Moment of Truth - Kasie West Page 0,75
a sharp pain ripping through them. I ignored the warning and hurled the bumper with all my might to the ground. It kicked up a few rocks but skidded to a halt, its leash still attached to Cooper’s truck. I picked it up again by one end and hit it over and over again onto the driveway. Each strike left a black mark on the white pavement. And each strike mangled the bumper a little more. As I was about to lift the bumper again, a crackling voice came out of the cab of Eric’s truck behind me.
“Those are the songs that make me feel alive. Although, if you’re listening to this now, it’s probably because I’m dead. In which case, I hope you played at least one of those songs at my funeral. If you didn’t, go dance on my grave to one of them. I know, Mom, too morbid. But if you can’t laugh, what’s life worth?” His voice was so familiar, a bit like my dad’s, and yet so foreign.
I couldn’t catch my breath. It came in rapid short bursts that weren’t filling my lungs like they needed to be filled. My shoulders hurt so bad I was sure I had torn something.
My eyes darted to the bent and battered bumper. A pair of arms wrapped around me from behind. The smell of flowers enveloped me. Amelia. “You’re okay,” she whispered. “You’re going to be okay.”
Jackson was on the ground untying the bumper from the rope.
Cooper was out of his truck, eyes wide. “I’m sorry, I thought that ring was anchored to the frame.” He was pointing at a piece on the back side of the bumper. “I hadn’t meant for the bumper to handle all that pressure.”
“Can we fix it?” Jackson asked, freeing the bumper and analyzing the damage. “We can rebuild the platform, right?”
Cooper’s eyes went to the collapsed platform still beneath the truck behind them.
Abby was walking around it now. “The supports are just bent. If we unscrew them and pound them out . . .”
“No,” I said.
Everyone went still and looked at me.
“No. We can’t hide this. It’s done.” I had done this and now I’d have to face my parents. The air was quiet, no more music was playing and no other hidden messages from my brother.
“What do you need us to do?” Amelia asked.
“Nothing. I wanted to talk to my parents. This is good. I just need some time alone if that’s okay.” I needed to think and to stand under hot water, then ice my aching shoulders.
“Are you sure?” Amelia asked. “I don’t want to leave you alone like this.”
Like this. Like the mess that I had become. The girl who could beat her brother’s bumper to twisted scrap metal. The girl who was obviously unstable. “Check in on me if you need to but I’m fine. I promise. I need to prepare myself. I need some space to think.”
Amelia nodded and went to the house, probably to gather her things.
Cooper gave me an apologetic shrug. “Sorry about . . .” He looked at the bumper, at the platform, then back to me.
“It’s okay. Thanks for trying.”
Abby gave me a small wave and she and Cooper climbed into their truck and left.
Then it was just me and Jackson. I couldn’t even look at him. He probably thought I was crazy. I felt a little crazy.
As if reading my mind, he said, “It’s about time you lost it.”
My eyes snapped to his and he had on his trademark smile. The one that made it look like life was just a joke waiting to be told.
“I told you a long time ago to run as far from me as possible, didn’t I?”
“And to think if I had I would’ve missed this awesome display.” He nudged the bumper with his toe.
“Apparently, I have to be the best at breakdowns as well.”
He laughed. “I was thinking the same thing. Show-off.”
I smiled as well but then took a deep breath. “Jackson, I—”
“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” he said before I could finish. “Come on, I’ll help you clean things up.”
He stepped toward me but I stopped him with, “I just need time. To think.”
He looked hurt and that confused me.
“You need your earphones?” he asked.
“What?” It took me another second to realize that he was upset because he thought I needed time to think about him, about us, when I really just meant I needed to think about the night in front