The Spoken Truth

Chapter Six: The Uninvited Visitor

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked after we were on the highway for enough time for him to think of one.

“First, I’m taking you home—“

“No!” I interrupted. “No, I want to help!”

“You could get hurt a lot more easily than you think.” His voice was still low-key.

“But, I don’t want you to get hurt either. It will be less of a risk.”

“It will still put you in danger, and if something happens to you,” He went silent, “how could I live that down?”

We were silent for the rest of the drive. I sort of agreed with him, but how could I live it down if he got injured or killed, for that matter.  I was thinking about how to convince Clyde into letting me help; I could tell him I took karate lessons, but that would never make him change his mind!

The next day at school I went straight to the line of Mustangs to look for Clyde, but the red Mustang was missing. So I went to my first class. It seemed like forever before it ended. I finally made it to lunch; I decided to sit with Kacie and Maggie. I hadn’t had school lunches in a while; they tasted gross compared to the restaurant food I was use to. Throughout rest of the day I couldn’t stop thinking about Clyde and what he was doing. I saw his brothers and sisters and thought about asking them, but didn’t think they would tell me the truth.

At home I called him, probably four or five times. He never answered. He never called back. I wrote him an email, never answered that either. I know for certain now that he is avoiding me.

Another day turns into a week. Now over thirteen days and counting and I’m tired of waiting, tired of no answer. I want to know more about what the town thinks about Clyde and his family, so I go to the most reliable source.

“Yeah, what do you need?” Mom asked as I walked in.

“I want you to tell me all you know about the Owens family,” I replied.

“Well, let’s see… umm, oh here it is,” she says pulling a book that looked like it could be from the 1920’s.

“What is that?” I questioned.

“Oh this is the book of the town,” she said with her well duh voice.        

I looked through it in my room. I saw many of the Owens family from ages and ages ago. It says that they still own the land today. In the book it says that Clyde’s great, great, great grandfather, Henry Owens, was the owner of the entire town once.

He finally came, after almost two months of absences he finally arrives. He was there waiting to drop me off at my first class like always. I steadily walked to him full of questions and anticipation. I had so many questions that turned into anger and also sadness. One of the things I was wondering was how he felt about going so many days without seeing me and suddenly he decides to come back. How well was this thought through? All of my thoughts transformed into annoyance.

“Good morning, how was—“

“What? You don’t come to school for two months off doing who knows what going who knows where! And all you say is ‘good morning’ and ‘how was your two months’,” I guess I was a little harsh, but he deserved it.

“I was off at training,” his voice as soft as silk.

“For what?” I was curious, because at this point his parents are trapped somewhere for at least two or three months.

“To help my parents, but can we talk somewhere more private?”

         “No, I’m going to ask the questions here and you are going to answer every one of them.”