Shadow Souls

Chapter Forty-Six

I drive around aimlessly just to let myself cry for a while, until my eyes blur so bad that it makes it hard to see the road.

Coming across a mostly empty parking lot with only a couple of cars occupying it, I decide to pull over before ending up in yet another car accident.

I continue to sit there and curse the universe while I cry my eyes dry, until my teeth are chattering, and my limbs are shaking. I ran out of the house so fast I didn't grab a coat, and now my body feels numb. Though I'm not sure I can blame that solely on the cold. Of course, I would end up in a truck with a busted heater, when I also have no jacket. I acted cold towards Finn, and now the universe was dishing out my karma.

Glancing up at the run-down building in front of me I figured it's a good a place as any to go inside and get warm. I quickly check my face in the mirror and find it red and puffy, pretty much like I expected. Oh well, nothing I can do about it.

I drop down the visor knowing my dad always keeps emergency cash there and find a twenty-dollar bill folded up and taped to the inside. I shove it in my pocket, then make a run towards the building.

When I get through the door, I feel the warmth hit my face, and my frozen limbs instantly start to thaw. However, I realize that the place I am standing in, is a bar. I reach into my back pocket to check the time on my phone thinking it's way too early for a bar to even be open, but curse when I remember that I left it lying on my bedside table. Great.

Deciding just to risk it, I walk over to sit at the counter, hoping nobody notices a teenage girl in bar on a Wednesday morning. It doesn't take long before an older rugged man with a beard appears to ask what I want to drink, and I hesitate for only a second before ordering a coke. Not wanting to risk trying to buy an actual drink, but also wanting to order more than just water so I don't seem rude and give them more reason to kick me out.

When he sets the glass in front of me, I take a sip, and notice just how dry my mouth is. I end up taking a few more big gulps, nearly downing the glass before slamming it down and wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. Not very lady-like, but I am in a bar, so whatever.

That's when I notice a guy sitting a couple of stools down is staring at me. I inwardly kick myself for drawing so much attention to myself. He's probably realizing that I am not supposed to be in here and is going to rat me out.

"Not many high school kids come in here," he says, taking a sip from his glass.

Yep, he is going to bust me.

"Look, I know I'm underage, but I only ordered soda, and I swear when it's gone, I'm leaving. So, could you please just not say anything?" I say in a rush.

He grins, obviously finding my rant amusing. "Don't worry. I'm not supposed to be here either," he confesses in a mock whisper.

"Oh geez! You're not like in AA or anything are you?" I immediately realize how insensitive I sound and press my lips together to stop from saying anything else completely moronic. However, this time he throws his head back and laughs.

"No. I just meant that I'm in high school too," he confesses.

Shocked, I really look at him now. He has one of those faces where I suppose he could be seventeen or eighteen, but he could just as easily be twenty-five. It's nearly impossible to tell.

"Where do you go to school?" I ask.

"Same place you do."

I don't recognize him but, that's not surprising. I'm only on my second week of being there after all.

"So," he says taking another sip of what I now realize is beer despite him openly admitting he is underage, "Where's Finn at right now?"

Of course, he would know that I'm Finn's girlfriend. Or I guess I should say was his girlfriend. "I don't know," I say in a flat voice.

He takes in my change of mood and simply nods. Thankfully he doesn't pry for the details. Not that I would have told him anyway.

"Well, I got to go. See you around, Alice," he says getting up and throwing some bills on the counter.

"Hey wait!" I call out.

"Yeah?"

"It's not fair that you know my name when I don't know yours," I tell him.

He looks at me like he is considering rather or not he should say anything. Which is silly since it wouldn't be hard to figure it out if we go to the same school like he claims.

"Tristan," he finally says.

"Nice to meet you, Tristan," I say holding out my hand to him.

He looks at it for a moment, and I am beginning to feel like an idiot, until he slowly brings his hand out to shake mine. "Nice to meet you, too."

He never takes his eyes off me, and when our hands finally make contact, I am no longer in the bar.

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I am outside in the woods but not ones I recognize. It's warmer and these trees are different from the ones I am used to here.

There is also a boy standing a few feet in front of me and it looks like Tristan. He is arguing with someone who has their back turned to me, and as I really start to look at them both, I find something odd about their appearance. They both seem to be wearing blue togas. Like maybe what frat boys would wear at a college party. Only something about this scene seems so familiar to me. Like I have seen it before.

Tristan looks up when he notices me watching him and he looks worried or upset. And that's when the second person turns and looks at me, his familiar face full of concern.

It's the boy with the green eyes from my dreams.

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I gasp in shock, and then I'm once again sitting back on the bar stool, where no time seems to have passed at all.

Tristan drops my hand, and I look at him to see if he is as startled as I am, but he only appears to be irritated at something.

"What the hell was that?" I ask.

"I have to go," he says sounding angry, and then in a second, he is out the door.

"Wait!" I call out.

I stand up to go after him, but remembering my drink, I stop to pull the twenty out of my pocket and toss it on the counter. Not caring that a soda only costs two dollars.

I rush out the door to catch up with him, but he is already gone. I look down the road both ways, but don't see anything. Not a person, or a car. Where did he go so fast, with only a thirty second head start? There are only two cars in the parking lot, and both show no signs of life.

"Get a grip, Alice," I tell myself. The guy probably thinks I am some kind of freak, holding on to his hand like that and being all weird. No wonder he looked irritated.

I decide to forget the whole encounter and chalk it up to emotions as I walk back to my truck. I don't even hesitate before starting it up, knowing I can't put this off any longer. Time to go home and face Finn.