Unspoken

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Declan and I are in his truck driving down the road. He is holding my hand and saying something, but I can’t hear him. I watch as his eyes go wide and I turn my head in time to see a big black truck barreling towards us. It swerves as if it were trying to hit us on purpose. Suddenly, just before the truck crashes into us everything stops. It feels like I’m in a movie and somebody just pressed pause. Declan is sitting still, a look of horror stuck on his face. It seems that I am the only one still able to move. Looking around, I notice that there are no other cars on the road beside that big black truck. That is when my attention focuses on the truck. I feel something nagging me in the back of my head, telling me that I should recognize this truck. Just as I access the memory the scene snaps back into normal speed. The headlights blind me and I close my eyes, waiting for the collision.

In my sleep, I roll over in my sleeping bag, so that I am closer to Declan. Before I can regain consciousness, my dream shifts to another memory that has haunted me for so many years.

“We’re going outside,” Caleb calls out for my mom’s benefit. His only answer is silence, which he just shrugs off.

“Come on,” I say and we walk out the front door.

I grab my brand new scooter, that I got for my birthday, from it’s position against the porch. Caleb grabs his skateboard from in the garage.

“Race you to the end of the driveway!” he calls and takes off as fast as he can. I follow behind, but can’t catch up in time. “I win!”

“You cheated! You started before me!” I exclaim and he smiles, knowing what I said is true.

We play around for a little, until we hear shouting coming from inside the house. I glance at Caleb anxiously, but he doesn’t look very concerned.

“What do you think there arguing about this time?” I ask, while nervously tugging on a lock of my long hair.

“Who knows? Maybe she found out he is cheating on her,” Caleb says, his lip curling in disgust.

“That’s not true!” I yell at him.

I had always been more of a daddy’s girl and I refused to believe that he would do something so wrong. Caleb rolls his eyes at me, but doesn’t push the topic. We have had this argument before and he knows how stubborn I can be.

“A trucks coming,” Caleb says and pulls me out of the road. I watch as a very familiar big black truck passes by.

This is when I wake up gasping. My eyes sting with tears and I start trembling uncontrollably. Declan is sitting over me, his green eyes staring down at me with concern.

“Are you okay? You were thrashing around in your sleep and I’ve been trying to wake you up,” he says.

I am still shaking and Declan takes me in his arms, which causes me to relax considerably. I get a grip on myself and then pull away from Declan.

“Bad dream?” he asks and I nod.

I don’t really want to tell him anything else until I have figured it out for myself. I convince him that I’m okay and to try to go back to sleep. We both lay back down, snuggling into the sleeping bag that we are sharing. He wraps his arms around me and before long drifts back to sleep. I, on the other hand, know that sleep isn’t possible for myself. Instead I lay awake and try to make sense of my dreams.

I suppose my first dream could just be a result of a traumatic experience, but the way that it paused as if my subconscious was trying to get me to notice something stops me from just brushing it aside. I feel like it is more important than just a normal dream. The second dream was an exact memory, except I don’t recall the black truck being there. Maybe it was in there because I had been thinking about the truck from the dream before, but I can’t seem to make myself believe this.

What if the black truck was actually there the day Caleb was murdered? That would mean that whoever hit me and Declan could also be involved in the murder. If this is true, than maybe it isn’t a smart idea to be looking into things. I don’t know if I can stop myself now, though. We’ve gotten to far to just give up. I don’t want to put Declan’s life in danger, but maybe I can keep looking for answers on my own. Declan definitely won’t be okay with that and I really don’t want to lie to him about it.

My mind keeps going back to my first dream, when I was staring at the truck. I had a weird feeling that I recognized the truck. If it was there the day Caleb was murdered than it would make sense that I recognized it. Somehow I don’t think this is it, though. I feel as if I have seen it recently, other than when it hit us. That is when it hits me.

Richard Sims! When we went to his house, I remember his car being parked in his driveway. A big black truck to be exact. But why would he do this?

The only answer I can come up with is my father. He had connections to Richard Sims and he had the money to hire him to do something like this. When Declan and I went to his house and asked questions he must have told my father. That must be how my father knew about the picture I had and why he took it from my room. When my father saw the article with the picture he must have realized how far our search had gotten. Then he probably hired Richard to hit Declan and me on our way back from Matthew’s house. The only problem with this theory is that my father doesn’t have a motive. I honestly can think of one reason he would want Caleb dead. So, either this is all a huge misunderstanding or there is something else I don’t know. One thing is for sure, I have to keep digging.

I’m still reeling from this revelation, when Declan stirs beside me. He unconsciously slings his arm over me and pulls me closer to him. He murmurs something in his sleep, before resting his head against mine. Our faces are so close that I can feel his breath against my lips. Somehow this relaxes me considerably and I am able to shove all thoughts of my father and Richard Sims aside. After awhile I am able to drift back into a fitful sleep, having no clue what the morning will bring.

* * *

“Babe, wake up. It’s getting late,” Declan whispers into my ear.

I groan and try to push him away. I didn’t get nearly enough sleep last night and just want a few minutes more. I hear Declan sigh and then I am lifted into the air. My eyes shoot open with alarm. Declan laughs as he carries me from the tent.

“Sorry, but your mom will be worried if you don’t get home soon,” he says and places me into the truck. He loads everything into the back of the truck and then hops into the driver seat. I lean back in my seat and close my eyes, hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep.

Declan stops at Dunkin Donuts on the ride back to my house to get breakfast. I smile at him gratefully as he hands me a cup of coffee. As soon as I get home I am planning on getting right into my bed and going back to sleep. Unfortunately, this never happens because when we pull up to my house we find it surrounded by flashing lights.

There is an ambulance and a few cop cars parked in my driveway. I hop out of the truck before it even comes to a complete stop and sprint up the steps to my house. The door opens as I am reaching to open it and a stretcher is pushed out by two paramedics. I can’t see who is on the stretcher because there is a white sheet pulled up over the person’s head. I look around desperately for someone who can tell me what is going on. I see my mother standing in the doorway, her face streaked with tears. I jump into her arms, relieved that she is alright. She holds onto me to as the paramedics load the stretcher into the back of the ambulance. I stand there looking at my mother, waiting for her to tell me what has happened.

“Arianna, your father is dead.”