Soul Memories #2
The imagination part had been mine, and it insisted something was wrong. The illusion was that no one at church noticed the horrid crimes happening right under their noses.
Not us, though. Not anymore. The illusion had been ripped away.
With Blue gone, there was only her revenge to protect now. Each Misfit promised to be a part of it.
In a state of calmness, I touched Kristen’s shoulder to wake her. In the waiting room, she jolted and opened her eyes. Gasp. “Johnny—”
“She’s gone,” I told her. Fellow fosters flanking me, I said, “Thank you for fighting for her.”
Then, we all turned and walked away.
The ride home in the rain was quiet. Eerie, like a foretelling of how Blue’s passing was going to haunt us for a very long time.
Finn was driving so that Sarah could stay with Caleb, who was behind the driver’s seat.
Usually, the driver and the girls were up front so they could be properly buckled in. The rest of us sardined in the back. 3
This time, Gage was on the other side of Sarah.
Ethan behind me in the front seat. I wanted to be near Sebastian, who was in the middle, staring out the windshield.
The blessing of the angelic presence in the hospital room still offered strength, however; his human side was struggling with his little one no longer being there.
I could almost feel all the times… Seb reached forward to play with Blue’s hair. From the driver’s seat, I chuckled at how she smiled, shooing his hand away. “Sebastian! I have to focus on Johnny’s shitty driving.”
The car broke out into laughter while Sarah raised her hand proudly. “I taught her that word!”
“Who hurt her, Johnny?” Seb sounded… dark. Heaven’s light all gone.
Sarah growled, “And how do I find him?”
Looking over my shoulder, the glow of the dashboard showed her smeared with tears and rage. Her pale eyes made her look like a vengeful spirit, waiting to unleash a deadly verdict. I exhaled so long and hard, not sure how I was going to help these two survive this loss.
“I know you know how.”
The threat in Seb’s voice made my stomach turn. I had no idea where he was headed until he added, “Tell them about the mirror.”
All heads turned to me.
I snarled back at him, “You have no idea what you are doing. The danger—”
“Danger?” Seb roared in my face. “What can be more dangerous than someone beating Baby Blue to fucking death?”
I snapped, “All of you being beaten to death to get info on me!”
The car went silent, besides all the heavy breathing and the hum of tires and the engine.
Sebastian’s resolve was concrete. He stared at me while asking everyone else, “Is there one soul in this car not willing to take that chance for her revenge?”
Understandably, I was outvoted, so I told them about a boy whose father was the president of a motorcycle club. I didn’t tell them names or locations. Blue wouldn’t want that, but I did tell them that witnessing a shoot-out and my uncles dying didn’t make me an expert at crimes.
From behind the steering wheel, Finn told me, “You make so much more sense now.”
There were collective nods in agreement.
I felt a pedestal being shoved under my feet, and I hated it. “I don’t deserve the way you’re all looking at me right now.”
This time, there were no nods of agreement. Only a challenge from Sebastian. “Then earn it. Make him, whoever this fucker is, pay for what he’s done to her.”
I eyed each and every one of them. “There’s no going back once this line is crossed.”
Sarah’s tears had dried and crusted on her cheeks, like a warrior’s marks. She sounded deadly. “The vents work both ways.”
I jolted.
She sneered, “You cross lines in your sleep.” She declared, “I’ve held your hand while you check off your ‘revenge list’.” Spooky pale eyes dared me to deny it.
All this time, I had believed I had hidden the sinner in me.
But I was wrong.
My dad’s blood showed through every coat of denial I put on.
“Fine,” I said, “welcome to my dark side, assholes.” With my scarred right hand, I gestured.
“Finn. Pull over. No witnesses.” I stared out the window, wondering where to begin with Blue’s story.
“It wasn’t a fear of hospitals she had.” Rip off the Band-Aid, they say.
“Medical care was against her religion. ‘Their’ religion.”
In an empty parking lot, after learning who hurt Blue the first time, and who was responsible for her in more ways than one, it didn’t take long for us to come to an agreement on how to case the church and plan an attack on the man who was walking free while Blue put her heavenly wings to use.
There was no need to be sworn to secrecy.
The Misfits seemed to be born for this. That’s how easily we worked together.
After Blue’s funeral, and many lectures by Harmony and Dale about ‘grieving properly’, we went to school during the day, then studied the pastor’s schedule and routine.
We found weaknesses and moments to bring him harm without leaving a trace.
We didn’t want to grieve! We wanted blood.
One movie night, I stood from a couch, itching to put our plans in action. “Good night.” I eyed my sinners. “Sleep well.” Then went to the attic to get out of pajamas and into night apparel. I had bought us all some gear with Noma’s money.
As we had the night Blue was in the hospital, we all snuck out of the house, pushed Bertha down the road, and loaded into the car. Same seating. It felt like the only way to travel anymore.
In silence, we rode down roads full of trees in Northern California.
The lack of streetlamps was welcomed. It matched the darkness inside our broken hearts.
And it helped me from seeing the dancing stars in the raindrops dripping down the windshield and windows.
I didn’t want to see or feel my imagined magical friend’s disappointment.
Possibly making the biggest mistake of our lives, we raced toward vengeance. But were the oncoming headlights veering into our lane supposed to be a deterrent? Or more gasoline added to the lit fire of angered spirits?
“Hold on!” Finn shouted.
He did his best to swerve away from the drunk driver that had crossed the center yellow line on the desolate two-lane highway, but we still got clipped, and the rain, along with the high speed of both vehicles, had us spinning at such a rate I couldn’t tell how we would ever stop.
But we finally did. I don’t recall the actual crash. I don’t recall anything before the dream of being underwater, face-to-face with my magical friend. She smiled at me, then rubbed her nose to mine—
“Wake up, Maddox. Wake up!” said a familiar deep voice.
A voice from the past. One that couldn’t be real.
Large hands were pulling me across the front dash as I groaned.
Blinking, I saw Seb heaped over next to me, his head where glass once formed the windshield. I was thankful for the dancing stars on his hair when my weak hands failed to take him with me as I was dragged through the missing windshield and across a smashed hood.
Someone tugged on my shirt, and from under my arms, my body trudged through muddy grass, and up and out of a huge ditch before finally coming to a stop away from the asphalt, a distance from the empty lanes.
That’s when I noticed a sparkly rained-on-gray goatee blowing in the wind above me. “S-Styx?”
Then, like the day I was found on the seawall, hearing heavy footfalls approaching, I witnessed a set run from me and back into the ditch.
Dazed, I rolled over, slowly getting to my hands and knees. When I stumbled to my feet only to fall again, I army crawled toward the accident. Muddled headlights from the wrecked car welcomed my face and lit the site. Oh my God. Please tell me everyone is alive.
The majority of the car’s weight was at the front.
It’s ass practically in the air causing bodies to be up against the dash or back of the front seat.
But the car was also resting on one headlight more than the other, hence the bodies were somewhat on top of each other to the right.
Front tires were mangled. The rear tires in dirt, wedged in the embankment of the ditch.
The dark-figured man was a sea of dancing stars and was now pulling Sebastian’s limp form across the crushed hood. “Everyone has pulses.”
Deep inhale…
I squinted to my left when seeing red lights appearing then fading. Is that the other car? Leaving us?