“We have these truck drivers, and they live in Manere and can get stuff outside of Manere, but they aren’t allowed to talk too much about it. There aren’t any stores or food places like here. Small businesses run by people in town. That’s all. We have a huge second-hand store, and there’s stuff in there from decades ago. There’s not a lot of money in the town, so most people shop there.”
I explained.
“I’m bored with this talk. The place sucks. End of story. You guys want to go get some food, drinks, and go dancing?” Rachel asked.
Chapter 36
Milo and I eagerly agreed that was exactly what we wanted to do. Rachel took us to Alberto’s Fiesta. It was authentic Mexican food set in a club or at least what we always imagined a club would look like. “Do you guys drink? I know the bartender; he won’t card us,” Skyler asked.
“We do. I’m fine with a cola though.” Milo said.
“I think I have had my fair share of alcohol lately. I’ll have a cola too,” I said.
“If that’s like against your religion or something, it’s cool,” Skyler said.
“No. It’s not that. They probably drink all the time. Manere is a joke, they don’t card anyone. I used to buy beer when I was twelve. Everyone’s just waiting to die there, they don’t care about the drinking age,” Rachel said.
“She’s right,” Milo said.
“So, Milo. You got hot. You are probably neck-deep in pussy, right?” Rachel asked. Milo coughed with wide eyes. “Not really.”
“You have not changed Rachel, it’s amazing,” I said.
“Well, why would I? I was awesome when I was a kid, and I’m awesome now,” she said as she picked up her beer.
“I think you two were definitely the only cool people I knew when we were kids. Everyone else sucked and walked around like Stepford freaks. You guys seemed normal. Once I moved out of Manere, I totally saw it was true. You guys do not belong there,”.
“Well, we won’t be living there in a few weeks,” Milo said.
“As it should be,” Rachel said.
“Now, it is a time to dance. Both of you get your asses off those seats and shake ‘em for me.”
Rachel dragged us on the dance floor. Each time Milo and I tried to sit; Rachel pulled us back. The three of us were drenched in sweat. My thighs burned, but it was way too much fun to stop, and I knew Rachel wouldn’t let us, anyway. After a couple of dozen songs, we sat to eat and stuffed our mouths.
“Jesus. It’s like you guys are starving. Don’t they feed you in that place anymore?” Rachel asked.
“Not like this,” I said. The soft tacos were loaded with meat, cheese, and a mix of veggies that I couldn’t even fully identify. We swilled down more soda and asked for nachos. After filling our stomachs until they hurt, we moved back to the dance floor.
We didn’t leave Alberto’s Fiesta until it closed at two in the morning. Rachel drove us around the city in her jeep with Skyler in the passenger seat and Milo and me in the back. The city lights illuminated the empty streets. Businesses in well-maintained buildings, well-kept houses one more beautiful than the next. Trees lined the median of the roads and everything looked polished and contemporary.
“This is a nice city. It’s so clean and not crowded like they say,” I said.
“It’s okay. I grew up here. This is one of the better neighborhoods. I used to live in the ghetto. You’re seeing this place in the middle of the night, you should see the streets on the weekend. Ugh, the Farmer Market days.” Skyler said.
“I know where we should go,” Rachel said.
“Where” Milo and I asked in unison.
“It’s a surprise, sports fans,” Rachel said.
**
Rachel pulled up to a parking lot and jumped out of her jeep. A large building blocked out where we were but once we walked around it, the ocean presented itself.
“Oh my gosh! The beach. I’ve never seen the ocean,” I cried.
“Awe. Look at you two,” Skyler said.
Milo stood in astonishment. We all walked down to the sand and tossed off our shoes. Milo began running down to the water but turned and grabbed my hand to pull me with him. The four of us splashed around, drenched our clothes, and giggled with enchantment. We needed to soak in the ocean the same way we did our freedom. To have had never known what we had been missing, while having a hunch it was something spectacular, it was thrilling to know just how much we would have the opportunity to discover once we left Manere for good.
Milo sat on the sand beholding the Pacific. I sat down next to him waiting for the sun to come up. Milo put his arm around me.
“I think we are going to be fine.” He said.
“Better than fine,” I said and laid my head on her shoulder.
As the morning revealed itself, others appeared on the beach and businesses started their day, we drove back to Rachel’s apartment. It was time to leave, and Rachel and Skyler joked about how they both had to be at work without any sleep, which was just a typical day for them. Rachel and Skyler hugged us both, and we promised to see Rachel again. “You should spend spring break with us next year. Both of you. You can crash on the pullout couch” she said.
With adrenaline pumping through our veins, Milo and I couldn’t even think about sleeping. We headed north on the freeway.
“Milo, where are we going? Are we really going back home now?”
“Uh, that’s the plan. For now. We need to figure out what we are going to do. I figured we would go home and act like we don’t know anything. Wait it out. We’re both moving away to college in a few weeks. That’s our final escape. We never have to go back after that.”
“What if we never went back? Like even now. What if we just drove and went on an adventure? Take an incredible life-changing road trip until school starts?”
“What about your stuff?” Mil asked
“I don’t need it. I have enough cash saved up for the essentials. Everything else is just stuff that I probably would never miss,” I explained.
“What about friends? Family? Don’t you want to say goodbye to them?”
“My family, who never wants to be home with me? My friends, who I’m pretty sure wouldn’t notice if I was gone forever?”
“That’s not true Angie.”
“Isn’t it??
“Angela. We can’t do it the wrong way. If we disappear, it wouldn’t be fair. It’s hard enough for me to leave my family as it is. I’m not going to do it this way. You shouldn’t either. Your mom deserves more.”
“Maybe,”
“Not maybe. She does. I know you’re mad at her right now, but it’s true. You mean everything to her. We are going to do this right, Angela.”
“You’re right. I wish you weren’t, but you are.”
“Always,” he said with a smile.
Chapter 37
I made it through my front door and let out the breath I had been holding since leaving Milo. We did it. We were nearly positive that no one knew we were gone. Before I could make it to my room to fall on my bed and steep myself in a desperately needed nap, I heard someone in the kitchen, and I thought my luck had run out.
“Angela Elizabeth Abrams, where the hell have you been?” my mother said as she appeared from around the corner of the kitchen, no doubt lying in wait.
“Mom. Hi. I left you a note,” I said.
“You did. Did you think a note was going to make it okay? You’ve been gone for two days. What teenager leaves for two days and thinks it’s okay because she left a note?” my mom asked.
“I’m amazed you noticed I was gone. Why are you even at home?” I asked.
“Excuse me, young lady. You want to watch the way you talk to me.”
“No. I don’t think so. Mom, you are gone all the time. There was a good chance that I could have been gone this entire time and you wouldn’t have been home once to read the note. “You are out of line.”
“No, I’m not, mom. It’s true. You think it’s okay to b
e away from home all day, every day, and let your teenage daughter by herself as if she’s living on her own. News flash! I’m not living on my own yet, mom. Or at least, I wasn’t ready, and you made me do it, anyway.”
“I know that I have been gone a lot lately.”
“You are more than gone lately. You have not been here in years. Even when you’re here, you’re not here. I’m sick of it, mom. You know what? I’m eighteen now, and in less than a month I am going to live on the other side of the country, and you will never see me again. Maybe then, you might miss me. If you notice I’m gone at all,” I said fighting back tears.
“Angela. Please don’t talk like that.”
“Why? It’s true. Everyone here says that once you leave, you can’t come back. Even the town meeting imparted that nugget of wisdom. You would know that if you went with me but where were you? Who the hell knows?” I said tears flowed freely.
“Angela, I need to tell you something. Come with me. Don’t say anything just follow me and stay quiet,” she said.
My mom grabbed my hand and pulled me along to the back porch. She observed her surroundings and kept walking. She pulled me toward our shed as my hand tensed in her grip. “Don’t worry, just come here.” She said, but the thought of all the spiders in the unused shed made me squirm. Once we were in the shed, she turned and locked it behind us and pointed to an old standing freezer that hadn’t worked in years.
“Come in here with me,” she whispered.
“What? No. What are you doing? You’re freaking me out mom,” I said. Tears were fostering in her eyes too.
“Please. Trust me,”.
I went inside the empty freezer, and she followed closing the door behind her. “What are we doing? I can’t breathe in here,” I said.
“I know. It will only be for a moment. I don’t want them to hear us, and this is the only place I know they can’t. I have checked it many times. We are safe in here,” she said.
“Who? What are you talking about? You’re really scaring me, mom. Please don’t scare me,” I said as I whimpered.
“The town. The council members, the chamber of commerce the elders, you know. I know that you know because you’re smart. You are so much smarter than all these fools because you’re getting out of here. I’m coming with you. Not to college. Don’t worry, I won’t be sleeping at your feet on your extra-long twin. I am going to be staying with your aunt, but I’m leaving Manere too.”
“What? This is a lot to hear right now. You are moving away?”
“Yes. That’s why I have been gone. I wasn’t at the resort or at Peter’s. I was walking to the city limits, and your Aunt Kari picked me up. “How long? How long have you been leaving town?”
“A few months. Six, I think.”
“But why? How? Why would you risk it?”
“For you. I found a job, and I’ll be staying with her. I wanted to be able to live on my own if necessary and help pay for things you will need in college. Life outside of Manere is more expensive than here. I knew you would need more help.”
“You didn’t have to do all this.”
“I couldn’t bear not doing it, sweetie. I can’t be left here without you. I needed to make sure that once you were gone, I would be able to see you when I want, and you would be able to see me. I know it’s been a rough couple of months. I know I haven’t been around enough since your dad died but this is my way of making up for it.”
“What about Peter? Is he going too?”
“Peter and I aren’t together anymore. I broke it off a few weeks back. I thought I could trust him, but before I could tell him what I was up to, something inside stopped me. He’s a Manere native. This is what he knows, and this is what he has accepted.”
“This is crazy.”
“It is, but I need you to know that this is for your father. Your dad would have wanted me to do it because that’s what he was planning, and they got him.”
“I knew it,” I said under my breath.
“It’s true. Your dad was setting everything up for us. His sister was doing what she could, but she couldn’t offer up a place to stay at the time. He made arrangements on the outside. Rented an apartment, got a job, everything. That was before that bastard Andrew Lasky found out what he was up to and told his boss. They cut his breaks, honey. They did this to him,”
“I knew it, mom. I knew dad would never kill himself.”
“Of course, he wouldn’t. Your dad loved life, and more importantly, he loved us. He just wanted to get back to the life we deserved and was punished for it. If I lost both of you that day, I don’t know what I would have done,”, she sifted her hand through my hair looking into my eyes.
“Me? Why would you have lost me?”
“You were in the truck with your dad that day.”
“No. No, I wasn’t, mom” but once the words came out of my mouth, I felt less sure.
“Honey. Your dad decided to take you on an impromptu trip to the edge of town. There were rules about taking the family out of town but that didn’t mean he couldn’t bend the rules on occasion, or so he thought. I arrived before the police did. I heard the crash, and I knew there was something wrong. A mother’s sixth sense I suppose. Your dad was already gone. You were fine. A few scratches and confused,”
“Why don’t I remember any of this?”
“You hit your head. I took you to the doctor. The only one I trusted, Dr. Mangold. I said you rode your bike in the desert and tumbled down a small cliff. He said you had a bit of temporary short-term memory loss.”
“Memory loss? How can that be?”
“It was short term. Your memory became sharper by the day,”
“Then how come I don’t remember that day?”
Mom placed her hand on my shoulder and squeezed. She cocked her head gently. “It was a way of coping with trauma. I read about it. I couldn’t tell anyone in town so I went to the library and read as many psychology books as I could. It may be why you’re so nervous all the time,”.
“This all sounds a bit heavy, mom,” I said as I struggled to find room in the tiny freezer to gather my thoughts.
“You talk in your sleep some nights. I used to check on you. Make sure there wasn’t someone in there, or make sure you weren’t having a nightmare. I realized you were talking to your dad.”
“They were memories” as soon as I said it, I knew it was true. The strange dreams about the most mundane events were more than dreams. It was a way of my memory worming its way back with the last few moments I had with my dad. My mom nodded, “I guess they were, sweetheart. I guess they were,”.
“Why did you come here, mom? Why did you and dad come here in the first place?”
“We were rebellious. We both had parents that did everything they could and gave us everything we wanted. We were too foolish to take their help when I got pregnant with you. We lived somewhere we had freedom. We didn’t want anything from mom and dad. Even that was a freedom we had that we took for granted. Maybe if we lived in Manere, we wouldn’t have dared to do anything on our own. Your dad got a job, and with that job, he needed to live here. It was just a small town with the cheapest rent imaginable. I remember when he told me that he had a job and a three-bedroom house that was less than what we could get for a studio apartment. I thought it was too good to be true and boy was it,”
“All this time, I thought you liked it here. I thought you had been sucked into their vortex or something.”
“No, honey. I have never been home here. This isn’t our home; this is a prison. I have just been hard at work carving out our escape tunnel.”
“We should leave now.”
“I am. I am going to go tonight.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No, honey. You need to leave in a week or two. The time you would have left for college. I took a leave of absence from work. I told them I was going through some pains with arthritis.”
“Arthritis?”
“It was the first thing I c
ould come up with,” my mom said with a sly smile.
“Why do you need to leave now? I don’t understand.”
“If I leave now, I can get prepared and can make the drive to Pennsylvania with you. I have it all sorted out. I know it doesn’t make much sense to you now, but it will.”
“I can’t do this. I can’t pretend you’re home and recuperating from something you don’t even have. It’s too many lies to keep track of. I want to go with you. I can make it out. Milo and I already did. That’s where we were.”
My mom took in a yoga breath “I figured that was what was going on. You kid have a lot of guts.”
“You’re not mad?” I asked.
“No. I’m not mad. I don’t know what would have happened if you got caught, but you didn’t so, there’s no reason to dwell on that now.”
“I love you, mom.”
“I love you too honey. I’ll tell you what. Just give me a day, maybe two for a head start. I am going to just pack a few things in my car tonight when it gets dark and leave first thing in the morning. You do the same. Most of our stuff is replaceable. Just grab the most important things when you leave,” she said.
“Where do I go? Where can I find you?” I asked.
She pulled out a piece of crumpled up notebook paper and handed it to me “Here. This is the address of Aunt Kari. Just go there. I will be there waiting for you when you come.” Mom wrapped her arms around me and gave me a squeeze. “Be careful” she whispered and opened the freezer door.
The rest of the night was business as usual or at least what would have been normal if mom had not been keeping a secret from me for months. We made dinner, talked about what my friends were up to, and I even shared the relationship roller-coaster Milo and I had been on for the past few years. When it was time to go to sleep that night, we gave each other a hug and said goodnight.
Chapter 38
The next morning, I went straight to my mom’s room to see her empty bed. The room looked the same to anyone not paying attention. I looked around to see that her favorite jewelry box was no longer there nor were the photo albums. I made myself a bowl of cereal and read aloud. Whenever I was feeling lonely, and the house seemed extra quiet, I would pick up a random book and read it loudly as if I was reading to someone across the table. I placed my bowl in the sink and could hear something faint from outside. It sounded like coyotes. The coyotes crying sounds of warning and alarm. They stopped all at once. It was an absence of all noise. The earth shook and was paired with an explosion coming from the mountains. The distraction was so clear it could have only been wrapped around silence to be heard with such clarity.
All That Remains (Manere Book 1) Page 19