He was beginning to frighten me. Derek could be nonsensical often and disagreeing with him was nothing new, but I had never seen him give up complete control of rational thinking. He wasn’t even trying to lie or fudge the truth; he was trying to convince me what I saw with my own eyes was not reality. I backed away slowly.
“Where are you going? Do we have an understanding, or do we need to go over what you saw again?”
“Who was she? The police told me a few things but weren’t specific. Who was she though, Derek? I would like to know. I’m not asking you to give me the police rundown, I’m asking the guy who used to drink too much of my mom’s schnapps and beg to try on her dresses. The guy who would get genuinely freaked out by old horror movies and need to keep a light on in the house before agreeing to watch them. That guy. My friend. Can he tell me more about the girl?”
Derek relaxed his cheeks and something recognizable appeared before his face quickly contorted back to his new, nearly plastic expression. “Sorry, Angela. I wish I could help you out, but whatever the police told you is the truth. You can’t question the police, they’re the only ones in this town saving us from ourselves,”
“I think it’s time I go,” I turned to walk away but Derek was close behind me. “Are we in agreement?” He said.
“I don’t know what you mean. You can say what you want. I won’t be here in a few weeks anyhow,”.
“No, that’s not how this works,” he said as he pulled me around toward him. Gripping my arm and nearly yanking it out of its socket.
“What are you doing, Derek? Leave me alone. I told you that it doesn’t matter. You won’t have to worry about me snooping anymore because I won’t be here,”
“I don’t like your attitude, to be honest,”
“You don’t have to worry about my attitude. I told you, I won’t be here soon,”
“Not good enough,” he said as he pulled me closer to him.
“What? What do you want from me, asshole? Get off me” I shoved him to the ground, but he pulled my foot from under. As my body gave out me chin slammed hard on to the metal of the merry-go-round.
“You need to stop spreading your schemes, Angela. This is a nice quiet community and you’re causing a panic. It’s fake information you are feeding them,”
“I’m not spreading anything. They need to know the truth and the truth is that this place is fucked-up,”
As I held on the handle of the merry-go-round, Derek began to stand himself up, still not releasing my leg. Both my legs were pinned down giving me zero leverage to kick him away. He pressed his body on top of me. As my back pierced in pain from being halfway on the merry-go-round and the other half hanging from it, I reached for my pocket to find the pocketknife I had brought with me. Without knowing exactly where I was aiming for, I opened it, and slammed it down toward the hand he was using to pin down my thigh.
A howl and a gurgle of non-words spewed from his mouth. I pushed him off me and began to run, but first trotted back toward him to yank the knife out of his hand.
“My dad gave me this,”
Chapter 31
I sprinted without stopping to take in a breath until I made it to Milo’s house and hammered at his door. “Hey, where’s the fire?” he said before he opened the door all the way. He could see the worry in my eyes, I knew it. “Angela, what happened? What’s going on?”
“We need to do this now. We need to go find Rachel or go find someone. We need to get out of here and I can’t wait around any more. I need to know that the people who left really left and that they don’t have a bullet in their skull for trying,”
“How about tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow? Yes. We need to get out of here. Wait. How are we going to go? My car, it’s been to Joe’s.” I worried.
“Mine. My car has never been there. It was my dad’s car when he was my age, and he was the only one to fix it. Of course, he taught me how to fix it too, so I’ve never had to take it there either. Not even an oil change. My dad told me never to take it to Joe’s, now I know why. My car is clean.”
“Alright. Tomorrow. Early. Like four in the morning. It needs to still be dark and before people start heading to work.”
“You don’t think that’ll make us appear suspect? Us being the only ones on the road?” he asked.
“No. I think it will be so early that not even the cops will be looking for trouble. Besides, I have driven home around that time of the morning, and believe me, it’s dead.”
“Alright, party animal. We’re doing it.” Milo reached over and pulled me in for a hug. His warm breath blew across my ear and into my hair.
“We will be okay. Don’t worry,” he said.
I wasn’t worried. Not anymore.
Chapter 32
The morning came far too quickly. Not yet was the sun shining, yet my alarm would not calm its insufferable urgency. I hit the alarm knowing I needed to get up, but my body refused. Suddenly, the realization that I turned the alarm off, rather than hitting snooze, spun me in worry that I would drift off asleep and only wake long after Milo had left without me. I threw myself from my bed and grabbed one of the sodas I had under my bed. I was going to need caffeine. I threw on my jeans and grabbed a sweatshirt and my backpack of snacks, drinks, and a mixed tape I had made for driving to college, but decided my first road trip, ever, deserved tunes too. I opened my door as tenderly as possible and even more cautiously closed it.
While holding my shoes and creeping by in my socks, I noticed my mom’s bedroom door was wide open and without my mother. I was tickled by my dedication to stay quiet in a house where I was the only one sleeping but became utterly baffled as to why my mom was still gone. Hadn’t she said she was going to be home last night? I ran to Milo’s car to find him waiting with an eager smile on his face.
“Get out okay?” he asked.
“Ha, well when you’re an orphan like me, you don’t have to worry about such nonsense,” I said to which he only furrowed his brow.
“Apparently, my mom is still on vacation” I explained. He simply nodded and backed out his car in neutral from the driveway. Once we hit the street, he turned the engine.
The highway expanded and ease washed over Milo and me. After worrying about being caught at every given point, the prospect of being caught was the only thing at the forefront of our minds. The moment we hatched such a preposterous and perilous plan, there was distress deep down to our bones, but now there was only liberation.
“What the hell were we thinking?” I blurted out. Milo glanced over at me with a smirk.
“It doesn’t really matter now. Does it? Too late, we’re screwed”. We both laughed uproariously. The fear combined with the unrelenting excitement could not be contained. “Where do we go? I mean, we made it this far. I hope you know where we go next,” he said.
“I don’t know. I didn’t expect us to make it this far.”
“Well, Angie you better start figuring it out.”
**
“Milo, what’s wiffy?”
“Wiffy?”
“Yeah, wiffy. Weefee?” I asked.
“I don’t know why you are asking.”
“All the gas stations and restaurants we’ve passed say that on the window.”
“Not sure. We could ask,”
“I don’t want to look all Podunk or something. What if most big cities have it now? We know Manere is stuck in the dinosaur age,”.
Mocking the folks of Manere from afar was more pleasurable than in close quarters. I never thought I would feel so much joy from criticizing the place. It was something Milo, and I did all the time when we were younger. Us against them. Ellie always said we were just negative and should try to ignore the bad things about living in a small town and embrace the good. That was before crime reached an all-time high and people were mysteriously disappearing.
“Burger King! We need to stop” Milo shouted and switched over hastily to the far-right lane and straight into the parking lot.” I have
always wanted to go here. The videotapes of shows I had when I was a kid had all these commercials, and one of them was for this place. They make burgers exactly the way you want it!”
“It’s got to be better than Burger Barn.”
“It could taste like feet cooked in vegetable oil and sprinkled in coconut and be better than burger barn,”.
“Gross. I like coconut though.”
“Well, you can order the coconut feet, but I’m getting a burger.”
When we entered the restaurant, the cleanliness was nothing short of a miracle. On top of it all, there was not a single person we knew in the place. I loved not knowing everyone everywhere I went. “Angie! Look at this. This is like futuristic space-age type stuff,”.
The menu hanging above the register was changing pictures and food listings automatically. “They have a freaking computer for a menu,” I said joyfully.
“Excuse me. Hi, I would like a burger. Oh, wait. A number one with no onions and can I have the cheese on the side?” Milo asked. The cashier nodded.
She smiled and waited for me to order. I had become conditioned to order quickly even when I didn’t know what I wanted when I went to Burger Barn because the people who worked there were always pissed about something. Even if they weren’t genuinely distressed by anything, they glared at me, and one could surmise that serving me was at the bottom of their list of things they wanted to do that day.
“Number one. Me too,” I said timidly.
“Can I have a number six and eight too? I’ve never been here,” Milo added.
“You’ve never been here at all? Like at any location?” the woman asked bemusedly.
“We don’t come from around here,” I said.
“What size? Regular? Large?” she asked.
“What size? Oh. Large? Yes, give me,” Milo said. The woman’s amusement continued as she typed in the order.
“I have a question. What’s wiffy?” Milo pointed at the sign.
“Wi-Fi, you mean?” Are you kids teasing me today?” she asked but didn’t seem annoyed.
“No Ma’am not at all. We’re from Manere Valley” said Milo.
“Yeah, to say we’re behind the times is putting it lightly.”
“You’re from Manere? I didn’t know people really lived there. If you don’t mind me asking, what’s it like there?”
“Terrible” Sucks,” we each said at the same time to which she let out a deep chuckle.
“You don’t say” she smiled.
“There’s just not a lot there. Or really, anything.” Milo said.
**
Milo and I went to the same booth and sat with our food. Before saying anything, we each took a huge bite out of our respective burgers. I wasn’t used to the thick juicy patties. Manere’s burgers were little more than sheets of paper. The gooey cheese and onions were nothing short of remarkable.
“Okay, so far. Manere is as shitty as we always guessed. I can’t believe those terrorists, called town council members have been keeping us from this food.” Milo said with his mouth brimming with meat, cheese, and French fries.
“I know. This is insane. We have to get more on the way out” I said.
“The way out. No way. I’m never leaving this place. Let my mom know that this is where I’m getting my mail from now on.”
We both giggled spiritedly.
Chapter 33
“Where are we going? Is there a plan besides hitting every restaurant in the country?” I asked.
“I’m glad you asked. Rachel. We are going to drop in on Rachel Duke.”
“How? I don’t know where she is”
“You know her aunt. I know you do. I remember her talking about her favorite aunt and you were even closer to Rachel, so I know you have specifics” Milo said.
“I do know that she lives in San Diego and that she has an uncommon name. Like Altheas, or Aldus or something.”
“We could work with that. I have enough gas to get us there. The sign back there said we were only like 70 miles from San Diego. It’s a big city, though right?” Milo asked.
“I think so. Of course, we’re used to Manere, so anything is going to seem like a big city to us,”
“Let’s just head in the direction and we’ll see if there’s a payphone somewhere with a phone book. You just need to try to remember her first name. Duke has to be a common last name,”.
After we gorged ourselves on the leftover greasy pleasures of the outside world, we pushed forward and headed west toward San Diego. The freeway was much busier than we imagined. With so many lanes traversing in each direction, exits, and entrances to cities, and even more freeways, there was so much to take in at once. “How are you handling the drive? Is it making you nervous with all these cars and roads going everywhere,” I asked.
“It’s overwhelming. I like it though. It’s different. Let’s just not get lost. I don’t mean that. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if we got a little lost,” Milo smiled.
“How great is it that we can pick up all these radio stations?” I asked.
“It sure beats one station that comes and goes and plays the same five songs”
“This is the life. We should have done this as soon as you got your license.”
Milo’s smile dropped, “What if my license isn’t valid?”
“Why wouldn’t it be valid?”
“You know how everything in Manere is half-assed and made up. What if the licensing place is only for Manere and not like state-issued or something?”
“Who cares? We’ll worry about that if we must. I’m not going back now” I said.
“Angela Abrams, worrywart, doesn’t have a care in the world suddenly. It’s a nice change of pace, but I am curious about what might happen if we get pulled over and end up in jail or something. Wouldn’t they alert our parents?” Milo asked.
“We are both eighteen. They won’t call our parents”
“What if they do though? Or question why we are driving outside of Manere?” Milo asked.
His concern was unexpected. Milo never worried about anything unless there was something to truly worry about. He was always the rational, unfettered one. It allowed me to be as anxious and nutty as I wanted. “Don’t get pulled over then. The only other option is to head back home and hope no one noticed we were missing” I said.
“Not doing that. Good plan. Don’t get pulled over. Got it” he said as he loosened his shoulders.
“There is so much trash in your car, Milo,” I said as I pulled out a syllabus from Milo’s Junior year American History class smeared with the residue of some cheesy snack and half-moons from a coffee cup long before discarded.
“Lay off. I have more important things to worry about than making my car presentable enough for you, Angela. Besides, I seem to remember a certain half-eaten bowl of macaroni that sat under your bed for so long it looked like a furry creature from the deepest realm of hell when you finally pulled it out.”
“Not fair. I was like ten”
“You were like thirteen. It doesn’t matter how long ago it was, it left me permanently scarred.“ In the stack of school papers in Milo’s car was an envelope with handwriting that I didn’t recognize. The letter was addressed to Milo’s older sister, Katie. I peeked to see who it was from.
“Jeff Ellis. Why does that name sound familiar?,” I said.
“Jeff? That was Katie’s old boyfriend. He was older than her. He moved away after high school. Katie cried for weeks about it. Why are you talking about Jeff?”
“There’s a letter in here from him,”
“What? Like a love note, or like a real letter?”
“A real letter with a stamp and everything? Shit. Is there an address?”
“Yeah, why? You want to visit him?”
“No. That’s probably where she is right now. Is it close?”
Jeff lived about two hours north which was the opposite way of where we were going. Milo was so convinced that Katie was there that I didn�
�t have the heart to tell him I was skeptical. I even tried to convince myself on the drive that he would be right. We searched the streets to match the address to the faded scribbling on the well-worn envelope.
“Is this it? Do you think he still lives here?” Milo said.
“I don’t know Milo. Maybe.” I said with a hint of optimism.
We both got out of the car and ambled along the sidewalk which crossed the perfectly landscaped grass. The house was a sweet cottage. I could only imagine Jeff’s grandmother being the owner. Someone who made apple pies and knitted neighbor-children socks for Christmas. Milo knocked on the door with trepidation. I followed his lead but knocked much harder.
“Why did you do that? I don’t want it to sound aggressive,” Milo said.
“You want someone to hear us though, right?”
The door behind the screen swung open. It was Jeff. He looked almost the same but with shorter hair and a wardrobe more fitting for a professional in his twenties than the scruffy desert rat who we once knew.
“Yes?” Jeff said
“Jeff? I’m Milo McDonough, my sister is Katie. You used to date her,” Milo didn’t seem to notice but as soon as he said his name, Jeff’s face dropped. “Milo. Look at you,”
Jeff opened the door. “Come in.” Jeff awkwardly hugged Milo as he made his way through the door.
“It is good to see you, man. Take a seat. Can I get you anything to drink or eat,”?
“No. We just ate.”
The living room was a jumble of a grandma’s living room complete with candy bowls filled with hard sugary confections, floral wallpaper, and brass shelving lined with Knick-knacks. There were a few modern touches like a black leather couch hidden under a crochet throw and a television that was enormous but somehow had no depth.
“I’m Angela, I don’t know if you remember me,”
“I do. I remember you and Milo always arguing when you were playing basketball in the front yard. You kids were always together.” Jeff’s smile fell only slightly. “It’s good to stay friends with people,” he said wistfully.
“The reason we came here is because of Katie. We found a letter in my car that you wrote, Katie. This was the address on the envelope. I know it’s a long-shot, but we were hoping you heard from Katie since she left Manere,”
All That Remains (Manere Book 1) Page 17