Chasing Cars

Chapter Twenty Eight

  The sound of psychotic laughter jerked me out of an amazing dream, one where I was sampling tacos for a distant cousin's bar mitzvah. I was fully awake in a matter of seconds, but I was too busy remembering every detail of the dream to pay attention to the laughter. All around my room, dark shadows were dancing across my walls and the dim lighting from the street light outside made my room look like it was smoldering.

My clock read four in the morning, and as I wondered where the creepy laughter had come from, I found myself admiring the stars in the sky. They were something I never really paid any attention to, as they were there every night so what's the point in stopping for a glance? I had to admit, they were pretty and a good thing to look at when you have nothing better to see. I looked around outside until the laughter started up again and my room was lit by my phone's light. "Ugh," I groaned, leaning over to grab the device and see who could be calling at this hour.

It was April fifth, and school was opening again that day. There better be a good reason for calling me that early. "Why on earth are you calling me at four in the morning?" I spat angrily after seeing the name on the caller ID. "I just wanted to apologize," Lexi answered calmly, her voice sounding dull and not at all like her usual self. "For?" I huffed, irritated that it had been her to wake me. I threw my head back into my pillow, sighing loudly in annoyance. "You're going through a lot right now, and I haven't really been helping," came the response. She sounded like it was painful for her to utter those words, but for once I ignored it and just let her talk.

An apology from Lexi just sounded too good to be true, so I allowed suspicion to settle in my brain before anything else. "Oh, well... thanks then," I answered coolly, trying to sound bored. "You're welcome. Bye," she said before hanging up, leaving me dumbfounded. Everything about the call was weird, but I decided not to let it bother me. It was probably just a lame prank, and I'd be better off just forgetting about it and going back to sleep. With a yawn, I placed the phone back on my nightstand and tried to fall asleep once more.

The sunlight shone directly into my eyes. Even though I hadn't even opened the Gray Eyes of Doom (™) I could tell that when I did, it wouldn't be pretty. I had no recollection of my dream from the night, and I felt unnaturally well-rested and cheerful. Half expecting my mother would fling my door open and shout "rise!" in her loudest voice, I plugged my ears. But then I remembered that she was gone. It was strange how I still thought she'd be right around the corner, even though I watched her be arrested and the police investigators came to clean the little house of the drugs on the day I'd gone with Krystine to visit Andrew.

The house was clean now, and the court had decided to let me live out the rest of my seventeenth year alone, as it would be utterly pointless to put me in foster care just days before my eighteenth birthday. It was a nice deal, and I could do whatever I wanted. Sure it wouldn't last long, but that's why I had to make every second count. The money that would need to be spent for me to live here was being paid by the state, as if it was some kind of make-up for seventeen years of involuntary drug selling.

I tried not to complain though. If I wanted to, I could go to Target and refurnish the whole house without having to spend a dime. I would've, too, if I had more time to be here. "Rise," I muttered to myself before getting up and getting ready for my first day back at school. I managed to persuade my hair into some form of a bun again, and wore yet another random outfit. My bag was packed and ready to be taken to school again, so I headed out early to take the long way around and listen to music.

Nobody was ready to be back. I knew it because when I arrived at the school, the sidewalk was covered in people, all of them staring at the building in uncertainty. Nobody but Krystine and I knew how the fire was started, and because it seemed like a freak accident, no one wanted to risk it again. We'd all heard about the casualties, and we'd all known at least one of them.