by Dakota Lake
I scoffed down breakfast alone, mom had already left for work and Frank was no where to be seen, most likely still in bed.
I heard Carly's car horn and dumped my dirty cereal bowl in the sink and hurried to the front door. I paused in the hallway, staring into the full length mirror. My chocolate brown eyes stared back at me and I let out a deep breath.
“You can do this, try not to think about the move and don't cry or you may never stop,” I said to myself trying.
Today was going to be torture, my last day with my best friend Carly Bell.
Carly and I had been best friends since the time I wondered off as a toddler and waddled straight into her yard three doors along from us. Mom had found me a short time later, we were playing picnic with the teddy bears on the front yard. We have been inseparable ever since sharing everything from skinny jeans to secrets, she was the only one I had ever told about what I could do. I made my way down the drive towards Carly's little red bug. I could drive, but could never save up enough money for my own car. Carly had never worked a day in her life and her car was a present from her parents last year. I however did not have that luxury and had to work for anything I wanted or needed.
“Ruby Summers, you ready for our last best day ever?” she said bouncing around in her seat to the radio, probably hyped up from coffee. She drank the stuff non stop as if it was oxygen that she couldn't live without.
“Not really,” I said sliding in.
“Well try not to be too sad and ruin the day, we have loads to get done.” She meant shopping, which actually meant me following her around holding the bags while she tried on clothes and spent daddy’s money. I never minded though she never acted like a spoilt brat she was fun and I enjoyed her bubbly energy, she had enough for both of us.
We were complete opposites, she was a natural honey blonde unlike my bleach disaster, I read books, she read gossip magazines. She loved wearing every colour under the sun, I on the other hand didn’t own a closet full of rainbows and felt at home in my darks. Carly was always the center of attention and her double sized chest helped with that, she would flirt with ever guy she met. I didn't have that confidence, I didn't think I looked bad or anything I just liked to keep to myself and the fact that if I had a boyfriend I would unintentionally know his every thought, it would be a nightmare. I was never jealous we were just different and it worked for us.
We spent the day at the mall browsing the sales racks she probably tried on thirty pairs of shoes, but we had fun none the less. By the time we left my feet were aching I was glad to sit down in the car. We headed back to Carly's for dinner and a sleepover. Our Friday night sleepovers had started years ago and had now become traditional each and every week without fail. Her mom made spaghetti bolognese for dinner, it was amazing and made a nice change from soup.
Carly had been in non stop Carly talk mode all day but now she was finally in a calm state, I thought it would be a good time to mention the whole Seth thing.
“So yesterday I heard mom thinking about Seth. He's coming over on Saturday to pick up his stuff, mom's had it boxed in the attic since he left,” Carly's hair braiding slowed down. “Seth. But your mom hasn’t talked about Seth in years. I thought no one knew where he was?” “That’s what I thought but he's obviously kept in contact with her and now I find out he's coming over sometime tomorrow to collect his stuff.”
“Aren’t you working tomorrow?” she asked tying the braid off at the end.
“Yeah it's my last day at the coffee shop, I’m hoping I get home in time to see him. I’m kind of upset he didn’t get in touch with me though we got on so well, I really missed him when he left.” “I can't believe I’m going to miss all this tomorrow,” she let out a theatrical sigh. “you know I always had a crush on him,”
“I remember, it's probably the longest crush you've ever had it went on for years. I’ll never forget the time when you asked him to marry you,”
“I was five and if I remember correctly he said yes,” she said giggling.
“He had no choice you had a water gun aimed at him.” We both fell back on the bed laughing. I was really going to miss her.
“How old is Seth now?”
“He would of turned twenty one last month.”
“I wonder what he's been doing? I bet he still looks delicious,” she said biting her lip. “Seriously you have to stop now,” I said playfully smacking her. We stayed up late into the night chatting about everything and anything.
Chapter Two
The next morning arrived too soon. We had to get up early as Carly needed to pack for her trip, her mom was flying her out to visit relatives today and I had to be at work for 10am. We said our goodbyes on her doorstep and promised to write letters to each other to be traditional aside from all the phone calls we would be making and chatting via the internet. Her thoughts were on constant reply like a stuck record of how much she was going to miss me.
I hurried home taking a quick shower deciding to skip breakfast I was running late as it was. I usually walked to save money but today there wasn’t time. I caught the bus from the end of the street and travelled the short distance to work.
Morning at the coffee shop went by slowly but smoothly. Helen my manager was even friendlier then normal which made a change, it was probably because she was glad to be finally getting rid of me. I always got the feeling she disliked me.
I finished just after 4pm and quickly got changed back into my regular clothes but got held up waiting for Helen to give me my pay check, every time she went to fetch it she got distracted with something and even stood talking for fifteen minutes with a customer about coffee beans. I internally groaned, annoyed she hadn't had it waiting for me, I was definitely going to miss Seth now, but I didn't have a choice the coffee shop would be closed tomorrow and I wouldn't have time on Monday we would be leaving in the morning. She eventually found a free moment to nip out back and fetch it for me and it only took two seconds. I still smiled and waved goodbye even though inside I was fuming and was glad to see the back of her.
I usually strolled home at a snails pace but today it was raining which was completely out of the blue and unexpected. Of course I had no umbrella with me, I didn't think we even owned an umbrella back at the house, because it hardly ever rained there was no need for one. It made a nice change I suppose so I didn't complain except the buses didn’t come for another hour which meant I had to walk home in the sudden downpour. I hurried along the sidewalk doing something that was a cross between speed walking and jogging with the occasional jumping over puddles. I didn’t think I looked too weird doing it as other people were doing exactly the same.
I looked at my cell, it was already 5.10pm, hopefully Seth hadn’t come and gone by the time I got back, but it was highly likely.
When I reached the corner of my street I saw a rusty looking old green pick up truck parked up outside my house. I felt a sudden pang of relief, still hopeful, I hadn't missed Seth. I ran the rest of the way and jogged up the drive as the front door swung open, a tall guy stepped out onto the porch holding a box. He stopped dead still when he saw me and frowned.
I stood there in the rain not sure what to do, the guy was looking at me like I’d done something wrong. Thankfully Seth appeared in the doorway behind the stranger and bumped into his back holding another box.
“Dude, move you're in the way,” Seth said.
The other guy moved to one side and let Seth past. Seth spotted me and started grinning, he dumped the box on the floor and greeted me with a huge bear hug.
“Rubes,” he said, calling me by the nickname he had given me when I was younger. “Hi,” I replied trying to breathe, he obviously didn’t know his own strength. “Okay, can't breathe,” “Sorry, I’ve just missed you so much,” he said putting me back down on the floor. “You look so grown up. What has it been two years?”
“Three,” I corrected him, not being able to contain my smiling.
He looked so different compared to last t
ime I had seen him, he was almost unrecognisable. His dark brown hair was cut short on top, not long and messy like I was used to it. He looked as if he'd grown several inches taller. He had on a long sleeve T-shirt and even through that I could see how muscular he was, he must of been working out loads. He had always looked tall and lanky but now he reminded me of one of the body builders I had seen on TV. I glanced over at the other guy who had stopped frowning and just looked bored watching our brother-sister reunion. “Ruby this is Micah,” Seth said crooking his neck towards the other guy.
Micah looked about the same age as Seth he was tall but skinny looking. His hair was blonde, short at the sides longer on top and styled up, he had both his ears pierced, he looked like someone who spent a lot of time on their appearance. He seemed a little too perfect, like one of those models seen on TV modelling jeans or advertising a fragrance. He was dressed all in black that matched the black ink tattoos which crept up round the side of his neck, but it was his eyes that caught my attention icy blue rings with a pool of black in the middle, they looked strange and sent a chill down my spine.
“Hey,” I said to him, but he ignored me and walked past me down the steps. I looked over at Seth, but he hadn't noticed anything strange and was still smiling.
“I can't believe you're here, mom never said you were coming over I didn’t think she even knew where you were. Where have you been? You’ve obviously been taking care of yourself you look different but in a good way.”
He started shaking his head. “Rubes I wrote you all those letters telling you what I was doing. I moved to Oregon I thought you knew,”
Letters, what letters was he talking about?
“I never got any letters.”
His face changed from confused to annoyed in seconds. We both said “MOM,” out loud at the same time.
“I can't believe her, why would she do that? I’m so going to get mad with her later.” I said angrily. “Don't waste your breath on her, she's always had a thing against me I should of expected her to do something like this. I wondered why you never replied. I just thought you were mad at me for leaving.” I could hear him cursing her in his head.
“Where is she anyway?” I asked, having noticed her car wasn’t in the drive.
“She left when I arrived, heading back to work.”
“All she does is work. I practically live here on my own. Frank is always out drinking mom's money away or in bed sleeping a hangover off. I hate it here and we're constantly arguing and now she’s moving me nearly a two hours drive away from Carly.” I let out a frustrated groan. “Nothing changes then,” He laughed. “I’m surprised you agreed to let her drag you away from Carly you two are practically attached at the hip,”
“I don’t really have a choice I’m still in school, I can't exactly get my own place. I don’t suppose there’s room at yours wherever that is? Anything would be better than living here it's actually quite lonely.”
He looked at me with a sadness in his eyes or was it guilt for leaving me here with mom on my own.
“Rubes as much as I'd love you to come and stay with me it's erm....,” he paused trying to find the right words. “It's not good timing and the place I live is isolated in the forest you’d hate it more than moving with mom trust me. I don’t even have Wi-Fi set up, maybe soon though. I might move next year back to civilisation then I promise you can come visit.” It's not safe......I heard his thoughts. He did say he lived in the forest maybe he meant the wild animals, maybe there were bears around where he lived or other four legged creatures with teeth.
“I’d invite you to stay for dinner but we only have the basics left before the move.” “No it's all right, we've got to hit the road anyway,”
He was leaving already and I didn’t know when I'd see him again. Before I could say anything else Micah had appeared at the bottom of the steps and was watching us.
“Why don’t we go to that diner, the one we passed by on the way over here?” Micah said looking down at the steps that he was scuffing his boot along.
I looked over at Seth his face was a picture of confusion as he looked at Micah. Micah stopped kicking the step and looked up at him.
“Just a minute ago you were complaining you were hungry anyway you haven’t seen your sister in a while you two can catch up.”
What's he doing?....I heard Seth's thinking. After a few moments of silence Seth smiled at me. “Okay.....let me just get the rest of my stuff and we'll go,” he said but he still sounded unsure. “If that's all right with you Ruby? I'd love to hear how you're getting on at school and everything else,” “Yeah I'd like that.” I replied noticing Micah, he was stood at the bottom of the steps watching me. I walked past him trying to ignore his obvious staring, did I have something on my face? I became self concious and started wiping at my face with the back of my sleeve. Micah pushed past me to get in front and actually bumped my shoulder. Had I done something wrong?
“Keys I’ll drive,” he said to Seth, Seth chucked them to him and ran back to the house to get the last two boxes.
I sat next to the door on the journey, Seth on my right and Micah behind the wheel. Micah's behaviour towards me had seemed a little off, or was I just imagining it?
I casually looked over at him, I thought it was odd I could hear Seth mumbling all sorts of random things in his head mainly about the radio but I couldn't hear anything from Micah. Seth leaned forward fiddling with the radio buttons and I watched Micah sideways. I waited for something, anything but there was nothing he was completely blank not a single word. That had never happened before, I didn't hear anything. I tried again maybe I wasn't concentrating enough? I was dumbly staring at him when he caught me, he looked annoyed. I panicked and looked out the window. What if he knew what I was trying to do? No that wasn’t possible, was it? We pulled into the diner parking lot, the rain had stopped and the sun was out again. Seth and I walked in front and Micah strolled behind us which made me feel even more uncomfortable. We reached the double doors that Seth held open for me, I walked inside and turned waiting for him. He was still holding the door open for Micah, but Micah stood there looking at me. “You coming?” Seth asked him.
“No I’m going to wait out here.” he replied before turning and disappearing around the corner. Seth just shrugged and let the door swing shut.
We sat down and a pretty red headed girl with a face full of freckles came over to take our order. There was something strange about Micah and I couldn't stop my wondering eyes from looking out the window for him, but he was no where to be seen.
“So I take it he’s not hungry?” I asked watching as Seth rearranged the condiments. Seth looked up. “I guess not, he’s probably just giving us some space to talk on our own.” I nodded he didn’t have to stand outside on his own though. I couldn’t help myself I knew I was going to blurt out the next words, whether I wanted to or not.
“He stares a lot or haven’t you noticed?”
Seth smiled. “Micah is or can be...,” he was searching for the right words. “He's not good in social situations or anything that involves people really. He's probably just curious about you hence the staring.”
“Well he could of just said hello or said something instead of just staring,”
“It's just the way he is, he's been around a while and he still doesn’t know how to act normal that's all,”
Been around a while he didn’t look much older than twenty. The food arrived which ended the Micah conversation.
I learned Seth was working in a factory cutting metal, it sounded dangerous to me but he said he enjoyed it and the money was good. He told me he lived in a small town called Heaven's Point, somewhere in Oregon. He lived in a cabin in the forest away from the town, he liked the peace and quiet out there. We talked about school and the subjects I was enjoying, it was as if no time had passed. He said he wasn’t happy at the time he had left, mom was nagging him over attending school and his future saying how useless he was and constantly comparing him to our non
existent father. It sounded like mom was suffocating him and he couldn’t live with her anymore. I was beginning to feel the same way.
After we'd finished I followed a group of teenagers out the door while Seth paid the bill. I took one step past the edge of the building to see the back of Micah, he was on his cell. I didn’t like the idea of walking over to the truck where he would clearly see me, or stare at me. So I stepped back behind the wall out of view, but not out of hearing distance.
“I still think this is a bad idea, I can't see everything. You need to stay away from her only bad things will happen if you get involved with her, this won't end well for any of us. I know what you've been doing the past months I’m not stupid,” he sounded agitated. “Seth is never going to agree to this. I vote we tell her the truth and leave her here, fingers crossed she believes us and doesn’t go joy riding.” He paused for a few seconds. “Seriously calm down that was a joke.....I’ll bring her back,” Micah said. Bring who back?
“Seth really needs to tell her the truth it's going to be really awkward having her around.......maybe? I'll have to tell Seth to keep a lid on it. She's strong though, I could definitely feel her trying to get in my head it was weird,”
I realised I’d been holding my breath for too long and let it out. Was he talking about me? Had he felt me trying to read his thoughts? No one had ever shown any sign that they knew I was searching through their thoughts before. Maybe it was just him, maybe he could do the same thing? And who was he talking to?
I stood there puzzled trying to make sense out of it.
Micah went quiet and I couldn't decide whether now would be a good time to walk to the truck or not, I didn’t want him to catch me listening to his conversation. I tried to move but my feet were rooted to the floor, I was letting my curiosity get the better of me. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I flinched, it was Seth.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Just waiting for you,” I replied, his eyes drifted over my shoulder. I looked behind me to find Micah standing close by watching me, the cell was gone from his hand. By the way he was looking at me suggested he knew I had been listening to him.
