I’ll never forget anything about that day, Mira.

I’ll never let you forget, either.

Yours

Chapter Four

Instead of the crunch I expect, the soft sound of Harper crying cuts through the roar of blood behind my ears. Kayla is dead quiet now, but Josh breathes in and out loudly. My heart thumps hard and fast, a strange contrast to Harper’s slow, steady sobs.

I open my eyes. The Mustang is nestled against the concrete highway divider. It isn’t even bad. It looks like a gentle bump against the wall.

And we’re okay.

We’re okay.

We’re okay.

“We’re okay,” Brecken echoes my thoughts aloud, the same words in a soothing loop, like you’d use with a frightened child. He sounds certain of it. Then he takes a deep breath. “We’re completely safe. It’s over.”

I swallow hard, my whole body shaking. Maybe we’re okay for now. But there are a whole lot of miles left before I’d call us safe. And this sure the hell isn’t over.

Things change after the Mustang incident. I guess it’s hard to laugh it all off after something like that. Brecken checks the driver who wrecked—he’s fine—and then checks Harper’s finger. It isn’t too bad, now that the bleeding has stopped. So, we settle back into driving mode, buckling belts and zipping bags. Harper quietly asks Brecken to drive and he agrees.

No one talks anymore about how the roads aren’t that bad. They’re bad enough that Harper and Brecken almost got killed.

I don’t know what it looks like to get hit by a car, but it’s hard not to think about it now that I have a mental image of them diving into the driver’s seat. I can’t shake that image. And I can’t shake that awful feeling from earlier—the creepy-crawly sensation that someone is behind me. It makes zero sense. I’m not walking down a dark street alone, I’m in a car with four people, none of whom are even looking at me.

Still, for the first time since I boarded the plane in San Diego, I feel frightened.

Fortunately, the next few minutes are blissfully quiet. No one speaks or plays music.

Harper pulls out an expensive-looking notebook and beautiful pen and starts writing, holding her book awkwardly with her injured hand. Josh is reading again. Proust now, but he’s still got his brow furrowed and his thumb running under the lines as he reads, like a conscientious student trying to absorb every word. Kayla slumps back against the window and starts to softly snore as Brecken pulls onto the highway.