C O M P L E T E - first draft.
7x featured story.
Undiscovered Gem, Romance Ambassadors, January 2025.
Ambys 2024 Favourite - Mystery & Thriller
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I don't register what comes first--Mum's screams and curses, or the searing pain that perforates...
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August 31st
C A R M E N
I tap my fingers against my leather steering wheel and swear under my breath as the driver in front stalls for the third time in a row. The urge to blare my horn at them in hopes it'll kick them into gear—literally into gear—surfaces, but I refrain. They obviously haven't lucked out in the car department looking at their two-thousand-and-four reg KA. I've only ever known the comfort of my brand new Mercedes.
At long last, the driver in front seems to get to grips with basic clutch control and their car limps forward. "About damn time," I mutter, before cruising away behind them with ease through the city I call home.
As usual for a Saturday, Lee Heights is bustling with people. I glance to one side at crowded pavements every so often whilst driving through the town centre, observing how groups of people flock from store to store. They all have paper shopping bags in hand, something heavily implemented by my mother to stores in the area as part of her 'go-green' movement. She's mayor here in Lee Heights, and will campaign to extend her stay in the upcoming election.
The campaign is all that Mum has focused on these last few months. I wake up most mornings to find her where I left her the night before, with coffee cups piled up on the desk beside her as she taps away at her MacBook keyboard. She and Dad are constantly reminding my brother, Cory, and me that everything needs to be perfect. We have to be on our best behaviour in the buildup to the election, especially when in the public eye. There is no room for error or a scandal of any kind.
I flick my indicator upward and take a right turn onto Cresent Drive—the road Jules lives on. Once I reach her house, I pull my Mercedes up to the curb, cringing as I accidentally clip one of my alloys on its rough surface.
Sorry, Mum and Dad...
Lurching my left hand out, I grab my phone from where it sits on the passenger seat and open my contacts. However, before I can call Jules, her front door swings open, the 'click' sound of the Alexander McQueen heels I gifted her on her eighteenth birthday resonating as she struts toward my car.
"Hey, bitch," she says with a laugh as she throws herself into the passenger seat beside me. She immediately pulls the sun visor down and begins fixing her fiery-red locks in the mirror, not sparing me a glance. "About time you got here. You took, like, forever."
"I came as quick as I could," I respond, playfully rolling my eyes.
One of the back doors is then pried open. I turn my head around and watch as my other friend, Deidre, plants herself down in the backseat and closes the door behind her delicately. I cock a brow at the bucket hat that covers her head—an accessory that I've not seen her wear before.
