DELONIX [COMPLETED]

2. The Escape

     
            

Aunt May grips the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turn white. She hasn’t spoken since we left, her usual warmth replaced by a quiet, unsettling tension. I sneak a glance at her—the rigid set of her jaw, the slight crease between her brows. Whatever she whispered earlier, it’s still weighing on her.

And I don’t like it.

The car ride stretches in silence, the hum of the engine the only sound between us. Outside, the world moves on as if nothing is wrong—kids rushing to catch the bus, an old man walking his dog, the sun rising higher into the sky. Ordinary. Normal.

Unlike me.

I shift in my seat, trying to shake the feeling still crawling under my skin. It was probably nothing. A static shock, maybe? Some weird reaction to stepping outside too fast? People feel weird sensations all the time. Right?

“Did you pack everything?” Aunt May’s voice cuts through my thoughts, softer now, like she’s trying to shake off her own unease.

I nod. “Yeah. Double-checked last night. Clothes, books, my laptop—all there.”

“And your meds?”

My stomach twists. “Aunt May—”

“I’m just making sure.”

I hesitate before answering. “I don’t take them anymore.”

The silence thickens.

I swallow hard, staring at my lap. “I haven’t needed them for months.”

Aunt May exhales, long and slow. “You could’ve told me.”

I shrug, trying to keep my voice light. “I didn’t want you to worry. And…I feel fine.”

Another lie.

I don’t feel fine.

Because deep down, I know what she’s really afraid of. The dreams. The memory lapses. The nights I wake up drenched in sweat, mind filled with shadows that don’t belong to me.

I’m not sick. I know I’m not.

But something is wrong with me.

We pull into the college parking lot, and my phone buzzes in my lap. A text from Laura, my roommate.

Laura: Tell me you’re here. If you ditch me today, I swear I’ll summon a demon to drag your ass to class.

I snort, tension easing slightly. At least some things are still normal.

Aunt May parks but doesn’t turn off the engine. She turns to face me fully, her expression unreadable. “Listen to me, Red. If anything strange happens—anything at all—you call me. Okay?”

I force a smile. “What, like if my books disappear or my professor starts speaking in tongues?”

“Red.”

The humor fades. I sigh. “Okay. I promise.”

She studies me for a second, then nods, satisfied. “Good.”