Mom Abandoned Me to Save Herself novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: The Overlook

She lies to Lucius's face, her mother orders her gone, and Clem is told to leave her at the overlook; she shows him the paper, and at the rail he takes out his gun.

I closed my fist around the paper.

Then I shoved my fist under the plastic tray at the bottom of the crate, where the puke had run.

"I didn't take nothing," I said.

"She says you went out in the yard after the tin." He tilted his head. "She says that man kept his money in it."

His eyes were gray. They didn't blink much.

"Show me your hands."

I pulled my hand out from under the tray and opened it.

It was empty and wet.

He looked at it. He didn't touch it.

"Where is it?"

I knew what lying was. Father lied to the man who brought the flour up every month.

"I ate it," I said.

"You ate it."

"It was money. I was hungry. I ain't had nothing since the clinic."

He looked at the mess in the bottom of the crate for a long time.

Then he looked at my mouth.

"Open."

I opened it as wide as it would go.

He leaned in close enough that I could smell his coat. Cigars and cold air.

There was nothing in there but my tongue.

A window slid up above us.

Mother leaned out in a white robe. Her hair was wet. Somebody had already washed the hollow off her.

"Is it still here?"

"Go to bed, sweetheart."

"I can smell it from up here, Lucius. Make it go away."

She shut the window.

She never said my name.

A pebble pinged off the wire beside my ear.

The boy was in the doorway in striped pajamas, with a fistful of gravel from the planter.

He threw another one. It caught me on the cheek.

"Augustus," the tall man said. "Inside."

The boy went. He grinned at me right before the door closed.

The tall man took out a phone and spoke into it.

"Clem."

The bearded man came around the side of the house a minute later.

He had his cap off and held it in both hands.

The tall man dropped a ring of keys into the cap.

"Your rig's fueled. Take her back up the mountain. The overlook above the switchbacks."

Clem stared at the keys.

"Mr. Kesterson, she's just a little..."

"Leave nothing, Clem. Not the crate. Not her."

Clem didn't answer.

"You've driven for me eleven years," the tall man said. "Don't make me start wondering about you."

He went up the steps and inside, and he never looked back.

Clem lifted the crate by himself and carried it around back to a big blue truck with a long nose.

He set it on the passenger seat, not in the trailer.

While he walked, I moved the paper back into my sock.

He opened the crate door.

"Come on out, honey. Nobody's looking."

I didn't move.

He wet a rag from a jug and held it out at arm's length.

I took it and wiped the blood out of my eyes.

Then he gave me the water from the rest stop. It was warm. I drank the whole bottle.

We drove for a long time in the dark.

He kept looking at me, then the road, then me.

Once he hit the wheel with the side of his fist, and I flinched so hard I banged the door.

"Sorry," he said. "Sorry. Not you."

When the road started to climb, I knew where we were going.

Father took me to the overlook once to watch hawks.

There was a rail, and then there was nothing.

I thought about Mother whispering into my hair.

A thousand times. You'll get a reward.

I pulled the paper out of my sock and unfolded it on my knee.

"Mister."

He glanced over.

"Whose number is this?"

He clicked the dome light on and took the paper in one hand and drove with the other.

I watched him read it.

His mouth came open a little.

He pulled onto the shoulder without a signal and read it again with both hands.

"Where'd you get this?"

"Father's tin. It fell out when they broke him."

"You know what it says?"

"Nine thousand," I said. "And a date. And seller."

He put his big hand over his face and breathed through his fingers.

"That's the phone in his desk," he said. "Nobody calls that phone. I've seen him smash a man's watch for dialing it."

"Mother made me learn it."

He took his hand down and looked at me like I'd said something terrible.

"She made you learn his number."

"So I'd get a reward."

He folded the paper along its old creases and gave it back to me.

"Put that in your sock," he said. "Don't you show it to another living soul. You hear me?"

I nodded.

He pulled back onto the road.

The trees closed in. The switchbacks started. My stomach dropped every time the trailer swung around behind us.

Then the trees opened up on one side, and there was the rail, and the sky going gray past it.

He set the brake.

He sat a long minute with both hands on the wheel.

Then he reached under the seat and came up with a gun.

It was black and square. He kept it pointed at the floor.

"Get out, honey," he said. "Go on and stand by the rail."

I climbed down. The gravel crunched under my boots.

He came around the front of the truck, slow.

"Face the hollow," he said, and his voice cracked in the middle. "And close your eyes."

← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend