Chapter Nine: WarningA Chapter by Joshua DonahueForbidden. Evan has now faced the first barrier of his relationship with Summer. And although he is trying to forget that terrible night, Evan must catch a ride home with Luke and things get weird.
Previous Version This is a previous version of Chapter Nine: Warning. FORBIDDEN
BY: J O S H U A D O N A H U E
Chapter Nine Warning Life
was good. Well, it wasn’t perfect “perfect”, but it was close enough. I was now
adjusting to Hale, I had friends who were the best (and whom also badgered me
with a million questions about me and Summer like I was on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire or something), and last but not
least, I had Summer. I wasn’t entirely sure what we were, but I at least knew
we were more than strangers. She was great. Of course, my stomach floated as if
it was stuck in space, my heart raced like it was in the Olympics, and my brain
froze like it was still in defrost mode whenever I found myself jammed by her
presence, but I was getting better. I felt at ease with her. When I was with
her, practically all of my attention was focused on her. She was my center, but
I wasn’t certain if that was a good thing or a bad thing yet. Nonetheless, my mind still strayed
back to when she indicated that she might be moving or something, by saying
that we had only a couple of days to be friends. Did that mean she only wanted
to be friends, or did it just prove that she cared enough to want to at least
get to know me before those few days were up? I honestly didn’t know. Another thing that I didn’t know was
what that whole “staring thing” was all about between Summer and Luke. They
acted as if they were born to hate each other or something, which wouldn’t really
make any sense because they barely even knew each other due to the fact that
nobody at school would ever talk to Summer and her friends out of fear for
their own safety. Plus, that whole lecture that Luke unleashed at me was
totally weird; Luke was a nice guy, which made it all the more anomalous.
Still, it was all just abnormal for me. Today was Friday, and school had
just let out; I was ready to get home. But, unfortunately, my mom called me on
my cell and informed me that I was going to have to catch a ride with Luke
because she couldn’t leave work due to the impatient customers she had. I
simply said okay. How can a small fish restaurant---out in the middle of
nowhere---be that busy. But then
again, this town was full of old people, who loved their seafood. I instantly thought about Luke’s dad
and the whole “we-want-you-to-join-our-club” thing, and decided that I would
try and catch a ride with some of my other friends (even though I never
actually saw Trent there at that thing in the woods that scary night). But as
it appeared, all of my friends had already left me, and Luke was my only
apparent option. I ended up finding Luke before his
dad came and picked him up, and I asked him if I could steal a ride. He said
yeah. It had seemed that he just totally forgotten about being mad at me for
hanging out with Summer because he never mentioned the way he had acted; he
just went back to the way things were---which was fine by me. Although, I wondered if I
should tell his dad what kind of stuff Luke was getting into, what with all the
freaky stuff in the woods and all. But I decided, if I stay out of his
business, he would do the same for me. After his dad came and got us, we were
on our way to my house with me in the backseat, and Luke and his dad in the
front. It was quiet---which is the way I wanted it to be. But Trent started a
conversation. “So, Evan, how are things?” he asked me while glancing into his
rearview mirror at me. “Good.” “That’s good. So, you’re getting
used to the town and all well then?” “Yeah.” I tried to keep my answers
short, sweet, and simple because I was still unsure about him. But there was
something serene in his glare that he sent back at me through the mirror. It
was the glare that showed me that I could trust him, because he was my family
whether I liked my other family members or not. So deciding, that he was
trustworthy, I started to answer his questions with more elaboration. “How’s your mom doing?” “Pretty good, except that fish place
is keeping her kind of busy.” I wondered if he knew about his family’s secret
club meeting. “Yeah, that’s how it usually is. It’ll
be busy for a few days and then slack off for another few days.” “I’ve noticed.” “So Luke tells me you got yourself a
girlfriend.” “Oh, yeah? Who?” I asked with a
joking tone. “Summer Hope,” he said with hardly a
joking tone. He gave an intense look at my reaction, and his glare was no
longer serene at all, but more serious than ever. I froze. He actually told his dad about me
and her? I was really pissed at him now. “She’s not my girlfriend. Just a
friend really,” I said, trying to play it off as smoothly as possible---and as
much as my anger would allow me to. “I see. Still, I don’t think it’s
best for you to be hanging out with that crowd, Evan.” “Well, I’m not really hanging out
with that crowd, Mr. Woods.” I just
said the first thing that came to mind regarding his name. “Call me Uncle Trent, or just Trent.
After all, we are family, Evan. And I suppose. But still, that’s not a very
good crowd to associate with whether you’re talking to one or all of them. Just
please, be careful around them, will you?” “Sure. Okay.” “Good.” We were at my house now. “Well, thanks for the ride, Trent. I
guess I will see you later.” “Anytime, Evan. Tell your mother I said ‘hey’ and
that you guys should come over more often.” “I will.” “Later, Evan,” Luke said through the
passenger seat window at me as I was walking towards my house. I ignored him. And just as I turned around to look
in the opposite direction, Trent hollered: “Oh, and Evan?” “Yeah?” “Take heed to what I said, will ya?” “Sure. No problem.” Then they drove off. Again, here was
another thing that puzzled my feeble brain: why was everyone telling me to be
careful around Summer and her gang of friends? I hung out with her Wednesday
and Thursday, and she seemed perfectly harmless and normal to me. I shrugged my shoulders to myself,
and walked inside. * * * Later
that day, my mom came home and began working on dinner. She asked for my help,
and---reluctantly---I entered the kitchen to help out. I was tired from
everything that had happened to me in my life and I wanted to rest. But I
couldn’t disobey my mom, so I did it anyway. After about thirty minutes into
helping slice vegetables and stuff (an odd amount of dinner for just two
people), there came a knock at the door. “Oh, Evan, would you get that,
honey?” she asked with her back turned to me. I made a face, and went and answered
the door. It was my mom’s side of the family. I vaguely remembered them from
the cookout before. First, entered my apparent grandmother, Polly, followed by
my mother’s sister and brother, Monica and Patrick. Then Carolina, Patrick’s
wife and their daughter, Michelle, came in. Quite a group. “Hi,” was all I could say to them
all. “Hey, Evan, is your mother around?”
Polly asked. “Sure. Come on in. She’s in the
kitchen,” I said as I held open the door for the bunch. They came in looking nicely dressed.
Then I realized my mom had invited them over for supper and she didn’t even
tell me. I was a little annoyed at first, but by now, I was already used to her
surprises, and decided to just go with it. I shut the door; I heard my mom say
“hello” to her family members as they piled into the kitchen. Then she called
my name. I walked into the kitchen, and she
said, “Evan, it would be nice of you to show Michelle around a little.” I wanted to grunt, but I withheld
it, and replied as nicely as possible, “Sure, why not. It’s not like I have
anything else better to do.” My mother obviously caught the
irritation in my voice because a flash of anger took over her face for a
moment. “Come on, Michelle,” I said, waving
her to follow me. “Wow, this looks delicious, Elana.
Let us help, though,” Polly said as we walked out, and I heard everyone agree
to help my mom with the dinner. I gave Michelle a short tour of the
house downstairs. Then we headed on up the stairs where I allowed her to browse
the bedrooms and everything, examining it all. Then we ended up in my room. “Wow! Nice room, Evan,” she said. She
wore a pair of jeans and a simple t-shirt---apparently not wanting to dress up
for the occasion---, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, revealing a
few freckles on her cheeks. “Thanks,” I responded. I was getting
into a better mood now and realized I should act nicely towards guests. Michelle walked over and examined my
row full of musical CDs. “You like Guns ‘n Roses too? I thought I was the only
one in this small town!” “Yeah. They’re pretty good.” She picked up the newest album I had
of them and opened it up. “May I?” she asked, indicating she wanted to hear it
on my stereo in front of her. “Sure, go ahead.” After listening to their music and
talking about their band and their history, I began to get the vibe that she
wasn’t one of those prissy girls. She was actually kind of fun. After roaming and rocking out with
my music, she viewed all of my video games and requested to battle me on Mortal
Kombat and listen to some Nickleback while we play. I set it all up for us, and
we actually had fun---even though she whipped me in the fighting game. To pass
time, and to show my mom that I could mingle, we played games for a while and
listened to tunes belching out my stereo speakers. After a good
forty minutes or so, my mother’s voice rang out up the stairs, “Kids, come
eat!” We shut everything down, and headed
down the stairs to the dinner table where everyone sat and awaited us. “Having fun, darling?” Michelle’s
mother asked her. Michelle nodded. My mom looked pleased by me when I
sat and we began to eat. While we ate, conversation started. “So, Evan, how are you adjusting?”
Monica asked me. Why
is everything always about me? I asked myself internally. “Good. I’m still
kind of in the process a little, but this place is starting to get to me,” I said. “Well, glad to hear it,” she said
back. “Hale has a way of connecting to outsiders after a while.” Then the small talk continued---thankfully,
not around me. I tried not to input my own opinion
about their topics, but every so often, one of them would try to get me to open
up. I would say one or two words, and then resume my quiet food, wishing more
than anything, that my food would converse with me and explain to me why I was
stuck in such a place like Hale. Not long into the conversation, the
television became an obstacle for them to hear one another because it was
playing noisily in the living room without an audience. My mother sent me to
cut it off, so I got up and exited the dining room, going into the living room.
When I started to hit the power button on the remote, something that the news
guy on the screen was saying, caught my attention: “…Margaret and William Beck have
both died today from the serious illness that has been spreading throughout the
upper-most of South Carolina and the lower part of North Carolina. This has
brought the death total up to 79 as opposed 66 just four days ago. Officials are
concerned with the outbreak of deaths that have been going on lately, and said
that they are doing everything they can to find out what this is. They also
informed us that at this time, they are not calling it an epidemic, yet, but
that the White House is showing some concern with this, and are observing
closely, and lending any hand it can to us as a community, just in case the
illness is airborne or contagious by any means. All citizens in the general
area are asked to limit their vacations out of the country or even out of the
state for that matter, until we know what is truly going on. We’ll update you
more as this investigation continues to unfold. Back to you Becky.” Then the camera position changed to
a woman, who began talking about a car accident somewhere in South Carolina. I hit the power button and the
screen flickered away. I tried to block the thoughts about
the “not-so-epidemic” as I reentered the dining room to rejoin the boring talk
among my mom’s side of the family. I guessed this was her way of getting me to
bond with them. But little did she know that this was purgatory for me,
especially considering the virus could be tapping on our front door any time. © 2010 Joshua DonahueAuthor's Note
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StatsAuthorJoshua DonahueJefferson, SCAboutUPDATE! 06.27.13 Hello, WritersCafe! I realize that I have abandoned my account since the summer of 2013. Since then I have started college, and I have experienced... a lot. However, this does no.. more..Writing
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