She giggled and gave him no resistance. He held the backseat driver’s side door open for her to scoot inside. He smooshed close to her and held her hand tight after shutting the door with a light slam.

  Rod started up the engine, it knocked a bit. A sound that was typical for a car as old as this one was. He drove down the street before the police car made another pass. He was sure that they would be looking for him by now.

  “Anyone wanna to go anywhere in particular,” He called out looking in his rearview mirror to see Max and Karla necking. The sight made him silently chuckle.

  Carol asked, “How about far away from here?” She smirked when she turned around in her seat to face Karla only to see the two lovebirds in the back seat.

  There was no comment from the kissing couple in the back seat. Carol turned sideways in the front seat so she could get a better look at them. Their persistent necking made her snicker.

  “Far away from here – it will be, gorgeous,” replied Rod. He reached over and gave Carol’s leg a quick squeeze, “Anything for you my lady.”

  Fifteen minutes later Rod was turning on to the highway with no destination in mind, just a strong desire to leave Brantwood far, far behind them. A light flurry began to fall from the sky.

  Chapter 8–Something Else to Do

  A police cruiser passed and slowed down. Rod didn’t need them to be coming after him. Not now. Not at this time. Not when he had his new girl sitting in the seat beside him.

  He watched it turn around behind him from his rearview mirror.

  Shit - Shit… he said silently inside his head. He gave Carol a quick glance and saw that she seemed never to notice the cruiser behind them. All he wanted to do was find a place to get off the highway as soon as possible.

  The first exit he saw, he pulled off and was thankful to see the cruiser continue to pass by him on the highway. No one else in the car seemed to notice they were being followed. From then on he decided to try and keep to the back roads as best as possible.

  “Hey, is it possible for us to stop for a bit and grab a bite to eat? I’m starving – all I had this morning to eat was a couple pieces of toast,” Karla asked from the back seat.

  They had passed the Brantwood town line nearly two hours ago. Karla had no idea that they were going so far away from home. This was something she had never done before, except with her parents. It felt odd to have this much freedom.

  “I think there is a Micky D’s further up ahead, if I remember right,” Rod replied. “I got to take a leak anyway.”

  They passed through four sets of lights and passed a well-known hockey arena, the large M sign appeared on their left. The parking lot was packed. There must have been a hockey game that day.

  Inside the fast food restaurant, they found a long line waiting to be waited on.

  Fortunately for Karla, she had decided to bring along her purse with her this morning, so she had money to buy a couple of burgers and a soda. She half expected Max to buy her lunch, but he never once offered. Instead, he passed up on lunch and settled only for a large soda saying he wasn’t actually that hungry.

  Rod bought lunch for both himself and Carol with the money he had taken from the gas station last night. Carol hung onto his arm while he placed their order. She liked it when a guy paid her way.

  It took them some time to find a free booth as the place was so packed. The two girls piled into the inside of the booth first.

  Karla was a little bit disturbed by the fact that Max did not offer to pay for her meal. Maybe she had her expectations a bit too high for him. He was a good looking guy, and she was in need of a boyfriend, so she let it go for now even though she couldn’t help but notice how Rod had paid for Carol’s meal. That did make her feel a little bit jealous of Carol.

  As she ate her burger, Karla tried to lean forward in an attempt to see the clock hanging on the wall. It was close to eleven thirty in the morning. The afternoon rush soon would be flooding the place.

  “I would hate to see what this place looked like on a busy day,” Rod said making small talk.

  “So, does anyone have any idea as to what we are going to do today?” Asked Carol.

  “We could go see a movie,” suggested Karla.

  Rod knew what he wanted to do. He just had to get the rest of them to agree or at least the majority. “Naw, I’m not much of the movie going type of guy. I was thinking maybe of doing something much mor
e exciting.”

  Karla replied, “Well the amusement park is close.”

  Rod grinned, “I’m not thinking amusement park.”

  Max raised an eyebrow, “Like what? Go get laid?”

  Carol snickered as her eyes met Karla’s that went wide eyed with his comment. She wondered if Karla was actually that innocent or was it all an act. There was so much about Karla she didn’t know. One minute she seemed to be childishly stupid and I and the next she was smart and quick thinking.

  Rod smiled at Carol. “That would work, but I had something else in mind.”

  Carol was curious, “Like what then?” She scooted closer to him and rubbed her thigh against his seductively.

  Rod placed his arm around Carol’s neck and pulled her close and kissed her neck. “I was thinking that maybe the four of us could take a road trip. You know, like a vacation away from parents and school.”

  He knew he was pushing it with the girls. They had just barely met.

  Carol’s face brightened to his surprise. “Sounds like a great idea to me.”

  Karla wasn’t sure she liked this idea. She hardly knew these guys and Carol did steer her wrong once before not too long ago. Thanksgiving was right around the corner. How would her dad feel if she wasn’t there to help him with the turkey?

  Max placed his arm around Karla and pulled her closer to him, copying Rods maneuver. She smiled a weak smile at him when he brushed the hair from away from her eyes. He could see that she was having second thoughts about the idea. She would need a little bit of coaxing.

  “You have such beautiful eyes, has anyone ever told you that.” Max asked her. He softly rubbed his finger against her cheek, stroking it. “We could be together with no parents to interfere. Remember how your mom was yesterday?”

  Karla nodded. She remembered full well how her mother had called the cops on them just yesterday when they hadn’t done anything wrong, and her dad never did anything about it. Maybe her parents wouldn’t miss her. Sometimes it did seem that they forgot that she existed unless there was something they wanted her to do, like chores. It wasn’t like her mom couldn’t do the housework herself. She didn’t work.

  Max turned back to address Rod and Carol saying, “A road trip sounds like a great idea. I have not one place I need to be, and I always wanted to go to Abernale, North Carolina. It’s where one of my cousins moved to. He once told me to look him up if I was ever in the area. We could stay with him for a little while. I am sure he would let us.”

  “Go south? I always wanted to go south,” Carol replied. If she got any closer to Rod, she would be sitting on his lap. “Karla we could go swimming in the ocean.”

  “But it is almost winter,” Karla tried to reason. “You can’t go swimming in the winter.”

  Karla wasn’t so sure about taking a road trip. She was afraid of what her parents would say when she asked them if she could go. And if she didn’t ask, who wee, she would be dead meat. She thought about pulling her phone out right then and there to give her dad a call to ask him, but Carol was giving her a kind of weird look. It was almost like she had two heads or something.

  They all laughed at Karla.

  “God girl, you have never been down South have you?” Rod asked. “It is still hot down there, and the beaches are open almost year round.”

  Karla mouthed an Oh.

  “It sounds like a great idea to me,” Rod agreed, “North Carolina, here we come.”

  A police cruiser drove past the windows of the restaurant where they sat reminding Rod that he probably was a wanted man at this time. “I think we should get going then. It’s going to be a long ride, and the sooner we get going the better.”

  He cleared up his and Carol’s trash from the table. Carol reached out and snatched the soda cup from him. “I want to get a refill before we go ‘cause it sounds like we won’t be stopping again anytime too soon.

  Karla are you gonna get a refill too? I’ll wait for you.”

  Max stood up and let Karla slide out of the booth. “I have to go to the ladies room before we go too.”

  “I’ll go with you, wait for me,” Carol said as refilled her cup.

  Karla left her soda with Max after waiting for Carol. She actually did not want Carol to follow her to the bathroom. Her plan was to make a quick call to her dad to let him know where she was. Now that Carol was going to be in the bathroom with her she wasn’t going to be able to give him a call without feeling like she was being a priss. Then again, maybe Carol would finish up before her so she at least could send her dad a quick text message.

  In the bathroom, Carol insisted that Karla use the single stall before her. This was not what Karla had planned for.

  “So what do you think of Rod,” Carol asked when she heard Karla stop tinkling.

  “He’s all right. I like Max better.”

  “Max is decent looking too. He’s got great biceps.”

  Karla came out of the stall, and Carol took her turn. “I like his brown eyes,” Karla said while she washed her hands.

  “Rod has nice eyes too.”

  Karla took out her phone and was about to message her dad when Carol stepped out of the stall and gave her a questioning look. So she made it look like she was trying to play some stupid game.

  “Are you planning on staying in the bathroom all day?” Carol asked, “Don’t you know that you can play that there stupid game while we are traveling in the car?”

  Karla quickly came up with an excuse, “I was just deleting some messages.”

  Carol had an excuse too, “I didn’t have to go after all. I just wanted to make sure you were all right with this. I mean you did look a little bit freaked out.”

  Karla wondered if she actually looked that freaked out. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be? She didn’t have a change of clothes and very little money. She never planned for this. How were they going to survive? Where were they going to sleep?

  “I’m good,” Karla lied.

  “We better get going, or the guys will be looking for us.”

  Carol followed Karla from the bathroom.

  “We were about to get a search party together. What took so long?”

  Carol looked at Karla and was about to answer when Karla replied instead. “We’re girls – you do know that right. We always take longer.”

  Rod shook his head, he was tired and tired of waiting and did not want to dilly dally any longer. He had trouble sleeping at night and his head hurt. He also longed for a chance to get high. The presence of so many police in the parking lot was getting on his nerves too.

  He led them out the door and into the parking lot. So far he was safe. The police hadn’t noticed his car. But they did enter the restaurant while he and Max were standing there waiting for the girls to come out of the bathroom. As soon as he noticed them entering the fast food restaurant he knew he had to get out of there as soon as possible. He was sure they had to be looking for him by now.

  The only thing he could do while he waited was to turn his back to them. But that meant that he couldn’t see if they were about to approach him either.

  The sooner they got out of there the better.

  Finally, the four teens piled into the car.

  Rod wasted no time in starting it up as Carol played with the radio until she found and selected a station that not only came in good but was playing R & B and alternative rock with the top forties count down that would be airing next on the station.

  One of Karla’s favorite songs began to play. She loved the lyrics to the song. They seemed to express the way she felt about life in general. “Turn it up,” she said to Carol, and she began to sing along regardless that everyone could hear her terrible singing.

  Carol obliged as Rod backed out of the parking spot. The music drowned out Karla’s voice.

  Another police cruiser drove past the restaurant. Rod knew he had to quickly find his way to a back road traveling in their general direction. He was sure that the police had to know that he had
left Brantwood by now. It was only a matter of time before they would be looking for him. He was sure of it.

  Rod pulled out of the parking lot of the restaurant cutting off another car and almost causing an accident. The owner of the car leaned hard on his horn. Rod just ignored him and kept on driving. The sign for the exit for the highway came up quick; he passed it and took a different turn down a side road. He kept checking his rearview mirror to see if any police cruisers were following him. Thankfully they were not.

  With no cars following him, he was able to relax and enjoy the drive and his lady sitting next to him.

  Chapter 9–Pit Stop

  “Was that the state line,” Karla asked. She was surprised to see how far they had traveled since leaving Brantwood this morning. She knew her parents were going to be pissed, and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. Having second thoughts about going home was now out of the question. Just like calling them now was out of the question too.

  She felt an inch of guilt about not calling them in the pit of her stomach. It was sort of like a foreboding feeling. All because she knew she was going to be in for it when she got back. Her parents were going to kill her. Because of that she should just give in and live it up like Max, Carol and Rod, but it wasn’t that easy. Her guilt had the best of her.

  “That it was,” Carol answered with a yawn.

  “We’re now in Connecticut,” announced Rod, “I hope no one has any objections, but we just left Massachusetts behind.”

  Carol was still being nice to her, and Max was even nicer. He was funny and charming and paid lots of attention to her.

  Karla leaned forward to get a better look out the window. There wasn’t much to see, just houses and lots of other buildings along the way. The land was pretty flat and barren of any kind of hills. There were a few places where there were woods or fields, but those were few and far between.

  It had been two hours since they last stopped at Micky D’s. An hour ago Rod decided to get back on the highway. She wasn’t sure when they planned to stop again. That nagging feeling about calling her dad and checking in kept bugging her. It came and went until it no longer bothered her. Maybe she would be back sometime tomorrow and could explain her disappearance to them. But then what would she say to her dad? Surely she would be grounded regardless of what she told him.