Wish I May, Wish I Might

Chapter 13

We were in Nebraska when it happened for the first time. I was driving, and Annabelle was dozed off in the backseat of the truck. I had been feeling more relaxed since the old apple orchard and wasn't nervous as I drove down the dark road, only lit by the truck's headlights. We weren't following a map, since we didn't really need to get anywhere quickly. As long as we stayed out of sight, we could go where we wanted when we wanted. We didn't need to stop for gas or food, so it was fine to stay on back roads. I had the radio playing softly, and could almost forget that I was a high school dropout on the run for the murder of a man that I did technically kill on a cross-country road trip to nowhere with a person was pretty much a stranger to me.

"CARTER!" The shriek came from everywhere around me. From in front of the car, behind it, and through the speakers. It was ear-piercing, overpowering, and I felt it through my head. I gasped and pressed the gas pedal and the car stopped like someone had pulled on a massive string. Annabelle sat up, her eyes wide.

"What happened?!" she said.

I struggled to unbuckle my seatbelt and pushed my way out of the truck.

"Carter, wait!" Annabelle said, also trying to get out of the car quickly.

I didn't wait though, and ran to the front of the truck, completely expecting to see something dead there, illuminated in the stark blue light of the headlights. I imagined the blood and guts and other remains, completely crushed by the front of the huge truck.

But I saw nothing.

"Carter!" Annabelle yelled, running to me. "What's wrong?"

"There was-" I wheezed, "I heard something. I heard a scream. I thought..." I tried to finish the thought, but my harsh breathing prevented me from doing that. I kept breathing faster and faster, but I could get air into my lungs.

"Carter, Carter, calm down," Annabelle said, her hands reaching up like she was going to hold on to my shoulders, but I fell back against the truck.

"But I heard it," I said in a shaky breath. "I heard something, I know I did."

"Carter, you need to breathe," Annabelle said. "Breathe in and out, okay?"

I tried following her exaggerated breathing and failed at first. But she kept doing it, and I kept trying to breathe. Eventually, I was able to calm down enough to speak. My legs suddenly felt too weak to hold myself up, so I sat down on the pavement of the road.

"Okay, tell me what happened," Annabelle said, kneeling down to my eye level.

"There was a really loud scream," I said. "It was horrible. You didn't hear it?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I was asleep. But Carter," she said gently, "there's nothing here."

I didn't respond.

"Do you want me to look around?" she asked.

So she could find whatever creature had made that noise and was probably dying because of me? The second thing that had died because of me in the past week, nonetheless? No, but I had to know. I nodded.

She got back to her feet and walked around. My back was becoming overheated from the metal on the truck and I pushed away from it, sitting on my legs. I had gone from feeling that odd sort of freedom and just the slightest twinge of being a real adult, now I felt like a little child who wanted nothing more than to run to her mother.

Annabelle walked all around the car and the fields around the area before coming back. "I couldn't find anything," she announced.

I rubbed my eyes on the sleeve of my sweater. "It's so weird. I could have sworn I heard my name. But that's impossible." Annabelle held out her hand to help me up. When I was standing, I brushed my hair behind my shoulder and cleared my throat. "Okay, let's keep going."