"Yeah, she texted me around lunch time today." He replies as he opens the truck door and gets out. I follow suit, getting out of the truck and rushing around to the other side with Kale. Duncan jumps out of the back but doesn’t make a move toward Kale. You can easily see the worry on his face. Something is wrong.
We rush to the door. Kale knocks and we wait for a few moments, but there is no answer. He knocks again this time harder, but still no answer. He mutters a few curses then tries the door handle. Thankfully it turns. We all step in closing the door behind us. It is quiet....too quiet.
"Lucy, babe, are you home?" Kale shouts, again there’s no answer.
"Maybe she left, went to the hospital or something." I say absently while looking around for some clue as to if someone was home.
"She would have told me if it had gotten worse though." Kale proclaims. He’s getting more upset and begins to pace back and forth staring down at his phone, willing it to tell him where Lucy is.
"Maybe we should just search the house first, she might just be somewhere asleep." Duncan recommends. Kale and I nod and we all go off in search of Lucy.
Five minutes later we meet back by the front door. "I didn't find her or any kind of note. My guess is that she probably went to the hospital." I state, biting my lip. I hope we are right. Kale nods, his eyes filled with apprehension.
Just then, his phone beeps with an incoming message. Kale lets out a loud sigh of relief and his shoulders relax as he reveals to us what it says.
"Lucy’s at the hospital. She got a call from her mom to hurry. They have a limited dose of the new vaccine to cure the flu.” He smiles. “Her mom got her on a list to receive the shot." Kale looks at us with a hopeful grin. “She’s going to be ok.”
“That’s great news, Kale.” I exclaim as I wrap my arms around him in a hug. Kale lifts me up and twirls me in a circle before putting me back on my feet. She was going to be ok.
"We should just go home then, sis. She's in good hands. Kale, you coming with us or do you want a ride home?" Duncan inquires coming up behind me.
"Nah man, I can walk from here. Thanks for coming with me today.”We walk out of the house and Kale strolls off down the road with a small wave. “I'll see you guys later." Luckily he only had a ten minute walk to his house. I wave back to him and turn my attention back to Duncan.
“Let’s go home, Dunc.” I say as I walk to the passenger side of the truck. I stop and look through my opened door to Duncan who has already climbed into the driver’s seat. “Can you even drive like that?” I point to his injured hand.
“Yeah, I can drive with just the one hand. We don’t have far to drive anyway.” I nod and climb up into my seat. He starts up the truck and awkwardly closes his door. I close mine and watch as we pull away from Lucy’s house.
I anxiously tap my feet on the floor. I’m still worried, and things still feel off. With the whole sickness and all the sudden they have a cure? It just seems weird to me. I look over to Duncan his eyebrows are scrunched up and he’s muttering to himself. I wait a few moments before breaking the silence.
"Hey Dunc, do.....do things feel “off” to you?" I ask quietly.
He glances over at me, then back to the road. He shakes his head.
"No, things are alright sis, there’s nothing to worry about." I can tell that he is lying to me but decide not to say anything, at least for now. I sigh and watch the trees and houses fly by as we drive down the road.
****
We arrive home quickly. Mom’s SUV is parked on the front lawn. Duncan shakes his head and groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. Mom must be drunk.
“I’ve got to take care of the horses, Lex. I’ll be in as soon as I can to take care of mom. Just try to avoid her. Ok?” He watches me with concern.
“It will be fine. She’s probably already passed out somewhere.” I state with a hint of hope. Is that wrong of me?
“You’re probably right. In any case it shouldn’t take me too long with the horses.” I nod and step out of the truck. I take a deep breath and let it out and plaster on a fake smile for Duncan.
Reluctantly I walk to the house, while Duncan runs off to tend to the horses. I step in and shut the door, taking a deep breath hoping my mom is asleep. I knew what would happen if she wasn’t.
"Duncan, is that you?" My mom slurs as she stumbles into the living room. I groan to myself. I swear I have the worst luck.
"No mama, it’s just me. Dunc went to tend to the horses." I answer as nicely as I can.
"Well shit, I need him to run me back down to the bar. I can't find my damn keys.” She hiccups. She moves forward and almost falls. I grab for her arm to steady her but she shoves me away. I grit my teeth, forcing myself not to lash out at her.
"I don't need you, you damn brat.” She growls out and sways on her feet again. “I'd have you drive me but you'd only kill me." She cruelly laughs out as she stumbles and pushes past me. I didn’t want to hear anymore of her cruelty, so I bite my tongue and run upstairs to my room. I really didn’t want to fight with her. I wish she could stay sober long enough to see how much she was hurting me and Duncan.
"Yeah, you better run you little brat, I don't want to see your face no more." Mom yells after me.
Sitting down on my bed I let out a sad little laugh as tears form in my eyes. I wipe them away with shaky hands. I wasn't going to ever get my mom back, she hated me. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing myself not to cry. I was determined not to let her break me. The accident was never my fault. It was just that, an accident. I had to stop blaming myself. I stand up, and walk to my mirror, forcing myself to smile.
"Hey, are you ok?” Duncan asks from my doorway a few minutes later. “I overheard what mom said."
"Yes." I turn to him with a genuine grin and a good dose of renewed determination. "I’m great, actually." I think I shock myself as much as him with those words. He smiles and nods.
"Good. That’s good to hear, sis." He sighs and throws his thumb over his shoulder. "I'm going to take mom back to the bar. Do you need anything while I'm out?"
"Hurry your ass up, boy!!" Mom yells up the stairs.
“I’m coming, mother!" He forces out, rolling his eyes to me.
"Do you need anything?" He asks again.
I shake my head no, so he heads off. I turn on my radio and lay back on my bed staring up at my ceiling. I can’t help but think about everything that had happened today, I shake away any bad thoughts. I shut my eyes and will myself to relax. I hum to the music and soon I feel my body melt into the bed.
****
I’m in my new red Mustang driving slowly down Main Street in the small farm town not far from home. The sky is dark and heavy with clouds ready and waiting to let their rain pour down. Dad’s in the passenger seat and we’re both singing to our favorite country song on the radio. We’re on our way back home from getting ice cream at the local shop. They had the best homemade ice cream around and I had begged daddy to let us get some. It was out of the way but so worth it.
I had begged him to let me drive, too. I had just gotten the car and I really wanted to show him how fast I was learning to drive a stick shift. He told me how proud of me he was. It was something he had said to me every day but I had never gotten tired of hearing his praises. I was truly a daddy's girl.
We continue singing off key till the song ends and we laugh as another song we love comes on. The clouds grew darker the longer we were gone. It had been raining on and off all day so the roadways were already wet. As I drive along the sky opens up, and it suddenly starts to rain, lightning flashes and the thunder booms, it comes down harder and harder. I ask dad to turn off the radio so I can concentrate on the road. I can barely see the road in front of me. “You’re doing great pumpkin’ just take it slow.”Dad says. I slow my speed and he pats my arm reassuring me.
To my right I suddenly see bright lights coming. It’s too late for me to react. The truck slams into the side of the Mustang. I screa
m as the sound of metal crunching and glass shattering is all I can hear. The car flips over and over. I feel the blood rush to my head.
As the car finally stops, I scream for help but hear nothing, I blink a few times, my eyes blurring around the edges, and then everything fades to black.
When I come to, I hear sirens, I try to move, but I’m stuck upside down in the car. My legs are pinned by the dashboard. The car is lying on its roof. I panic when I can't get my arms to move to get myself out of the seatbelt. Slowly, the feeling returns to my body, it hurts so much. I close my eyes as tears pour out. God help me. I glance over to where the passenger seat should be, but the car is so badly crushed that I can’t see dad. Oh God, where is he?
"Daddy... Daddy...Are you ok daddy?" I silently beg him to answer, but I hear nothing other than sirens growing closer.
"Please, daddy.... Please just answer me daddy!" I cry out.
"Lexi!" someone is yelling, it sounds so far away.
"Daddy is that you?" I whisper.
"Lexi.....Please wake up!" The panicked voice yells.
I cry harder "Daddy please answer me, I need you!" I plead.
"Alexis...... please come back to me. It's Duncan......please...." The voice cries out.
I feel the pain in my heart all over again and the horrible scene slips from my mind as I scream out the most terrifying cry. I swiftly open my puffy eyes, I’m crushed in Duncan’s arms, and he’s rocking back and forth. I can hear him crying into my hair. “Please Lexi, wake up.”
"Duncan." I whisper roughly. My throat is raw. I must have been screaming. I didn’t even realize I had fallen asleep. I hadn't had a dream that bad in three months.
"Oh, thank God, Lexi." He breathes out, and takes my face in his hands. He uses his thumbs to wipe away my tears.
“Are you ok?" He chokes out on a sob.
"Yeah, I'm ok." I whisper looking at his tear stained face. I had never seen him cry. Even after dad’s death he had never cried in front of me. I must have really scared him.
"I’m so sorry Dunc, it was another nightmare. I haven’t had one that bad lately. I was really hoping that they were gone, but I guess I was wrong." My throat really hurts.
Duncan grabs me into another embrace. He lets me go, gets up off the bed, and wipes his eyes, then walks out of the room, all without saying another word.
I wipe at my eyes again my tears are all gone, but I can still feel where they had dried on my cheeks. I feel horrible, so I make my way to the bathroom down the hall in hopes that a hot shower will help. I shrug off my clothes and step into the stream of water. I close my eyes and let the water and heat, wash away all my sadness.
Far too soon the water runs cold so I get out of the shower and towel off. I wrap the towel around myself and walk off to my room. On my dresser is a note under a cold glass of ice water.
It simply says:
I figured you would need some cool water for your throat. I left some food in the oven for you too. I went out for a ride on Cutter, I'll be back soon.
Love Dunc
I smile, and grab the glass taking a big gulp of the water, while sitting back on my bed. I still feel stressed from the dream and my body feels completely drained of energy. The dream just felt way too real. I groan as my stomach starts to grumble. I reluctantly get up and make my way down to the kitchen to see what kind of meal Duncan left waiting for me.
My stomach growls again as I reach the kitchen and peek into the oven. Duncan had made a chicken casserole with homemade rolls. Yummy! Mom had taught both us kids how to cook from an early age, thankfully we were both great at making meals and we rotated when each of us cooked for the other. I quickly fill a plate and dig in. I clear my plate in a matter of minutes. My stomach still isn’t full, so I go back for seconds.
Duncan soon returns, just as I’m washing the last of the dishes up. He sits down at the kitchen table and places his head in his hands. I turn to watch him, waiting for him to say something, anything. When he doesn’t talk or even move I decide to act first. I slowly walk to his side and pull out a chair. “Are you ok, Duncan?”
He shakes his head as if he can’t believe I just said those words and looks up at my face. “Am I ok? Really, Lexi, you’re going to ask if I’m ok.” He murmurs. “I should be asking you that question, sis.” He shakes his head again and runs his hands roughly through his hair.
“I’m fine, Duncan. It was just a bad dream that’s all.” I look down at my still shaky hands. He knows I’m lying, he knows exactly what my dream was about. I just don’t think I’m quite ready to talk about it, yet.
“Lex, you really need to talk to someone about what happened. You’re never going to get better until you talk about it.” He pleads.
I stand up abruptly from my seat. I can’t do this now. I can’t talk about that horrible day. “I can’t, Duncan. I just can’t talk about it yet, it’s still just too hard.” I say softly. I turn to walk away but before I can Duncan grabs my hand and pulls me into a hug.
“You know I love you, Lexi, no matter what I’ll always love you.” As soon as he lets me go I run up the stairs, to my room and I weep into my pillow. I love my brother and I wish I could talk to him, but something is holding me back.
Chapter 3
Wednesday, August 28th
It ended up being yet another sleepless night. I knew that the very minute I would shut my eyes to go back to sleep that the dream would return.
When my alarm went off for the morning, I had been staring out the window watching the sunrise for over two hours. I was tired, but I knew I would just have to battle my way through the day.
When I went downstairs to the kitchen, I was still in my pajamas, which consisted of a deep red worn tank top and black cotton boy shorts. It was suspiciously quiet, so I search through the entire house. Duncan and mom are both absent. I go back upstairs and slip on a pair of worn jeans and a pair of flip flops and head out to the barn next. I figured that maybe Duncan was out tending the horses.
The air is a bit chilly and I rub my arms as I walk into the barn. Everything looks untouched. The horses hadn’t even been fed. I hurry to get them food, water and open the stalls for the day so they had access to the pasture. I run back into the house to grab my phone to text Duncan to find out where he is and why he isn’t home.
Me: Hey, where r u?
I wait what feels like forever, I pace back and forth in the living room with my phone firmly in my hand. I stare at the screen. Minutes later the phone beeps with an incoming message.
Duncan: I’m at the bar. Mom’s drunk. Max called me to get her.
That explained it all. Max was the owner of the bar that mom frequented. He was always kind to us kids and called when mom got a bit unruly. Unfortunately this wasn’t a first for this to happen, I text back.
Me: K, hurry back we have school. I took care of the horses, btw.
He sends a text back a few minutes later.
Duncan: Thanks for that. No school today they canceled it. All schools are being forced to close, thanks to this flu bug. I’ll be home soon.
I wince a little at the text. I so don’t want to get sick. This flu must be a lot worse than I thought and the way it was spreading was freighting. I hoped that Duncan, mom and I would be lucky enough not to catch it.
I call Kale next, to see how Lucy is doing. I was also curious about the vaccine she had gotten and I hoped it had helped her. He picks up on the third ring.
“Hi, Kale it’s me, Lexi. How’s Lucy doing?”
“Hey, she’s doing much better. I’m actually with her now. We were just about to call you to see if you wanted to go with us to The Diner for breakfast since school canceled.”
“I don’t know, Kale.” I huff out insecurely.
“Aw come on, Lexi. What’s the worst that can happen?” Kale pushes. As I really think it through, I know he is right. More than likely I won’t run into Lucca and if I did then I would just have to deal with the inevitable. I could handle it. I ca
n do this. It was about time I dealt with my issues. This will be easy.
“Ok, Fine. I’ll go.” I breathe out, my mind resolved with a new determination. I hear cheers in the background. He must have had me on speaker phone. I laugh to myself.
“That’s awesome, Lexi. We will be at your house in about ten minutes to pick you up. Sound good?”
“Yeah, sounds good I’ll be ready.” I end the call. Then head back upstairs to my room and quickly slip on a shirt and some socks. I run back downstairs and sigh as I check myself out in the mirror near the front door to make sure nothing is out of place. I’m wearing a light gray low cut tee and a pair of old boot cut jeans. I grab my “ass kicking boots” as Duncan calls them, and slip them on and lace them up. Now I’m ready to go.
Ten minutes pass as I sit impatiently in the living room, flipping through an old magazine. I jump up and practically run out the door when Kale honks his horn to let me know that they arrived.
“Hey, guys.” I say jumping into the back seat with Katie and Kane. Lucy and Kale are up front.
“Hey.” They all reply.
The ride to the diner is quick. We share laughs as we sing to our favorite song that’s playing on the radio. I’m in a great mood as I walk through the door to The Diner. I look around the inside. It is exactly the same as it had been since I was there last. It has the same tacky western decorations. The floors are a rough dark wood and the walls are a light brown, the tables and chairs are all a lighter color than the floors but it makes the whole place have a kind of homey feel. The lights are dim and it has a smoky smell that lingers from the fireplace on the farthest wall. It’s a mom and pop place and is favored by everyone in town. They make the best food around, in my opinion.
We quickly find our favorite booth in the back near the fireplace. It was shaped in a large U and could easily fit us all, plus a few more. Lucy and Kale sit on the right side and Kane and Katie on the left. I push Kale to move over so I can sit on the end. As I sit, he grins mischievously and hangs his arms over the back of the seat as if he’s “king shit” squeezed in-between two girls. I roll my eyes and poke his side, making him squeak out a girlie scream. We all burst into laughter and I wear a smug grin as he gives me the “evil eye” then shakes his head and lets out a loud chuckle.
No Where to Run (The Story of Alexis Rose) Page 3