Page 54 of Haunt Me

“Fourteen and a half.”

“Oh, cool. And he’s already driving? And like a maniac too?”

“Yeah, it’s… Cars are one of his passions. Dad used to let him drive when we would go to Vermont for the summer.”

“Is this your car?”

“No, I just… I borrowed one randomly from the school’s lot. Wait, I think this might be my English Lit professor’s car.” I chuckle. “I hardly knew what I was doing. My car was too far to reach, and I was in a hurry. Keys were on, so here we are.”

“And there you’ll be,” she says, “in detention for the rest of your life.” Down goes her head in shame.

I ignore that. “I can take you on a real car ride, you know, with my actual car. No felony involved or anything.”

“You could?”

“Yeah, I can. I will.”

“Father—Dad used to take me on long drives, back before he got so busy with work,” she muses. “Now I’m mostly alone, and we haven’t been anywhere together for years.”

I just reach out and grab her hand. It’s shaking and cold, but she goes still once I engulf her fingers in mine.

“It will be ok,” I tell her; I need to hear it too. I’m not going to ask her what she was doing in the middle of the highway again, unless she volunteers the information. But the questions are burning inside my brain.

How did this happen? What was she doing out here?

Why is she alone all the time?

What can I do to help her?

What can I do?

….

Of course, now, I understand what happened.

She didn’t know.

She had never been out alone on the street, on any street, before the day she met me. She wasn’t used to walking on the side of the road, had never learned how to cross the street and be mindful of moving vehicles.

How not to enter a freeway on foot.

The moment I grabbed her out of the traffic and into the car, I could barely concentrate on anything else apart from the way her body fit to mine, pinned under me, and how close my lips were to hers. I was absolutely buzzing and paralyzed at the same time.

I still remember the feeling to this day, but it’s all overshadowed by guilt.

How could I not see it?

How could I not see her?

My God, how?

…

When we reach the school, there is no one at the parking lot looking for me. That doesn’t fool me for a second; there will be consequences. But I’ll deal with them later. We quickly get out of the car, but Eden is shaking so badly, she can barely walk.

I sling her arm around my shoulders and half-carry her safely out of sight, into our woods. She is freezing, numb with shock. Her eyes are unfocused. It’s like she is disappearing in front of my eyes. I shake her a little, and some life comes back into her eyes.

“Come back to me,” I whisper, my lips brushing her velvet cheek.

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