Authors: Stacy Claflin
Finally, she finished her breakfast. There was nothing else she could do to put off giving him a hug.
Chester smiled at her. "Come give your ol' dad a hug, Heather. This is going to be a great day."
Macy's stomach twisted, but she got up and shuffled around the table while he got up from his chair. He opened his arms wide and she pressed herself against him and wrapped her arms around him. He put his around her and squeezed tight, making it hard for her to breathe.
After what felt like an eternity, but was probably only about ten seconds, he let go.
"Let's hit the road. Your mom's waiting."
Exhausted
Zoey hit the snooze button again. Why did her mom insist on her going to school? She could barely function anymore with Macy missing, and going to school did
not
help. The only thing that kept her going was time spent with Alex. They were able to talk, smoke, and…well, keep each other distracted.
If they felt like talking about Macy, they did. If they didn't, they sneaked away somewhere to light up or to one of their bedrooms to forget about everything else. So far, none of their parents suspected their relationship. They just thought the two of them were becoming closer because of Macy's disappearance. Her mom kept saying how Zoey had taken on Alex as her little brother.
The door opened and her mom appeared. "What are you doing still in bed? School's going to start soon."
"I'm too tired."
"You know, they're going to hold you back if you don't keep up."
"They don't hold kids back anymore, Mom. They don't want to hurt anyone's self-esteem. But you know what? At this point, I really don't care. Let them hold me back. I feel like I've been hit by a truck."
Valerie's eyebrows came together and she walked over to Zoey with a look of concern. She felt her forehead and then her cheeks. "You don't feel warm. Do you feel sick?"
Zoey shook her head. "I'm just exhausted, but really, that's not surprising. My life-long best friend has been missing for about a month. What else do you expect?"
She sat down on the bed next to Zoey. "I know, dear. You don't need to remind me. Have you spoken with the counselor at school yet?"
"Ugh. Not that again. I don't need a shrink."
"They're not psychiatrists, and they said a lot of kids have gone in to talk about Macy."
"Yeah, the jerks who feel guilty about bullying her. I have no reason to feel bad—I was always there for her. If I could be, I still would be. No guilt here."
"It's not about guilt. You need someone to talk to, and you sure aren't talking to me about it. Sleeping isn't going to solve anything. The counselor can give you strategies on how to deal with all of this."
Zoey glared at her mom. "I talk to Alex all the time."
"But you need to talk to someone neutral. I'm sure it's good to talk with him since you're both so close to her, but the counselors can offer a different perspective and they've been trained in how to deal with situations such as these."
"Yeah, well, you don't have to go to school and get judged for going to a shrink."
"Why don't I set up an appointment with an outside counselor, then? None of your friends would ever know, although I would question your friendship if they're going to judge you."
"Can't I just go back to sleep? Please. I'm so tired. You have no idea." Zoey yawned.
"What time have you been getting to bed?"
"I went to bed at nine, don't you remember?"
"And you went to sleep then?"
"Yes!"
"If you won't talk to a counselor or go to school today, I'm going to make you a doctor's appointment. Would that be socially acceptable?"
Zoey rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever. If I can go back to sleep."
"I'll make you an appointment during my lunch break. Think you can be ready by noon?"
She nodded and then re-set her alarm. Zoey closed her eyes and was asleep the moment she hit the pillow.
Traveling
Macy climbed into the front of the truck, not allowing herself to get too excited. It was a stupid thing to be excited about, but after having spent days riding around in the back with all of the stuff, she almost couldn't help it.
Chester was still almost giddy, rambling on about a multitude of topics. As she buckled up, he moved aside his jacket, exposing the gun again. Macy stopped breathing for a moment. It startled her to see that, she had almost forgotten about it with his new good mood. Obviously she wasn't supposed to forget it was there.
But he didn't miss a beat. He continued chatting about how great everything was going to be. He couldn't wait to be a complete family again. Once he pulled out onto the road, he asked what kind of music Macy wanted.
It had been so long since he had asked her opinion on anything—actually, he had probably never asked her what she thought about anything. Not since he was pretending to be Jared, anyway. That felt like a lifetime ago and was probably what he wanted. Chester wanted her to feel completely disconnected with her real family.
Macy hesitated. "Is there a top twenty station?"
"Of course. Like I said, I can stream anything." He scanned through the stations until he found one. A song was playing that Macy loved. She and Zoey often sung along to it, sometimes even dancing and using hair brushes or cell phones as microphones. She closed her eyes, welcoming the memories.
Another favorite came on, bringing another flood of memories. This one had been one of Alex's favorites, and there was nothing like watching Alex dance to a song. He was hilarious and would take up the entire family room, running around and dancing.
Her heart ached. Would they ever get to do that again? When the next song came on, she felt even worse. It was a song she had never heard, reminding her of everything she had missed over the last month.
Macy opened her eyes and saw that they were on a country road. There was nothing except open, grassy fields and livestock as far as the eye could see. She continued to ignore Chester's rambles. He hadn't stopped talking since breakfast.
After about twenty minutes, they drove through a small town. Macy's eyes lit up—she had been there before. She recognized the buildings and even the tiny, rundown park. Her heart beat so loudly she feared Chester would hear it.
A minute later, they were back to being surrounded by fields and farmland again, but her mind wouldn't stop racing. She
had
passed through that town before. It wasn't her imagination. She recognized it. That meant she had been along this road before too. But when?
Macy fought to keep her breathing steady. The last thing she wanted to do was to alert Chester to the fact that anything was amiss. She vaguely remembered being in the car with her family when she had gone through that small town before.
Did that mean they were near her home? Chester probably didn't know she knew where they were. She didn't actually know where they were. Not even the town name signs along the way helped. She had never heard of any of them.
They had to be back in Washington, but where? It could have been on the other side of the mountains or even in the southern part of the state. Or maybe they were in Oregon or Idaho. They had traveled other nearby states plenty of times for camping and sporting events.
Her pulse and breathing finally returned to normal. They went through another half an hour of open fields, only seeing a random grouping of cows or horses every so often.
Eventually, the scenery changed and they were in a forest. The green trees were a nice change of scenery. She was so immersed in their beauty that she forgot to keep paying attention to the road signs. She had always loved that part of the Northwest. Never once had she complained about driving for hours through the woods or mountains.
When they left the trees, they went through another small town. This one had a decent-sized high school and Macy held her breath. There was an actual stop light in this town, and when the stopped, she stared at the school.
She recognized it—and this time she knew why. They had driven there for one Alex's karate tournaments. He had competed in that gymnasium. Zoey had gone with her family, and while they waited for Alex's turn to compete, the three of them wandered around the school and had even chased each other through the parking lot. Alex had been threatening to dump his drink on them.
Where was this town? She really couldn't remember. It had been over a year since they had been there, and she hadn't been paying any attention to where they were back then, either. She thought it was two or three hours from home. The one thing she did know was that it was definitely in Washington.
Even though they were still far from home, they weren't
that
far. Assuming they didn't drive out of state, it was possible she could get away and find her way home. He wasn't taking her to the other end of the country or anything. She couldn't help smiling.
"You like this song, Heather?"
Macy looked over at him. She had almost forgotten he was there. "Yeah, this song is great."
He nodded. "I like it too. It has a good beat." He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel along with the song. Then he moved his left hand down and turned on the blinker.
Where were they going now? The scenery was nondescript; she didn't know how he could tell where he needed to turn. They went down a road to the left that Macy didn't see until they slowed down. It had a gate off to the side, making it look like they were entering private property. There were scrape marks on the pavement indicating that the gate had been opened and closed a lot. Was that what he meant by a gated community?
Her heart picked up speed, but she didn't know why. Wherever they were going couldn't be any worse than the hole in the farm that she had spent too much time in. They were going to a house with a mom…a stepmom. A fake stepmom. Macy twisted a strand of hair.
They drove along the road until it turned into a dirt road. It forked at one point and they went left. Chester finally stopped talking. Was that a good sign? Macy had too many questions, but she had a feeling the answers were coming soon enough.
There was still nothing as far as she could see. Just more grassy fields with the occasional tree.
Eventually, they passed a playground. It looked rusty, like no one had touched it for decades. Chills ran down her spine as she looked at it. She could almost feel the eyes of children's ghosts watching her.
Chester put his hand on her shoulder and she jumped. He didn't appear to notice. "We're almost home, Heather. Are you as excited as me?"
"I…." How was she supposed to answer without lying?
"Oh, I understand. You haven't seen it, so it's hard to be excited. We're almost there."
"Okay."
He picked up speed again. "Just wait until you see it. It'll be different from anywhere else we've ever lived."
That much was obvious. The road became even bumpier. They rode in silence for a few more minutes before he stopped in front of a tiny shack. If that was what it could even be called. It didn't look big enough for more than one room, and there was no way it had any running water or electricity.
"What's this?" Macy asked.
"We need to stop here before we get to the community."
It sound like Macy's blood was pumping right in her ears. She looked around, panicked.
"Is something the matter, Heather?"
She turned to him. "I don't want to go in there." She begged him with her eyes. Maybe if he really did love Heather, he would listen to Macy this one time. "Please."
"Don't worry, Heather. I'll be there with you. I know this building is a little rundown, but it's not our home. It's where we're going to meet some of the residents."
The way he said
residents
didn't sit right with her.
Chester's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "Everything's going to be just fine. You'll see. Let's get out and meet the most important people of the community."
She looked out the windows. What were her chances of getting away?
He patted her shoulder again. "You worry too much. You always have. Just relax."
Relax?
Three men and one woman came out of the building. How had they even managed to fit inside? They were dressed in all white and were headed for the truck. If it was dark, it would have been the perfect setup for a scary movie.
The woman was fairly tall and had her almost-black hair pulled tightly behind her. A man about her height walked with her slightly in front of the other two men. The men all had short hair and the one in front had thick, bushy eyebrows and a beard that looked more like a nine o'clock shadow. The two men in back were taller and thinner, both with dark hair and piercing eyes. They all appeared to be full of confidence, almost like they were on a mission.
Macy clenched her fists.
"It's time to get out." Chester unlocked the child locks and opened his own door. "Come on."
Heart racing faster than ever, she opened her door and got out as slow as possible. She closed the door, but refused to walk toward the people dressed in white.