Smooth sailing until I reached the top. Here the lip was even more pronounced, hanging out over the bank. I was going to have to practically dangle to get over this. I latched on to a rock sticking out of the dirt tightly with my left hand, then reached over onto the ground with my right, flailing around as I tried to find something to grab onto. A pop and a groan sounded from above. I tried to jerk my hand back, but something rough was in the way. A tree root? Was it following me? Was that possible?
But I needed the help so I couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, or whatever. I grabbed the new found hand-hold and heaved myself up over the embankment. Sure enough, a dirt-covered root stuck out of the ground, the dirt looking fresh. “Thanks,” I squeaked out, just in case the tree expected it. The root ignored me and burrowed back into the ground. I took off.
Once I was a comfortable distance away, I noticed that the slight drizzle had faded and the stars were starting to peek out from dark clouds. Of course, right when I needed the rain to help get some of this ick off. At least it was hiding the blood all over my dress. I really should be concerned about that. I rubbed my hands in the damp grass, trying to scrape some of the mud off. Not much luck, but it would have to do.
A short walk and I literally stumbled onto a road. Now we were getting somewhere. A glance in both directions didn’t give any revelations about which way I should try. Where were those friendly branch tour guides when you needed them? “Hey, trees. Got any opinions on which direction I should go now?” I whispered, then waited a moment. Everything stayed quiet. What made the last one help me? I held up a hand and concentrated, squeezing my eyes closed. After a moment, I opened an eye a slit. Nothing happened. “Thanks a lot, stupid trees.”
Without any help to figure out where I should go, I slouched right and started walking.
Would this night ever end?
Walking along in the dark is great for thinking. Once you find somewhere to walk where you don’t have to worry about tripping every five seconds. Without shoes, I stayed on the very edge of the road, close enough to jump in the trees if I needed to hide, but off the bare ground full of sticks and rocks. The road rubbed at my feet, but they healed as I went. Thankfully it didn’t hurt much.
Thinking was something my subconscious was telling me not to do. I didn’t listen. I ran every conversation with my mom I could remember through my mind, trying to come up with an explanation for me being way out here, for someone wanting to flat out kill me. Nada.
After an unknown period of time trudging through the dark, the rain and dripping trees not being able to make up their mind if they wanted to drench me or not, something glowed in the distance. A light. Small, yes, but at least it was a light. I picked up my pace.
What was a light doing way out here, anyway? Campers? Traffic? I squinted, trying to see if there was anything else unusual ahead. Nope, just more trees. Nowhere near home with this many trees. “We’re not in the D.C. suburbs anymore, Toto.”
Water dripped off the branches above and onto my face. I scowled up. “Watch it, I’m wet enough.” Apparently these trees weren’t the thinking kind or they didn’t like being told what to do because an even larger pattering of water splashed down my nose and dribbled into my left eye. I wiped my face on my arm, but it didn’t help. I was soaked all the way through.
The light down the road burned brighter now that I was getting closer. I slowed to ask myself something that should have come up when I first saw the light. What was I getting myself into going there? Stopping in on people I didn’t know, not wise, by all accounts. But I didn’t have much of a choice. Even if I wanted to walk home, I didn’t know how to get there. And what were the chances of these people wanting to kill me too, whoever they were. If the shadow man hadn’t had a flashlight out when he was looking for me, he probably wouldn’t have something that bright now, so it was a good bet it wasn’t him.
Dan and Nina were going to be sooooo mad. My fosters were better than most, but they were still going to freak. I could call Wade. Maybe he could get me home and I could sneak in without them noticing. That’s one of a boyfriend’s duties, after all. But something about that felt wrong. Too bad I hadn’t gotten the courage up to ask Amy for her number at the party last night, she’d have picked me up. Probably.
Wait, party, on Thursday. Halloween! That’s why I was in the dress.
Now, if I could remember where I was, maybe I’d remember how to get back. But it didn’t seem like that was going to happen so I upped the pace. At least I had started to remember other stuff. It’d be nice to get out of these wet clothes. My skin had finally warmed up to an acceptable level, but the clothes were chaffing. Plus I needed to eat. Bad. Preferably not something lawn based.
When I got closer to the glow, I could make out lights flashing near a dump that was set back from the road. Maybe an old gas station. Definitely not a house like I’d been expecting. Compared to the stations Nina always went to in the suburbs, this place was below dump on the junk scale. I squared my shoulders. Back to that not much of a choice thing. Better a dumpy gas station than getting offed into woods. Again.
The open sign blinked, sending waves of red along the wet pavement. My first piece of good luck since I woke up out in the trees. I wouldn’t have to break into the place.
The door swung open easily, hardly squeaking on its hinges. I popped my head in, not sure I wanted to take that next step. Sure, if it was some serial killer holed up inside I’d probably heal. But I still didn’t like the pain and it would be a disaster if anyone found out about the whole indestructible thing. I’ve seen Heroes, I knew what could happen.
“Hello?” I called out. When no one answered, my gaze began to wander. Food. All kinds of gas station food. Who knew that it could look like some major buffet? Chips, cookies, trail mix. Maybe they had one of those little hot dog racks. I couldn’t smell it, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there, considering that my senses were a little overwhelmed right now by the stench of mud. It didn’t matter. I’d even take that jerky off the rack up near the front.
I took a step inside and let the door shut behind me. “Hello?” I asked again. If no one showed in a second, they’d return to find their place cleaned out. I needed to eat. And eat a lot.
Scuffling started somewhere in the back. A baseball cap popped up from behind the rack of pork rinds. “Hi. Didn’t see you pull up.” The hat and voice belonged to a guy probably in his forties. I was still in the District of Columbia, right? Because this guy looked like something from a movie set way down South with the baseball cap, scruffy face and matching vest. “What can I do for ya?” he asked.
Now that was a good question. Maybe I should have figured out a story before I’d walked into this place. I thought about going with “Oh, somehow I showed up in the middle of the forest, had a conversation with a tree and finally found a road, now I need to use your phone,” but that didn’t seem like a real plausible story.
The fact that I was wearing a dress, covered in muck, and reeked kind of gave away that there was interesting backstory.
“I don’t really know,” I said lamely, moving over so a shelf of junk food hid me from the window and the door. “Can I use your phone to call my parents?” Please say yes, please say yes. What would happen if he told me no and sent me back out into the rain? Whoever had tried to kill me would get a second chance.
“Sure, come on over.” The guy, whose cracked nametag said Vince, moved past me and headed for the counter.
This was getting ridiculous enough I could almost believe I was having a nightmare. That would explain why I couldn’t remember ending up in the woods. Nina was always telling me I shouldn’t watch horror movies, that they’d give me bad dreams, but I never listened. That had to be it.
“Is the call long distance?” Vince’s voice brought me back.
Probably, right? But I had no way of knowing since I didn’t know where I was. And I didn’t know anything about long distance anyway. I l
iterally never used the home phone. “Yeah?” It came out kind of weak, but oh well. Having my cell phone would be really nice right now. Where was it anyway?
Vince chewed on something for a second, staring me in the face. “Do you have a collect number?”
“Uh, no.”
“Who’s going to pay for the call then?”
“Ah…” no answer for that. “Can I use your cell?”
He stared at me for a second. “Don’t have one.”
My mind raced through all kinds of terrible scenarios, my favorite involved me being stuck here until I died of starvation, Vince standing over my emaciated body and eating pork rinds in front of me because I didn’t have the cash to pay for them.
“I don’t know. I guess I could just stay here ‘til morning, then walk. Do you have somewhere I can sleep?”
Vince’s eyes bulged. “Oh no, we can’t have that. It’s fifteen miles to the next station and they ain’t open on Sunday. You wouldn’t be out of here til Monday.”
Sunday? This guy was obviously on something. It was Thursday. Oh well, it worked. He jerked an old phone from the wall and shoved it in my direction, cord trailing behind.
“Thank you,” I said, nearly ripping the phone out of his hand before he could change his mind. Would that shadow in the woods be willing to come out in public? Not that this was very public, but still. I didn’t want to find out. Punching in the familiar number of Nina’s cell, I looked out the door, straining to see anything in night. Nothing.
Hopefully Nina answered. I didn’t want to take the chance of getting Dan by calling the home phone. Nina was definitely going to be the more understanding in this situation.
The phone barely had a chance to ring before someone picked up. “Hello?” The winded voice on the other end was hardly recognizable. Whoever it was needed to take a breath.
“Nina?” I asked. Surely I hadn’t dialed the wrong number. Nina always sounded perfectly in control. Ol’ Vince wouldn’t be happy about two long distance calls if I had misdialed.
“Trisha? Trish? Is that you? Where are you, honey?”
Good question. I probably should have found out before I dialed. “Yeah, it’s me. Give me a second.” I turned to Vince. “Where are we exactly?”
Instead of bulging, this time Vince’s eyes narrowed. I liked the bulging better. Much less strange looking. “Not far from the entrance to Prince William Forest Park.”
“Prince William Forest Park, I guess,” I said into the phone, keeping my eyes on Vince.
“In Virginia?” I had to hand it to Nina, though her voice did rise a little, she was keeping herself nicely under control. Hopefully that continued, even after they made it out here to get me. Wait, Virginia? “Just a second, honey.” Her voice faded. No doubt she was conferring with Dan. I’d always hated it before when she’d called me honey, but for some reason it didn’t sound quite as bad right now.
“Dan says we can be to the park in thirty minutes. We were already out this way showing your picture around. What happened?”
Heat blossomed in my chest, the first warmth I’d really felt since I’d woke up in the woods. They cared. For real. Sure, Nina had always said they did, but words were cheap. My mom had said she cared and look how that ended up.
“Just tell them where you are. You can get your lecture later. Joplin Road,” Vince whispered loudly. “You’re spending my money.”
“Who was that?” Nina asked. Apparently Vince hadn’t whispered quieter than her mom ears could hear.
“I can’t talk about it right now, Nina, as soon as you get here, I promise. I’m at…” I squinted at Vince’s name tag. “Vince’s Fill Up on Joplin Road.”
Another few seconds of conferring. “It showed up on my phone, we can find that.”
“Okay, see you soon.” Vince was making hang-up motions. Man this guy was serious about long distance.
“No, wait! Can’t you just stay on the line? Do you have a number we can call you at?”
I paused, the thought of hanging up and losing my weak link to home and reality making my stomach roll. But there was Vince, looking even more grumpy. “No, can’t. See you soon. Please hurry.”
Chapter Two
Exactly twenty-eight minutes after the phone call, Dan’s black Mercedes pulled into Vince’s.
A small figure flung itself from the passenger seat and hurtled toward the station’s door. Nina was only an inch taller than me, and probably wouldn’t be for long. I’d never been so happy to see her short frame since… well, ever.
“Thanks Vince, for everything,” I called toward the back where he was stocking shelves. Surprisingly, I meant it. He had been good to me, even breaking out a can of Pringles and a bottle of water after I’d gotten off the phone. It must have been the way I was devouring the shelves with my eyes that gave him the idea I might be hungry. He lifted a hand, then went back to stacking Hershey bars. Strange man, but I liked him now that he’d given me food.
I barely made it out the door before Nina grabbed me, crushing me to her and ignoring the partially dried mud. I hissed. Apparently my ribs hadn’t healed after the tumble down the hill. Or the gunshot. Whichever. That woman had a lot of strength for her size.
“Honey, I was so worried! What happened?” Nina asked, moving her grip to my shoulders and leaning back to stare straight into my face.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I muttered. Mostly because I still had no idea what had happened. And I really wanted to get out of here. Now. “Can we just go?”
Dan leaned over the passenger seat toward the rolled down window, his face the proverbial storm. “Did that boy do this to you?” By the tone of Dan’s voice, someone was about to get it. Hopefully that someone wasn’t me.
He hadn’t, of course he hadn’t. The only boy Dan could be talking about was my boyfriend, Wade, and he would never do this. A flash of a memory popped up. I’d left after a huge argument with the fosters about Wade, leaving with him to head to that stupid Halloween party I didn’t really want to go to. Now this was embarrassing. If he didn’t have anything to do with this, where was he?
“No, no. It was all me.”
Some birthday this had turned out to be. I’d just wanted to spend time with Wade and away from home. Sure, our relationship had started out as just a way to bug the fosters, but it had become something more. Was spending time with my boyfriend really too much to ask for a sixteenth birthday?
Another memory popped into focus, hazy like my mind had filled with too much water. Wade teasing me until I left the party with him. The memory continued with us stepping out on the trail, then far into the trees. This was getting weird, hadn’t we walked far enough? Especially in these stupid shoes. I told him I might get tired even though I probably wouldn’t. It takes a lot more than a hike to make me tired. His face changed and he leaned in toward me, said something about being sorry and pulled a gun… A gun. My spine went ramrod straight. Wade had been the one to shoot me!
“Trisha, I want an explanation.” Dan’s voice dragged me back. My palms were sweaty and my stomach rolling again. I looked beyond the car. Wade could still be out there, trying to find my body. Or worse, figured out my body was gone.
“Uh, what?” I asked, still slightly dazed by the memory that had just hit me like a truck. The fosters hadn’t seemed to have noticed that I was about to have a melt-down. Or they were just letting it go.
“I want to know what happened,” Dan said. Uh oh. That tone was not good.
“Later, Dan, first let’s get her home and out of these clothes.”
“Yeah, can we get out of here, please?”
Dan sighed from the driver’s seat. “Fine. But that’s just delaying this conversation. We will be having it. Hop in. Let’s go get something to eat, you have to be hungry.”
I slid into the back seat, wincing at the streak of mud I left across the leather. I hated screwing up like this. The kids at school liked to tell me that Da
n and Nina only took me in for the government money that came along with housing a foster kid. I figured that couldn’t be true or they would have sent me back. Maybe asked for an easier kid. No amount of money would have been worth dealing with me that first year. Things were more settled now, but I still wasn’t sure of their motives.
Mom had warned me a long time ago about people, humans that knew about us and wanted proof. They’d do whatever it took to find it. And even if that wasn’t the case with the Inzas, I could still end up back in a group home for bad behavior. I wouldn’t blame them after this. But I would do anything in my power to keep that from happening. This was the best home I’d been in so far.
A flash of movement outside the car caught my attention. Sending my pulse skyrocketing. But it was only Vince, come to watch us leave. He wasn’t as creepy as I’d first thought and he’d given me food, making him a friend for life. “Dan, can I have a ten?” I asked.
He looked at me like I was crazy. I nodded toward Vince. “Ah,” he muttered, grabbed his wallet and pulled out a twenty. “I’ll give it to him.” He got out of the car and walked toward the station. They man-talked for a minute and then Dan came back and got in the driver’s seat.
I lifted a hand and waved goodbye to Vince. He did the same, then headed back into the store. He was probably just lonely, out here away from everyone. No wonder he was worried about the long distance call. It wasn’t like he had a line of customers. Probably just tourists and rangers.
Nina jumped into the front seat and started talking to Dan, sticking her hand in the back to pat my knee, like she was trying to reassure herself that I was okay. I would have felt bad if it had been my fault that she’d been worried. But it wasn’t my fault, not really. It had been Wade. Why? I didn’t buy some weirdo reason, and we’d been getting along really well. Like, seriously well. Like I might have even gone to prom just so I could show him off well. My heart thundered for a second and I pushed the thought away. Later, when I was alone. Dan picked up his phone as he flipped on his turn signal and coasted onto the road.
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