Ember X (Death Collectors) - By Jessica Sorensen Page 0,21
The shock has worn off and I add up bits and pieces of the accident, recapping each detail. I come to a mind-boggling conclusion that I should be dead; that I crashed into a lake and was trapped in the car while it sank. It happened exactly like my death omen said, but my heart is alive and my lungs breathe beneath my ribs. I squat down on the curb and lower my head, telling myself to breathe. That it doesn’t matter because I’m alive.
“So, what happened to your car?” Raven strolls up to the curb and tucks the cell phone into the pocket of her skirt. “And why are you staring at the curb like it just ate your puppy.”
I jerk my eyes away and rise to my feet. “What happened to you last night? I was really worried.”
She bites at her bottom lip, suppressing a smile. “Well, things kind of got out of hand and I think I might have overreacted.”
“Overreacted?” I question. “About what?”
“Um… Laden being a jerk. I mean, he totally tried to put the moves on me, which is fine—I’m used to it. But I really wasn’t in the mood to screw.”
“I think I might have seen him standing in front of the house this morning.” I point over my shoulder at the spot.
Her body goes rigid and her eyes enlarge. “What was he doing?”
“Staring at me like a weirdo.” My tone is light, even though the subject is a little twisted. “What exactly did you do to him last night? Break his heart into pieces?”
She shakes her head, gazing off across the street. “I didn’t do anything to him. He was the one who tried to push me too far.”
“So that’s why you were crying?” I ask, watching crisp autumn leaves blow down the street. “Because he pushed you too far?”
“Pushed too far…” She pulls her hair into a bun and secures it with an elastic off her wrist. “Look, Em, I know I freaked out on you last night, but I swear it isn’t what you’re thinking. No one slipped me something and I wasn’t as drunk as you thought.”
We jump back from the curb as the sprinklers turn on. “Then what was that talk about seeing death?”
“What are you talking about?” she asks as we throw our arms over our heads and sprint to the edge of the driveway, out of the reach of the sprinkler. Our shoes and the bottoms of our legs are wet.
I lower my voice, wringing out my hair. “You said you saw death last night.”
She wipes the water from her face, takes a pack of gum out of her pocket, and pops a piece into her mouth. “I did?”
“Yeah, and you were more than just upset—you were freaking out.”
She pops a bubble, trying to remember. “Hmm…. Maybe I wasn’t as sober as I thought. Or maybe your gift was confusing my head.” She chews on her gum slowly, considering. “Well, I don’t know why I was talking about death, but I was upset because this really hot guy totally wasn’t that into me, so I wandered off with Laden because he was interested.”
“I’ve never seen you that upset, except for once.” Right after she found her mom. “Guys are disposable to you. How could you be so upset because one blew you off?”
“Okay, first off, he didn’t blow me off.” She tosses her hands into the air and bobs her head with attitude. “He was just distracted. And besides, that’s not the only reason I was upset. Laden left me on the side of the road like a total douchebag.”
I gape at her. “How did you get home?”
“I walked,” she explains nonchalantly. “We were just on the bridge, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“It seemed like a big deal last night,” I point out.
She sighs and sits down on the curb. I sink down beside her and we stretch our legs out into the road as the warm sunlight shines down on us. “Remember when we used to sit here and wait for my dad to come home?”
I give her a small smile and lean back on my hands. “He always used to bring something for us, like a candy or Play-Doh.”
She laughs at the memory and her eyes crinkle at the corners. “God, he always seemed like such a great dad, but he turned out to be a total jerk, bailing on his kids like that.”