Awaken (Awaken Series Book 1)

by Jaime Guerard

  “You were grounded!” I gasped.

  “Bre, it’s okay. A lot of good things came out of me skipping the visit with my father.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” I sighed. “You did help me with the Andersons. If it wasn’t for you I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

  “And if that day hadn’t gone down the way it did, I probably wouldn’t be spending today with you.”

  He grabbed my hand and held onto it tenderly. I couldn’t look at him even though he was glancing at me often. This was going way too fast, and I was confused with how I felt about everything.

  “So what’s for dinner?” Austin asked, letting go of my hand as his stomach grumbled loud enough for me to hear.

  Giggling, I said, “I forgot to tell you I don’t need to go home after all. My dad went fishing today and won’t be home, so no need to go to my house.”

  “Oh, well then…what do you want to do for dinner?” He held his stomach after it growled again, making him smile.

  “We could get something fast or-”

  “I know!” he cut in. “We could go to my house for dinner. My mom would love it! She’s been bugging me about bringing you over.”

  Great. He’d been talking about me to his mother. I suddenly felt uneasy.

  It didn’t take us long to get to the house. The two-story house was just as I remembered. It was the same light blue color, same large oak tree in the front that Austin and I would climb to see how high we could go, and same wind chime hanging from the porch. It was weird being here after so long and feeling like I never left. Walking up to the door, I stopped Austin just before he turned the handle.

  “Austin, are you sure your mom won’t mind us dropping in like this? You didn’t call or anything. What if they don’t have enough food for us?” I was praying that would get me off the hook, and we’d go somewhere else.

  Apparently that was funny to him. He just laughed and opened the door. “I forgot how much of a worrier you are. I guess you forgot who my friends are?” He raised one eyebrow. “Kyle and Steven. They’re always here. They come over uninvited all the time and my mom knows to cook enough in case they stop by, which is pretty much every night.”

  We stepped inside, and the aroma of fresh baked bread filled the room.

  “Smells good.” I said. “Hey, you don’t have carpet anymore,” I pointed out, noticing the dark hardwood flooring throughout the living room.

  “Yeah, we put that in about a year ago.” He looked down the hall and toward the kitchen.

  Everything else in the house looked the same; same flowered couch and oversized puffy chair, same bookshelf and coffee table. The only difference was the TV, which was a bit bigger than I remembered. That change was probably Brian’s input. Katherine never did like television that much. She always tried to get us to use our heads to play and get outdoors rather than sit mindlessly in front of the TV.

  “Mom!” Austin called out. “You here?”

  “Austin?” I heard Katherine from down the hall. “What’re you doing home? I thought you were going over to Breanna’s house for dinner? Is everything okay?”

  Her sweet voice rang throughout the house and immediately the memories flooded back of her mothering nature. I used to pretend she was my mother and that my real mom didn’t exist.

  She passed the staircase and saw us standing in the living room.

  “Breanna! Oh my, have you grown up,” she beamed, walking over to me and giving me a big hug.

  She hadn’t aged at all. Instead, she looked even better than I remembered. She was still petite and slim. There were only a few inches difference between us in height. Her hair was the same blonde as Austin’s and same bright blue eyes. You could definitely tell they were mother and son.

  “Hello, Katherine,” I greeted as she pulled back to look at me with both hands on my shoulders.

  “Wow…did you grow up! And so beautiful! No wonder Austin can’t stop talking about you,” she smiled at Austin and his eyes went wide.

  “Mom,” he growled through his teeth, embarrassed.

  I could feel myself blushing and looked away not wanting him to see how that comment affected me.

  “Well, it’s true son.” She winked at him and looked at me. “It is really good to see you sweetheart. I’ve missed you around here. It was nice always having you around since I never had any girls of my own.” Katherine sounded sincere when she said that and I felt the same way.

  “So mom, can we stay for dinner?” Austin asked.

  “Of course you can stay,” she insisted, grabbing my arm and leading me toward the kitchen. “Breanna, do you like spaghetti?”

  “Spaghetti’s great!” I replied.

  “Great! I will set two more spots at the table.” She walked into the dining room.

  “See, what did I tell you,” Austin whispered in my ear.

  I turned not realizing he was so close to me. I froze and lost my breath for a moment, until Katherine came back into the kitchen and he stepped away from me.

  “Brian should be home any minute and then we can eat.” Katherine walked around the counter and continued chopping the lettuce.

  “Okay. Bre, do you want to go out back for a minute?” Austin asked.

  “Sure.” I bit my bottom lip.

  “I’ll call you in when we’re ready to eat,” Katherine said as we stepped outside.

  We walked down the steps of the deck, heading to the river. When we were younger we would spend all day down here swimming. It just made the reality of how much older we were now so much more apparent. We weren’t kids anymore. We’d grown up and it was scary to see how our simple friendship was evolving into something so complicated. Back then, the thought of being on a date with Austin would’ve made me laugh, but now seeing him all grown up, things were somehow different. Not sure what to make of it.

  Peering back at the house and seeing his mother in the kitchen window made me ache for a mother like her.

  “I miss your mom,” I said. “I didn’t know how much I missed coming here until now.”

  “I’m sure the feeling mutual,” he commented.

  Reaching the river, I sat down on a big rock and Austin took the one next to me.

  “I’m so envious of what you have,” I went on.

  “Me?” he asked softly.

  “Yes, you. You have a great life, a great family and look at me. My family is so messed up.” My thoughts were as dark as the water in the dead of night.

  “I’m sure things will turn around for you.”

  He was sweet trying to make me feel better, but I couldn’t see that ever happening. I didn’t want to talk about me anymore. “Tell me more about your stepfather. What’s he like?” I asked.

  “Brian’s great. He’s the kind of father I never had. I told you he works for the fire department. Most firemen don’t see their families much, but not him, he makes sure he’s home almost every night or at least four nights out of the week. That’s something my real father didn’t seem to get.”

  “Yeah I know a little something about a parent not being there. My mother was always gone, as you know.”

  “Right.” He reached down and pulled a blade of grass out of the ground and twisted it around his fingers. “He’s really good for my mom. He loves her a lot.”

  He looked behind us at the house. His words came from deep within and he truly meant what he said.

  I glanced back and saw Katherine looking down at us from the kitchen window and a taller man, which had to have been Brain, peering over her shoulder.

  “It looks like we’re being spied on,” Austin muttered, smiling. “Should we give them something to talk about?” He leaned in.

  “No!” I shoved him away from me. From the window, it looked like his mother was laughing. “Great, Austin!” I rolled my eyes.

  “What?” he was still smiling.

  I smiled too, even though I was horrified that he did that in front of his mother.

  “You know what.” I turne
d my body way from him and folding my arms across my chest.

  “Don’t be mad. I was just playing. My mom knows I was messing around.”

  I glared at him, not believing a word of it.

  “Really,” he pleaded, still laughing.

  “Well-”

  “Dinner!” Katherine yelled from the house.

  “Ladies first.” He took my hand and helped me up, then led me to the house with his hand at the small of my back.

  Inside, I was introduced to Brian.

  “Honey, this is Breanna. Breanna, this is my husband Brian,” Katherine said.

  “It’s so nice to finally meet the mystery girl I keep hearing about,” Brian said, shaking my hand.

  He wasn’t anything like I had pictured. For one thing, he was extremely tall. I guess I pictured him more my father’s size, five-eleven, but he was well over six-four, if I had to guess. He was thin with a frame of a basketball player or marathon runner. His dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes were the same coloring as Austin’s. If I didn’t know he was Austin’s step-dad, I’d guessed he was Austin’s biological father. They looked so much alike.

  “It’s nice you meet you too.”

  “Well then, let’s eat before the food gets cold,” Katherine came from the kitchen holding a salad bowl.

  “So Breanna, I hear you and Austin have quite a history,” Brian said as we all took our seats at the dinner table. Brian and Katherine were at either end and Austin was across from me.

  “Yeah, I used to come here a lot when I was younger.”

  Katherine held out her hand for my plate and piled it with spaghetti.

  “That’s nice. I’m glad you two patched things up,” Brian said, glancing at Austin.

  As I took my plate back, I noticed the two of them exchanged a looked. I had a horrible feeling that it was about me.

  I took a bite of garlic bread.

  “Breanna, Austin tells me you’re quite the little life-saver,” Katherine said.

  Shock surged through me. Did I just hear her right? I felt like I was on a rollercoaster ride and on the first drop. Anticipation of what she meant flooded me and I prayed that she wasn’t talking about the Andersons.

  I swallowed. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

  “You know, with the Andersons.” She took a bite of salad.

  I shot my eyes to Austin. I couldn’t believe he lied to me. He said he hadn’t told anyone. The shock swiftly turned to anger. Austin didn’t look the least bit worried about his mother outing him.

  “Ummm…” I was at a loss for words.

  Sensing it, Austin spoke up, “Yes, she is. If Bre hadn’t been there that day running into me and the Andersons, and making us late for our planes, the Andersons wouldn’t be here today.”

  He smiled and took a sip of his water.

  I didn’t understand. He was so relaxed and the way he explained it just now, seemed as though he didn’t out me at all. He omitted a couple of key items, the important ones.

  “Yes well, even though I was mad at the time for Austin missing his flight, I guess it all worked out in the end. If it means the Andersons are alive today then I can’t be mad, right?” She warmly smiled at me, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. Her sweet, soft voice came with such emotion, as she looked right in my eyes. “I don’t think it was a coincidence you were there that day. I think you were supposed to be there at that moment.” She pulled away and took another bite of spaghetti. She then asked Austin about the party tonight.

  I wasn’t listening to the chatter around me, just repeating in my head, it wasn’t a coincidence you were there. You were supposed to be there at that moment. Over and over I meditated on that.

  “Breanna?” Katherine tried to get my attention.

  “Hmm,” I mumbled and looked back to her.

  “And you?”

  “I’m sorry, what was the question?”

  All eyes were on me.

  “I didn’t see your car here so are you going to have a ride home tonight if Austin stays at Kyle's?”

  “Oh, ummm…I’m staying at Rebecca Adam’s tonight, so I can get a ride from her.”

  “Good. You know me, I’m a mom. I have to ask.” It was nice having someone worry about me for a change.

  Taking another bite of my food and drinking some water, I glanced at the clock on the microwave in the kitchen. Six-thirty.

  “Austin, we should get going if we’re going to help Becka,” I motioned.

  “Mom, thanks for dinner.” Austin reached across the table for my plate. He picked up his glass and headed for the kitchen.

  “It was delicious. Thank you,” I added, grabbing my cup and standing.

  “You’re so welcome. We hope to see you again really soon okay?” Katherine rounded the table to give me a hug.

  “Okay,” I said as she squeezed me tight.

  “Bre, it was nice meeting you,” Brian said, standing up as well and shaking my hand.

  “You too,” I muttered, heading into the kitchen to put my cup in the sink.

  “Are you ready?” Austin asked.

  “Yeah.”

  As we were leaving, I overheard Katherine say to Brian, “See, what did I tell you? So sweet and gorgeous. I’m so happy Austin and her are together.”

  Climbing into the truck and locking my seatbelt into place, I pulled out the directions to Eve’s house that had been in my pocket.

  “So, how do we get to the party?” Austin asked, pulling out of the driveway.

  “Turn right onto West Evans Creek Road and start heading toward Wimer. Then turn left on Queens Branch.”

  It was the blackest of black nights. Not even the moon was making an appearance. Driving down West Evans Creek Road took some focus. The fog had settled in from the moist forest, blanketing the road. It was difficult to see the street beneath us. It didn’t help that out here in the Rogue Wimer area, no one had picked up on the idea of installing street lamps.

  As we twisted and turned down the windy road, I hung onto the door handle tightly. I didn’t take my eyes off the misty street for one second. Austin was a good driver, but even he could land in a ditch, driving in this stuff.

  “So, Brian’s really nice,” I said.

  “Yeah, he is.” Austin dropped his speed down to twenty-five miles an hour as the fog thickened.

  “I thought I was going to have to kill you when your mom started talking about the Andersons,” I confessed, flashing my eyes quickly at him then back to the road when we made a hard turn to the left.

  “Sorry about that,” he apologized for taking that turn too hard.

  “It’s okay.”

  He continued, “I told you I didn’t say anything about what really happened. I just needed to tell my parents something or they would’ve grounded me for a lifetime. I couldn’t have kept silent about why I didn’t go.”

  The road broke through the trees and straightened out a little.

  “Right. I get it.”

  The road was deserted, which was odd. It was the weekend.

  We kept a steady pace of thirty-five as the mist still hovered over the road.

  “It’s cold tonight, huh?” I shivered a little, rubbing my arms to warm up.

  “I’m sorry, let me turn the heater on.” He turned the dial, taking his eyes off the road for a second.

  A dark shadow flashed in front of the truck, and I screamed. “Watch out!”

  Austin slammed on his brakes, thrusting us forward, whipping my head and neck. When the truck stopped I looked for whatever the thing was that we almost hit.

  “What? What is it?” Austin looked out the windows to see what I was talking about.

  “You didn’t see that?” I was out of breath. How could he have missed it? It came from the forest and went right in front of us.

  “No,” Austin replied, slightly in shock.

  I looked hard into the dark night, but it was pitch black outside and I couldn’t see a thing.

  “I’m sorry, bu
t something went right in front of the truck. Don’t know if it was an animal or something else,” I said a little shook-up.

  “Well, whatever it was I think it’s long gone now.”

  He slowly pressed on the gas and we started moving again. I couldn't tell what it was. It didn’t look like an animal, but then again it was extremely dark out here. We could’ve been four feet away and I wouldn't have known what it was.

  Before we gained any speed, I leaned my body forward, intensely searching for anything out there. The trees were so black I could barely make out their jagged outline. Chills consumed me, not because I was cold ― it was toasty warm in the cab now. I felt uneasy. Something was out there, and I had no idea what it was.

  “Okay, we’re coming up on Queens Branch. I make a left, right?” We came to a stop sign and he glanced in both directions.

  I scanned the paper. “Left here. You’ll be on this road for about five miles. Then we need to be looking for a private road on the right called Whispering Gallows Lane. Eve said yesterday we’ll know we’re getting close when we don’t see any houses on the road and the forest starts to thicken.”

  “I’ve never been out this far. Have you?” The road began to weave back and forth again, with quick jagged turns, like we were skiing on a mountain. He gripped the steering wheel.

  “Nope. It’s crazy how far out she lives. I feel sorry for her when she has to go to school in the morning. She must get up an hour early just to drive there.”

  It was almost seven and I hadn’t seen a break in houses yet. They were more spread apart than before, so hopefully that meant we were almost there.

  “It’s gotta be close, right?” Becka was going to kill me for showing up late.

  “Not sure.” Austin strained his eyes and slowed down.

  Watching the houses flash past us, I thought I saw something in the gloomy forest, but I couldn’t tell if it was my imagination or if I really did see something. It almost looked like something was following us steadily alongside of the truck. I squinted, trying to make it out.

  “Austin, do you see that.” I pointed out of my window. But just as I said it, it vanished into the trees.

  “What? I don’t see anything.”

  “It was…” I looked hard. “There! Look!”

  The figure was almost invisible but the headlights illuminated a shape. It was extremely long and thin and moved fast, like it was floating above the ground, then it made a hard left turn under the truck.