Chapter 2
Ally
An old, beat up white Chevy truck sits at the end of my driveway.
Cali sits in the driver's seat, his Raybans sit low on his face while he peeks at me over the frame as I open the door and hop into the front seat.
His black shirt is glued to his toned body, and his baby blues shine at me as he gives me one of his dazzling smiles.
His golden hair is a mess on his head, a dead give away that he just got out of bed and rushed over here.
“Well, hey there Sunshine. Was beginning to wonder if you were going to grace me with your presence,” he says smirking at me, moving to put his shades on the top of his head.
“I’m here,” I sigh, giving him my best fake smile.
Cali has been my best friend since Pre-K.
I can still remember my mom pushing me in the room before running off, not bothering to tell me goodbye.
I was so scared, shy, and terrified I wouldn’t have anyone, which I guess isn’t much different from my home life.
Then a blonde little boy rushed up to me.
‘What’s your name?’ he had asked me. I told him and the next words out of his mouth were, ‘I’m Cali.
We’re going to be best friends.’ We’ve been inseparable ever since.
I’m not sure when my feelings changed from just friends to something more though.
Every moment we spend together, the fire in my stomach grows so strongly and I want so badly to tell him how I feel.
That it’s him. It’ll always be him. No one else could ever compare.
But I don’t want to ruin the friendship.
I’d choose him just being my friend, rather than losing him altogether.
My eyes linger on his tan skin, the veins running up his arms, and into his hand, as he clutches the steering wheel. Then my eyes slowly move to his white teeth, you could see his smile from miles away.
“Earth to Ally! Are you listening?”
My eyes quickly flick up.
“Oh, sorry! What were you saying?”
He furrows his brows in concern for a moment, before he begins speaking again.
“Wellllll–I said happy birthday, Sunshine.”
“Thank you, Cali,” I say, watching as he starts reaching behind his seat for something.
He pulls out a small purple gift bag, the words 'Happy Birthday’ scripted on the front in a neon blue.
Two of my favorite colors. He hands the bag to me and I slowly open it.
A tiny wrapped box lays inside. I can feel Cali watching me closely as I pull the box out and start unwrapping it.
A black velvet box comes into view and a necklace rests inside.
I pick it up and study the silver heart shaped locket hanging from it.
I take the locket between my fingers, flipping it open.
A photo of Cali and I from when we were around nine years old sits in place.
Our arms are thrown around each other as we smile widely at the camera.
On the other side of the locket, words are engrained.
I squint my eyes to look closer. The words read ‘Forever Entwined, You & I’.
I gasp, “Cali, this is amazing! You didn’t have to get me anything!”
I throw my arms around him, pressing a kiss to his cheek, then settling back into my seat.
“Can you put it on me?” I ask, glancing at him.
“Sure thing,” he says, his facial expression showing excitement from my reaction.
I turn to face the window, giving my back to Cali.
I hand him the necklace over my shoulder and I watch as he brings it over my head to clasp in the back.
I hear the click of the two ends being connected and the hairs on my neck stand up when Cali's fingers linger on my skin longer than needed.
Heat shoots to my cheeks as thoughts overrun my mind of where else I wish those fingers would touch.
I feel as his fingers drop the necklace and slowly graze my neck, moving gently down my shoulder, then around to my collarbone.
“Uhm, Cali?” I ask.
He rips his hands away from me, giving a startling cough, then straightening himself back in the driver's seat. I turn around, studying his face.
“We better get to school, before we’re late,” he suggests, throwing me a small smile then flinging the truck into reverse.
“Thank you for the necklace, Cali. I really, truly love it.”
If I didn’t know better, I would say a blush is creeping over Cali’s face, but that can’t be right. Cali is never shy or nervous.
“You’re welcome, Sunshine. I’m glad you love it.”
Cali throws a wink at me, then blares the radio, and speeds off toward school.
We’re almost to school and neither one of us has broken the awkward silence since we left.
I can’t control the weird eerie feelings that have been consuming me since we left my house.
My brains running one hundred miles an hour, the music drowned out in the background.
We’re on an isolated road, not even ten minutes from school.
I watch as the trees pass us by. I turn to look out the front window and I scream.
“What is it?” Cali asks, frantic.
A small girl in a blue dress with red hair stands in the middle of the road. I swear she almost looks like my doll.
“There’s a girl on the road! Watch out!” I scream.
Cali looks at me like I’m crazy. “Where Ally? I don’t see anyone!”
As soon as the words leave his mouth, something black hits the window and Cali slams on his brakes, pulling the truck off to the side of the road.
“Are you okay?” He asks, checking me over.
He waits for me to nod my head, then rushes out of the truck to look at the damage. A moment later, I undo my seatbelt and follow him. I meet him at the front of the truck. He stands there, both hands behind his head as he looks over his window.
“Well, I don’t know about the girl you saw Ally, but a raven definitely flew into the truck.”
He picks the bird up by the beak. Blood and guts are strewn over the window, and as he attempts to remove the bird, you can see some of the guts stretch as they cling to the glass surface.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I say, running to the ditch as I start dry heaving.
Cali rips the bird away and then takes it into the trees to get rid of it. I finally rejoin him at the truck and see the huge crack from where the bird hit.
“In all my years of living in Warren, Connecticut, I have never had a raven fly into my truck,” he tries to laugh it off.
“Maybe it’s a sign,” I whisper.
“A sign for what? You can’t seriously believe in all that superstitious stuff, do you?”
I look over at Cali and he’s already intently staring at me.
“I don’t know. Maybe?” I admit.
Cali stares at me for a few more minutes, then approaches me and grabs me by the shoulders.
“Everything’s okay, Ally. It was just a random accident.”
He throws his arms around me, squeezing me in a hug.
“Come on, we’ve really got to go before we’re late.”
Cali cleans the blood and guts off his window the best he can with some paper towels he had stashed in his truck and then we’re off.
I know he said it was just a random accident, but something in my gut tells me it’s more than that.
I know what I saw. There was a girl. I’m not sure where she came from or where she went, but she was there.
Something tells me this is just the beginning of this mystery.