Separian - Book 1

Chapter 18

It turns out, Amy was, in fact, a chicken. Only when it came to heights, apparently. I'd had to wait out the rest of my time for Bill to leave under her window. After I'd entered the back yard, Amy made her way downstairs to 'make an appearance' and add to the illusion that nothing strange was going on. After agreeing to catch up with Chase and John insisting that there wasn't anybody else in the house, Bill huffed, like the oversized man that we was, and then left.

Half an hour later, With John and Myra's approval, Amy and I were on the road.

Her driving was smooth. I suppose as a doctor you needed steady hands on the wheel too. She braked well in advance of any turns or stop signs and made sure I was as comfortable as possible while we rode to wherever it is we were going. I'd been given no choice in our eventual destination and as such, was completely in the dark about where we were going. A valley on the far side of town. That's all I'd been told. Seeing as how I'd already been turned down three times when asking for more information, I didn't want to continue feeding her ego by asking again.

Her town was quiet. It reminded me of the home I'd left back in Maryland. The countryside was just down the street from where I lived. It was always silent whenever I drove by. The cows, the farmland, the cornfields, none of it was really my scene, yet I found myself so at peace whenever I was there.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, as we pulled over the top of a large hill and began coasting down the other side.

We'd made a stop at the local grocery store before getting on the main road. I remained in the car of course, but Amy went inside and came back with at least four bags of food. I tried to remember what I'd seen her carrying. Bread and lettuce didn't exactly scream "feast".

"I'll be fine for a while."

"So before I try and convince you into telling me what I want to know, I'll give you a chance first." And the game was on. "What is it about Sarah that made you want to be with her?"

"Her back yard."

"I'm serious, Sam, tell me!"

I paused for a moment. I felt uneasy joking with Amy. The discomfort had grown over these past few days. She was very direct in how she spoke to me. In truth, it didn't feel like she was speaking to me at all. She addressed me as "Sam", but as long as I'd been here, I didn't have more of a problem being called by it than I did right now. Sam wasn't my name. It was the name Ana and Casey had given to the creature living inside of me. If was the name of someone I hated. Yet, after two weeks, it hadn't occurred to me until a few days ago to tell any of them, especially Amy, my real name.

"Hello?" She turned from the road to me, "Everything alright?"

"Fine, sorry, what did you say?" I asked, thinking I'd missed something important again. I often did that when I thought about something for too long. The balance between my mind and reality was something I'd still yet to find.

"Oh, nothing. You just looked like you were lost in thought for a minute there."

"Sorry," I apologized and turned from her to the road. "I'm alright."

"Are you sure? You've been acting a different since yesterday. I still don't know that much about you, but you seem a less willing to play along with my jokes." She'd picked up on more than I'd anticipated. "Is it something I did? Or my family?"

"It's nothing."

"Alright..." She diverted back to the road. "If there is something, you know that you can tell me, right?"

"Of course."

She wasn't convinced. "Sam-"

"Noah," I said quickly. "My name is Noah."