Minnesota, USA 2012

He watched her turn quickly at the sound of his voice, startled. Her hand was on her chest and it rose and fell quickly with her breath. Mitchell cursed himself inside his head. He hadn't meant to startle her.
“Sorry,” he apologised softly, but he wasn’t sure if she’d heard him.

She walked towards Mitchell, switching off the garage light. He moved with her, out of the way, allowing her to shut the door, leaving the place behind.

She sighed before asking him "So we drive? Should we take one of our parent’s cars?"

Her use of the word, ‘take’ rung in his head like a warning bell. It seemed so wrong to be ‘taking’ something that belonged to a dead person. ‘It’s what they’d want,’ he promised himself, ‘they wouldn’t want me to die.’

“Yeah,” he said eventually, “I guess it’s our only choice. We’ll borrow one of their cars.” He stressed the word borrow, as if trying to prove to himself it wasn’t really stealing. Although, you couldn’t really borrow something from a dead person… He pushed that though to the back of his mind as they walked through the house together to the front door.

He turned and exited the house, leaving Evana a moment to say goodbye. Meanwhile, he inspected the car in her drive. It was nothing special. Enough to carry five people, two in the front, three in the back – as long as the third person was a small one. There was a bit of boot space; enough to put the stuff they’d brought in. It was no better than his parent’s car and the daylight was already starting to dip slightly, he didn’t want to spend any more time messing about here. And, if that meant taking her car because it was closest, that was fine with him.

Evana allowed her gaze to wander around the living room of the home. She would miss late nights watching movies with her family, halfheartedly fighting over a bowl of popcorn. A ghost of a smile crossed her face.

“Yeah, I guess it’s our only choice. We’ll borrow one of their cars.”

He said after a few moments and she almost winced at his stressing of the word 'borrowed.' Borrowing from the dead wasn't possible, and she had set up her mothers will with her, just in case something happened. Evana didn't mention this, not wanting to start off on the wrong foot at the very beginning. After a few moments, he left her alone in the house.

She walked into the middle of the living room and turned slowly, taking everything in one last time. The mess in front of the TV, her brothers overflowing toy box, the blankets and pillows strewn across the couch. She would miss it all, but she felt as if she was saving her little brother. She walked to the front door, grabbing her mothers keys off a table next to it. Her bottom lip found it's way in between her teeth as she placed her hand on the door knob. With a shuddering sigh, she opened the door and stepped outside. She quickly closed the door and locked it. She turned and walked down the steps to the car, opening the trunk and dropping her heavy back pack into it. She waited for Mitchell to place his inside before closing it.

"Do you want to drive? Or should I?" she asked, holding the keys in her outstretched hand.

After what couldn't have been any more than a minute, Evana joined him outside. She locked the door behind her and unlocked the car with a pair of keys she had clearly just retrieved from inside. She dropped her bag into the trunk and Mitchell did the same. She closed the trunk and stretched out a pale hand, holding a pair of keys.

"Do you want to drive? Or should I?" she asked.

Mitchell considered her question for a moment. He didn’t really feel like driving the unfamiliar car through the dark. But, he thought as he flicked his eyes over Evana’s face, she still looked really shaken up.


“I’ll drive,” he concluded firmly, taking the keys from Evana. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her. But he did think that perhaps it was best if he drove.

He glanced over the unfamiliar keys and located the unlock button. The made a soft clicking noise as it unlocked and he opened the door to the driver’s side. He climbed inside and started the engine, eager not to spend too much more time here. The headlights automatically came on, as they did in most cars when they sensed it was dark. The darkness made Mitchell feel slightly uneasy. He’d never liked it much as a child. Tasha had always teased him about it, even thought he’d fervently denied it. But, when Tasha had gone to bed, he’d always asked his Mom to leave the light on the landing on and the door a crack open. She’d just smiled understandingly and nodded. He felt a memory of her kind, empathetic face flash through his mind. It stung instantly and he felt tears prick in the corners of his eyes. Because, it was dark now. The whole world was darker. Darker than it had ever been. And he no longer had his Mom to make sure a chink of light always shone through the door.

“I’ll drive.”

Evana let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. She knew she was being a bit pathetic and he had lost his parents too, but for some reason she felt as if he wouldn't mind. She smiled thankfully and got into the car. She sunk gratefully into the comfortable seat, faintly aware of the fact that this was the first time she had sat down since they left the barn. An image of her mothers marred wolf body flashed through her mind and her eyes closed. Her head fell against the head rest and she blinked away the tears that had sprung in her eyes.

For all intense and purposes, she was now dead to the world as well, to everyone she had ever known, except Mitchell. None of her friends would bug her about stupid social things, her little brother would never beg her to play a video game with him. She released a shuddering breath and lifted her head, her eyes opening. An unfamiliar face stared back at her from the rear view mirror. Her usually warm, kind eyes had become cold and distant. Her smile was gone and she somehow appeared older than just 18. She turned away from the mirror, forcing herself to look across the car at Mitchell, who had tears in his eyes. After a moment of hesitation, she reached across the car and grabbed his hand, giving it what she hoped to be a comforting squeeze.