Russell stood outside the clubhouse entrance and watched the sky bleed.
Red light escaped from cracks at the upper reaches of the atmosphere. They poured down from high above, shimmering like luminescent curtains. And like ethereal veils, they fluttered in the wind, waving and dancing as they descended closer to the ground.
The fake job offer, his welcoming treatment, nearly getting himself caught up in an all-out brawl, and now this.
His night didn’t deserve to get any worse than it already was. All the worries he carried only weighed him down. The events tonight had been too much to wrap his head around, and his earlier eagerness to get home had all but vanished. He dreaded explaining to his sister how everything turned out, how he had failed her and the children. How he had ultimately failed himself.
He sighed and tamped down his frustration. How long had he been standing out here, brooding over his ruined evening?
A chill in the night air brought him out of his reverie. He checked his phone one more time, hoping for something different. The cheap device didn’t fail to disappoint him—it was deader than dead.
“This piece of…” he held his phone over his head in a crushing grip. He wanted to fling it to the ground, to smash it into pieces, but he could only groan in resignation. He wasn’t the type to squander money; repairing the damn thing would still be cheaper than buying another used phone.
Just go home, Flynn.
The night air carried the traces of diesel and gasoline, and he examined the parking lot before him. Cars filled the space around the clubhouse, but not a single vehicle moved in the stillness of the quiet evening. No light pole or roaming headlight illuminated the dark lanes in the car park. No rumbling of an engine. No one else was present except for the silhouette of a person standing off to the side, smoking by himself.
Russell must have been the first one to leave—it was the simplest explanation—yet a knot formed in his stomach, his gut telling him otherwise.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. Sure enough, there was no storm cloud in sight. Instead, black shapes dotted the dark red horizon as flocks of wild birds flew across the sky. Their chirping and cawing drowned the entire valley in a warbled mess of bird calls. They soared over the cliffs, their small groups gathering into larger ones. From flocks of less than a dozen birds, their count reached hundreds in a short span of time. And their numbers kept on growing seemingly without end.
You need to get home, Flynn, he told himself. You need to get home now.
Russell climbed down the handful of steps separating the elevated drop-off area from the rest of the car park out front. He stared into the darkness, pausing at the final step, and he berated himself for forgetting where he had parked his truck that afternoon.
“Russ!” a muted voice called out. “Russell, wait!”
Russell glanced behind him, squinting at the dark cavern the lobby had become. The sound of rapid footsteps came from behind the glass doors, and moments later, a familiar figure burst out the entrance.
“Serena?” he asked, surprised to see it was her. He didn't know why he expected someone else.
“I’m glad I caught you,” Serena said, holding her chest as she took in quick, shallow breaths.
“You in a hurry?” he asked.
“In a hurry?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re the one here who’s leaving already.”
Russell shrugged. “Now is as a good time as any.”
“And were you planning on going home without even saying goodbye to the hostess?”
He looked away and scratched the back of his head. “I thought maybe you'd be too busy for a goodbye.”
“Well, as you can see, I'm not.” She hopped down the steps and skipped ahead of him, her movements light and energetic. “Lead the way.”
“Uh, where are you going?” he asked, forced to follow her lead instead.
“You’re the first to leave, Russ,” she said. “Not to mention it’s a little too early for anyone to go home just yet. The least I could do is escort you on your way to your vehicle.”
Russell sighed, his breath puffing out in the cold air. “You really don’t have to…”
“I insist.” Serena tucked her long hair behind her ear as she faced him. “And perhaps you could take this opportunity to explain to me how you managed to repeatedly get into trouble tonight.”
He winced. “Why don't we just talk about mundane stuff…” he said, looking around. “Like the rising price of cabbages back in town…or the weather we're having right now.” He waved toward the view above them. “It’s quite the sight if you haven't noticed.”
Serena fixed him a knowing look as they walked past the supporting columns of the covered driveway, and they ended up approaching the stranger he had seen earlier.
“Hey, Kimberly,” Serena said in greeting. “How are you doing tonight?”
Kimberly had been slapping her smartphone against the palm of her hand when she realized she had company. Her hands disappeared behind her back as the irate woman came to attention, and her staff uniform became visible underneath her grey trench coat.
“I’m fine, ma'am.” Kimberly smiled, though it failed to reach her eyes. “Just waiting for my ride.” Her fingers fumbled with the with the lapels of the long coat as she struggled to wrap the outer garment around her with only one hand.
“Try not to stay out too long.” Serena nodded as they passed her by. “They say it’s going to be a cold one.”
Kimberly nodded back. “Have a good night, Ms. Solace,” she said before giving Russell a once-over.
Up close, the woman looked somewhere around their age, but her eyes were heavy with weariness, making her appear far older. Her frazzled brown hair was cut short to her earlobes, and it had given Russell the wrong impression from afar, making him mistake her for a man. On her feet, her handbag and other luggage were laid in a pile of mess.
Once they were a good distance away, he took a glance over his shoulder. The woman stared at their departing backs. A frown had replaced the plastic smile she previously wore on her face.
He returned his attention in front of them. “You know that wasn't a cigarette she was smoking.”
“I know,” Serena replied.
“And?”
“And what?”
“Isn't she your employee?” he asked, stealing a furtive look at Serena. “Don’t you have rules for that kind of thing?”
Seconds passed, but his companion didn’t reply.
“Seems she's not exactly a fan of yours,” he muttered.
“So, what exactly happened between you and Bradford?” Serena asked him a question of her own. “Based on the mess you left back inside, can I assume your ongoing blood feud had finally gotten out of hand this time?”
Russell raked his fingers through the tangled mess of his hair in frustration, and he muttered a curse under his breath. His beanie was missing; he had forgotten to return for it in his hurry.
No point in dodging the topic. “What's there to know?” he asked. “Our class knows about it. The entire school knows about it. Heck, the entire town knew about it, knows about it, and apparently, still cares too much about it."
“Well, it is what it is,” Serena said in a placating tone. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry to hear how they treated you tonight. Especially Jude.”
Russell snorted. “The guy’s spineless as a snake.”
“Oh, but snakes do have spines, you know?” she said. “They’re even made up of hundreds of vertebrae that—“
“Please.” He let out an exasperated sigh. “Just let me have this one, Solace.”
Serena pouted. “Fine. I’m guessing you and Jude aren’t friends anymore?”
“We were never that close, anyway,” Russell said. “Rather than losing a friend, I see it as being estranged from forty-four people instead of forty-three. Not really much of a difference when you do the math.”
“Well, that’s one way to put it,” Serena said, giving him a consoling smile.
The smell of gasoline lingered with rubber and asphalt. Expensive-looking cars lined both sides of their pathway, from the latest top-of-the-line models to vintage cars combining luxury with history. Cars he had seen once or twice on the road, ones he could only dream about driving one day. And here they were, dozens of them, packed among row after row of equally expensive vehicles. He could only look on in amazement at the amount of wealth gathered in a single location.
Farther down the line, his truck stood out, looking dingy among the selection of vehicles parked around it. Russell could only shake his head at the stark contrast. Even out here in the parking lot, he still felt like he didn't belong.
“I’ve seen their looks, Serena,” he said. “You can’t deny how everyone had treated me tonight.”
“People here are usually more welcoming,” she muttered, her head bowed, appearing personally embarrassed for their behavior.
“No, I get why Bradford and the rest of the guys still hate me. But everyone else?” Russell shook his head in disbelief. “It's been ten years, an entire decade. You'd think people here would've moved on from that disaster of a game by now.”
“Well, the problem only began there,” she said, pursing her lips. “But you’re right. Some people just don’t know when to let go.”
“It's not like I'm the only one who messed up that night—hell, in the entire season.” Their team had more than forty members, and every single one of them had blundered at some point. Multiple times. They had been playing in high school not the NFL. “How many times did Tommy mess up the snap count?” Russell grumbled. “How many times did Caleb end up losing us yardage for his shenanigans? How many times did Bradford overshoot an easy pass? Hell, even in that championship game, he—"
Serena gave his arm a light squeeze. “I know, Russ. I know. I was part of the cheer squad, remember?”
He doubted anyone in their high school would ever forget that particular tidbit, and he found it hard to banish the image of Serena Solace in a cheerleading uniform from his mind.
“And since everyone knows you only played a year of football,” she continued as she let him go, “it’s safe to say I know more about the game than you. More than being some cheerleader, you shouldn’t forget that I’m also a Solace.”
“It wasn’t even a year, just a few months,” he said under his breath. “I didn’t get to play for a year if we're being accurate about the details.”
“Really?” She looked back at him with wide eyes, her mouth agape.
“Didn't attend any camps or whatever.” He shrugged. “I only joined the team the summer before our senior year and that was it.”
“One season…” Serena muttered. “You were so amazing back then it’s easy to forget you didn’t grow up playing the game.”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
He coughed into his fist. “It wasn’t much. I had a lot of catching up to do in my first few games,” he said. “If the coaches had been any less patient with me, I would’ve been stuck on the bench the rest of the season.”
“And you’re saying that as if being benched should’ve been a good thing…why?” Serena asked.
“Because it is.”
“Everyone deserves a chance, Russ. Even you.”
“But what if I didn’t?” he asked. “If I fumbled the opportunity they gave me, if I never became a starter in the first place, don’t you think maybe my future could’ve been different?”
“Maybe...” she muttered.
“At the very least, my place here would’ve been different,” he said. “Tonight would’ve been different.”
Serena pressed her lips into a thin line as she watched her steps. “But still, you can’t truly blame these people, Russ.”
“Why? Because folks from small towns like ours are all football-crazy?” He rolled his eyes. “Or is it because people here worship football like it's their second religion?”
“It's because they are people, Russ, and people are not always rational.”
Russell scoffed, wanting to kick something as he walked. It was no excuse for the way they had treated him tonight, not to mention the way they had treated him all those years ago.
“People often fail to realize that seeking the truth is driven by logic,” Serena said. “Believing in a lie, on the other hand, is driven by emotion. Gossip and rumors, when allowed to fester long enough, become so much worse than the lie that gave birth to them.” She took a moment to breathe in the cold air before looking up at the sky. “As the saying goes, when you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.”
“But it’s still a lie,” he said.
“And yet people will choose to believe otherwise,” Serena said. “You can’t argue with them. You can’t reason with them. It doesn't matter what exactly happened. Not back then during your final game, not now a whole decade after. What people in this town believe has long altered the past, and they’ve turned a blind eye to what should’ve been a simple truth.”
Russell frowned. “And what’s the truth?”
Serena grabbed his arm, stopping both of them in place as she faced him. “I don’t know if you’ve heard this already, or if you’ve at least heard it enough times from the people in your life. But losing our town’s closest chance of ever winning state?” She held his gaze, her green irises vibrant even in the darkness of the night. “That was never your fault.”
Russell held his breath. “You…You don’t think it was?”
“Do you?” Serena asked back. “Forget about those who claimed you threw away our school’s legacy before it even began. Forget about the voices that said you derailed the plans of the moneymakers in town to put Solace Springs on the map. None of those are on you. Not back then. Not now.”
Warmth kindled in his chest, a sensation that was familiar yet foreign, delightful yet disconcerting.
“Whether we like it or not,” Serena continued, “we all encounter some form of lie every single day. But once a person decides to listen to it, to embrace it, to carry it around with them like a baggage they refuse to let go? Then it becomes more than just the mere act of believing in the lie itself.” Her gaze wandered back toward the clubhouse. “Once you allow it take to root, it becomes part of your life, ingrained deep into your heart and mind, becoming something real.”
“You make it sound worse than cancer,” he said. “A lie is just a lie. You can either keep coming up with a new one, or you can open your eyes and listen to the truth. It’s as simple as that.”
Serena let out deep a sigh. “It’s difficult enough to wake yourself up from a dream,” she said, turning away to resume their evening stroll. “How difficult do you think it is to wake up from reality?”
Russell followed, staring at the ground in front of him as the tiny rocks crunched under his work boots. With a kick, he sent a small piece of stone skipping across the asphalt ahead of them. “Did you study psychology for college or something?”
“Only for my minor. I took a business course, of course,” Serena said, letting out a soft chuckle.
“Of course,” he said, unable to stop himself from smiling.
A strong odor of grease and rusty metal dueled in the air, reaching his nose. They were already standing next to his truck, its faded orange paint appearing more washed out in the weak ambient light. Nestled among the rest of the vehicles in this car park, his shabby old truck made for a sorry sight.
Time had sped by just talking with Serena.
“I can just see myself being back in high school,” she said, her hands on her hips as she examined his truck. “My dad would have a fit if ever saw me ride in one of these.”
“Watch it.” Russell crossed his arms, feigning offense. “No need to get personal with Big Bertha.”
"You named your truck?" Serena asked, her gaze incredulous.
“Actually, Dave did.” Russell gave her a casual shrug. “The name just kinda stuck.”
“But…Big Bertha?” she asked. “It’s understandable if it was Dave who came up with the name. But couldn’t you have thought of something, I don't know, better?”
“It's the best we could come up with. And I've never been the smartest bloke in town anyway.” Russell smirked. “Why do you think I tried out for football and became a jock in the first place?”
Serena averted her gaze as her giggles came out in snorts. At least someone in the world found him funny.
“I’m amazed Big Bertha was able to climb the switchback.” Serena gave his truck an appreciative nod. “I guess you really do take good care of her, huh?”
“They built ‘em tough, that’s for sure,” he said, knocking his knuckles against the hood before he raised an eyebrow at her. “And just because I said I wasn't smart doesn't mean I'm calling myself stupid. No way am I crazy enough to climb that steep, winding road on foot."
Chuckling, Serena turned around and leaned back against the hood, half sitting, half standing. She gazed up at the sky, letting out a long, wistful sigh. “Did you ever expect the night to turn out like this?”
"You're telling me." He followed after her and climbed his hood through the bumper, the suspension of his truck squeaking under his heavier weight. “It will be a cold day in hell before Collins and I ever see eye to eye.” He leaned back and propped his hands against the dinged-up hood. Staring at the distant horizon, he lost himself to the surreal, once-in-a-lifetime view.
For some reason, he didn’t find the night sky as ominous as it should have been.
“I wasn’t particularly talking about Brad,” Serena said. “I meant everything that happened here. This whole night in general.”
Russell had set his expectations low coming here tonight. Still, the number of unforeseen events that had occurred one after another has left him stumped until now. Even Serena walking him back to his truck was another thing he didn’t see coming. Unlike the streak of bad luck he had been having so far tonight, her being here was a godsend. He had been planning to look for her earlier before all that drama in the lounge bar spiraled out of control. But was now a good time to ask? It didn't feel like it was. He didn’t even know how to bring up such an awkward topic.
“Did you ever wake up one morning and wished for something else in your life?” Serena threw out another question after some time had passed. “Something new. Something beyond this town?”
“I don’t know about you, but I never once felt trapped in this valley. Couldn't even wait to leave this place ten years ago.” He cleared his throat. “No offense.”
“But have you ever wished for something else?” she asked again, her voice low and soft. “Something more?”
“C’mon, Serena. People like me? We don’t get to ask questions like that.”
Serena combed her slender fingers through her hair and titled her head to face him. “Are you sure about that?"
Was he? A younger version of him might have wished for better things in life. If he was being honest with himself, it had been the real reason a high school outcast like him even bothered joining the football team. The young Russell Flynn had seen the endless possibilities such a sport could offer. He had wanted a better future for himself and his sister. So for the first time in his life, the boy had dared to dream.
And that had been the beginning of his mistake.
It had been a decision that snowballed into something beyond his control, a never-ending landslide downhill, a one-way trip to the bottom he couldn’t seem to escape from even after ten years had passed.
“I’m sorry, I must've gotten carried away,” Serena said. “Was that too heavy? Perhaps we should talk about something else.”
He inhaled the night air before slowly letting it out in a puff of breath. “Talk about what?”
“I'm sure your evening wasn't all that bad.” She raised a foot on the bumper, angling her leg so she could massage the parts her heels didn't cover. “Meeting up with Jude didn't exactly go as planned, but at least you were able to get back in touch with Clayton, right?”
Russell let out a short chuckle. “That guy. Really shocked me with how much he's changed, but he's the same old Knox I've known. Still a darn hoot.”
“I can imagine.” Serena smiled. “I remember him being the kind of guy who never ran out of energy. Or even things to say.”
“As for the others?” Russell mused. “I’m sure you already know how my encounter with my teammates panned out.”
“Oh, I know. I think everyone back at the clubhouse has heard about it by now.”
“I bet,” he said, rubbing his chin. “Courtney, though, that one was a curveball. Her blonde hair really threw me off. That, and the fact that she ended up with Tommy of all people.” Russell snorted. “Felt like fate was playing a cruel joke on me and Harper.”
Serena replied with a snort of her own. “Typical guy. Of course, you'd remember the head cheerleader.”
He scrunched his brows. “Weren't you the captain of the squad?”
“Didn't you know? I stepped down from my position months before our senior year ended.”
“I must have missed the memo. I didn’t graduate with you guys, remember?”
“Oh, you poor boy,” Serena teased, shaking her head in mock disappointment. “Russell Flynn, Mr. Hometown Hero, must have missed out on quite a few things thanks to his abrupt and spectacular exit from our humble high school.”
He gave her a little shove before he recalled something else. “Now that think about it, I never even had the chance to meet up with Aaron. Harper, too…”
“That's too bad, but I’m sure you'll get your chance tomorrow.” Serena flicked her hair back and nodded in the direction of the clubhouse. “Already got the same ballroom we used for prom all prepped and ready.”
His gazed returned to the clubhouse. The broad two-story structure remained dark—the lobby, the windows on both floors, the spotlights. Just imagining everyone inside who hated his guts made his stomach turn.
"You'll be here tomorrow with Rosie, right?" Serena asked.
He left her question hanging in the air. His sister would love to come, but he had no intention of ever going back in there. Not if he could help it.
“Seriously, Russ?” Serena asked again. “Tomorrow is going to be the reenactment of what could only be the most memorable night of our high school life. You can’t possibly think of missing it. Again.”
He shrugged, refusing to comment. Prom might have been memorable for her, for his sister, and for everyone else in their class for that matter, but not for him. He wasn’t looking forward to reliving that particular night all over again.
Serena pushed herself off the hood and dusted the lower back portion of her blazer. “You should know it was Clayton who told me what happened in the lounge.”
“He did?” Russell asked, blinking in surprise.
“It was just after you left. It's why I came out here looking for you.” Serena gave him a sidelong glance. “In fact, he told me quite a lot.”
Russell felt his mouth drop open. “He…He did?”
She bit her lip as she brushed away the dirt from her hands. “Like I said earlier, he’s pretty much always been the talkative type. You should know. You were best friends, weren't you?”
Freakin' Knox! Russell clenched his teeth, trying to keep a straight face. What the hell did that upsized busybody tell Serena?
“I guess I should go head back inside,” Serena said, facing the clubhouse instead of him. “You don't know how much trouble these townsfolk can get into once they've become truly drunk and rowdy.”
Russell held his breath and opened his mouth, preparing himself for the rejection, having nothing left to lose. “Serena…”
She turned around—and fell right on top of him.
“Wha—“ He caught her by reflex, the warmth of her body both inviting and distracting. He wasn’t expecting such an intimate farewell, yet here she was—quivering in his embrace.
He blinked again. It wasn’t Serena who was shaking; the entire hood of the truck vibrated underneath them. The rest of the vehicles wobbled from side to side, their suspensions creaking, their tires squeaking. His truck, the parking lot, the entire cliff trembled with unprecedented intensity.
He grabbed the top of the bumper, holding on to it and anchoring them both in place. But just like earlier, as quickly as it began, the earthquake was over in a few seconds, and the world returned to its usual calm.
“You good?" he asked after making sure it was safe.
“Y-Yeah, I’m all right,” Serena whispered, her mouth close to his chest. “Just took me by surprise, is all."
“You sure?” He leaned back and looked her over. Color tinged her cheeks, and her breathing was unsteady. “Your face is as red as a ripe tomato right now.”
She glared at him, pouting in cute anger. “You can be very punch-able sometimes, you know?”
He grunted and cast his gaze around them. His sixth sense tingled. Something was amiss, something obvious his common sense was trying to tell him. He couldn't point out what it was, and it bugged him not to know what the issue was. But like a lightbulb moment, it came to him in a flash.
The parking area around them was too quiet.
The earthquake, as brief as it was, failed to trigger a single alarm. No car horns, no town siren, not even the cawing of birds—only a chilling silence shrouded the eerie night.
“I guess a thunderstorm didn’t cause the power outage.” Serena examined their surroundings as well before letting out a quiet breath. “Is it safe to assume that all the cars are dead?”
Nothing about any of this was normal. There was only so much he could pretend to ignore. But with all the mysterious events that had transpired so far, there was no use pretending anymore.
“You okay to walk?” he asked, still holding her by her arms.
“I said I'm fine.” She pushed herself away from him. “And, uhm, I’m sorry about what happened just now.”
He frowned. “About what?"
A scream pierced the night.
Serena yelped, jumping back into his arms before he could stand. “What was that?” she gasped into his chest. “It…It sounded like a person screaming…”
Russell grunted in agreement. They were foolishly standing in the middle of a dark parking lot, blind to their surroundings, exposed to all kinds of danger. Even with Serena in his embrace, the chill of the night air seeped into his clothing.
Serena whipped her head left and right, her breath quickening with each passing second. "Do you think someone got hurt from the—”
Another high-pitched scream echoed across the parking area.
Russell jumped to his feet, holding Serena tight against him. A different chill snared his body now, a cold shiver that crawled up his spine. The scream had been a call for help, a cry of desperation.
And he wanted nothing to do with it.
Serena pulled herself loose and turned to the direction the screams had come from, but he managed to grab her by the arm before she could get away. “Where the hell do you think you're going?”
“To go help, what else?” she said, her eyes wide in alarm. “Someone's obviously hurt or in danger and—“
“And nothing!” he snapped. “You have no idea what you're getting into. And you can even end up getting hurt yourself. You can’t just go charging headlong to whatever is out there. Go back inside first, ask someone there for help.”
“I can take care of myself!” she retorted, twisting her arm free from his grip. “Whatever happens here in the club is my business, my responsibility,” she said with conviction before she raced toward the end of their row in the parking lot.
“Serena!” he called out as she left him behind, her expression lingering in his mind. Anger, he expected, but the disappointment in her eyes as she looked at him…
“Serena!" he repeated right before she passed the last car and took a sharp turn afterward, disappearing from view.
The hardheaded woman didn’t even bother to look back.
He about turned himself bald as he tugged at his hair in frustration. That crazy woman. Who in their right mind would run straight toward danger? And he thought Clayton was the troublemaker.
His truck was safely tucked away in its parking spot. He could go now. He could just leave. But he couldn't in good conscience let Serena head off somewhere alone. Not when there was a real possibility she could get hurt. Not to mention Rosalyn would skin him alive if she ever found out. Which she would. Eventually.
“Fuck my life,” Russell muttered before chasing after her.