Broadwire

4: Old Friends

I get off the plane and called Jasmine's number, which I had recently saved into my phone.

"I'm here, where are you?" I ask into my phone.

"Come to the parking lot, I'm the dark blue charger, talk to you in a second," she said, hanging up the phone shortly after. I put my phone in my pocket and rushed towards the exit. I saw her car and walked towards, and saw her for the first time in 17 years. She had cut her hair. It used to be at her mid-back, but now it was up to her shoulders and dyed bright pink.

"Oh my god, I haven't seen you in so long," I said, walking towards her and hugging her. Her breath, like mine, smelled of cheap liquor and cigarettes. Her eyes were red and puffy.

"I would blame you for leaving, but I did the same thing. I went straight to Los Angeles and got a job. What about you?" she asked, not knowing what I did after college.

"I went to Texas and I've been living there this whole time," I said, and I could feel tears coming to my eyes. Not only had I not seen my friends, but I also left my family. They reminded me too much of everything that had happened in this Hellish town and I couldn't stand to be here. But, I had come back for Jasmine.

"Where you wanna go to talk?" she asked, stepping into her car as I walked to the passenger side.

"Any local coffee shops here?" I asked and pulled out my phone to look for any. I found one and showed her the address and she started there. We made small talk until we got there and walked in.

"I'll have just a black coffee," she said to the waitress, and I told her I wanted the same thing.

"So what happened with Sarah?" I asked, and Jasmine looked up, sadness filling her face.

"She got admitted to a mental hospital," she said, her voice shaking.

"Did she say everything that happened?" I asked, surprise and sadness in my voice.

"Yes, and she couldn't take care of herself. She attempted suicide twice because she couldn't forget everything that happened. She started pulling her hair out and she was found with her dead mother. She was screaming about Emeril and how the monster took Dakota. The cops came and she had a mental evaluation. She was determined crazy and they took her," Jasmine said, her voice cracking every so often.

"Oh my god," I said as our drinks arrived. We sat in silence for a solid two minutes before she spoke up again.

"But I do have good news, at least I think it's good news. I don't think Dakota's dead," she said, dropping another bomb on me.

"How, Jasmine he's been missing for 17 years. He's either dead or hidden in society so well that we'll never find him. I would guess the first one though because the fate of those cops," I said, remembering the brutal deaths I had seen.

"I thought that too, until I got a phone call from who I think was him," she said, both excited but a little scared.

"How, what did it say?" I asked, suddenly interested.

"It said 'Help, come back It's Dak-' and then hung up. The number wasn't there as if there was no other phone. I think he got out of that thing's hold long enough to call me," she said, but I felt it was false hope.

"How would he know your new number?" I asked, and her eyes darkened again.

"That's the one problem. It might be whatever is holding him hostage is trying to get us to come back and capture us too," she said, not knowing about what had appeared at my house.

"I have something else, something that showed up at my house today," I said, standing up, and walking to her car. She followed.

"Look at this," I said, pulling the charred ouija board out of my suitcase.

"Is that the one from that night?" she asked, horror filling her voice and face, but also subtle interest.

"I think so, but our's was burned to ashes, this one's still usable. As if the ghost or monster or whatever can screw with reality," I said, not really knowing what I was implying.

"Do you think it wants us to come back?" she asked, realizing the thing I hadn't.

"Do you even remember where it was?" I asked, trying to find a way out of the situation.

"Yes, exactly, actually," she replied without a thought.

"You haven't been back there have you?" I asked, knowing the answer to my question before asking.

"Only once, I had to go and make sure nothing was wrong. It was a few years ago, I came to visit family and decided to go, just for an hour or two though," she said, thinking back.

"Was everything the same?" I asked her, hoping the answer was yes.

"Yes, but it was exactly the same. Like everywhere else greenery had grown, but in our little spot, nothing had grown. The firework char marks were still on the ground," she said, looking at the ouija board.

"I'll go back, but not until tomorrow, I need to get my head straight," I told her, but realized I had no-where to sleep.

"You're parents still live here?" she asked, and I realized I didn't even know the answer to her question.

"I don't really know. I don't even remember their numbers," I said, feeling regret for not calling them for so long.

"We can go find someone who'll remember us and give them their number, or just tell us if they even still live here," she said, trying to reassure me. And with that, we went to find an old friend.

Jasmine called Brie, a friend from high school who had kept the same number and asked if we could come over. Brie had said yes and given us her address and we drove to her house.

"Brie, it's been so long!" Jasmine said as she got out of the car. They used to be neighbors before Jasmine had moved away.

"Oh my gosh, Trenton? I haven't even talked to you on the phone since High School. How's life been?" Brie asked me. Not wanting to get into a dark place, I lied to her.

"Life's been good, I haven't been back to Broadwire and I got a new number so I lost touch with everyone," I said, not mentioning that when the AT&T guy asked if I wanted to transfer my numbers to my new phone, I had said no and to wipe them.

"Well that's good, come inside," Brie said, gesturing towards her front door. Everyone walked in and I heard a little toy car's wheels on the wooden floor. She had a kid and it reminded me of something. She almost definitely was married to her boyfriend from high school.

"You and Cayden still together?" I asked looking around for him. He and I were good friends during school.

"Yea, we are, he's upstairs at the moment though. Cayden!" she yelled for him from upstairs.

"Wow you're relationships lasted longer than all of mine combined," Jasmine said laughing.

"That's not really all that impressive," Brie said, laughing with her. Cayden walked down the stairs and saw us and smiled.

"Wow, took you long enough to come back," Cayden said, looking at Jasmine and I. Then I remembered why we came here.

"Hey, do either of you remember my parent's phone number? It's been-" but I stopped because of the wide-eyedness of them both.

"Did no-one ever tell you? You're parents were both killed in a freak car accident. You're mom freaked out and started stabbing your dad with a nail file and then wrecked the car as she jumped out," Brie said, leaving both Jasmine and I speechless. How had no-one told me? I didn't think I had made myself that untraceable, had I? That's when I passed out.