It wasn’t too difficult to find the Ford Place, even though there was no such thing as street signs out here. Their driveway was the next one up the main road to the right. I remembered having noticed their mailbox when Sam had driven us to town the other day. It looked like it had seen better days. It was more than a little rusty.
Their driveway is just as long and
My mom was in the kitchen when I walked inside to hang up the keys by the door. I wouldn’t have even come inside if I didn’t need to do that. I would’ve preferred to sit on the steps and wait for Ben. Assuming he showed up. I wasn’t sure I’d understood him correctly. I mean, the idea that he wanted to take me for a ride seemed surreal. He was so unbelievably attractive, and I was just ordinary me.
Ben drove back to the main road and then headed north, away from the city. We didn’t say much at first. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to him, it was that I was afraid I’d say something silly, so I was waiting for him to speak first. When he didn’t, I asked, “Do you not have to work today?”“No,” he said, slowing
“Red?” I repeated. My energy was red. “Why red?”Ben raised an eyebrow at me, as if he couldn't believe I had to ask that question. I had been asking a lot of questions lately that seemed unnecessary to him, I’m sure. “I think you know why,” he said quietly. Not the first time I’d heard that.
The smear of blood down the windshield had us both staring straight ahead with disbelief. The bird’s body had slid down the glass and was sitting in-between the windshield wipers. Slowly, Ben opened his truck door and slid out. I did the same, not sure I could stomach looking at the dead bird, but not sure what else to do either.Ben looked up at the sky, as if he we
Horace’s truck was gone from the drive when Ben pulled his vehicle into the space he’d vacated earlier and came around to open my door, which was very gentlemanly of him. He did not hold my hand as we walked up to the house, though. Why, I’m not sure, but I think he must’ve known, either because Sam told him or because of this energy flow thing he’d been telling me about, that there was something going on between me and Sam. I wasn’t exactly sure what that something was, just as I honestly wasn’t sure what the something was between me and Ben either. We had kissed--a lot. And probably would’ve kissed more if the Evel Knievel of birds had
The upstairs of their house still smelled musty, but at least the smell of rotten food and dirty dishes from the kitchen didn’t quite reach here. Ben led me past a closed door on the right, another door that was ajar, which a glance inside led me to believe was Sam’s room, and to the last room on the left. I took it that the other closed door on the left-hand side of the stairwell was Horace’s room.
Ben didn’t come into Raven’s room with me. Instead, he pushed the door open for me and then closed it behind me. I assumed he would stay in the hallway, in case I needed him, but I wasn’t sure.Her room was the same dingy white as the boys’, but everything was put in its place--except for a pair of jeans that was tossed across the end of the b
It was dark outside when I opened my eyes. At first, I was afraid I was sleepwalking again, but soon enough, I figured out that I was actually awake. A glance at the clock on my nightstand told me it was 9:30. I had been sleeping for over seven hours. I was shocked that I could be so tired, but then, I’d never used magical powers to heal my friends before, so I had no way of knowing it could drain so much energy out of me.