Cory — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:17:17 +0000

Nina lay sprawled out on top of her unmade bed in the same sweatpants and cotton T-shirt she’d worn all day yesterday. Why? Why would Rod go to all the trouble of taking her out to such a fabulous dinner, just so he could break up with her? It didn’t make any sense at all.

The digital alarm clock on her dresser read 3:35 pm. She’d just woken up after spending half the night crying into pillow. This was going to be the worst summer of her life. She’d already had a serious head injury and missed graduation, lost her boyfriend for a reason he couldn’t even explain to her, and her best friend in the world, Drennen, refused to return her phone calls.

What had she done that had been so horrible to deserve this? She thought she’d been a good person, treated her friends with kindness and respect, studied hard in school… It just wasn’t fair. The tears welled up in her eyes. She didn’t bother trying to hold them back. The phone rang.

Nina grabbed her cell from the nightstand checked to see who was calling, then flipped it open.

“Hi, Charlie,” Nina managed.

“I heard the news,” Charlie said somberly. “How you holding up?”

“I’m holding up fine,” Nina lied. “Who told you?”

“Drennen.”

“Figures.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I called her, but he won’t answer. I think she’s upset at me for some reason, but I don’t know what I did.”

“She’s not upset with you. She told me that she’s just been busy training, but that she was worried about you.”

“Oh, she has time to call you, but not me?”

“She said you’d say that.”

Nina didn’t respond.

“Drennen said she knew she’d have to come over and comfort you if she talked to you directly, and that she just doesn’t have time to do that right now. Can’t you talk to me? Am I such a bad guy?”

“No,” Nina sobbed.

“Do you want to get out and do something tonight?”

“No.”

“Well, you’re going to because a bunch of people are camping out at the lake and I need a ride.”

“So you’re just using me.”

“Yep.”

Nina sighed and looked at the clock again. “What time do you want to go?”

“Seven?”

“Is Rod going to be there?”

“Nope, I checked with Jared and he said Rod had a meeting at The Beach he had to attend early tomorrow morning so he wasn’t going.”

“Okay,” Nina muttered.

“My house at seven then?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Chin up. It’ll be fun.”

Nina flipped her phone shut. Even if everyone else abandoned her, she’d always have Charlie. She climbed out of bed and trodded toward the shower.

***

At ten minutes after seven Nina pulled into the long driveway that led to Charlie’s house. Every time she approached the place it impressed her. Nina’s family was well off, but Charlie’s family was rich. Charlie had told her once that his family had been one of the first to live in Ottumwa, and that they had been integral in naming the town after the original Native American village which once occupied the valley. His super-great grandfather had been the town’s first attorney and every generation since then someone in their family had followed in his footsteps, amassing a fortune along the way. Charlie appeared to be on the same track. He had already been accepted to Yale Law School, though he rarely talked about it. Nina figured he probably didn’t want to rub it in. That’s just how Charlie was, modest to the nth degree. If he wasn’t blind, he would have had his pick of any girl at school.Nina spotted Charlie standing in front of multi-car garage. She swung her Subaru around parked in front him. Behind Charlie, inside an open garage, sat a pile of bags and a cooler. Nina climbed out of the car.

“What’s with all the stuff?” she asked.

“Well, it is a campout,” Charlie said. “I know the weather’s nice, but we need to bring a few things.”

“A campout?”

“Yeah, I told you on the phone.”

Nina hadn’t been paying that much attention to the call, but she was sure Charlie had told her. “Shit.”

“You didn’t bring anything, did you?” Charlie turned and paced into the garage, swinging his cane back and forth in front of him. “That’s okay. I have an extra sleeping bag in here.” He walked straight to the rear of the impeccably organized garage and lifted a tightly rolled sleeping bag from a shelf along with a camping pillow. He turned and held them out for Nina. “I don’t think these have ever been used. I’m the only one around here that goes camping.”

Nina accepted the gear. Charlie always thought of everything. And even though Nina really wished she had and overnight bag, she figured the necessities she carried in her purse could get her by one night.

They went back to the car where Charlie did most of the packing, placing everything neatly in the rear of Subaru, except the cooler, which he plopped in the back seat.

By seven thirty they were rolling down Highway 34 headed toward Lake Rathbun.

Hades Rising