Who Asked?

The Road

Keja zipped up the black jacket and slipped the hood over her head. She had chosen all black. It was kind of like a tradition. Whenever she snuck out she always wore all black. Her black pants were fitted, the only ones she had, and were covered by her oversized jacket. She was wearing a fitted cropped tank top under her jacket but she opted for more skin coverage. She finished the look off with an all-black beanie covering her long pigtails.

"Here we go"

Given her confidence, no one would ever know that Keja had never sneaked out on her own. She had always been with one of her friends or they had met her on her front lawn. The rush of going out alone was exhilarating.

She peeked her head out of her room. It was eleven. Her parents had gone to sleep at nine, and Keja could hear her father snoring. Matter of fact the whole block could probably hear her father snoring. Keja hated his snoring on a night where she slept but when she was sneaking out she had to admit it was kind of convenient. She reckoned she could smash a hole in the wall and no one would even twitch.

Keja made her way down the dark hall leading right by her parent's room. Her heart pounded. This seemed a lot easier when she had someone to laugh with if she got caught. She made it to the stretch of the hall by her parent's room. Her heart pounded. She slowly stepped along the wall across from the door. The floor creaked. Everything seemed to stop for a moment and Keja held her breath. Then the snoring started again. She blew out a breath and kept on creeping. She would have to remember that floorboard on the way back. She tip-toed down the stairs and grabbed her black Nikes on the shoe rack. She chose those because they were the easiest to slip on and off.

The window that led out of the kitchen and into the backyard stood only a living space away. But she could hear the distinct voices coming from her grandma's room. She suspected the T.V. was on. which meant her grandmother could be awake on her chai right in front of the door or, she could be sleeping on her bed to the side of the door with the T.V. humming in the background. Keja couldn't take the chance of walking by and her being in the chair. Her grandmother was nosy.

There are two entrances to the kitchen. One was a big archway that also led to the hallway leading to her grandma's room. The other was a doorway on the far side of the kitchen. Her grandma could still see her if she walked plainly through the doorway but she guessed if she peeked her head out to check then her grandma wouldn't notice.

Keja slowly made her way across the living room to the far doorway. She took a deep breath. She could not get caught; she was already in enough trouble as it was. She didn't have to add sneaking out to her list. She slowly peeked her head around the doorway looking down the hallway into her grandma's room. The chair in front of her doorway was empty. Keja smiled. She crept through the kitchen to the far window. The window was going to be hard to open but with her dad's loud snoring and her grandma's T.V. Keja wasn't worried about the noise. She grabbed her skateboard that she had conveniently left in the kitchen after dinner and placed it down as she heaved the window up and made clicking noises as she lifted it inch by inch. Finally, it was open enough for Keja to climb through. Once she was though she turned around and grabbed her skateboard turning it sideways to fit it through the window. Then she placed it on the ground and quickly closed the window behind her.

The hard part was over. She picked up her skateboard and ran to the gate, which was also conveniently left open when she took the dogs in. She swung it out slowly and squeezed through, careful not to make it creak. Then she closed it behind her. She was out. She did it! She couldn't help the smile that crossed her face as she briskly walked down the driveway. She couldn't skateboard now because it would be too loud so she walked down the black to the crosswalk. She couldn't help but look behind her every few steps. She was a girl after all. She looked around. a little ways away there was a gated opening to the grasslands behind her house. It was used as an emergency parking for fire trucks or as a way to access the grasslands. It was never used. Directly across the street from her house was the school. It was an elementary school so it wasn't in during the summer. She didn't have to worry about anyone coming out or trying to get in.

It felt like so long ago that she had swung on the swings or crossed the monkey bars. She smiled at the memory then snapped out of it. She needed to focus. She knew getting there would take at least thirty minutes and she wanted an ample amount of time to explore and get a grounding of the place. She put her skateboard down and pushed off not going to fast down the street but fast enough not to waste time.

She kicked the skateboard back up when she got to the entrance. The road winding down was asphalt but it had not been repaired in years there were potholes everywhere.

"I'm going to bust my ass," Keja stated.

She signed and sucked under the metal poles jutting across the entrance. She put her skateboard down and took out her phone and AirPods. The ride there was going to be long and there was no way she was going to miss the chance to look cool riding to music down a long road. Keja put her AirPods in and turned on her skating playlist. Yes, she was prepared. Swim by Chase Atlantic came on as she pushed off. Her eyes switched between the ground and ahead of her as she swerved around potholes and ollied over sticks. If she had more time she would have fun doing tricks and falling but she didn't have time so she just stuck to the simple tricks that she could land. After Swim was over Hit This Hard by Post Malone came on and Keja began singing along. She swerves a bit more than was needed as she pretended she was in a music video.

There was nothing but tall grass around her. An occasional dead tree would come along but other than that there was nothing. By the time Lost by Frank Ocean came on Keja was far enough away not to be heard so she sang her heart out.

"GIRL YOU KNOW YOUR LOST"

Anyone who saw or heard her would think she was on drugs.

Kejas's legs were sore and burning with pain and she was about to give up and take a break when the road broke off into two. One that leads to the left continued through the grass and disappeared, the one that led to the right turned into gravel and led to the tall dark barn. It was huge. Bigger than she had seen from her window. I was at least three stories high and rugged. It looked as though it had been painted a long time ago but now there were only patches left. the windows were either shattered or completely blown apart. Glass was all over the ground. From the side Keja was standing on she could see an outhouse about 15 yards away. she suspected that too was in horrible condition. There was also a small pasture to the left of the barn but the grass had grown so tall that the fence is barely seen.

Keja smiled. It was perfect.

She made her way along the gravel patch closer to the barn. The wind made the barn creak. Kejas thought suddenly filled with gory ways that she could die if the structure collapsed on her. She shook her head.

"Don't do that to me" she chasted.

She took a breath.

"I been on the road since I was sixteen"

Her earphones blasted Into It by Chase Atlantic. With all the adrenaline coursing through her veins she had forgotten she had them on. She jumped. The AirPods fell out of her ears and on the ground.

"Fricking AirPods" She grumbled picking them up and putting them back in their case.

With all the noise gone Kejas could feel just how quiet it was. The chance that someone would come out and try to kidnap her sent a rush of adrenaline through her body as if it was saying that it hoped someone would.

She shivered "Not again"

She severely hoped no one was lurking in the grass waiting for her. She would feel sorry for them if they were.

She started walking towards the barn. The thrill of exploring making her walk at a faster pace.

Then she stopped. Her eyes widened. She must have imagined it. It was just a trick of the wind. She shook her head. She was hearing things that weren't there because she was excited. She took another step forward. Then she heard it again. This time it was no trick of the wind or the mind.

Voices were coming from inside the barn.