Nightmare on Broadway (California Dreaming Sequel)

Chapter Two

Aren't you lucky! Another brand spanking new chapter :D Hope you enjoy, please comment!! Thank you xxxx

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  All around us was space, just empty space. I don’t think I had ever been somewhere that seemed so vast, so never ending as where we were now. There was something limitless about the red dust which stretched for miles over the horizon, a tremendous freedom knowing that we were so tiny compared to the boundless desert surrounding us. The sky up above and ground down below and everything in between was, clichéd I know, a breath of fresh air. The simple pleasure of being able to take a deep breath, knowing that there was no-one looking over your shoulder, no-one fretting over where you were or who you were with; utter isolation. However, this new found liberty came with a price...

No cell reception.

   “We’ll just call him when we get to Colorado, no big deal,” Henry noticed my worried expression as I paced up and down the dusty street in front of the gas station, scuffing my old sneakers against the dirt. 

   “I told him I’d call him every day,” I frowned, holding my cellphone up to the sky and moving about, watching the corner of the screen for any new bars of reception, anything which would link me to where he was. 

   “And you will,” Henry wrapped his arms around my waist, squeezing me tight, “as soon as we get back to civilization,” he kissed my neck reassuringly and I continued to bite my lip troublesomely. 

   “Maybe I could go and ask to use the guy’s phone in the gas station,” I tried to wriggle away from Henry, but his strong arms stuck around me, “or maybe there’s a pay phone somewhere around here?” I suggested, turning around in circles urgently, looking across the sweeping landscape for any sign of technology. 

   “Jia,” Henry took my by the shoulders and crouched down to my height, looking at me straight in the eyes, “we are in the middle of the desert,” he spoke flatly, trying to emphasize how much of an arse I was being, “in Utah, the middle of the desert in Utah!” He opened his blue eyes even wider than usual and held his fingers against each side of my head. “Nod if you understand?” A wry smile crept into his expression, causing dimples to form in his cheeks. I sighed and nodded slowly, pulling away from him. 

   “He speaks sense you know?” Remy chimed in from where she was filling the car’s tank up with gasoline. Her ice blonde hair was blowing in the wind, wrapping around her neck and curling around her shoulders. She finished with the gas and wiped her hands against her bare legs, leaving grimy smears, before tucking some hair behind her ear and digging into her brown, suede bag for the credit card her father, her millionaire father, had loaded up for her before we started this road-trip. 

   Okay, so it would have been simpler to just get a cab to LAX, hop on a plane and end up in New York 5 hours later. However, we had all of our stuff, clutter and books and suitcases of clothes we had built up in our 18 years of existence; we couldn’t simply leave all that behind. After the three of us had gotten into New York colleges we had persuaded our parents to let us rent an apartment in SoHo, my favourite part of Manhattan. We were a subway away from our lectures and right in the centre of everything. My father, my lawyer father, looked up all the crime rates and made spreadsheets and looked up newspaper articles to try to dissuade me, but he knew New York, and he knew the attraction. 

   Then there was the car. Remy had had this car since she was 16 and she’d earned the money herself to buy it, I think that’s one of the main reasons she loved it so much; it was 100% hers. We’d nicknamed it Jolene and I guess it had become a member of our gang, we couldn’t leave her in some lot in California, gathering dust, rusting. I knew how stupid it was to bring a car to New York, but we’d done our homework, there was a residential parking lot with an annual charge just down the street. 

   With everything else worked out, with our classes put down, our rooms packed up, we decided, why not go on a road trip to New York? It was pretty much the longest distance you could travel within the United States, it would take days even if we did drive non-stop, but we wanted one last chance to be free and young and careless, before we had to start studying again at college. 

   “Thanks daddy,” Remy giggled, holding the piece of plastic between her first and second finger as she started towards the gas station, “do I need to get anything?” She turned back, holding onto the door handle and raising her eyebrows. 

   “Water!” Henry called back and she nodded, slipping inside, away from the dry heat. He looked back at me, where I was sitting on the back of the car, my feet propped up on the bumper. I was staring at my phone forlornly, flicking through all the photos I had from days at the beach, nighttime surprises and birthday parties. Henry jumped over to me and pulled my phone away, turning it off and stuffing it inside his pants. I stood up and stretched out for his arms, but he pulled away, starting to run off into the desert, the sun beating down on his tanned skin. 

   “Henry!” I screamed indignantly, chasing after him as fast as I could. I kicked off my Vans and continued sprinting, feeling the warm dirt between my toes, red dust rising up around us in clouds. He finally stopped and I jumped onto his back, wrapping my legs around his waist and pounding on his chest with my fists. “Give it back to me, Hen, he might call,” I complained. 

   “Nope! This is meant to be fun, not mourning over Gabriel, he’s just back home in the Californian sun thinking about you; that’s enough right?” He argued, but I continued to mess up his hair and do anything to irritate him enough to give me back my cell. 

   “Give it.” 

   “No.” 

   “Henry,” I warned him. 

   “Jia,” he used the same tone back at me before sitting down on the dusty ground, lying back until he was on top of me. 

   “Urgh! You’re such a child!” I tried to pull away from him but I was already covered in red dirt, my dark jeans scuffed and holey enough for me not to care too much about their condition. I stood up and tried to brush myself down. 

   “Come on, you know I’m right,” Henry winked and I rolled my eyes, giving him a hand up and starting back towards the gas station. He put his arm around me and I slowly slipped my hand into his trousers, grabbing my phone and starting to run, my laugh echoing in this empty space. “You have such cold hands!” He shouted after me, catching me up again and calling it quits. 

   A beat-up pick-up tuck came rattling down the road, the windows down with a scuzzy looking man leaning out. He was wearing a dirty baseball cap and had his shirt sleeves rolled up so you could see his thin, scraggy arms. He slowed down the vehicle and me and Henry stopped walking, not wanting to get any closer. The guy winked at me and licked his lips and I had to hold back the vomit. I tried not to show my utter disgust as I raised my hand and held up my middle finger. His cocky expression faded and he moved back inside the car, winding up the window and driving on into the distance. 

   “Arsehole!” Henry yelled after the car, although it was too far gone for the man to hear, “What a scumbag,” he wrinkled his nose and wiped his hand over his forearm, as if he was trying to wipe away what had just happened. 

   “Bleh,” I gagged, taking hold of his hand and swinging our arms between us. We made it back to the gas station and Remy was leaning on the back of the car, looking at her watch and tapping her foot against one of the back wheels. She glanced up and rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. 

   “There you are!” She stood up straight and crossed her arms over her chest, “Talk about leaving a girl hanging,” she raised an eyebrow and I jumped into the backseat of the car, red dust flying everywhere. Henry slid in and lay against my lap, grinning up at me. Remy walked back over and grimaced when she saw the dirt smeared on the cream, leather seats and carpet. “Thanks guys,” she said dryly, getting into the driver’s seat and pulling off onto the main road. 

   “We’ll give it a good clean when we get to New York, promise,” Henry reassured her, tugging on a piece of her long blonde hair, only to be swatted away with a slap of her hand. She turned the car stereo on and music began to blare through the speakers, mixing with the fresh breeze as I pulled my hair back off my face and slid my sunglasses over my eyes, looking up to the sky. 

Just space, vast, limitless space.