"What the hell are you doing here?" I screamed as we ran across the lawn to the parking lot. "You have been keeping a secret."
"I'll follow you. Get in the car now," Brinkley said. He tried to tear Kayla's door open, but the car was locked. It clicked and I gripped the door tightly, refusing to be stuffed into the car, Kyla took a breath.
"People try to kill me because they know something I don't know. Unless you want to kill me and talk to me."
He slammed the door again, but I opened it. "Get in the car."
"No."
"Stop fighting with me and get in the car quickly," he asked.
"No, unless you tell me what you know, I won't leave. You owe me this. If I am going to die, I better know why."
"There will be no time to share." Blink poked the car with a finger, and the three big men were running towards us. Big guy, like a fitness equipment tycoon. "If you don't get in the car, they will kill you."
He pushed hard, pushed me into the car, and yelled at Kyla. "drive!"
Kayla was terrified. She may have never been screamed by a stranger. Here, she and an angry person are on her face, and the other three ran towards her, looking equally violent. No wonder she froze.
"Drive, or I will pull you out of the car and drive her personally."
Kayla woke up suddenly and started the car. I grabbed Brinkley and pleaded with him. "You must tell me. I must know what happened."
"Go to the funeral."
"You don't understand, okay. I have something wrong, I understand."
"Go to the funeral, I'll wait for you there." I must look suspicious. "I promise, let's go," he added.
Although it was difficult, I let him go. Kayla hit the gas, then backed up in a screaming motion. She hit what I hope was a bad guy. I can't see clearly, Kayla is unwilling to check. She had already come out of the parking lot. On the way to the entrance, I turned around in the passenger seat and searched the parking lot from the rear window.
I didn't see anyone in the parking lot, but Gabriel, with his wings wide and agile, watched us go.
"Stop stopping!" Keira screamed. Her eyes were wide open, her knuckles were white, and her hands were shaking.
"But I really want to urinate," I said.
"Should we go to the funeral?" she asked, her voice trembling. "I know this is your mother and everything, but there is no need for you to be killed. There are other ways to say goodbye."
I gave her a brief statement: I am here to visit. Someone broke in. Brinkley asked me to leave that ghost place because these guys are not necessarily good people.
Obviously, I left a lot.
"Brinkley let us meet him there," I said. "I don't think he will tell me to go there, if that puts me in danger." Not to mention, I want to go there no matter where Brinkley is. He has some questions to answer. "If I were not there, he would think something happened to us."
Kayla got us back to the original path without any problems. When Ellie is scared, she makes a harsh sound. Obviously, Keira is quieter than the mime.
The closer we are to my mother's house, the more corn I see. We must have passed a million rows of corn, lined up between the last town and her home along two roads. The faded black roof did not even divide a line into two lanes. You can see corn and a small one-story house every mile or so.
My heart was pounding, and the second Kayla turned to the gravel driveway. Although the house itself is not big, it is beautiful. The white siding of black shutters and a red door are very similar to the incomplete sketches Gloria showed me in her book. Since I left, my mother has not changed houses for many years. She planted more flowers, which were enjoying the last warmth before winter came.
A red station wagon and a dilapidated truck with a toolbox, the tires parked by the door. No dogs barked, and no one came out. Kayla saw the address by the door from the address in the direction.
"This is it," she turned to me and said. "are you sure?"
No, I think. "We will be fine."
Then we sat down-neither of us wanted to move. Kayla clutched the steering wheel tightly. I stared at the house, waiting for someone to show up. Strictly speaking, the funeral is still two hours away. There are not many cars, so maybe people haven't appeared at the time of the spirits yet.
"We can stay in the car," she said, then turned to me. Yan Sè returned to her cheek, but her eyes were still a bit too big. I have a hunch that she will never travel with me again.
"We can't," I said and got out of the car. I can't go in directly because my adrenaline makes me sick. I was so sad about Rachel's visit that I couldn't imagine that I could still see my brother. I leaned against the hood and looked at the area.
There is no sign of Brinkley.
The house is really beautiful in the morning light. On one side of the house are water and mountains, and on the other side are miles of corn. There are many trees and open sky, no neighbors I see, although I am sure they are nearby. My eyes were attracted by a group of crows, which hovered high above the scarecrow in a lonely field.
Kayla's car door closed behind me, and I jumped down. "It's really quiet here," she said.
"We can be quiet," I mumbled.
"We were in the Jīng God Hospital at the time," Kaila said. "I think we should expect it to become crazy." The joke is not funny, but we all laughed. Then we laughed, tears streaming from our eyes. I am pretty sure we are losing our things.
"I don't even know what happened there," I admitted. Not just with Rachel, who are those guys anyway? "I'm going for a walk, trying to shake these things off. Do you want to come?"
"I will stay here in case anyone comes out," she said. "Are you sure you should be alone now?"
"Look around," I told her. "I don't think anyone can sneak in."
I walked from the house to the woods and watched my feet kick and kick on the fallen pine needles. The air smelled of dried corn husks, and it was much cooler than Nashville, even though we had not been so far to the north. I took a deep breath, and my lungs were frozen. Then, the dirt-filled path narrowed to a line of dense trees.
A crow crowed loudly and suddenly above my head. I swear.
"I'm excited enough today. Thank you."
He yelled again, as if responding, which just scared me even more. I moved to the depths of the woods, away from it. I followed the black feathers on the road until the trees in front became thinner and opened up a clearing. It is as if the pine trees form a boundary around this circle between them. I immediately recognized it from Gloria's charcoal rendering.
The circle is large, and a thick layer of pine needles and forest ferns hide the ground. There are black feathers everywhere, on the grassy grass, on the fallen trees. In the middle, a large black Labrador bird sits on its waist, with big brown eyes looking at me, and velvety ears begging to be touched. I took a step forward and reached out, hoping that it was friendly. It flickered. As the shape changes, the air gleams slightly and stretches into the shape of a person. Have wings. Gabriel. His arms crossed his chest. His mouth was moving, but I couldn't hear his voice.
"That weird bird next to my mailbox, is that you?" I asked, stepping closer. "Are these the other forms you said? Do you always choose black? Should I pay attention to black cats, bats and bears...?" His tie changed from black to red, and my voice became Muffled.
I followed his finger and stared in the direction he was pointing. For a moment, I stared at the sky. I didn't see anything. No clouds, no birds, no airplanes.
I died here.
Someone came in to clean up the collapsed barn. Most of the grass has healed, but there is a dim black outline on the top of the tree, and the tall flames licked the branches seven years ago.
I lay on the pine needles, looking up through the branches of the sky beyond them. When I was dying, I saw the same sky. Of course, the weather is getting lighter now, and it is getting closer and closer to dawn, but there is no mistake. I measured the distance between the trees, and thought about what the scene looks like-Eddie is leaning on a pile of hay by the open door at one end, staring at the stars through an open hatch on the roof .
This is the place. Things happened here.
My chest tightened, holding my breath. Tears formed in the corners of my eyes. Gabriel's face appeared above me.
"Do you remember?" he asked.
"I die here."
"Do you remember?" He asked again, his mouth moved, but I couldn't hear him. "You must remember him."
Gabriel reached into my chest. I can't breathe. I don't think he really touched my lungs, because he is not completely here, but he may have. Hurt so badly. I'm not sure if this is because he touched me, or because of the memory torrent.
"Don't fight with me, Fan Fan." He put his mouth to my mouth, his soft lips are real and hot. "You have to remember, even if it's just a little bit."
His kiss had the desired effect, or at least, it left me with enough pain to make me confused.
All this comes from the power of a dam. We are talking about a sensory overload, with tons of suppressed memories flooding back all at once.
I remember my mother, with the same hair and eyes, and the same freckles. I remember her cotton dress and white gloves, in a small church with the smell of old books. I thought of my mother's pendant box, the tilt of her wide-brimmed hat, including the perfume on her body. (To be continued) (End of this chapter)