Gone With The Wind

"That would be breaking the number one rule." "What rule?" "Never give away your secret identity."

“Are you sure you’re alright to go home by yourself?” Donavan asked.

                My back was leaning against the door to my car. We stood in the darkness a few hours later. A few cops lingered on the scene, but most people had cleared out. Donavan had kept an arm on me the entire time, not letting me go for a minute. I was grateful for that.

                It was nearly morning now, and I needed to get home. We had already called my grandmother and explained everything. I knew she would’ve been out here if she could’ve made it. Her arthritis was keeping her from most things now a day.

                I looked at Donavan with a small smile on my face, “Thanks, but I’m sure I can handle it. They’ve already arrested him. I think I’ll be ok to drive the few miles it is to my house.”

                He gave me a worrying look, “I want you to text me when you get home, ok? If I don’t get a message, I’m going to assume the worst.”

                I rolled my eyes, “Sure, Mom.”

                “I’m serious, Avery.”

                “Alright, I’ll text you when I get back.”

                Donavan opened up his arms, beckoning with his fingers for me to come forward, “Where’s my goodnight hug?”

                I laughed slightly, wrapping my arms around his waist. He pulled me in tightly, capturing me in his arms. Leaning my head against his chest, I let my eyes flutter close. His body was warm against mine. He gave me a small squeeze before pulling back, resting his hands on my shoulders. I brushed the hair out of my eyes, staring up at him.

                “Are you positive?”

                “Yes.”

                “Alright. Goodnight.” He gave me another small hug before moving away. I watched him walk towards his car.

                He opened the door of his red gas guzzler, climbing in. The lights lit up as he stared the car, pulling out. Donavan pulled his car next to mine, popping his head out of his window.

                “Don’t forget to text me.”

                “I won’t.” I promised.

                He pulled out of the parking lot.

                The silence filled the night. I sighed, running a hand through my hair. While the shock of facing death had worn off some, I could still fear the ghost of the man on me. His voice was imprinted in my mind forever.

                I shivered slightly, opening the door and climbing in.

                I fumbled in my pockets for the key.

                “Looking for these?” a deep voice asked.

                I screamed, whipping my head to the side. I scrambled to create as much space between me and the mystery man as I could. My hand fumbled with the handle on the side, trying to get out.

                His fingers curled around my wrist, pulling my hand towards him.

                “Let go! Let go! Let go!” I screamed, jerking my hand in his grasp.

                His fingers tightened, holding it there. My breathing broke its regular pattern becoming short and shallow.

                Metal poked into the palm of my hand. He curled my fingers around it gently, keeping my hand there.

                “I think these belong to you.” He said.

                My keys.

                I gave a strong tug, freeing my hand from his grasp. I cradled it against my chest, eyes wide. My eyes searched the darkness next to me, trying to make out a face.

                Nothing.

                It was as if he was invisible.

                “Who are you?” I whispered, my voice barely audible to my own ears. It was shaky. My hold body was shaking.

                “What? No, ‘thank you’?” He teased.

                “Tell me who you are.” I demanded in a stricter tone of voice.

                “That would be breaking the number one rule.”
                “What rule?”

                He leaned forward, exposing himself into the small light coming in from the street lights outside.  He was still masked, the black fabric hiding most of his face. It stopped right under his nose, leaving his jaw free. His lips pulled into a smirk.

                I stared at his lips, seeing as they were the only thing I could see. But I could feel his eyes boring into my skull. I bit my own lips, watching as his moved with his next words.

                “Never give away your secret identity.”

                I narrowed my eyes, “Please, just get out of my car.”

                “Since you said please….” He trailed off. “No.”

                “This is trespassing.”

                “After I saved your life?” He chuckled, “Really, princess, what are you going to do? Call the cops? Is that really how you should repay your savior?”

                “Please. You’re scaring me.”

                He laughed dryly, “I know I’m not scaring you.”

                “Who are you?”

                He clicked his tongue, pulling up the corner of his mouth in a semi-smile, “Again that would break the rule.”

                I groaned, frustrated with him. While I should be terrified that a man I didn’t know was in my car with me, I found myself strangely infuriated at that instead. I turned in my seat so that I stared out the window, curling my fingers around the cold steering wheel.

                “I need to get home. Could you please just let me do that?” I asked through gritted teeth. I was trying to keep my cool, but it was difficult.

                “No one’s stopping you.”

                I shot him a look, staring into where I thought his eyes would be. Picking my keys up from my lap, I turned the engine on and pulled out of the parking lot.

                “Seat belt?” He asked as we pulled up to the first light.

                “I’ll be fine.”

                “I don’t really want to save your life for a second time tonight.”

                “I don’t see you wearing one.” 

                “I’m invincible.”

                “Look,” I said, taking a deep breath to calm myself down, “Please just leave me alone. I didn’t ask for you to save me.”

                “Really?” He sounded annoyed, “What would you have done? Please, humor me. What master plan did you have up your sleeve?”

                “I�"”

                “Nothing. That man is psychotic. He would’ve killed you whether he got what he wanted or not.”

                “I�"”

                “I wouldn’t be so quick to brush over my little favor I did for you.”

                I closed my lips, deciding it would be better not to respond to him. For my hero, he really knew how to push my buttons.

                It was silent in the car for a few minutes as I drove. I wished he would disappear from my car, but I knew as long as it was in motion, that wouldn’t be happening.  My car was the only one on the road at this hour. It would’ve been easy to run through every red light. No cop car was around to catch me doing it. It wasn’t like I’d hit another car either. But I found myself stopping and waiting. A good driver.

                The masked man moved in his seat, “Are you alright?”

                “I’m….Yeah.”

                “Are you sure?” He asked, sounding sincere about it, “It doesn’t seem like it’s normal for you to have a gun to your head every day. Most people would be a little freaked out about that afterwards for a while.”

                “I’m….Yeah.” I repeated.

                “Yeah, you’re ok? Or yeah, you are freaked out?”

                “…Yeah.”

                He didn’t say anything after that. I was content with the silence that fell between us. I wasn’t sure what to say. I was still freaked out about that incident earlier, but I didn’t want to admit it to him. Something just felt strange doing that.

                I pulled the car into my driveway, turning it off.

                I turned my body towards the passenger seat, opening my mouth to tell him to get out. But before the words even left my mouth a cold brush of air it me.

                He wasn’t there.

                My eyes widened. Tentatively, I reached my hand out. My fingers would brush his arm and prove that he had simply been hidden by the darkness in my car. It was possible. It was what should happen.

                My fingers didn’t touch anything.

                An unsettling cold met my fingers.

                He was gone.

                I took a deep, shaky breath, retracting my arm.

                Where did he go?

                I stepped out of the car, shaking my head. It was too much to think about this late at night. After everything that had happened, of course I wasn’t processing things correctly.

                Once I awoke the next morning, everything would click in my mind and I would understand why he seemed to have disappeared.

                He most likely got out of the car quickly.

                Maybe I just hadn’t noticed.

                “Grandma?” I called as I stepped into my dark house. I locked the door behind me, pulling the ponytail out of my hair. With no response, I made my way down the hallway in the darkness to check on her sleeping.

                Opening the door as soundlessly as possible, I peered my head into her room. From the light of her alarm clock, I could see her sleeping head. Her dentures sat in a cup on the nightstand, white hair spilled over her face. She was wrapped in a thick blanket with her overhead fan turning around slowly. She liked it that way.

                I closed the door silently.

                My room was on the opposite side of the hallway, with a bathroom between us. Grandma had the master bedroom which provided her with her own bathroom, leaving me with the other one. I slipped into my own personal chamber, turning on a small lamp.

                It lit up the room.

                I pulled my belt off from around my waist, dropping it onto my desk chair. Stepping out of my pants, I plugged my phone into its charger and turned the lamp back off. I collapsed on the bed in my underwear and work shirt.

                Sleep locked me in its grasp quickly.

                ~*~

                “How are you feeling, Avery?” Grandma asked the next morning. I sat at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal in front of me. I stared at the floating pieces without touching them.

                “Tired.”

                She rolled her eyes, pouring herself a cup of coffee from the coffee maker. “I mean about last night. Please, do tell me what happened.”

                “I was working, it was close to closing, and a man came in. He got frustrated that we got the order wrong. I was closest so he pulled me against him and put a gun to my head and demanded that everyone gave him all their money.”

                Grandma sucked in her breath quickly. While I spoke with as little emotion as possible so as not to worry her much, I could tell she was taking it roughly.

                “The cops arrived before he could do anything.”

                “Oh good.” She breathed a sigh of relief, “I can’t believe that even happened. I tried to stay up and wait for you to get home, but I didn’t make it much past ten.”

                I smiled gently, “It’s alright, Grandma.  You need your rest. I was fine coming home.”

                She ran her hand down my hair gently, “Do you want to talk to Dr. Schultz about this? I don’t mind paying for a few more sessions after what just happened.”

                Dr. Schultz had been my therapist after my parents died. I’d been with him for a year before I’d opened up and told him just how I felt about their death. Everyone promised me I’d feel better once I did.

                I felt worse.

                But I continued to go.

                The only reason I stopped was because Grandpa’s medical bill was becoming too expensive and my grandmother needed to cut something costly out of our budget.

                I shook my head, “I think I’ll be fine. If I need to, I can talk to the school’s guidance counselor during study hall.”

                Grandma pursed her lips, “Those guidance counselors can hardly be called qualified to deal with such traumatic events as what happened to you.”

                “They’re nice people.” I defended.

                “Yes and that still doesn’t mean they can do what Dr. Schultz will do for you.” My grandmother absolutely loved my therapist. She followed his every word. “Now that your grandfather has passed on, we can afford more sessions.”

                I shook my head once more, standing up, “I’ll be fine Grandma. I promise you.”

                She gave me a worried look.

                I walked over to her, leaning down to kiss her cheek, “I need to go to school. I’ll see you at the end of the day.”

                “Alright. Do you want me to write you a note for your teachers explaining why you don’t have any of your homework done?”

                “I’ll be fine.”

                “Are you sure? I don’t want your grade to go down. Colleges wouldn’t like that one bit, you know.”

                I smiled slightly, “My grades are fine. Missing one assignment won’t hurt anyone. Besides, I didn’t have much to do anyways.”

                She didn’t look like she believed me, but she let me go anyways. I made my escape while I could before she could drag me back and lecture me more about what Dr. Schultz could do for me that no other man can.

                Thirty-five minutes later, I stood at my locker, spinning the dial back and forth to open it. Forcing the knob above it up, I opened the metal cabinet, trading out my books for the ones I would need for my morning classes.

                All around me students did the same, socializing as they did so. I waited at my locker for my familiar group of girls to surround me, chatting away about aimless nonsense I had no real interest in. I faked a smile and listened to their pity stories nonetheless.

                They were my friends.

                I just wasn’t a morning person.

                “Avery!” The shrill voice of my closest friend Karen sounded. I turned my head to the side so see the petite blonde walking this way. Three other girls followed her, only one of which I could call my friend.

                “Hey, Karen.” I said, trying to put as much emotion in my voice as I normally would. The nice thing about Karen was, while she could always tell when I was upset, she never pried unless we were alone and away from the gossiping teenagers.

                To summarize, I would have a fairly lengthy phone call this evening.

                “Hey, babe, I have a question for you.” She stated, leaning against one of the lockers next to my own.

                “Shoot.”

                “What are you doing this Saturday night?”

                “Working.”

                She made a face, “Are you really?”

                “I think so. Why?”

                “Because a very cute boyfriend of mine needs to hook his friend up with someone.”

                I made a face, “And suddenly, I’m glad to be working Saturday evening. I’m not a huge fan of blind dates, Karen.”

                “I know, but that’s why this one is so much better!” She said, “I didn’t tell you who you were being set up with.”

                “Humor me.”

                “Jake Sanchez.”

                I raised an eyebrow, impressed, “Damn, you’re kidding right?”

                She shook her head, sighing dramatically, “No, but if you really can’t do Saturday night I guess I can always have Christy go in your place. It’s just that Jake was actually excited to be going with you.”

                I groaned, tilting my head back, “Look, Karen…”

                “I know, I know. It’s only been two weeks since you dumped that loser. But two weeks is a long time with no action. And Jake thinks you’re cute.”

                “He does?”

                She nodded, “He was the one who asked if I could bring you, actually.”

                “Karen!”

                She giggled, “No, no. Work at that s****y restaurant. Just remember that you could be on a date with one sizzling man instead.”

                “I hate you.”

                She grinned deviously, “Let me know if you can by tomorrow. Otherwise I’ll ask Christy to come instead.”

                “I can’t believe Christy is the backup.”

                “Why? She’s such a nice girl.”

                “She’s a b***h, Karen.”

                Karen rolled her eyes. “Relax. She’s actually pretty cool. And just remember she’s the backup, not the first option.”

                “She’s plastic all over!” 

                “That may be true, but you don’t have to be mean about it.” Karen mumbled, “Listen, I need to go get tutoring from Mr. Marcs.”

                “Tutoring? Karen you’re a genius in math.”

                “I’m failing.” She pouted.

                “Is it because someone stares at the teacher all period instead of actually learning something?” I teased.

                “No… I can learn easily.” She scoffed, “But he offered to tutor me after school now. Who knows, maybe we’ll start our own little scandal.”

                “You’re such a w***e.” I laughed

                She grinned, “You’re just jealous”

                “Don’t you have a boyfriend?”

                She ignored my comment, “Call me after your work so we can talk about whatever is bugging you so much today.”

                I was glad that Karen had been the first person I talked to in the morning. She had been my best friend for years. She always knew how to make me feel better. I was incredibly grateful to have her. Until she left me for some boy.

Author's Note

Ignore grammar [: