Continuing on this path through the forest was only a plea to be found. I need to get out of here. Benji turned. His arms stung as drops of rain smacked against them, but he kept running. For a while he was trapped in a daze. Not knowing where he was going—or why he made certain twists between trees, changing directions—but when he saw an old house in front of him, he woke up.
He hadn’t come this way on purpose, yet at the same time, it was genius. If he wanted to avoid getting caught, he’d need to stay far from the main parts of town. The last place they’d look was Eudora Hill. As long as Chloe didn’t tell anyone, no one would discover his relationship to Oliver.
Benji ran faster, and the shower accelerated, mirroring him. How long had it been since the last time it rained in Wishville? The memory was lost in his mind.
He arrived at the steps of Oliver’s home. The house had changed from the last time he saw it, and it made him sick. The place was patched like old jeans, each broken window covered in boards. The image of Oliver slamming the door in his face shot through him, along with the memory of his argument with Jett. Benji had an urge to step away, but instead of acknowledging it, he confronted the steps and knocked on the door.
All he could hear was the pummeling rain on the wooden deck and flowing from the overhang above him.
Drip. A single droplet trickled from the overhand onto his shoe, a second following his head. He knocked again.
A buzz struck the deck, and although he wasn’t fully sure if Oliver’s footsteps or the wind was the cause, he clung to optimism, pounding harder.
“Oliver!” He knocked until his knuckles went red. “Oliver!”
The door slammed open violently, and the man stood in front of him with a dead look in his eyes.
Benji turned to the deck floor. What am I doing here, anyway? A twist formed in his stomach. How could this day have possibly gone wrong? Why did Benji have to drag so many people into his own mess? It was his fault. All of it. If he had only contained his emotions and controlled himself. If he had remained silent after Nina died. If he had never opened the envelope. If he had used his brain correctly, none of this would have happened!
“I’m sorry.” Benji bit his shivering lip and stepped away, but Oliver stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s tonight, isn’t it?” His voice was softer than usual.
Benji nodded, and Oliver released his shoulder before disappearing into the broken home.
This time, the door was left open for him.
* * *
With a towel around his shoulders, Benji waited in the living room for Oliver. The house was silent, and although he appreciated the slow pace, something about it made him tense. He observed the room carefully, soaking in every last detail.
Oliver emerged from the kitchen with a red cup and slipped it into Benji’s hands. “Hot chocolate.” The mug was warm.
Before he could take a sip, Oliver pulled at his ear, leading Benji to nearly spill the hot drink over himself. “Just kidding.”
Coffee. A smile appeared every time he brought the mug to his lips, fading when pulled away. Lauren was the only person to use that trick. The thought of coffee in the square initiated a flow of memories. The town festivals, although dreaded, would never be forgotten. The cold ocean and pesky seagulls would never cease to haunt him. His memories with everyone—the fun talks at Blueberry, dinner at the Kois’ house, and eating lunch at their favorite cafeteria table. The memories were sweet in his mind, yet also bitter. Like coffee.
There were no instructions. No demands. Oliver sprawled back on the couch and propped his feet onto the table. He sipped on his own drink. Benji joined him, even leaning his back against the couch cushion as though he’d be relaxing there for hours. It was almost a normal night.
A minute could’ve passed, but it felt like an hour. When Benji’s cup was empty, he set it on the table and straightened his back. “I don’t know where to start.”
Oliver waited.
“I’m guessing you haven’t heard about the fights? My suspension? How I sorta blasted through a window?”
He chuckled. “Eudora isn’t a popular spot for gossip.”
“I had a plan tonight.” He raised his chin, but still avoided eye contact. “You know, to bring everyone together.”
“I’m guessing it didn’t end well?”
Benji turned his cheek, ready to look Oliver in the eye, but the man was staring at his lap. When he finally looked up, he was smiling. “You did your best.”
Benji shook from the thought of leaving, and Oliver wrapped an arm around him for stability. Instantly, Benji’s trembling vanished, and his brain thawed. “To think I’ll die.” Benji shook his head. “The last thing I wanted to accomplish before leaving, and I failed.” A moment flew by. Or maybe a few. “What will I do?”
“It’s simple. You’ll stay here tonight.” Oliver set his mug on the floor, hopped to his feet, and planted his boot on a stack of books by the wall. He reached for a clock on the wall, his voice unsteady as he tried to remain balanced on the choppy stack. “I’ll stop all the clocks and—”
“I can’t.” Benji stood, pacing through the room. The pieces were falling together again. “I wouldn’t let myself leave town before because I hadn’t completed my goal.” The spark in his eyes rekindled itself. “And I still haven’t. But that doesn’t mean—”
“Benji.” Oliver stepped down from the books, tossing an analog clock onto the coffee table. “You need to calm down.” His breath staggered from the task, as if taking down a clock was more tiresome than running a mile. “We don’t know anything for sure. It’s safer for you to stay here in case the unexpected happens. We don’t know if—”
“There’s no reason to stay. This whole time I’ve been trying to leave behind some kind of legacy. I thought that if I completed a bunch of random tasks, I’d finally let myself leave. But that’s not it. I just had to be ready to let this all go.” Benji paused in the center of the room, his gray eyes locked on Oliver. “And I’ve never felt more ready than I do right now.”
Oliver’s face hardened. “Any sane man wouldn’t let you go.”
Benji wasn’t in the mood for running again, but it seemed his body had prepared itself for the task. His legs went tense, and he pointed himself in the direction of the door.
The man was too fast. Oliver snatched his wrist, and Benji jumped toward the door, hoping to pull himself free. There was no time to shout.
“Luckily,” Oliver tightened an object to him, nearly choking Benji’s wrist, “I’m not sane.” He released him with a violent thrust toward the wall, grinning widely.
Benji raised his burning wrist in front of him. Contrasting the cuts on his right arm was a handsome silver watch.
“You’re not leaving without a way to keep track of time.” Oliver’s eyes glowed. There was something new in his eyes today. Something foreign.
Benji opened his mouth to thank him, but the words wouldn’t flow.
* * *
By the time the car reached the base of Eudora Hill, it was already 11:39. With less than twenty minutes left, Oliver slammed his foot on the pedal. He drove along the outskirts of town at a dangerous speed, but he still managed to speak calmly. “Are you sure you wanna do this?”
Benji gazed through the windshield.
“I can come with you.” The words sounded bizarre coming from Oliver. “There’s nothing left for me here, anyway.”
Benji wasn’t sure why the offer seemed so awful to him. Perhaps he wanted to accomplish his last goal before death alone. “This is on me, not you.”
A raccoon sprinted across the winding road, and Oliver swerved the wheel in shock. Benji shut his eyes, heart pounding, his right arm throbbing. The car stopped with a screech, sideways on the winding road.
His heart still racing, Benji looked at Oliver in the driver�
��s seat. The man’s eyes glowed in the dark. “Stupid pests.” He lifted his foot from the brakes, his grip on the wheel tighter than before.
As Benji neared his final destination, his stomach twisted inside of him. The rain pounding on the windshield coupled with the swerving of the car at blasting speeds nauseated him. The world spun out of control. His body ached. He could hardly move.
He was fading.
“Lean your head against the back,” Oliver said.
He did. No help.
They reached Candy Road as the clock struck 11:45. Oliver pulled over at the bottom of the road, letting out a sigh of relief. “Need me to walk you?”
Benji peeked through the window at Candy Road, his head throbbing. So many trees. Through them were his final steps of his life. “I got it from here.”
Oliver reached into the back seat and rummaged through some junk. A few moments later, he pulled out an umbrella as black as the night. He held it toward Benji as if it were a prized sword.
Benji took it from him with a grin before sliding outside the car door. This time, the words were able to leave his throat.
“Thank you.”
The man said nothing in return. He stared at him with caramel eyes—eyes that held two precious stories behind them. Benji shut the door, knowing this was the last time he’d ever see him.
The car stood silent, letting the moment seep in. It drove away at a safe, steady speed, leaving Benji alone in his fast-paced race against time.
Benji was quick to move on. He opened the umbrella, held it over his head, and scaled the tree roots of Candy Road, checking his watch along the way.
11:47. Twelve minutes.
Benji didn’t bother thinking anymore. He shoved the idea of death into the dark recess of his mind. From there it gnawed at the end of his brain, but he ignored the pain and focused instead on the trees that summoned him. They shook in the wind, dancing with the ticks of the clock.
Benji neared the top of Candy Road. He could see just above the bridge—the tips of trees that stood across the border. With a peek to the right, he spotted the lights of the square, as they always looked from above. Beautiful. He saw his elementary school sitting next to Wishville Junior High, as well at the high school next to it—the school he would never attend. Lastly, he raised his face eye-level with Oliver’s home on Eudora Hill. In a few moments, Wishville would be nothing more than a tart memory.
“I’m ready.” He shut his eyes as he reached the base of the bridge. “Goodbye, Wishville.” The salty air filled his lungs for what he knew to be his final taste of town.
But when Benji opened his eyes, he wasn’t alone.
CHAPTER 33
bridge
“Take a deep breath, and calm down.” The man’s voice was soothing, but eyes told another story. “Everything’s going to be okay. You’ll get in the car, I’ll take you home, and this mess will finally be over.”
Benji’s eyes glowed under the light of the crescent moon, which hovered like a dragonfly over the ocean. He couldn’t deny that he found Mayor Perkins’ promise appealing. His car blocked the path out of town, lying crooked near the end of the bridge, shimmering in the moonlight. Benji imagined sitting in the front seat. On their way down Candy Road, the heater would blast through the vehicle, and he would finally be warm again. He’d fall asleep with his head leaned gently against the window, listening to the gentle trickling of rain against the glass. He could die there in comfort. He could end this.
Snap out of it!
Benji flung his umbrella to the side of the dirt road. As he stood at the bridge entrance, rain poured over him like sunshine at dusk, soaking his dry clothes for a second time. The waves roared, and for a moment, he almost smiled. “Move aside.”
There was only one man and one car in front of him. A man who cared for Benji and cared for this town. A man he had known his entire life. But as he stared into his hollow eyes now, he wondered if Mayor Perkins had ever known him.
Then there was a car. A car that was his easy way out. A car that, in Benji’s eyes, was a beautiful ending to his story. But as he stared at the bulky machinery, the realization hit that perhaps it was nothing more than a gas-powered facade.
The trees called Benji from the other side. He took a step forward, and they rustled, spouting his name. The waves hastened their speed, ordering him to move faster. He glanced at his new clock. It reflected the sparkling stars on his cheeks.
Ten minutes left.
“You’re killing yourself, Benji.” Mayor Perkins spoon-fed doubts into Benji’s mind, hoping they might overcome whatever evil virus had overtaken him.
The night was cold. He could tell by the way Mayor Perkins’ arms were crossed. Benji wasn’t shaking, despite not having a sweatshirt on.
Mayor Perkins rubbed his arms and cleared his throat. “I have one question for you, and I expect you to answer it.” His voice was piercing. Sharp. “Are you getting in the car or not?”
Benji wanted his answer to be easy. He wanted to shake his head, tell him to let him be, and run into the unknown. But thoughts clotted his mind and he couldn’t think clearly anymore. It took all of his strength to choke out the word no, and as soon as he did, Mayor Perkins had resorted to his backup plan.
He reached behind his back, retrieving a gun that he held firmly in front of him. He spoke once more. “Get in the car.”
Tick.
Time was slipping away. His destination was so close, yet so far, and he couldn’t bring himself to step forward in fear that it might be his last step. This isn’t how it’s supposed to go.
Benji kept his eyes locked on the gun, thinking, but the shining metal blinded his thoughts.
“This town has suffered so much grief because of you.” His eyes watered. “Now please, get in the car so I won’t be forced to end this grief myself.”
Benji’s muscles locked.
Mayor Perkins stepped forward. “It doesn’t have to end like this. Go on.” He tightened his grip on the gun. “Get in the car.”
Tock.
Benji’s walked toward the car, slowly, his heart racing faster than he could think. The mayor loosened his sore fingers on the gun.
He touched the cold door handle, and at that moment, the town froze. Oliver’s car paused on its way back to Eudora. Rebecca stopped searching through town. The mayor transformed into a statue. Everything and everyone in Wishville came to a halt, leaving Benji trapped in a broken world. The only noise he heard were a few distant footsteps. They were soft, hardly noticeable, but the voice that followed was urgent, infecting the air. “Let him go!”
Benji turned, keeping the mayor within his peripheral vision. On the opposite end of the bridge was someone he knew. A girl.
Sam.
She leaned over, hands on her knees, gasping for breath. With her appearance, the town unpaused, and everything set into motion again. The busy clocks ticked as Sam straightened her back. “Dad.” Her breathing was steady now. “Put down the gun.”
He flinched as though she’d appeared out of thin air. “Samantha?”
“Put down the gun!”
Mayor Perkins pulled his focus away from her, turning to Benji. “Get in the car.”
Sam stormed toward him with eyes of fire. “Let him go.”
The waves raced, clapping against themselves louder than thunder. The three of them breathed rapidly out of sync as the rain soaked their clothes. Sam’s frizzy hair stuck to the sides of her cheeks like two flat papers. The waves were noisy, and Benji wished to mute them.
He waited for the sounds to settle in his mind before looking away from Sam, his eyes directed at the ground. “Go back home.”
Backing away, Sam studied both Benji and the mayor in disbelief. She placed her shaky hands onto the railing of the bridge, and with a deep breath, hoisted the rest of her body onto the ledge. After st
raightening her legs, she held her arms out to balance herself.
Finally, Mayor Perkins peeled his focus off Benji. “Get down from there.”
“Drop the gun.”
He tightened his grip. “Get down this instant!”
“If you don’t let Benji leave, I’ll jump off. I’ll do it.”
“Samantha.” There was a pinch of humor in his voice. The left side of his face stretched higher than the right, the tips of his lips gently curved. “Let’s not play games, now.”
Benji watched their conversation silently. It was happening too fast to understand. When he finally found the strength in him, he took a step away from the car door and allowed his fingers to fall from the handle. “Sam?” He thought he called her name, but the world was too loud to hear himself, so he wasn’t fully sure.
Sam focused on her sneakers. “Let him go.” Her eyes wandered to the hundreds of feet below, and she lost the little coordination she had in her legs. She leaned to the side, gathering her balance.
Mayor Perkins’ face reddened. He brought the gun above his head and hurled it into the sea below. “There!” He faced Sam, breathing through gritted teeth. “You happy? Now come down.”
Sam grinned at Benji, satisfied with her success, but he wasn’t able to smile back. As she leaned forward to step off, the rain slipped its way under her shoes. Her arms swerved to gather balance once more, but by the time Benji had taken a single step, she had already disappeared.
The waves squirted mists of excitement through the night sky, eager for their next meal.
Tick.
Even now, Benji couldn’t silence the ticking in the back of his head. He stood on the bridge, his head throbbing with each tock. The world was spinning.
The mayor didn’t have time to shout. He rushed to the ledge, his arms no longer cold.
Benji didn’t understand. There was no way. It wasn’t possible.
Blank. His thoughts vanished.
The bridge was gray. A dark, menacing gray. The kind of gray that fills a room before and after death. The gray filled Benji’s eyes, fading his vision into darkness. Before transitioning into a permanent black, the moonlight brightened his vision, shining a beam of light onto a pair of fumbling hands. They gripped tighter to the railing, and Sam’s head and shoulders emerged from the misty air. With a final push, Sam propelled herself over the railing and tumbled onto the bridge pavement. She lay on the ground, shaking. Freezing.
Leaving Wishville Page 18