Haunted by the Past (Original)

Chapter 30

Waiting for the others to get back to me with updates was excruciating. Wayne went to our alma mater and asked for a mailing list for our graduating class on the premise of trying to arrange an early reunion. Somehow the administration bought that lie and gave him a list of last known addresses. When that list came up empty, Vic encouraged him back to ask for a list of all teachers from that time – it was a really big reunion. That took more convincing, but eventually the administrator came around. It didn't matter though as that list came up empty as well. Not wanting to waste his effort, I had him send the lists to Vic and me. I went through it and pointed out anyone of even the smallest connection to me, then Vic added them to her call list just to confirm that they hadn't moved to an apartment 47.

Meanwhile, Dylan reportedly went to the county clerk's office. The office was in the neighboring town so it was more of a wait. Dylan refused to admit what happened at the office, but he got a list of all apartment 47s in the area. Very few apartment buildings were actually large enough to have that many units so the list was relatively short. Dylan shared the list with Wayne so they could split up visiting each location between them. It wasn't like they needed to interact with the residents, they only had to compare the doors against the photo Triple-6 sent to confirm whether it a possible hit or not. I was waiting for them to get back to me on the first addresses on their lists, when I looked up just in time to see our car drifting into the shoulder for no reason.

"Eli!" I shouted as I reached over to grab the wheel.

Eli jumped with a startle and swung us back into the middle of our lane, "Shit."

"Shit? Pull over this fucking car right now, mister!" I snapped, shoving my phone into the cup holder.

"Ok, ok," he mumbled.

I glared at him until he finally pulled over to the side of the road and brought the car to a stop. He let out a deep breath, running his hands through his hair before cracking the driver's door open, all the while avoiding my gaze.

"You're not going to say anything?" I hissed.

"What's there to say?" he sighed. "I fucked up."

"We should have swapped two hours ago!" I yelled. "Why did I let you make me think you were fine!? Get out of the fucking car!"

Eli opened his mouth to speak, but decided it was wiser to keep quiet. Instead he checked the traffic and opened his door as soon as it was clear. I got out and we circled around the car quickly without making eye contact. Sitting down on the driver's side, I adjusted the seat and mirrors, then set off.

"What's the next few steps?" I asked as I settled into a comfortable pace with the other cars around.

"Uhh, keep following 271, follow signs for route 90 east, then exit 37 for route 86. You know the rest of the way from there?" he finally had the nerve to look in my direction.

"Yeah, somethings you never forget," I nodded. "Now you, get some shut eye."

Eli shifted around in his seat in a huff, "What if the others respond?"

"My phone's there, pair it with the car. If they actually send a message worth responding to, I'll wake you up and you can respond to them on my behalf," I instructed. When Eli didn't immediately respond, I glanced over and saw him holding my phone like it was a foreign object. "Two hours ago you mirrored everything that was on my old phone to that phone. Why are you suddenly acting like that's too difficult for you?"

"It's not!" he hissed and began changing the settings on the phone to enable the Bluetooth connection with the car. "If it's worth responding to, I'll take over driving again."