Young Writers Society

Philosophy of the Dark

Chapter 22 squared

-Consequential solitude

-and unwanted knowledge

She left that night, after her mom was asleep. The night was cold, the almost winter chilled air numbed her fingers as she walked toward her car, she stepped into it's frozen interior and turned it on, cranking the heater up to full blast.

Jamie turned the heater down lower as soon as it warmed up, to prevent

fog before she drove of.

She stopped at the lake first, parking on the sand instead of one of the

designated spots. She left the car on and climbed out, letting the icy wind

chill her. She remembered the last time she came here, it had been with

Tammy, bits of the the conversation ran through her mind.

“I have some questions about your father.”

“No,” Jamie said firmly, finally becoming herself again.

“Why not?” Tammy asked.

“Because, I don't want you to leave him.”

Had she given to much away? Could she really tell Tammy everything,

could she even admit it to herself?

No. Not yet.

Jamie walked down the dock, the sand had been washed away by recent

rain leaving a slippery, yet still grainy surface. She reached the end of the

dock, looking out into the distance she hoped for a bit of inspiration, a little

bit of understanding, and epiphany maybe. But that was stuff for stories,

things you could only find in books, and this...this was life.

With a sigh she turned back to the safety of her car. It was still warm

inside, Jamie pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and flipped it open,

holding down number two.

It rang four times, then there was a beep as she was directed to voice mail.

Amber's voice came familiarly, in the exact tone it had always been.

“Hey, you've reached Amber's phone. Congrats! Leave me a message

okay!”

There was another beep.

“Hey Amber,” Jamie said, “call me when you get this. We, uh...need to

talk...thanks...”

She flipped the phone closed and dropped it onto the passenger seat,

sighing deeply before finally driving off.

She reached The Spot, it was empty as expected. Jamie parked and got

out of the car, with her notebook in hand and walked down passed the car

and into the tunnel. It took her fifteen minutes to reach a familiar spot.

She scanned the walls, running her hands along the colorful graffiti as she

did so, willing a few small black words to appear. Finally she found them.

In the months past they had been worn down, until now they were almost

impossible to see, let alone make out the words. Jamie sighed as she

closed her notebook, her eyes finding the one remaining word.

Freedom.

That night it all seemed so possible, like she could leave, just like that and

be let off the hook. Sure, she could leave now, she was already gone, but

what would happen? What would Tammy do in the morning, just how long

would the police look before giving up. Jamie knew one thing for sure, if

she left and Richard died, the police would look a hell of a lot harder.

Because unlike her, he mattered.

Jamie turned back, retracing her steps. Mission unaccomplished.

She got to the end of the last tunnel, and heard two voices, softly

exchanging. She took a quiet step forward, pressing her back to the cold

concrete, trying to absorb the words. They were coming from the car, two

female voices.

“Stupid bitch,” one said.

“I know, after everything we've both done for her, I could have told her dad

that she told me.”

Jamie vaguely recognized the voices, but couldn't place them.

“I still think she was making it all up,” the first girl said.

“Why would she do something like that, I mean, it's a really serious issue.

People don't make that kinda stuff up.”

“For attention they might.”

“I seriously doubt it,” the second girls voice was trembling, as is she was

either very emotional, or cold.

“Think about it, of all the years we've known her, has she ever mentioned

that? No. Have you ever seen her with a suspicious bruise? No.” The girl

exhaled loudly, as if she was smoking. Jamie suddenly knew who was

talking. Natalie and Amber. She strained even harder to catch their words.

“I know, but, what if she was telling the truth!” Amber said.

“It doesn't matter, she still almost killed him, I even heard that the doctors

are going to take him off of life support soon if he doesn't improve.”

“How do you know that?”

“One of the nurses told my mom,” Natalie answered.

“I don't really care what she did, but if she was telling the truth then I want

to help her. I mean, she's always been there for me and you, why shouldn't

we be there for her?”

“This is different,” Natalie exclaimed, “we never tried to kill anybody!”

“So you're saying we should just avoid her?”

“Yeah,” Natalie said, “I mean, what if she's crazy and goes for us next?”

Jamie's heart fell, her two best friends were planning to ostracize her, the

decision had been made, she was truly alone now. She pulled her phone

out of her pocket, and holding it down by her stomach she held down

button to. Familiar music came from where the two girls were.

“It's her,” Amber said with a disgusted tone.

“Don't answer it,” Natalie said.

“I'm not stupid!” Amber exclaimed before hanging up on Jamie.

She slid to the ground with her back still to the wall, her phone screen going

black as she did so. A tear fell down her cheek as the conversation

continued only a few feet from her. If only she had been better, she could

be sitting there, on the other side of the stupid yellow tape.

POD 23- Faded -On both accounts. NOW POSTED!!!!!

Flashback conversation from Chapter 11- The Cure -On both accounts. And reference to writings on the wall come from Chapter 16 -One night to choose -On both accounts. In case anybody was wondering =D