Raven's Song

Tessa

It was raining when I got off the bus the next morning. I pulled my hood over my head as I walked to the back of the school. The student parking lot was mostly empty. My bus was one of the first to arrive. I could hear the whistles and the shouts of coaches on the football field over the hill. They would be finishing soon and heading in to get ready for school.

Tylor's car was in its usual spot. I took a deep breath before I jogged over and climbed in beside him, nestling my backpack on the floor once I closed the door. I held my hands over the register's heat. The rain made it feel even colder than it already was outside.

"You ever skipped school?" Tylor asked quietly beside me.

I looked over at him. I had planned on confronting him. Forcing him to tell me where he had disappeared to. To make him tell me everything he knew about Tessa. For him to tell me if I needed to be afraid of him. To try to make him the person that everyone had made him out to be.

But one look at him told me that any fear people thought I should have towards him was irrational. He sat with his arm resting against the car door, his head pressed against his hand with his eyes shut. Vulnerable.

"No," I said just as quietly.

He opened his eyes, locking them with mine. "Can you make today the first? I can't do this here."

"Of course," I replied, pulling my seatbelt on.

He took a deep breath before he sat up and put the car into drive, pulling out of the spot as the football team jogged towards the locker rooms.

"Where are we going?" I asked as he pulled onto the highway.

I had my phone in case something were to happen, but I didn't think that there was any reason to be worried. He knew about the tracker, anyway. I was going to have to think of a story to tell my dad for why I wasn't in school. Being sick wasn't going to work if he tracked me to somewhere that wasn't the house.

Tylor reached over and took my hand in his. I wasn't sure if it was to keep him grounded when he answered or if it was to keep me from jumping out of the car. "To where it ended."

He kept his eyes on the road. His hand gripped the steering wheel tightly. I studied his bruised knuckles on the wheel before I looked at the bruised ones in my hand. Gently, I ran my fingers of my free hand over the scabs. Had he gotten them in defense or had he hurt someone? I put my hand over his. One secret at a time.

Tylor turned off the highway and started down a two-lane road. I'd been on that road before with my parents to pick strawberries. We passed the farm we had visited. I could remember my mom and I sampling each plant to make sure that they were suitable to eat. Of course, they all were, but it felt like a secret mission when I was six.

He turned down a gravel road and steered his car to a pull-off parking area about half a mile down the road. He put the car into park, and we sat there listening to the windshield wipers glide over the rain.

"Come on," he said finally. He withdrew his hand from mine and climbed out of the car.

I sat for a moment before I took the pepper spray from my backpack and slid it into my coat pocket. Most of me trusted him, but the little voice of doubt still lingered as I climbed out and walked around the car to join him. He slid his hands into his jean pockets and stepped into the woods, glancing back to make sure I was following.

We walked in silence. Water dripped from tree leaves to the ground. The birds weren't chirping. A squirrel darted from the leaves when Tylor spooked it. A crow cawed above us as it flew from a tree. I had grabbed Tylor's arm when it broke the silence. He gave me a sideways look until I eased my grip on him. He slid his hand out of his pocket and took mine before we continued on.