BrookLyn's Journey (4 page)

She
looked back toward
the vehicle, glad that they had waited for her. T
heir gleaming eyes
were
staring at
her
where she stood, and they looked as confused as she felt.
BrookLyn
shrugged
her
shoulders
.
Then
she
turned back around
and rang
the bell. No one answered.
She
banged on the door and no one responded to that either.
She
didn’t have a cell phone
,
because according to them
she
didn’t need one.
I need one now
,
she
thought.
She
knocked and punched the doorbell
several
more
times
before
she
heard Max yell to
her
out of the driver’s side window.

“
Just c
ome back with us
.
”

BrookLyn
didn’t want to go back
,
but
she
didn’t want to sleep on the porch in a rocking chair either.
It
was a great place to steal a nap on a cool summer a
fternoon but not on a Spring
night in the pitch dark.
Even the
thought of sleeping on the porch in the dark frightened
her
.

She
looked back into
the
equally dark house
,
noticing that not even the hallway
light was on. It usually was.
She
banged on the door
again,
more
out of frustration than because she thought anyone would come
.

It figure
s
.
The one night
I go
out,
my
key w
on’t
work and no one
is
home to let
me
in.
She
walked down the steps slowly
half
hoping someone would come
.
W
hen
no one did
,
she
hopped back into the backseat
.

“It’s okay,” Gabriella said grabbing
her
hand
again
,
pulling
her
closer
.

BrookLyn
wasn’t sure what
she
was feeling
,
but something was
definitely
going on inside of
her
.
I
t felt like a shock of electricity
shot
through
her
when
ever
Gabriella
touched
her
.
Like when
she
touched
her
light switch after walking across the carpet in
her
room. The
unexpected feelings made BrookLyn shift around awkwardly.

“
So, let me get this straight
,”
Max said.
“
They told you to come home by eleven
,
but made sure you couldn’t get in. Weird
.
”

BrookLyn
didn’t answer but was sure that
her
silence reflected
her
agreement.
What
am
I supposed to do? Somehow in my parents mixed up world
,
this
will turn out to
be my fault. It always
does
.

Gabriella squeezed
BrookLyn’s
hand tighter
and
she
didn’t let go.
B
rookLyn wondered why
she was doing that—and
since Gabriella hadn’t spoken much during the ride here,
s
he’d had
plenty of time to p
onder—what did all Gabriella’s attention mean?

Repeated
waves of electricity flow
ed
up and down
BrookLyn
’s
arm.
Her
heart started beating faster as a wave of nausea
washed
over
her
.
She
was scared of what
she
was feeling
,
but didn’t push
Gabriella
away. Th
at
thought
was almost worse and she didn’t understand why.

“Max has somewhere to go,
”
Gabriella said
,
“
so he’s not going to drive back over to Tiffany’s. You can call your parents from my house
.
”

Could my night get any worse?
BrookLyn
’s
heart skipped a beat.
“I guess I can walk over there
.
”
Although s
he
didn’t really want to do that
on this dark night.

“Do you even know how to get there on foot?” Max look
ed
in the rearview mirror
.

“No, but I’ll find it.”
BrookLyn
had no clue how to get to Tiffany’s house
,
especially since
tonight
was the first time
she
had been there.

“Not in this darkness, you won’t.
”
Gabriella
turned to face her.
“
Like I said before, you can call your parents from my house. I won’t hurt you
,
BrookLyn
.
”

BrookLyn
thought
she
heard a light chuckle
come
from
the front seat.
Her stomach twisted.
She
barely knew Gabriella.
W
ill
I be safe?
D
oes
Max
know something
I don’t know
?
Her
head was swimming in confusion and started hurting. As much as
she
hated them
,
she
really missed
her
parents right now. Crazy as they were
she
always knew what to expect
, and
r
ight now
she
didn’t.

She
couldn’t believe all of this was happening.
All she
wanted
was
to go to a
party then
go
home and
,
hopefully get a chance to hang out with
her
friends again
some other time
. The chances of that happening now, not so much
.

“Here we are ladies
.
” Max pull
ed
up in front of
Gabriella’s house.

“Thanks
.
” Gabriella
got
out
of
the car
and
stood outside waiting
.

BrookLyn looked at the
big yellow house with
its
gray shutters, large windows and
painted
bench on the porch.
It looked
so
nice and warm
,
unlike
BrookLyn’s
house. It looked like a home.
Hers
looked like what it was
—
hell.

From
the
little
bit she’d spoken
to Gabriella at church
,
and from the things Tiffany had said,
BrookLyn knew that
Gabriella’s
mother had left
her
the house when she
’d
died from cancer a few years back.
S
ince her dad had a heart attack and died when she was only seven years old and
she didn’t have any brothers and sisters, s
he
lived here
now
with her
aunt
.

Gabriella
w
as
not quite
nineteen
and she’d already lost both her parents. BrookLyn didn’t know if she wanted to feel sorry for Gabriella or wish that she could trade places.
Then she remembered that not all parents were like hers were. Most of them loved their children and treated them with kindness.

At least they had provided for her in their deaths so that
Gabriella didn’t
have to
work
.
S
he received money from her parent
s
’ insurance polic
ies
and
an inheritance
they
had
left for her
.
BrookLyn had no idea
how much it was
,
but looking at
the
house, she
could tell that
it was more than enough.

BrookLyn
realized that Gabriella was waiting so she
hurried
to get
her
shaky legs out
of the car
and
plant
her
feet on the sidewalk.
Although she
was sober
,
her
head was spinning. Too much craziness was going on tonight for
her
first
,
and probably last
,
night of freedom.

The two girls waved goodbye to Max and
went into
Gabriella’s
quiet
,
warm house
.
The smell of fresh fruit hit her nose as soon as the door opened. It smelled inviting and sweet. She inhaled
deeply, savoring
its sweetness
. It was so
unlike the
putrid
horror that hung in the air at her house.

Gabriella
led BrookLyn
upstairs to her room
and BrookLyn’s
mouth almost fell open when she saw the size of Gabriella’s room. It was much bigger than hers and looked like a hotel suite. It was navy blue with baby blue horizontal stripes.
P
eaceful.
The
bed was neatly m
ade and there wasn’t anything
out of place
on her desk.

Although t
he lights were dim
, they were
bright enough for
BrookLyn
to see the phone on the nightstand.
“Can I use your phone
now
?”

“Sure
.
”
Gabriella
grabb
ed
her cordless phone off of the nightstand
.

BrookLyn
wasn’t
even
sure how
she
’d get home if anyone
did
answer
,
but
since
nobody did
, at least there was one thing she didn’t need to figure out
.

She
started to tear up from anger
,
but pushed
her
tears away when
s
he
left a message for
her
parents. Crying wouldn’t fix this.
BrookLyn
knew that from eighteen years with
her
hateful parents. Nothing fixed anything with them. It just
was
.

After listening to
her
father’s demonic voice, then three consecutive beeps,
she
took a deep breath, and left
her
message.
“Mother, Father
,
its BrookLyn. I was home before eleven.
I don’t understand why, but my
key didn’t work. I knocked on the door and rang the bell, but no one answered. I didn’t want to sleep on the porch so I’m at a friend’s house
.
”
She
waited for
a
second before hanging up, just
in case someone picked up.
T
hey didn’t
.
S
he
forcefully pushed the off button
, wishing she had a regular, non-cordless phone so she could slam it
down
instead
.