Fused

Chapter 2: In the Beginning...

Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.  

-Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac

***

The old SUV teetered around the mountain corners. I leaned my head against the window of the passenger side door and closed my eyes while I pinched the bridge of my nose and focused on subduing the lump of nausea that formed in my throat from the winding road. When I opened my eyes, pine trees smeared by in my periphery.

"Mom, you don't have to drive so fast."

"I'm not driving fast." She peered in the rearview mirror. It was a Saturday and Sunrise Highway saw its fair share of weekend warriors escaping the city to come out and commune with nature on one of San Diego County's highest peaks. We already passed the Lodge and Store and the most popular pull outs for hiking so, there weren't many travelers left on this part of the roadway, yet she kept peering in the rearview mirror like we had a tailgater. There was no one behind us.

"Why are we doing this?"

"You'll see when we get there."

"I don't understand why you are dragging me all the way out here when you could just tell me what it is."

Enjoy the ride. We don't get a chance to get out very much. Besides what else do you have to do today?"

  Enjoy the ride? I was doing my best not to blow chunks all over the interior of the car.

"Janelle, Courtney and I were going to shop for prom dresses."

"You were going to go shop for prom dresses?" She tried to suppress a laugh but didn't do a very good job at it. I gave her a gentle whack in the shoulder for mocking me. "What? Since when have you ever been interested in attending a school dance?"

"Since Courtney talked me into going." Mom smiled. She rarely appreciated Courtney. But I could tell she was pleased Courtney convinced me to go to prom. I didn't really want to go but Courtney was really good at guilt tripping. She said if I chose not to go I would be missing our last hurrah of senior year before she left to go to Arizona for College.

"Do you have a date?" Mom asked, looking at me out of the corner of her eye. I didn't have a date.

"No." We're going as a group.

"So, who's going in your group?"

"Me, Courtney, Joel and Janelle, Dylan, one of Joel's friends from the baseball team and probably Maddie and Devin." My face soured at the thought of Devin. She was Janelle's friend and I didn't care for her, but I tolerated her for Janelle.

"Dylan?" I could hear the smile on her face.

"He's just a friend Mom. How many times do I have to tell you that." Dylan and I trained at the same gym. We spent hours together after school every week. But it was nothing more than training. That was it. We were friends, and that was it. Mom backed off for fear I might change my mind and not go at all if she kept pushing the Dylan issue. She whole heartedly agreed with Courtney on the subject of prom. I on the other hand could never see myself ever feeling regret for missing it. Dances, dressing up, it just wasn't my thing.

I returned to focusing on my uneasy stomach but was distracted by some lose change and Mom's work badge that rattled around in the cup holder. Rosalyn Nabors, Senior Accountant was stamped below a photo of her that must have been ten years old. The image could have been one of me. She hadn't changed much since the picture was taken. A year ago, she cropped her long brown hair to her shoulders and there may have been a few more fine lines surrounding her dark eyes, but other than that, she looked the same.