by Bryna Butler
Chapter 9: The First Vox
Once at home, Keira went directly to her room. Nana followed behind. “Are you feeling okay?” she asked. “Tonight might be the night.” Keira was growing weary of that phrase. Nana had repeated it every night over the last few months.
She turned to look at Nana’s face. Even through the sincere concern, Keira picked up on a twinkle of excitement in her wise, hazel eyes.
“I’m fine, just tired,” she replied and closed the bedroom door. However, Keira was not fine. She was devastated.
“Yeah right, like he was ever my sweet William. I’m such an idiot.”
How could he talk to her like that? He thought that she was a child. Sure, it wasn’t entirely his fault. She did have to lie to him, but he had no idea of the real Keira. He had no idea of her power. But then she realized that nobody did. Colby certainly didn’t know, but again, he would never have treated her that way.
As the hours passed, she found herself wishing for the comfort of her friend. She had paced and paced, revisiting every word of the argument, thinking about what she should have said, what she should have done, and what she should have anticipated. The anxiety built up in the pit of her stomach until she could no longer bear it. Unstable and restless, she felt that she had to do something, anything. She couldn’t sleep or distract herself from it. Grieving alone in silence was just not her way. She finally decided that the only remedy was immediate action. She had to do something now.
Keira quietly slipped on a jacket, sweatpants, and a pair of old tennis shoes that she found in the back of her closet. Even just the anticipation of action, seemed to lift her spirits. She opened the window and lowered herself out of it and onto the ground. This was one of the great benefits of living in a ranch-style home. She had broken out of her room so many times before, usually after being grounded. It felt easy and almost natural. She made her way through the corn field. The freezing winter wind cut her face and dried her lips. She quickly noticed that in her haste, she had forgotten socks. She was regretting that now, but not enough to turn back. Besides, the cold only made her move faster toward Colby’s house.
Colby’s room was at the top of the stairs in his family’s two-story farmhouse. The residence was dark except for a forgotten porch light and a dim shimmer from Colby’s room. Over the years, Keira had learned to navigate the rose trellis outside his window. She started up the wooden structure now, careful not to make too much noise. She reached the top and pushed the unlocked window open. Colby always left it unlocked for Keira. As she peeked in, she could see that the shimmer was coming from his laptop perched at the desk in the far corner. She was relieved to know that he was still awake.
“Geez. Shut the window. Were you born in a barn?” Colby whispered.
“Sorry,” Keira forced the sash down and moved toward the light.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing,” she said. “I was just bored and…”
He looked up from his computer and directly into her eyes. “Right, like I would believe that you would walk a quarter of a mile in the middle of the freezing night and climb a rickety old trellis just to say ‘hi’,” he smirked. “I think I know you better than that.”
“It’s hardly a quarter mile.”
She sat down on the edge of his bed. It, like the rest of Colby’s room, was perfectly pristine. The familiarity eased her. Just being in his presence gave her immediate relief. It was as if his calm enveloped her, but she knew that the time to fess up was nearing. She scanned the walls, looking for a distraction.
He looked back down at the laptop. It was 11:59. He was tired. If he wanted to get some sleep before morning, he would need to give her a push.
Colby joined her on the corner of the bed. “All right, spill it.”
The ball of anxiety in her gut was writhing now. She could no longer take it. She exploded. “William dumped me. He said he was ‘done’. Can you believe it?” Keira was so upset that her voice shook with each word. “Did you see this coming?”
“No,” Colby lied.
Unfortunately, she knew him too well and he wasn’t a skilled liar. “I know what you’re thinking, but I really liked him. It wasn’t just a crush this time. I think I love him. It really hurts. It really, really hurts. I feel like I need to do something to fix this, but I don’t know what. I don’t think I can fix it.”
She fell into Colby’s chest sobbing. He put his arm around her. As he did, he felt a freezing wind rushing around them. He turned to see if the window had flown open. The wind was hard. Keira’s long hair blew into his face. A blinding red light pierced his eyes. A sudden pressure on his chest knocked the breath from his lungs. “I’ve got you,” Colby gasped.
“Let go!” she yelled, which only made him tighten his grip on her.
The biting cold took hold of them and pulled. Everything went black.