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Does he know about the accident? Does he know what happened? Does he think that I’m a fraud too?
“Understand what?” I ask, swallowing hard.
“If you need to take a walk or get some space. No one here is pushy. They just want to welcome you to town, but I get if it’s still hard to be around people, to be a civilian. I’ll cover for you if you want to escape for a bit.”
“Thanks, man,” I say, a lump forming in my throat.
I’ve been trying to hide how I felt since I got here, but five seconds around Rhodes and he can see right through me. Maybe he really does just get it from his time in the service.
He claps me on the shoulder and we both fill our plates up. Tilly and Ledger worked hard on the food all day and I’m determined to make it through dinner before I make up some excuse. It’s the least that I could do after everything that they’ve done for me since I’ve been back.
“Before we start eating,” Ledger says as he stands from his chair. “A toast! To my cousin, the freaking war hero. Welcome back, Jonah!”
Everyone joins in and I paste on a smile.
I hate being called a war hero. Nothing about that day was heroic. I wish that I could just forget about it, but every time I turn around someone else wants to shake my hand or thank me for my service. Every time I close my eyes, I see the accident. It replays in my mind over and over again.
My side digs into my chair arm and I wince. The doctors said that I should be fully healed soon from most of my injuries, but the nerve damage may never be fully gone.
At least I’m still alive.
I push that thought aside and try to remain upbeat. I should be happy and grateful for everything that I have, and I am. I just hate being treated like a hero when I don’t feel like one.
“Thanks for the warm welcome,” I tell the table and everyone smiles at me.
“Let’s eat!” Wells says, saving me from having to think of something else to say.
We all dig in and I make sure to compliment and thank everyone for the food. It really is delicious, but it’s hard to focus on that when I’m trying to keep up with conversations and ignore the pain in my shoulder.
The sun is starting to set as I help clear the table and clean up. I’m about to offer to do the dishes but Rhodes waves me off.
I take that as my cue to slip out and head out onto the back porch. Ledger lives on the side of a mountain in the tiny town of Fallen Peak, and I have to admit, he’s got quite the view. You can see most of the mountain range from here, and I take a moment to look around before I start to walk.
The sun is starting to set and I know that it will be dark soon. At least then no one will be able to recognize me and I won’t have to stop and be congratulated on the worst day of my life.
I start walking down a nearby path, winding my way through the forest.
I won’t go far, I tell myself. I just need to stretch my legs for a bit.
I’m still learning my way around the town, so when I hit a road, I start to go down it. I should be able to spot a street sign and figure out my way home from there.
Instead, I come across something far more interesting.
TWO
Mabel
“Well, this is just my luck,” I mutter as I stare at the steam billowing out from under the hood of my car.
I undo the hair tie on my hair, letting the purple locks free before I twist it up into a bun. I dig my phone out of the cup holder and climb out, but when I try to turn on the flashlight app, I realize that my phone is dead.
“Perfect,” I groan, tilting my face up to the sky.
There’s a full moon and I have the headlights on still, but I’m not sure that that will be enough for me to see what’s going on under the hood.
I’m still a few miles from my place and I debate what to do. I guess I’m going to have to walk. It’s not like I can call anyone and I’m in the middle of nowhere, so I don’t even know where the nearest home is. I could sleep in my car but isn’t that how a ton of horror movies start? Actually, if we’re going off of that, I shouldn’t be anywhere near my car right now.
No sooner do I think that when I hear footsteps crunching on the gravel road behind me. My heart rate spikes and I whirl around, trying to see if I can make anything out.
