Page 7 of Dead End

I was fuming. I just wanted to have a normal teenage life, to go out and have fun once in a while. “Why won’t you let me go outside when the sun goes down? Other girls get to go to the movies or hang out with their friends. Other teenagers go to parties on weekends. What is so damn bad about Halloween that we can’t even celebrate it?”

“Now isn’t the time to talk about this. You’ll know when you're ready to know these things. Everything we do has a reason,” Mom said, reaching back over her seat to swirl a piece of my dyed blonde hair between her fingertips. Crinkles appeared on the side of her eyes. I believe they were called crow's feet, along with a soft, sad smile when I finally looked up at her.

“We love you, October,” Dad said as he reached over to clasp Mom’s other hand. He placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles.

He took his gaze off the road for a split second. Just one second to meet my eyes in the rearview mirror. One second was all it took to shatter time and make it stand still.

Mom was suddenly screaming, “David! The road!”

I could feel my own eyes widening in shock and my pupils expanding in stark fear as the car headlights bounced off the silhouette of a tall man standing in the middle of the road. The car swerved to avoid him as Dad jerked the steering wheel to the right. The painted lines blurred as we launched off the road and careened down a ditch, feeling every bump and jolt. I could hear my mom screaming in the front seat. All I could focus on was the old oak tree we were heading towards at full speed.

Mom glanced back at me with terrified hopelessness in her bright gaze, just before a loud, crunching noise filled my ears. The last thing I could remember was my head slamming against the side window and seeing the spiderweb cracks in the broken glass smeared with blood. My blood.

That was the day I lost everything, including myself.

Every bit of loss and pain came back as the memories surfaced, causing me to gasp out loud as I drew in deep, shaking breaths. My eyes popped open, frantically scanning my surroundings.

I wasn’t in the car crash with my parents. I wasn’t screaming or looking into my mother’s haunted eyes. It was only a dream, reserved for me every single night on repeat. I wished it was only a nightmare from my past instead of reality.

It took a minute for my head to clear and for it to all come back as I stared at the faded gray seat in front of me, listening to the soft sound of crickets coming through the open windows. There was a cool breeze flowing over my cheeks. Why is it so quiet? Where am I, and why do I feel like there should be screaming?

It came barreling back at once. The screaming, the crunch of metal, and the crack of bones. The bus crash, the guys. I was almost too scared to pull my gaze away from the discolored cushion in front of me as my breath came in scared pants, afraid to see their lifeless eyes and twisted necks. My stomach jumped into my throat, bile rising. I raised my fist, biting down into my flesh to hold in my tortured scream, because once I started, I might not be able to stop.

Oh god, I didn’t even remember seeing Maddie, but something scattered at the back of my memory said that I did. I remembered her flying forward and getting lost in the haze of screams and debris. Everyone was either horribly injured or dead. I released my fist and looked down at my trembling hands. They were clean, rather than covered in dirt, cuts, and blood. Blood that wasn’t mine to begin with. My stomach lurched at that thought. I knew whose blood it should have been, and even though I couldn’t see it, it was still there under the skin. The ghost of the memory made my head spin, my heart pounding like it wanted to rip out of my chest and lay at my feet bleeding out.

Gathering the courage to do what had to be done, I held my breath as I slowly stretched up in my seat, my neck craning to look around this new graveyard. Families needed to know what happened here tonight, and I hoped someone had already called 911. I didn't know how long we’d been out here, but I didn’t hear any sirens.

What in the world...?

Everything was completely wrong. As I finally realized my surroundings, I noticed the bus sat in one piece, not separated in two halves with the engine on fire and corpses riddling the floor. The air was clear of smoke. There was no sign of a crash or even a slight impact. Just a normal bus, sitting on the side of a lonely country road. Quiet breathing filled the eerie stillness, and I stood on shaking legs, only to have them collapse under me again. It was like walking on noodles, and I had to hold myself up with weak arms.

I could see over the top of the seat and just make out Maddie’s red cheerleading outfit, her chest rising up and down. Her face was covered by a hoodie, as if she were only sleeping. Relief flooded through me so strongly that I let out a quiet sob. She was here; she was alive. I clenched the seat to pull myself up, leaning over to shake her shoulders roughly.

“Maddie, wake up!” I rasped, desperately pulling the hoodie off her and practically falling on my ass when her face turned towards me.

Holy shit…

Her eyes popped open instantly, her honey-brown gaze connecting with mine as she started to gasp like a fish out of water. She looked past me for a second, as if she wasn't even really seeing me. As if the same memories were flooding back as they had with me. I watched the terror leave her slowly, and after a few heartbeats, her shoulders sagged when she realized it was just me. I was pretty sure my mouth was gaping as I continued to stare at her. I was speechless.

“Oh, thank God you're alive!” She choked out seconds before she jumped up and crushed me in a hug so tight, I swear a rib cracked. She released me almost as fast but kept a hold of my shoulders. She looked me over with a frown on her face.

“Why are you staring at me like that? What’s wrong?” Her eyes traveled over my stricken face, confused. “You know, I had the strangest dream...” She tilted her head at me, but then gasped loudly again, slapping a hand over her mouth, her eyes going impossibly wide as she stared at the side of my head.

“Your hair!” I blurted, knowing she was about to freak out. I was freaking out.

“Oh my god, what happened to your hair?” she said at the exact same time with a shout.

“My hair?” I asked in bewilderment.

She grabbed a piece of mine and held it up, showing me a streak of pure white that absolutely wasn’t there before. I glanced down on the other side, and to my relief, the rest of my hair was still dark orange. I didn’t take the time to really examine it because Maddie was staring at her own locks now with a deep, confused frown.

Yup, here comes the screaming.

“Why is my hair black?” She screeched, high-pitched, and ear-splitting. She stumbled back into her seat and frantically ran her fingers through her new inky hair, pulling at the strands as if they were magically going to pop off like a wig.

“Jesus H. Christ, stop the noise! For the love of God, make it stop,” a deep voice grumbled—no, demanded. I’d know that voice anywhere...

My head whipped around so fast, I probably looked like a scene from The Exorcist. The need to move towards him and perhaps tackle him had me stumbling over my seat to get to the aisle. I walked on shaking legs, taking deep, steadying breaths.

---