Shady Oaks Series: Out of Darkness Read online

  I slide into my seat in the back of the class and pull my notebook out of my backpack. I keep my head down, I don’t want anyone to see how red and flushed my face is. Slowly walking in, I see Ronnie sit down next to me.

  “Hey, I think I know why you are being so weird today,” Ronnie began.

  She fumbled with her jacket as her eyes diverted around the room, and not at me. My heart began to pound violently as I silently pleaded for her not to say anything. I wasn’t sure why I thought she might forget today’s date. It was a date I hoped would be erased from my mind and those who knew me. However, I wasn’t that lucky.

  “It’s not a big deal,” I began, trying to force a smile.

  “Yes, it is,” Ronnie began. “Today is the day…”

  Before she could get the words out, I cut her off mid-sentence. “Please don’t say it. We both know what today is. Let’s just leave it at that.”

  Smiling at me, Ronnie just shook her head and dropped the topic. As my best friend, I know she wanted to console me and be there for me, but I didn’t want any of that. As much as she tried, Ronnie just couldn’t understand. She didn’t know the person I used to be before that night. She didn’t know how much I lost in one single flash. All I wanted was to get through the day and forget that on this day, three years ago, I lost my mother and myself.

  “I get it, you don’t want to talk about anything relating to that night. Just promise me, you won’t do anything stupid,” Ronnie pleaded with me. Unfortunately, Ronnie knew me well enough to know that I couldn’t promise anything.

  CHAPTER 2

  My heart raced as I pushed down on the accelerator. As the engine revved to life, I gripped the steering wheel tightly as a wicked grin spread across my face. My body was shaking with anticipation and fear, a mixture that always made me feel alive; feel human. The sky was dark as coal and only a few twinkling stars shining above provided any light on the small road. The trees acted like a canopy, shielding any light from shining down on us. In that moment, I was thankful for their protection.

  “Sweet ride,” Sammy stated, as he ran his hand against the smooth leather interior. Sammy was a ‘friend’ of mine from our high school. He loved to break the rules and have that wonderful feeling of adrenaline pumping through your veins from doing something so wickedly wrong. We met in gym class my first day at Shady Oaks and had been partners in crime ever since. It was no secret that I hated Sammy, but he was always up for something dangerous and that somehow lured me to him.

  Nodding my head, I kept my gaze on the one-lane stretch of road I was about to race down. It wasn’t the ideal location for a drag race, but in the small town of Shady Oaks, Kentucky, we were limited to old back-roads to get our thrills.

  Sammy was right, this car was sweet. Actually, it is my father’s most prized possession, his 2018 Cherry Red Porsche. This among many other expensive material items topped his ten most loved possessions. I didn’t make that list. After my mom’s death, I was forced to live with my dad and his new wife, or what I liked to call, his brain-dead mistress, Victoria.

  “Nora, maybe you shouldn’t do this,” my best friend Ronnie yelled from beside my car. “You are really making a big mistake. If your dad catches you, he will kill you,” Ronnie yelled her concerns, but deep down she knew I wasn’t turning back. With the window rolled down, I could hear the constant chattering of my friends and other people I went to high school with, excited about the race.

  “Yeah, Mark’s Mustang is tricked out and I heard he has hydraulics. Plus, you don’t even know how to race,” Teddy yelled. Teddy and I were cousins. We were sort of like brother and sister, as we both understood what it was like to be alone, always. Standing beside Teddy was Aleece. A bit of an odd ball herself, she usually hung around us in public but never really said too much. I guess that’s why Teddy liked her. That and she had that gothic, rock chick vibe going on. With her brown hair pulled back in a high ponytail, her sky blue eyes glowed in the dark night air.

  “It’s driving. You push down the pedal and steer. I think I got this covered,” I sneered back, as I watched a guy in a black T-shirt and backward hat approach our starting line.

  Stepping back, Teddy, Aleece, and Ronnie nervously watched me from the sidelines. Everyone around them cheering as they waited for the race to begin. Bets were being made and money was exchanging hands as I glanced over at Mark, my opponent. He was cocky and arrogant and knew how to drive a car fast. I, on the other hand, had stolen my father’s car for the night just to get a thrill. I could care less if I won or lost, I just wanted to feel something.

  As the boy in the backward cap threw his hands up, I revved the engine and pushed my foot down on the accelerator. The Wind from the rush of our cars blew my long hair over my face. I could hear Sammy wildly laughing as he kept his attention focused on Mark and his approaching Mustang. As I gained speed, I could feel the car begin to shake under me. I tried to shift gears, but I could feel myself losing control of the car. As the car began to skid and then slide, I knew I was in trouble.

  “What are you doing?” Sammy screamed out as he now looked afraid and was holding on to the door handle.

  “I don’t know,” I cried back, trying to regain control of the car.

  As I turned the steering wheel left to right, everything became a blur as a large oak tree came closer and closer into my view. As I felt the impact of the car hitting the tree, everything else around me went black.

  ***

  Opening my eyes, all I could see was a thick white smoke swirling around me like a tornado and broken glass scattered on the black pavement. Why was I on the road?

  I tried to turn my head to check on Sammy, but it hurt to move. A strong heat began to move up my legs as I realized bright orange and red flames were shooting out from the crunched hood of the car. Excruciating pain shot through me like lightning. I could feel the fire burning through my jeans and to my bare flesh. I tried to scream, but no sound escaped my dry lips. Everything about this moment was too familiar. Had karma finally caught me after all this time of acting out?

  Voices began to echo through my mind as I saw people running toward the car. Coughing next to me, Sammy crawled out the broken passenger window. I could hear him grunting in pain and I prayed he wasn’t hurt too badly. This time I had gone too far. I had hurt someone. I had hurt myself.

  “Nora, can you hear me?” I could hear a sweet, song-like voice calling to me, but I couldn’t recognize who it belonged to.

  “Help,” I coughed, the smoke and heat becoming unbearable. My lungs burned and my eyes watered as I tried to find a face to help me.

  Without warning, a pair of hands gently lifted me from the wreckage and carried me out of the car. The feel of the hands on my arms sent a wave of déjà vu throughout my body. I had felt those same cold hands before. Only, as I looked down, the figure was not walking. No, he was floating. Squinting my eyes, I tried to clear the smoke and tears out of my vision so I could make out the face of the boy who was carrying me. He smelled like vanilla and peppermint and his touch was so soothing, it was almost as if his touch against my skin took all the pain and fear away.

  He lay me on the ground gently and with his hands placed on my shoulders, he leaned over me whispering something unintelligible. As he spoke, I could feel the pain from the burns slowly dissolving. His touch seemed to heal me, almost like magic.

  Confused and intrigued, I tried again to focus my vision on the face before me. Through my glazed eyes, I could make out a boy around my age with black hair and turquoise blue eyes. As he slowly began to step away, he seemed to disappear into thin air.

  As I lay there, stunned, I could hear Teddy, Aleece, and Ronnie rushing toward me. They were screaming my name as they discovered I was no longer in the burning car, but on the roadside. Their eyes grew wide as they noticed my burned jeans and the black smoke covering my face. I scanned the area, looking for my protector who had saved me from a fire inferno death, but he was nowhere to be found.

/>   In the distance, I could hear the wailing of sirens heading our way. As my friends knelt down beside me, telling me not to move because help was on the way, I closed my eyes and realized I was already dead.

  CHAPTER 3

  A year later, I was still on house arrest and grounded by my dad. While he technically had grounded me, he was never home to keep me from texting my friends, shopping online, and doing pretty much whatever I wanted. Only the courts somehow had a hold on me.

  After I had been rushed to the hospital for the second time in my life, everyone at the scene ratted me out and told how I had raced the car willingly and had refused to listen to anyone’s warnings. Of course, I hadn’t. I was determined to do whatever it would take to push the boundaries and feel alive again.

  My house arrest allowed me to go to school, but I had to return home directly after or my probation officer would be called and my probation could be extended. I guess that was supposed to scare me straight, but instead, it gave me a slight thrill. Something I needed and craved more than anything.

  Also, part of my punishment was that I had to meet with a school therapist weekly to discuss my feelings and crap like that. Mostly, I just sat and listened to them drown on and on about how I should help myself and different techniques I could try to make myself feel better. No matter how much they said, nothing could bring my mom back or change the way I felt about my life. The only outlet I had was my art. I loved to draw and use colors to express my emotions. My bedroom walls were covered in paint splatters, charcoal sketches, and drawings of images that I didn’t understand, but somehow spoke to me. Sometimes I would sit down by the lake, nestled on the beach or the bridge and paint the scenes before me. The large oak and evergreen trees that shielded the forest and lined the water gave me the perfect backdrop for my art. It was my outlet when I couldn’t do anything else. Now though, that option was gone. From my bedroom window, I could see the Shady Oaks Library and Oaks Diner. I watched as teens from my school laughed and joked as they walked along the streets together. Happy and laughing. Not a care in the world. No loss or unthinkable pain to tear at them daily.

  My only guiding light was that in only a few short months, I would be graduating from my horrific school and be on my way to an art school where I could make art and live my life the way I wanted to. I had applied to every art school in the country; both online and physical schools. However, with a criminal record and no one willing to write me any positive letters of recommendation, I was discovering it was going to be much harder than I had imagined beginning a new future.

  Now, as I drove my BMW to school, I realized this would be the first time I saw everyone, with the exception of Ronnie, since the accident.

  “Nora, are you here yet?” Ronnie asked frantically through my phone line. I was just pulling up to the student parking lot of the school when Ronnie called me for the millionth time that morning. I parked my black BMW and reached for my Vera Bradley bag. Sighing, I took a look around at the school I had grown to hate over the last few years.

  Sighing, I shifted the bag on my shoulder and placed the phone closer to my ear. “Yes, Ronnie. Chill out. I am here," I said, with a hint of frustration tainting my voice.

  I had spent a month in therapy and a rehabilitation center for the injuries I sustained in the car wreck. I guess rumors were spreading that I wasn’t going to return or that I was holed up in some crazy institution. My dad had forced me to go to the therapist, fearing I was ‘acting out’ for reasons he just couldn’t understand. Maybe if he were ever home or spoke to me, he might know why I might ‘act out.’

  As I walked toward the building, I felt all eyes on me. Since the wreck, most of my friends who I used to party with, disowned me. I guess it is not cool to hang out with the girl everyone thinks tried to kill herself while drag racing. Or maybe they all hated me because most of them were in trouble too for being out past curfew and drag racing. Too bad I used to be cool enough to use my pool, ride in my expensive car, and go on my lavish vacations with me. Oh well, at least I still had Teddy and Ronnie...And Aleece.

  Spotting me as soon as I entered through the large glass doors, Ronnie and Teddy motioned for me to follow them toward their lockers. “You promised you wouldn’t be late anymore,” Teddy said as he eyed me. I tried to be calm with Teddy. Truth is, he is the only family member I have that cares whether I am alive or not. He loves me and is always worrying about me.

  “Sorry,” I said, not wanting to argue with him.

  “Did you have another dream?” he asked, grabbing his Social Studies textbook from his locker.

  “Yes,” I said, as I shoved past him and began opening my locker. I had confided in both Ronnie and Teddy about my dreams about the boy who saved me. While I was pretty sure neither of them believed me, they both at least listened to me and entertained my fantasies.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Ronnie asked, already knowing the answer.

  “No.”

  Teddy and Ronnie both knew me well enough to know not to push me. I had never spoken to anyone about what I saw the night of that wreck. Sometimes I felt like I had hallucinated the whole thing. That maybe, I had crawled out of the car myself. But, if that were true, wouldn’t I have had burns or cuts? The doctors couldn’t explain why my skin was not burned or why I was not covered in cuts and scrapes from the broken glass. I only had a broken leg and broken arm.

  Shaking his head, Teddy stalked away toward his first-period class. We were very similar in the fact that neither of us pushed the other to talk about things that made us uncomfortable. His blond curly hair bounced as he walked and I saw Ronnie sigh as he departed. It was not a secret that they were an item, but sometimes I felt like Ronnie didn’t see anyone else but Teddy.

  “So,” Ronnie began as she floated back to earth. “What are we doing today after school?”

  “Well, since I am still grounded,” I laughed, “Anything I want.”

  Nervously laughing, Ronnie shut her locker door with a loud slam. “Maybe we should just hang out at your house,” Ronnie suggested. She never wanted to get in trouble, and honestly, I didn’t understand why she wanted to be my friend. It was no secret that I loved a good thrill. Anything that could be deemed as dangerous or wild or just crazy, was something I was up for.

  “We could go to your house,” I added. Ronnie hated going to her house. Sure, like me she lived in a large brick home in a gated neighborhood, but unlike me, Ronnie had a full house to go home to. Her father owned several large restaurant chains and her mom stayed home with Ronnie and her four brothers and sisters. Their house was always loud and full of people rushing around. Every time I visited, I would take in the noise and chaos that ensued. Ronnie, however, hated the commotion and enjoyed the quiet solitude of my house where no one was ever there except for the maids who quietly performed their tasks then left without being noticed.

  Before I could answer, the intercom above blared and everyone in the hall became quiet.

  “Attention students,” a loud male voice boomed. “All students are required to head to the auditorium immediately for a school announcement and presentation.”

  The bell rang and everyone began walking toward the large auditorium at the back of the school. The updated section of our school was a gracious gift from my father, who donated the money to remodel the auditorium. It was just a coincidence that while this was being built, I was granted permission to remain at Shady Oaks High School after the embarrassing and almost deadly accident.

  Exchanging glances, Ronnie and I shrugged our shoulders as we began walking. Neither of us knew why we had this unexpected assembly. When we entered the auditorium, we found a seat near Teddy and Aleece and then waited.

  As our head principal, Mr. Donaldson approached the podium located on the stage in the front of the room, all voices hushed and the room became silent.

  “Good morning students,” he announced.

  “Good morning,” we all chanted back.

  “I calle
d you all here today to announce that we will have several changes to our school programs this year.” He cleared his throat and I could see a line of sweat developing over his brow. His bald head shined against the overhead lights and his bulging stomach seemed to shake from nervousness. Continuing, he wiped away the sweat and looked down at note cards he was holding. “We have had to make several budget cuts due to lack of funds. We are looking into this matter, but please rest assured that we are finding a solution. What this means for you as students at this school, is that we will no longer offer our complimentary coffee and espresso carts in the morning.”

  A rush of voices and frantic disagreements floated throughout the room. Rolling my eyes, I laughed to myself. Of course, this would be an end of the world moment for the prep school kids.

  “Attention,” Principal Donaldson began shouting over the voices. “I understand this is upsetting, but we hope this is only a temporary setback. We also will have to stop the swim and tennis teams for this year only. New textbooks and Individual laptop computers will no longer be available to the student body.”

  Standing and approaching the stage, our assistant principal, Mr. Henderson, raised his hand and motioned for the students to stop talking. “I understand you all have concerns, but this is needed and we will inform you when we get things back to normal. This is the end of the discussion and I expect all students to report to their first-period classes immediately.” His brusque voice boomed throughout the room and his angry face revealed someone who was not sorry for this information.

  As I turned to face Ronnie, my attention was quickly diverted to something that caught my eye. Sitting in the back corner of the auditorium, almost shaded by the darkness where the lights did not penetrate, a boy sat staring at me. His black hair blended into the darkness surrounding him and his cold, ice blue eyes, seemed to be the perfect contrast to his brooding face. When my eyes met his, he quickly stood and rushed out of the room.