Page 34 of Shadows Within
He smirks and shifts the car into drive. My eyes scan the inside of his car. The leather of the seats feels stiff and new. I could taste smoke after we kissed, and I saw him smoking on the balcony at the party, so it doesn’t shock me to see a pack of cigarettes and a lighter in the center console. Otherwise, there’s nothing personal in here. It’s like he walked into his garage and picked a car from the many his parents own and just hopped init. Although, I know that’s not true, I’ve only seen him drive this car to school.
The headlights pierce through fog as we head toward campus. I look over at him. He’s got one hand on the wheel and the other on his gear shift. His car is automatic, but it’s almost as if he had a manual before and the habit just stuck.
He doesn’t look nervous. There’s a calmness about him I wish I had.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
He doesn’t take his eyes off the road. “There’s a few different places on campus that not many people know about.” I look out the window.
“But you do?” His head turns and peers at my reflection. I turn to him quickly, hoping our eyes meet. Instead, I’m met with his side profile.
Why won’t he look at me?
“Something like that.”
He has both hands on the steering wheel now. We don’t say anything else. The silence is comforting. My hands are cold, so I put them under my thighs for warmth. He doesn’t face me, but he reaches for the button to turn my heated seat on.
It’s dark and I can’t see much. His car slows as we pull into an area I’ve never been. It’s still on campus, almost on the edge of town. As we get closer, I see a small, worn building with the vines crawling up its sides.
“What is this place?” I lean closer to the dashboard to try and get a better view.
He puts the car in park and turns it off.
“Do you trust me?”
This catches me off guard. I’m not sure. My gut tells me no but what comes out is, “Yes.”
Finally, our eyes meet. He slowly moves closer to me, like friction is pulling him. Without breaking our eye contact, heplaces his hand on the door behind him and slides out. He walks in front of the car and opens my door, like he’s done this a hundred times. I get out. He shuts it and heads toward the darkness. I follow him. Although the lights from his car remain on, I still can’t make out what this place is.
When we reach the building, he rattles the knob and shoves the wooden door with his shoulder.He’s definitely been here before. The smell of soil and moss overwhelm me. Callum reaches up and pulls on a string for a light to flick on. A yellow bulb faintly shines, just enough that I can make out the room. It’s a greenhouse.
“What is this place?” I walk over to a bench with a terracotta pot on it, running my finger over its broken edges. As I keep walking, the smell changes, now an elegant, honeyed spice. Its sweetness is familiar. Up ahead, I spot at least a dozen red and pink rose bushes.
“This place has been forgotten about, abandoned. No one tends to them anymore.” His voice is low as he walks over to the other side of the table I stand in front of.
“But you do.” I look at him.He must. He rubs a petal between his fingers.
“I wouldn’t have picked you out as a flower guy.”
His eyes meet mine, like they are trying to tell me something.
“I’m not, but these ones were left, forgotten. They shouldn’t have made it. But with the right help they thrive. It’s hard to explain, but they survived when they should’ve died.”
I know he’s referring to more than just the flowers. “Like you.”
He looks at me for a beat and leans back against the table, his hands on either side of him.
“I could sit here and blame it all on shitty parents, Scarlett, but I’m the one who makes bad choices. I can’t blame anyone else for what I’ve done.”
“You don’t have to blame anyone else Callum—you were raised in a house where you weren’t shown how to be loved. It’s your parent’s job to show you, to teach you.”
“It’s not like that Scarlett, not for most people. You fight for your legacy, not what you believe in. You don’t get a choice. Your only choice is to survive, and sometimes the price of that is yourself.”
“I don’t know what that’s like, so I won’t lie to you and tell you that I get it. My dad loves me unconditionally and supports everything I do. My mom is a different story, but—”
“Tell me about your mom.” He interrupts.
“Um, she is,” I sigh. “She’s the opposite of my dad. She left us, for a life I’ll never understand. It was before high school. I knew things were changing between my parents. I knew they were drifting apart... but she just became someone that I didn’t recognize.” I take a second to peek at the flowers, finding comfort in their smell. “I know she works at the steakhouse in town, but truthfully... I think she’s an escort. I’ve heard things and people have told me that they’ve seen her out before. I don’t know if Dad knows. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overshare.”
