Astoria: Secrets, Lies and Vampires Page 3

  “Yes Gran?” I asked, not even turning my attention towards her as she spoke.

  “No texting or talking on the phone while driving.” She said.

  “I promise” I said as I opened the drivers’ side door and got in.

  The interior was in mint condition. It was a maroon color like the body. The dash were the radio was had a big hole in it. Looks like someone tried to take out the old one and tore it up in the process. It didn’t really bother me, as long as it didn’t affect how the motor ran it was fine by me. It had a slight moldy smell to it. But nothing a little fabric freshener wouldn’t take care of I thought. I fixed all my mirrors and turned the key over. The engine roared to life. This was perfect. I could see myself driving around in this and not having to feel embarrassed anymore in Grans old beat up Tempo. I put the car in reverse and slowly back out of the driveway. Putting the car in drive once I got on the street I pushed the gas pedal down and headed down the street from Grans house. This was the highlight of my day. I finally had a small reason to smile.

  ****

  I drove circles around Grans neighborhood trying not to venture out of what was familiar to me. Although this town is so small I doubt I would get lost. I got to the front entrance of Grans neighborhood and thought what the heck, and turned out on to the main street towards town. I found my way on Main Street, which wasn’t anything more than four stop lights, a grocery store, a bank and a gas station. I decided it was time to head back towards Grans house. I turned on my turn signal sitting at the stop light to turn left when the light changed. As the light turned green I went to proceed forward when this light blue car came up from behind me, passing me in a hurry and darting in front of me, making me slam on my brake so I wouldn’t rear end it. After coming to a stop and letting my nerves calm down a second, I saw the car speeding off into the distance. It must have been going a hundred miles an hour. I realized I’ve seen that car before. It was Evan Blake’s, the most obnoxious kid ever. “ugh,” that kid gets on my nerves I spat. Just who does he think he is I protested to myself. After a minute I pulled myself together and headed back home.

  I walked in the door and Gran was sitting in her chair talking on the phone. I waved at her to let her know I was back at home. She saw me and returned the wave. I went to my room and got my pajamas out and went into the bathroom. I filled the bathtub up with hot water and soaked for awhile. I laid in the hot water and my thoughts kept drifting to Evan. I didn’t know why I couldn’t get this boy out of my head. He was rude, obnoxious, stuck up and just plain mean. And tomorrow I planned on confronting him and demand an apology for how he has acted towards me.

  After brushing my teeth, I made my way to my room and crawled into bed. As I lay there I kept replaying how I was going to confront this rude boy. Things I should say and not say. Should I be nice, and kill him with kindness, or shall I be rude and mean like him? I didn’t know, but one thing I knew for sure, I will get an apology!

  I tossed and turned all night, that when morning came I was so tired I thought about just telling Gran I didn’t feel well. But then I remembered, today I was going to confront Evan Blake! I hurried to get dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen to eat a bowl of cereal. I gulped it down in two minutes flat and grabbed up my back pack and darted out the door so fast that Gran didn’t have time to lecture me on safe driving, again.

  As I got in my car, I noticed the sun was trying to come out. Wow I thought. Never thought I would see the sun again. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad here if I could actually see the sun once in awhile. And having my own car was a plus. I turned the engine over, backing out of the driveway and put it in drive and drove towards the school. All the way there I thought of the different ways my conversation with him could go. The one thing I was sure of, I didn’t want it to end badly and end up crying in front of him. I always let my emotions get the best of me, and I let lose the water works without warning sometimes. And I didn’t want to let him know he as the ability to make me cry.

  When I pulled up I noticed most of the kids were sitting outside enjoying what little sun is out. In Los Angeles, we would consider this little bit of sun a cloudy day. Here, what little sun shone through must be heaven to them. Looking around to see if Evan was here yet, I got out of my car and sat in my usual spot under the large school sign. This way if I am in front of the school I could see Evan when he walked up. By time the bell rang, Evan was a no show. Maybe he was just running late I thought. By lunch time, he still wasn’t here. And neither were his brothers or sister. My eyes darted around the lunchroom to see if maybe they just switched tables.

  “Evan isn’t here.” Sami said.

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “I heard Ms. Bailey saying to another teacher that none of the Blake’s was here today.” Sami said.

  “That’s weird, they never miss school.” Amy said.

  “They get awards every year for perfect attendance.” Collin added.

  “Oh.” I said. Now I was curious. I wonder if whatever was going on had something to do with why Evan was speeding last night. The rest of the day I found myself looking for Evan and his siblings. They never showed. Brady, the boy from lunch started following me around a lot more today. Even walking me to my car after school and opened the car door for me, I was hoping he wasn’t going to start making this a daily thing. I liked him, but only as a friend.

  After school I went straight home and started homework and then helped Gran with dinner. I wanted to help her out as much as I could. Taking care of this big house must be hard on her. And I wanted to show her I appreciated my car she didn’t have to buy me. After dinner I sent Gran to the living room to rest so I could wash the dishes and put them away. Every now and then I would see her peeking around the corner. “Gran, I got this.” I’d tell her. She would protest by saying she could help me and I didn’t have to do them if I didn’t want to. I think Gran is just use to doing things on her own since my mother had moved out when she was eighteen. My grandfather wasn’t much for house work when he was alive. I knew Gran missed him. It had only been five years since he passed away. And she missed him dearly, so did I. After he passed away from colon cancer my mother and I visited briefly for the funeral, and then my mother rushed right back to Los Angeles. I never really understood that because she got a week off from work, and we only spent a max of two days in Astoria. And I knew that it hurt my grandmother that my mother rushed home as soon as the funeral was over. I heard them arguing the night before we left. I couldn’t make out much of the argument, but I could tell it was a heated conversation. My grandmother didn’t speak to my mother for a year afterwards. And I think she still has some guilt over the lost time with my mother.

  After I finished cleaning up I decided I would call my best friend from back home to tell her about my new car, Gran bought me. Amanda Grant had been my best friend since kindergarten. She was the one person I told everything. And I needed some girl talk.

  “Hello” Amanda answered.

  “What’s up?”

  “Hi Emma, how is Oregon?” she asked.

  “Oh god, don’t even ask.” I said with a sigh.

  “It’s that bad huh?”

  “Yeah, it’s that bad.”

  “Are there any cute guys’ at least?” she asked.

  “Well…” I said as my sentenced trailed off.

  “I want details.” Amanda said in an overly excited tone. I filled her in on Evan and how he had acted that first day when he ran out of the room, and then how he changed classes. She did a lot of uh huh and yeah during my story. After I was finished she tried to give me words of encouragement. “Well, maybe those girls were right, maybe he is just weird. I would just avoid him.” She said. We got on the subject on things back at home. She filled me in on who was dating who now and what new rumors were going around. And I told her about Gran buying me a new car. After an hour on the phone with her I finally got off the phone and got ready for bed. I think I would take her advice and just a
void Evan. After I confronted him and got my apology I was owed.

  Chapter 3

  I arrived to school thirty minutes early so I could find Evan and confront him. I wasn’t sure if he would even be here today again or not and I didn’t want to miss him, so I sat in my usual spot under the large school sign that dangled about 30 feet above my head. I pulled out my book for Chemistry so I could pretend to study while I waited for Evan to show. I didn’t want to look like some stalker. I looked up often at the cars as they pulled into the school parking lot. With each passing minute it seemed as though Evan would be another no show. Then it seemed as everything happened all at once, some things was in slow motion, some in fast. First, I heard someone scream “LOOK OUT” I looked up, and didn’t see anyone. I looked to my left and my right, and still saw nothing. Looking behind me, I saw a semi tractor trailer coming at me. And I saw a man walking away from the oblivious runaway semi tractor trailer that was now headed straight for me. He had a load of supplies pushing them on a dolly up the side entrance of the school. The semi was rolling backwards in reverse. I didn’t have time to reach before it hit the large metal pole that was connected to the large school sign I was sitting under. I could hear the twisting and bending of the metal pole, looking up I could see the sign was hanging loosely and was about to fall on top of me, that’s when something hard hit me from head on. Turning my head to see what just hit me, I saw it was Evan Blake. Grabbing me around the waist with his left hand, his right hand was reaching up. Then I heard the sound of the sign as it came crashing down around us, the glass shattering and the metal bending. I squeezed my eyes really tight waiting for the pain that would consume me soon. When it never came, I slowly opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was the fear in Evan’s eyes, second was the twisted broken sign wrapped around his left hand as he held it high above our heads, keeping it from falling on top of us.

  “Are you hurt?” he asked in a panic voice as he tossed the sign off to the side of us.

  “I- I’m okay, I think.” I managed to say.

  With my heart still racing I looked at him, then the sign laying twisted on the ground and then back to him. H-How did you-?” is all I could manage to say before we were swarmed by teachers. “Did you get hit?” one heavy set teacher asked. “Are you hurt?” another asked. Still in shock of what I just saw, I couldn’t manage to speak any words. “Sweetheart. Are. You. Hurt?” the heavy set teacher asked again.

  “No, it didn’t hit her. I pushed her out of the way just in time I think.” I heard Evan tell her.

  I could see the driver of the semi screaming in a panic voice “I don’t know what happen, I thought it was in park. It must have come out of park due to the incline.”As he paced around in circles in a panic, with his hands on his head. By now students began to swarm around us. I could see Brady’s eyes were the size as half dollars. Collin was hugging Sami who was crying. Amy was just looking at me in disbelief, I thought I could hear her saying “Oh my god, is she dead? Is she dead?” but I wasn’t sure. All I could hear was voices in an echo. The teachers who weren’t by my side were trying to get the students to back up and go in to the school and away from the broken sign so no one else got hurt.

  As Evan reached out his hand to help me to my feet, a shock from his touch caused my mind to go blank. And then it was as though I was watching television in fast forward. And it was as if I was watching from a distance as the events of what just happened replayed in my head. But only I was an on- looker to the horrific event that starred me as the main character. And the events changed to something totally different. I watched as I could see myself sitting under the large school sign. Then, it fast forward to the semi rolling into the pole. As it fast forwarded again the large sign came crashing down on top of me. As I looked around horrified to what I was seeing I noticed that my neighbors standing beside me, were The Blake’s. Payton, Everett and Cameron. And then I realized I was seeing these horrible events take place through Evan’s eyes. And just then Evan let go of my hand. I looked at him with a confused look on my face before one of the teachers interrupted what had just took place between us and began look to me over for any signs of trauma. “Come on. Let’s get you inside and get you check out.” One teacher said. In the confusion of everyone surrounding me, Evan disappeared into the chaos of teachers and arriving students. I wasn’t sure if I was in shock from what just took place, or from what I had just seen through what seemed to be Evan’s direct thoughts or memory. I couldn’t make sense of any of it with all the commotion going on around me. But I felt as though Astoria was making me go crazy.

  As I was escorted into the school, I passed Sami, Collin and Brady. I could hear Brady ask if I was okay, I nodded my head to let them know I was okay. I still couldn’t speak. I was told I needed to go see the nurse and how they needed to call my Grandmother. GREAT! She is going to flip out.

  “I’m fine.” I protested. But they still insisted I see the nurse. The nurse was an older lady with glasses. Looking at me from head to toe she shook her head in amazement. “Not a scratch on you.” She said. “But I want to be safe, so I am going to call Doctor Blake to come check you out.” She said as she went over to the phone hanging on the wall. Nice I whispered. I didn’t want to see any doctor. I was fine. It didn’t even hit me.

  It seemed like only minutes when Doctor Blake walked in, and it didn’t me long to figure out she had to be related to Evan. And of course I stared at her the same way I had stared when I saw all her children for the first time. She was simply gorgeous. Her long blond straight hair hung down to her waist. She walked with the same grace and poise as her children, though her face was a lot paler, a lot like Cameron’s. She had the same golden brown eyes as his with dark circles underneath. She looked more like Cameron’s biological mother than she did Evan’s and Payton’s. The only difference was she seemed a lot friendlier than her children. She didn’t give me any dirty looks like they did. “Emma I’m Doctor Blake, how do you feel?” she said as she shook my hand.

  “I feel fine.” I said as she looked into my eyes with her light.

  “Does your head hurt?” she asked as she examined my head with her hands, which were ice cold. Even through my thick head of hair I could feel her ice cold hands running through my scalp. I shook my head no. “I think you will be just fine.” She said as she looked as the nurse and smiled.

  “As I said to begin with” I said as I could hear Gran asked the lady at the front desk where she could find me. ”Emma honey, are you okay?” she cried as she ran into the room where I was sitting.

  “Yes Gran, I am fine. It didn’t hit me.” I said trying to calm her down as she was already in tears.

  “Thank goodness, I don’t know what I’d do if-” her sentenced trailed off as if she thought some horrific image. But then I noticed it was because she was looking at Doctor Blake. Gran stared at Doctor Blake for what seemed to be an eternity.

  “Your granddaughter is going to be just fine.” Doctor Blake said as she looked at my grandmother. Never introducing herself. Which I thought was odd. Maybe Gran knew her. Gran turned from the good doctor and turned her attention back to me.

  “It seems your Granddaughter has a guardian angel.” The school nurse said. “A young man pushed her out of the way just in time.”

  “Where is he? I’d like to thank him.” She said as she scanned the room.

  “We aren’t real sure. He disappeared in all the confusion.” The nurse said.

  “Emma, do you know who this boy was?” Gran asked

  “Yeah, it was Evan Blake. Doctor Blake’s son” I said as I nodded towards Doctor Blake. She looked up cautiously from her paperwork she was looking at and gave a small smile.

  “Well, we will be sure to thank him later.” Gran said with a tone that didn’t seem too grateful. “C’mon, let’s get you home to rest.” Gran said as she took my arm to help me off the table.

  “I want to stay.” I protested. “I’m not even hurt.” I said to try and convince her.
I needed to stay so I could talk to Evan.

  “None the less, you need to come home for the day.” She demanded. “I don’t want to take any chances.” I nodded my head, not wanting to argue with her.

  We got out into the parking lot and I headed towards my car when Gran spoke. “I’ll have Marie drive me back in a bit to pick up your car, I would rather you ride with me for now.” I went to protest, but I could see the concern in her eyes. “Okay” I said.

  The ride home was quiet. I could tell Gran was upset. And I didn’t know what to say anyways. I stared out the window of the passenger side and tried not to think of the events that just took place. That’s when Gran finally spoke. “Emma, why was the Blake boy with you today?”

  “He wasn’t. I was by myself until the accident” I said.

  “Good. Keep it that way.” She said sternly.

  “Why?” I asked. Don’t you don’t like the Blake’s?”

  “They are just… trouble.” She said as she turned her attention back to the road.

  “How are they, trouble?” I asked.

  “Emma, please do as I ask, okay?” she said. I could see the tears in her eyes and I didn’t question her anymore on the subject.

  When we got inside I went to get a drink of water and made my way upstairs. I lay on my bed as the scary events went through my head. Seeing Evan pulling in the lot and seconds later he was holding the sign. There was no way he could have gotten to me so fast, let alone stop a large metal sign with one hand. It didn’t seem possible. Then there was the images I saw in my head as Evan touched me. But yet it happened. But how?

  *****

  (I was sitting under the large school sign with Evan Blake. We were deep in conversation, laughing. Just as Evan leaned in to kiss me, I heard a loud bang, looking up to see the large school sign falling in slow motion towards us.)

  I was jilted awake to another loud banging sound. I got out of bed to inspect the noise. It was coming from downstairs. “What is Gran doing?” I whispered to myself. As I walked down the stairs that’s when I saw a tall, thin man wearing glasses and light colored overalls drilling into the floor.