CHAPTER THREE
I sipped my cup of coffee and stared out into the twilight sky. It was the middle of autumn. The air cold and crisp, sometimes it was hard to breath because it was so frigid. The leaves seemed to dance in the air as they fell onto the lawn. I stared wondering why they chased me. They knew I wouldn’t give them the money, house, or land that her grandfather left for her. Originally I couldn’t touch it. I had been only 7 then so I couldn’t exactly have all of it to myself. My parents tried to 'keep it safe', so I decided to have all the money hidden and make sure the land and house were out of their hands. Pretty smart for a seven year old. My parents finally got to the final straw and ordered me to either give them the money or I would go on the streets homeless. So I left. I got onto a plane and flew to Oregon, where the house and land and well, everything was. And after that things just kind of went well. My parents didn't know where to look so I was safe from them. And no one was suspicious of the fact that I never had my parents go to conferences and such. I supposed they thought I was a foster child or homeless. I think it was mostly they didn't care because my grades are great and I never skipped or gotten in trouble.
I sat up straight and got off the windowsill. I had to get out of the house. I grabbed my coat and tried not to slip on all the papers on the floor. My room was full of papers, books, and magazines. And notes. My computer was sitting there beckoning me to come and do what I have been doing ever since I got here.
Research.
And it was all about the mysterious figure known as 'death'. There had been hundreds maybe thousands of sites about it. But most of it was fake. People just thought it would be fun to scare people or wanted attention or just did it out of boredom. But after a few years, I was able to see truth and lies about it. The ones who lied said you could see a skeleton or person or even a demon, in a dark cloak made of shadow and a scythe. The truth was when they described the findings of a shadowed figure. Nothing else.
I picked up my black leather purse, my keys to the car, and my leather sports jacket. I had a black undershirt and a pair of holey jeans. Not the best outfit for a winter night drive/walk but I didn’t have time to think of the details. I got into my deep blue 1967 Mustang and drove off to the mountains. I loved the mountains. All the wooded areas, animals, and most importantly: away from all the noise. And it helped out that Oregon had them all over the place, so many trees, so far I hadn’t been anywhere where there wasn’t a tree.
I drove first to the Human Bean. It is by far the best coffee place ever. I checked the prices and sighed. Damn, coffee was definitely not cheap though. Well at least I didn’t need to pay tax like the other states. I paid for my coffee and almost dropped my chocolate covered coffee bean on the way out of the drive thru. I sipped my coffee, my eyes tearing up from the fact that I burned my tongue doing so. I set my coffee in the cup holder and looked at the street signs.
Huh?
I turned around and drove back. I stopped across the street and looked at the sign again. What the hell am I doing on Murray?
I got out my map from the glove box. I had marked where I live and how to get to my favorite spot in the mountains. I had memorized it by now so I never needed to take it out. Until now.
“Maybe I took a wrong turn…”
I started my car and drove back to the human bean. It wasn’t the fact that I took a wrong turn. What bothered me was the fact that Murray was 3 miles away from my house. This had only happened once, but it was understandable. I was very tired from a night of studying late and had fallen asleep at the wheel. When I woke up, I found myself in the middle of a field in Roseburg. The police told me that I had probably ‘sleep drove’-whatever that is. I didn’t believe it at first but then my friend Trisha said it had once happened to her while she was driving back from a party. Though she didn’t end up in the middle of nowhere. But this…this is just weird. I shivered and just drove back the way I had come.
I made sure that I was paying attention to every road and highway I was on and about to turn on. I relaxed when I saw that I was on highway 26. I picked up my now cold coffee and sipped. No need to waste something delicious-and expensive. The only light visible was my headlights and the moon, which disappeared behind the tall pine trees. The stars were barley visible with the dark gray/blue clouds that were spread out and very wispy. The trees looked black in the dark.
Oh what I wouldn’t do to have a camera…
It was sad. Any other artist would have come here for the beauty of the mountains and the fact that at night it was full of mystery and wonderment. But sadly my art was mostly of shadows and darkness (shadowy figure mystery much?). I wasn’t really the type of artist that was into the light of the day. Nocturnal beast is what some people called me on Deviant Art (my lawyer, who used to be my Grandpa’s, suggested I did something that was ‘normal’ for a seventeen year old artist.) I didn’t get it but I did get a bunch of badges at Deviant.
I sighed turning on my c.d. player. I would calm down better if I listened to some Get Scared. I hummed to the song ‘voodoo’ and drank the rest of my coffee. I thought about all the times my Grandpa and me had gone up these mountains. I remembered this one instance where he and I had been trying to find this doe and her little fawn. Instead we had found a fox’s nest. The mother had given the cubs a goose to eat and they were now playing with the feathers. One of them had fallen and then attacked one of the others. They wrestled around for a little bit until the mother started to make a yipping sound. I scanned to see where she was looking and saw a bear. I stared, scared, and started shaking. My Grandpa put a hand on my shoulder, and put his index finger on his lips. I nodded and followed him. We were fine, until we saw that we had been followed. I sighed and turned up the music. Memories weren’t the best way to keep your mind off the rest of the world.
I was nearing the top of the mountain when all of a sudden I saw an orange glow up ahead. I squinted and tried to get a better view of it and gasped. I stomped on the brake and got out my car. I ran up ahead and then came to a sudden halt. I stared, eyes widening. I had never seen a car crash like this. The smell of burning rubber was strong, and almost overpowering. The flames crackled and seemed to swallow the car. The metal looked black and crackled, the paint gone long ago. I took a couple of slow steps forward, which turned into a sprint. The splintering heat touched my skin as I got closer. I looked around franticly for any signs of life. The heat was burning into my very being. My sweat was slicking down my face and my eyes searching, hoping for the person in this terrible crash to have survived. Then, I saw him. In between the flames and road, blood underneath him.
I started toward him, when the car exploded.
I turned seeing everything in slow motion.
The car exploding.
My turning and staring.
And then, I’m thrown back.
Everything is pain.
A piece of metal zooms pass, grazing my skin.
I am bleeding.
I try to get up.
I’m shaking.
Boom!
I am thrown back again. Another explosion? This time a piece of burning metal hits me dead on. It hits me in the side. I scream with pain. Tears flow heavily down my face.
IT BURNS! MAKE IT STOP!
MAKE THE PAIN STOP!
OH GOD, MAKE IT STOP!!!
I try to move as far as I can from the remains of the exploding car. But then one more deafening boom. This time I know that I wont survive. I stare as the metal speeds toward me.
“I don’t want to die.” I say.
Then I close my eyes, ready for the pain. But it doesn’t come. Instead I feel myself being lifted up from the ground and then embraced by a pair of strong arms. I am against their chest. After a few minutes I feel their arms set me down. I try to see who it is but everything is fading. I only see the shadow of a man. I gasp out “you saved me… thank y-“
I cry out from the pain in my side. I feel cool finger touch my lips.
“ Don’t talk. Just rest. You need to save your energy…” the voice was deep but light. Smooth yet rough. It was comforting, but haunting. And…
I heard a whimper. It took me a minute to figure out it had come from me. The last thing I heard was the voice. I couldn’t make out what they had said but I remember feeling calm. Right before I passed out I remembered what else the voice sounded like:
Lonely.
