Song of a Sophomore

CHAPTER 3 - Closer to Free

Miles away from home, down a dusty dirt road in the middle of nowhere, the front tire of my bike strikes something in road and the entire bike freezes beneath me, sending a shockwave through my body. Time stands still as I tumble through the air and land on my stomach with a thud, splashing water all around, and knocking the air out of my lungs.

"Oh my God, Rose!" Ryan screams.

Stunned, I lift my chin lifted from the puddle beneath me and I gasp for breath. A desperate sob builds in my throat, and it takes all my strength to hold it in.

"Help," I wimper.

Ryan is at my side in a flash, grabbing me by the elbow and carefully peeling me off the road. "Are you okay?"

"I think so." Pain ripples through my legs but I can stand, and even walk, so maybe I'm not too beat up okay after all?

"I knew this was a bad idea." Ryan wipes my face with his jersey then looked down at my legs. "You're bleeding."

"It hurts." I wince at my scraped knees, dotted with blood and fight the urge to wail like a baby. "What the hell happened?"

"You hit a tree branch in the road and basically did a Superman right over the handlebars. You didn't see it?"

I shake my head, still trying to catch my breath and get my bearings. The fall was so harsh and unexpected—and utterly embarrassing. I am a walking disaster.

Typical me.

"How could you miss this?" Ryan walks over and kicks a fallen tree branch laying in the middle of the dirt road. With both ands he hoists it up and chucks it into the woods.

"I saw something. There." My finger trembles as I point at the curve in the road ahead. "There was an old house. A graveyard. I guess I wasn't paying attention to the road."

"Surprise, surprise." Ryan eyes me knowingly This wasn't the first time I did something stupid and got hurt. He lifts my mangled bike off the ground, twists it back into shape, and gives it a quick test ride. "Your bike's okay. Well, it's a piece of crap, but it still works."

"So funny, Ryan." I roll my eyes and dab tears from my cheeks with a clean corner of my muddy shirt. The house, visible just beyond the trees at the bend in the road, calls to me and I forget about my scraped up legs. "It stopped raining. You wanna check it out? Maybe I can get cleaned up there. Or we can call Mom to come get us."

"Call Mom? Seriously?" Ryan throws up his hands in protest. "You don't just stop in the middle of the woods and walk up to a strange house. Don't you remember that horror movie Texas Chain Saw Massacre? We'll get chopped up into pieces by some psycho."

"If you're too scared, I get it." I raise my eyebrows, challenging him.

Ryan smirks. "It's not me I'm worried about. Have you seen yourself? And, when was your last tetanus shot? You're so uncoordinated today, I'm afraid you'll step on a rusty nail."

"Whatever." I step forward, then reconsidered. "Well, maybe you should go first. I do have open wounds."

Ryan shakes his head and takes the first stride into the tangled web of tree limbs. I follow closely behind as the woods unveils its secret to us. A giant of plaster and wood sleeps in a field of billowing grass. You can almost hear it breathing.

"What a dump." Ryan spits on the ground.

"It's not a dump. It's, like, a mansion or something."

Ryan drops his backpack at the edge of the clearing and charges straight for the graves near the road. I stop to take in the abandoned house in all its faded glory.