Haunted by the Past

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"TAG, you're it!"

"Come on," I whine, "You know you're faster than me and I don't like this game anyway so I'm not gonna try."

"You still gotta get me!"  She twists and runs into the woods by our house, blonde hair flying everywhere.

"Sis," I whine. She doesn't stop, she just turns her head slightly and sticks her tongue out at me, still running towards the woods. "Oh crud," I mutter before I race after her.

I hear her laughing but it sounds like it's coming from all directions and I can't tell where she is. "Come and get me," she taunts.

"Sis this isn't fair. I can't see a thing and I don't like this game anyway," I shout. No response. "Sis, this isn't funny. Come on let's just go inside, we can play a board game or the Wii or something." Silence "Sis?"

All of the woods are eerily quiet. The birds aren't chirping, and while I can feel the wind, it doesn't make a sound as it brushes through the trees. 

All of a sudden I hear a twig snap behind me, but before I can turn around to see what it is an arm is brought around me to hold me in place as a cloth is placed over my nose and mouth. I've seen this before in movies and read it in some of my books and I hold my breath for as long as a can and struggle in the person's arms but their grip doesn't loosen and I'm forced to take a deep breath to get air into my lungs. I can feel myself losing consciousness. Right before I'm gone completely I'm lifted up and carried away, tears streaming down my face.

"Blaize, Blaize. Blaize wake up!" Brandon is shaking my shoulders.Brandon shook me awake and I groggily sat up and slowly let my eyes adjust to the light.

"Are you okay?" he asks me with worry in his voice.

"Mhm, I'm fine," I mumble still not fully awake. "What time is it?"

Brandon answers with a light kiss on my forehead and says, "About 4:45."

I lowly curse and bring the thick blanket over my head to block the light out. "Wake me back up at 6."

"But I was gonna make us some breakfast," he playfully pouts.

"Did you start it yet?" I ask and when he shakes his head 'no' I grab his hand and try to pull him back onto the bed. "Then go back to sleep, it's too early." Brandon chuckles and goes to turn off the lights and then comes back and lays down behind me. He softly starts to play with my hair and I quickly fall back asleep. Dreamlessly this time.

When 6 rolls around Brandon wakes me up again and we eat silently. it's been a couple days since we got the bad news that Quincy died. Brandon and I took the next three days off of school to be able to go to the wake and funeral. We're gonna be on the road all day today so after we ate we got our previously packed bags and throw them into Brandon's car. We're taking that instead of my truck because the gas won't cost as much. And he also has a built in GPS in it and we need it to get to the hotel we're going to be staying at.

Brandon is going to drive the first half of the way up there and I will be driving the last half. I plug my iPod into his car after he starts driving and we listen to the music quietly. After a while, I drift asleep.

When I wake up again we are parked at a gas station and Brandon isn't around the car so I'm guessing that he went inside. I move over to the driver's side and wait for him to return.When he gets back and see's me in the driver's seat he smiles and shakes his head while getting in on the other side. 

"I could have driven the rest of the way you know. We're only a couple towns away," he says.

"You're too sweet," I say patting the top of his head playfully. "Was wittle puppy looking out for me?"

Brandon grabs my hand off of his head and we intertwine our fingers as he says, "Yes he was. Now get back on the road so we can get to the hotel and check in."

"Aye Aye Captian!" With my free hand, I salute him and then start the car and begin driving to the hotel again.

"I thought you said it was only a few towns away!" I complain as we finally arrive in the hotels parking lot.

"It was," he grins. "There was just a lot of things in between them."

I search for a decent space to park for a while and when I drive into one and put the car in park, I twist to face Brandon in my seat and accusingly point a finger at him. "If you would have told me that it was going to be another hour still then I would of let you drive!"

He starts to give me puppy dog eyes and then his bottom lip sticks out and starts to tremble a bit. "It's not nice to point fingers..."

I sigh and run my hand through my hair just to get it caught in a knot. After I get it out I say, "Get out of the car."

"But, but, but, it's my car," he says. puppy dog face still in tact, lip still trembling.

"Get out of the car and go check us in before I strangle you in your car," I say sternly.

Slowly his grin comes back on his face before he says, "You like having me around too much for you to do that."

Even though he was very right about that I still ask, "Do you really want to test that theory out?"

"Nope, I'm good," he chirps as he opens his door and gets out.

"Thank you," I say. "And come get me when you're done," I add as he begins to shut the door.

"Got it," he says just before the door slams shut. Once he gets inside I reach into the backseat for my bag and retrieve my hairbrush out of it. As I'm brushing out my slight bed head from my nap earlier, I can't help but feel like I'm being watched. I shrug it off and tell myself that it's nothing and that I'm just nervous for the funeral. Once that thought passes through my head I can't stop thinking about it. I feel like the car is starting to cave in around me and quickly stuff the brush back in my bag and zip it back up. Before I can dwell on it too much longer I head inside. I can be sad at the actual event but until then I need to try and act like myself.

I see Brandon heading over here and when he see's me coming he raises an eyebrow and teasingly says, "What's the point in telling me to come get you if you're not going to wait for me to come and get you?"