Wanted (Amanda Lance) - By Amanda Lance Page 0,108
right now.”
I smiled, tried to seem confident. “Life is too short to wait around, Dad. Besides, I should take advantage of my situation and see if I can’t get a free ride somewhere.”
“She has a point, Old Man,” Robbie added. “She won’t be the flavor of the month forever.”
Chapter 18
Implanting the idea was the first of several steps I had commissioned to ensure Dad’s confidence. While that conversation ended without any real conclusion, I was pleased he hadn’t completely banished the idea. In truth, I would go no matter what he said. In a few months I would be eighteen, and there would be little he could do to influence my decision.
Unfortunately, the next stage of my plan was to mention that I was looking to study in California, although that sounded suspicious—even to me. Yet, it was the most likely place I knew Charlie would be, and going to school there was the only reasonable explanation for me residing there that both the authorities and Dad might believe.
One night, soon after I started hinting about the Western seaboard, I fell asleep on top of a stack of applications and a few beloved resources like the thesaurus, Admission Matters handbook, and a half a dozen copies of my transcripts. It was one of those rare occasions that I was trying to stay awake past eight o’clock. I wanted every certifiable detail of my California applications to be perfect in every respect…even if that meant straining my eyes on the same words over and over again until I was borderline crazy.
I was having the most pleasant dream about Charlie when it happened. In the dream he was holding me and kissing my collarbone (his spot). And although I couldn’t see him, I knew he was there enough to feel safe and content. It was only the cold that made me uncomfortable. It was mid-October and already the nights were filled with the chill that promised a snow white winter. It disturbed my body to the point where my brain couldn’t concentrate on the imaginary Charlie and I cursed out loud as I reached for my comforter.
The imaginary Charlie laughed. What a fantastic sound—I could have listened to it for the rest of my life.
“I miss you.” I told my hallucination.
It pulled me closer. “I miss you, too.”
Somewhere in my mind’s eye, I heard the sound of sirens echoing past our house—loud and puncturing, they made me flinch and jolt up in my bed.
“Yikes, what the hell?”
Sure enough, I awoke to an empty bed and my room scoped with its usual shadows. I bit my lip to keep from crying, those vivid dreams were crueler than the ones I knew to be artificial. At least with those, I knew they were only a false reality. But with the realistic ones, my mind’s eye could fool me at any time.
A soft rapping began at my door.
“Umm, yeah?”
Dad’s face peeked in from the hall and brought in the bright light with it. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, fine.” I tried not to sound too annoyed.
“Oh good. I just heard on the police scanner that there was a bomb threat or something at the municipal building.”
“Not everything bad means I’m in danger, Dad. I’m sure it’s just some kids making prank calls—being stupid.”
He flushed, I had read his mind. “Well, I was just checking on you, that’s all.”
“I know. Good-night, Dad.”
He feigned a smile. “Night, Addie.”
I fell back into bed and continued fighting back the tears in case Dad was listening. The last thing I wanted was him worrying more than he had to. I thought maybe if I could get back to my applications, I could recreate the same sleeping scenario and have the same dream again—it was unlikely, but worth a try.
I reached my hands around the bedspread for the books and papers but felt nothing. When had I moved them? And when had I turned my lamp off? Familiar eeriness crept over me and I slowly slipped my feet out of bed to examine the situation further, nearly tripping over a neatly stacked pile of books and papers on the side of the bed.
I picked up the top piece of paper, which appeared to be blank at first, nothing more than white parchment. But there was also something oddly familiar about it that I couldn’t quite figure out. It was only as I was going to place it down that I could smell the scent: