Spirits of Spring (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 4) (3 page)

CRASH!! I don’t know which was worse—the jarring
blow as the Neon impacted with a large pine tree or the shock
from the airbag thrusting into my face as I flew forward. It was
sheer sensory
overload.
My ears
were assaulted with the
sounds of both crunching metal and what sounded like a close
range gunshot.
My left hand was still clutching the steering
wheel and covered in the hot powder released by the airbag.
My chest ached from where the seatbelt locked tightly around
me and I was shaking all over. Nearly every part of my body
hurt in some way but I was alive—I was definitely alive. Which
was more than I could say for my car. I took one look at the
crumpled front end and called the time of death. The Neon was
most definitely totaled. I may have survived the accident but
I
was most certainly going to be dead when my dad found out.

Once the first layer of shock from the accident wore off,
I remembered
why
it happened
in
the
first place.
Ruby.
Watching her kiss Lucas hurt far worse than hitting that tree
did. I knew she was torn between the two of us but I begged
her to tell me first if she decided that she didn’t want to be with
me. She knew how upset that kiss was going to make me. Why
couldn’t she just be honest with me? There’s no crueler thing
in this world than to mess with someone’s heart when you
know that they are in love with you. Even though she hurt me
in the most terrible way, I was still just that—in love with her.
How was I ever going to get over her? Was it even possible to
get over her? God, I just wanted to curl up into a little cocoon
and never come out again.

The closest thing I had to a cocoon was my bed and that
was exactly where I wanted to be—but first, I needed to get a
ride home. Okay, make that the second thing I needed.
First, I
needed to find my phone. I always tossed it into one of the cup
holders as soon as I got into the car but it definitely wasn’t
there now.
As a matter of fact, nothing was where I usually
kept it. My car wasn’t just a wreck on the outside—it was a
wreck on the inside, too. Every single thing was lying in a heap
on the floor. As I dug through the pile of books, papers, and
random crap lying on the passenger side floor, I imagined how
mad my dad was going to be. He would go on and on about
how my reckless driving just cost me tons of money. I would
hear about how expensive cars are and that I should have taken
better care of the one I had. Not to mention the five hour long
speech about how much the cost of my insurance was about to
go up. Then I would have to endure the inevitable lecture on
why I shouldn’t have quit playing football. When I finally found
what I was looking for, I realized that he would have one more
thing to add to his ever-growing list of my failures. The touch
screen on my phone was completely shattered.

I let out a string of choice curse words and flung it at
the dash as hard as I could.
What happened to my good luck?
What? Wasn’t getting dumped in front of the whole town and
totaling the Neon on the same night enough for one day? Not
only did I now not have a car, I was also stranded without a
phone.
I distinctly remembered plowing down a mailbox on
my way down the embankment so at least I knew there was a
house somewhere nearby. Unfortunately, I also remembered
the name I saw on that mailbox as it flew past my windshield.
Seeley. Things weren’t already bad enough so I had to go and
wreck right by Lucas’s house. I mean, really, what were the
odds of that happening? Like it or not, I didn’t even know how
much further I would have to walk to find the next house so I
just prayed that he and Ruby weren’t there when I knocked on
the door.
My jacket was still at the theater so I grabbed a
hoodie out of the jumbled mess in the backseat and forced my
jammed door open. It was freezing outside. This wasn’t going
to be a fun walk.

For every two steps I made up that hill, I slid back one,
too.
It was a sheer obstacle course of snow, ice, rocks, and
fallen branches. When I was almost to the top, I caught sight of
the victimized mailbox and decided to retrieve it just in case it
could be saved. I figured the mailbox belonged to his parents
and not Lucas, so I did what I would have done if there had
been a name other than his on the side of it.
Oh but please,
please
, don’t let either one of them be there. If I had to watch
him kiss her one more time…I was afraid of what I might do to
him.
I was lucky enough to escape assault charges for the
incident with Ryan Fedderhoff but there was no way Lucas
would be that forgiving.

When I finally reached the top, I took a good look at
what caused me to swerve off of the road. Road kill.
Road kill
that once again had a large black crow perched on its remains.
Why did that bird continue to taunt me? “YOU WIN!!” I shouted
at the bird as if I thought it could understand me. Because in
some weird way, I knew that it could. While most crows would
have taken flight after being screamed at, this one did not. It
just sat there, cocked its head, and stared at me the same way it
did that day in Pittsburgh. It wasn’t even interested in its fresh
new meal—all of its attention was focused on me. Even though
I was a serious animal lover, I found myself wishing I’d run it
over the same way I did the mailbox. For some reason, I was
suddenly struck with the urge to challenge it.

Yeah, I was fully aware that the thing was big enough
and strong enough to peck both of my eyes out before I even
knew what hit me, but I walked straight up to it anyway. With
its sharp beak, just inches from my face, I stared into its beady
little eyes and began speaking to it.

“Is this what you want? Isn’t road kill good enough for
you?” I paused a second and then spoke its name. “Lee.” Either
I was right and this bird was a reincarnated form of Lucas’s
twin brother or heartbreak had driven me completely insane.
Did it really even matter which theory was correct? I was still
standing in the middle of nowhere on a freezing cold night—
talking to a crow.

The bird sat silent as I pointed to the carcass beneath
its feet. It was the most gruesome sight I’d ever seen. I’d never
been that close to road kill so newly dead. Usually, they were
merely mangled messes of a barely recognizable species. Oh,
but this one was different. It was a raccoon, clearly a raccoon.
The poor creature’s body was in perfect shape except for one
thing. Its chest was ripped open and stripped clean—I could
identify every bone in its exposed rib cage but the heart was
missing. That nasty scavenger dined on the beast’s heart and
wanted nothing more from it.
How symbolic.
I
was
that
raccoon—in perfect working order except for the fact that my
heart had been ripped out. I felt as raw and exposed as that
poor dead animal looked. What Lee did to it, Lucas had done to
me. For as long as I lived, I would never get that sight—or how
closely it resembled how I felt—out of memory.

“You disgust me,” I said, still unable to peel my eyes
away from the grisly carcass. “You took its heart—now go
away and leave it in peace.” While technically I was speaking of
the raccoon, I was
really
referring
to myself.
Lee,
Lucas,
Ruby—I wanted them
all
to go away. I wanted to pretend that
none of them ever existed and that I would wake up from this
nightmare in the morning. I wanted to wake up and not have
this hollow feeling in my chest anymore.
I wanted to wake up
and not still be in love with someone who didn’t love me back.

As I mourned for that raccoon and myself at the same
time, I felt a soft, feathery brush against my cheek.
When I
lifted my eyes, I saw that the crow had reached out its massive
wing toward me as though to comfort me. My God—I really am
going crazy. Insanity helped drain away the anger, though, and
I stayed there for a moment
clasped in
its
sympathetic
embrace. The crow finally lowered its wing, cocked its head to
the right, and flew off into the woods. So what did I do? The
most insane thing that made perfect sense—I followed it.

I chased after it until it was gone from sight but I found
what I was looking for in the first place. A house.
His
house.
There was only one vehicle parked outside and it wasn’t that
overbearing muscle car he drove so I felt a slight sense of relief.
Lights shone brightly through the window panes so I knew that
at least
someone
was at home. All I wanted was enough time to
call my dad for help.
After I made that call, I decided that I
would wait outside far away from the house in case Lucas
arrived. All I needed was five minutes. Or so I thought. In the
end, even five years wasn’t enough time to fully comprehend
what I found in that house.

The closer I got to it the more I realized just how small
the place was.
I thought
I
lived in a small house but mine
looked like Rosewood in comparison to the Seeley residence.
For real, it was more the size of a seasonal hunting camp—the
kind of place that was big enough to spend a weekend in and
that was about it. Lord knows I’m no snob but I was taken
aback at just how tiny and rundown it was. Even the pickup
truck parked outside was nothing I would care to drive.
My
Neon was no flashy sports car but it had a higher trade in value
than that rusty hunk of junk.
Okay, it
used to
have a higher
trade in value. I loved that car so much and it was going to be
hard to accept the fact that I would never drive it again.
At
least I still had Ruby’s Neon to drive on occasion—wait a
second, no I didn’t. The list of things that died tonight just kept
getting longer—our relationship, my car, and a random raccoon
that I had so much in common with.
What was going to be
next?

I stepped up to the front door of the cottage and gave a
quick rap on the door. It just didn’t make any sense to me. City
Boy drove an expensive car and spent tons of money on a girl
who wasn’t even his girlfriend and yet his family lived in a
complete dump. He didn’t have a job that
I
knew of—where did
he
get all of this
money he
kept
flashing
around?
The
possibility of him being a drug dealer crossed my mind but
even that didn’t seem logical. There was only one person I’d
ever seen talking to him at school and that was Ruby. Surely if
he was a dealer, he would know more people in town by this
point. I knew right from the start that he was trying to steal
Ruby away from me but I was starting to think that he was
hiding something far more sinister than grand theft girlfriend.
But what could it be?

A moment of waiting at the door for someone to answer
it was seriously cutting into my five minute timeframe. Again, I
announced my presence but this time with much more urgent
banging. Sure, I was anxious to get the whole scene with my
dad over with but honestly, I was more curious to see what lie
just across the threshold.
If Lucas really
was
hiding something
big, now was my best chance to discover what it was.

Of all things. Usually, I wasn’t that impatient with the
elderly. I even spent some time playing checkers with them at
the nursing home during my brief stint as a Boy Scout.
But
tonight, the last thing I needed was Lucas’s ancient
grandmother taking
forever to answer the door.
My
five
minutes was now looking more like three. As I stood there torn
between getting pissed because she was moving so slowly and
branding myself a total shitass for getting pissed, the door
finally opened and
the
mystery
surrounding
Lucas
slowly
unfolded from there.

“Lucas!” I bellowed as I barged out of the restroom, “I
need you to take me back to the Bantam.” As he shoved a finger
sandwich into his mouth all in one bite, I noticed a distinct eye
roll so I tacked on another command. “Now!”

“Make up your mind, Ru. First you’re all like, ‘Lucas, go
get some punch or something.’ So I make myself at home at the
buffet and now you want me to drop everything and take you
on another joy ride. Why can’t women ever be satisfied?”
Casually, he plucked another sandwich from the platter and
popped it into his mouth.

“Here,” I said grabbing a napkin from the side table and
hastily filling it with food. “You’re getting this meal to go. If it
weren’t for you and that stupid kiss, I wouldn’t need to be in
such a hurry. In fact, I wouldn’t need you at all. Now let’s go!”

I didn’t have time to argue with him—there were more
important
things
I
needed
to
take
care
of
first.
The
conversation with Lucas about that stupid kiss had to wait until
I found Zach.
The feeling that something was terribly wrong
just wouldn’t go away. “Later Lucas—right now I need a ride to
the Bantam.”

“Fine,” he grumbled as he folded the napkin carefully
around his food and placed it into the pocket of his jacket. He
mumbled something else that sounded like, “We’ll talk about it
later, alright,” but I ignored him and made my way to the door.

There was no freak wind as I got into his car but it
wasn’t necessary.
I was still carrying the chill from that first
gust along with me.
As he pulled out of the country club, I
cranked up the heat full blast then stared out the passenger
side window. Zach had to be okay. He just had to be.