Haunted by the Past (Original)

Chapter 61

The ride back to the Night Owl in Cameron's car was dead silent. Eli sat shotgun with his hood covering most of his face while Cameron drove, neither one looking at each other or at me. The further we travelled, the more I noticed the cuts and bruises on each of them. Somehow the two of them got it together enough to go looking for me, which was a miracle in itself, but not a miracle they were willing to repeat. I could almost imagine what it must have been like in the car while Eli was tracking me. How they didn't crash into a tree on the way, I'll never know.

At the height of the day now Raven Hill had come alive with weekenders seeking to appreciate the warm April sun after the long, miserable winter. It was probably the only day of April that was not overcast, though showers were surely in the forecast for the evening. Even though I knew Raven Hill was a hotspot for city dwellers, seeing it that packed after so many years still took me by surprise. It also meant the drive was far longer than it should have been with the increased traffic through the center. I could almost hear Eli contemplating whether he should just jump and walk back, but he couldn't risk the scene it would create.

"What I don't get is how you managed to find it while drunk," Cameron mumbled to himself after a while. "It's a hell of a ways in and you found in it in the dead of night."

I shrugged, "I don't really remember how I got there."

Cameron glanced up in the rearview mirror to me sitting in the middle of his back seat, "Did you see... anything?"

"Like what?" I arched my eyebrow in confusion.

"Well, you know, her," he stressed. "No one says anything to me, but I hear them talking when they don't think I'm listening. People say they see a girl in the forest."

Eli scoffed, "And you believe them?"

Cameron shrugged, "I don't know. I don't go up that way. In fact, I think that's the first time I've walked in the forest since..."

Fiddling with the sleeves of my hoodie, I leant back in the seat, "I don't really remember anything. I was pretty drunk."

"Oh," Cameron responded solemnly. "I was just kind of thinking that maybe she... maybe she called to you. And that's why you ended up there. I mean, when you think about it, it was lucky nothing happened to you. You could've easily missed your step and fallen into a ditch or something. Maybe she was looking out for you and that's why you ended up there. Where she could watch over you."

"Maybe," I sighed and turned towards the passenger window.

"You never feel like she's close?" He scoffed, "I feel like she's watching, waiting for me to screw up so she could give me hell about it."

"You should really see someone about that," Eli cut in.

"What, like a psychic or something?" Cameron asked honestly.

"Different type of psych," Eli replied coldly.

"You know what, shut it, ok? You don't know what it's like," Cameron retorted.

I noticed Eli start to form a counter, but he swiftly changed his mind. Perhaps it finally dawned on him that he had been very close to losing his sister all together and he should be grateful not to be in Cameron's shoes, but that was probably asking too much of him.

As we turned down the alleyway beside the Night Owl, Cameron exclaimed suddenly, "Who the fuck-?"

"Oh for the love of-," Eli mumbled.

I leaned forwards to see what the two of them were talking about and saw a white car parked in the rear corner with a very large man smoking a cigarette standing beside it wearing a dark jumpsuit with a thick, gold chain around his neck. I couldn't help but think he looked like some sort of dealer, but he was alone. Then again, judging by the size of him and the thickness of those upper arms, he was his own protection.