Fear

Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

As we speed down the winding streets of Fayetteville my hair whipped rapidly around my face. Hayden had left all the windows open well we drove to Cayce Lytton’s address. That heat had risen to boiling hundred and sixteen degrees Fahrenheit. Sweat dripped down my face and Coal’s cheeks were beat red. When the rain had halted the sun came out and sucked all the moisture out of the air. We had been driving for two hours because Hayden got lost. Finally we pulled up to modern suburban home. The grass was mild toned green in the front and the wooden porches’ oak pillars looked dry and old. A girl looking as old as me sat on the front steps. She held a picture frame in her hand and her dusty brown eyes were gazing off elsewhere.

   As we got closer to her she dropped her dusty black hair in front of her eyes. Hayden stopped dead letting Coal run head first into him. Then he placed his arm on my shoulder and turned me to face him. “Only one of us should go over there.” He said when he held both of our attention. “Jenna you’re a girl.”

   “What is that supposed to mean?” I asked rather taken aback.

    “Well girls understand and listen to each other better.” Hayden said. After all I had been through I couldn’t agree with him less. But Hayden was too strict and at the first sight of something going wrong Coal would have broken down and ran away. I angrily strided across the deserted lawn up to the lonely girl. I sat down on the step beside her and she looked up with tear filled bloodshot eyes.

“Get lost.” She hissed without a hint of the southern accent everyone else held in the town. I caught a glance of the picture in her hands and saw it was a group of kids all standing on a dock.

“Are those them?” I asked calmly pointing to the picture frame. “Your friends you lost.”

“How did you know about them, it wasn’t even in the paper yet?” She said and laid the frame down on her lap.

“My brother over there is an F.B.I agent his working on the other killings as well.” My cover was more pathetic then planed and for a split second I didn’t think she believed me.

“Yah they were my friends and I was there when those monsters slaughtered them.” She looked up at me and tears trickled down her already red face. “I really can’t tell what happened to them, those boys were just monsters.” She rubbed her eyes and smeared the salty water across her warm skin.

“What did they look like?” I asked wondering if she ever remembered any of the precious details. 

“One was really short and had spiked pitch black hair when he spoke he had a really British accent and the other had bright yellowy blond hair with a round face and high pitched annoying voice.” She explained and clutched the frame tighter. “They were biting Kevin, Sierra, Hanna and Mark, there was blood everywhere.” The pain of loss was tearing through her vacate expression.

“So what were they like, your friends?” I asked hoping to lighten her mood. When she tried to answer her voice cracked and she started crying. Her fingers stroked the golden frame. I put my sticky hand on her shoulder and she took a deep breathe in. We sat quietly on the steps for a minute until Coal started to tap his wrist indicating I was taking too long. “I have to go sorry to bother you.” I stood up and started down the cracked splintering stairs.

“I hope your brother finds those thieves.” She spoke with confidence and I nodded reassuring her as I started across the grass towards the chevelle. Half way down the lawn the yard started spinning and the images around me began to blur as time was halted to a dead stop. I dropped to my knees and pushed my fingers through my hair getting ready to rip it out of my skull. Then looking up I spotted the cause. Shasta towered over me and loudly chewing her gum. She gracefully flipped her rusty red hair over her shoulder and smiled when she noticed she had my full attention.