A Tinfoil Sky Read Online Free PDF

her grip on the large to-go container of soup. It sailed through the air and exploded on the sidewalk in front of her.
    But for the moment, that didn’t matter; getting backto the Pinto and changing out of her wet clothes was the thing Mel wanted most. That’s when she realized she’d forgotten to put the key back under the frame of the Pinto. She groaned when she thought of Cecily waiting in the rain and then ran faster.

8
Homeless
    Mel wasn’t sure at first if the pelting rain was blurring her view of the Pinto, or if the car had actually been moved. She slowed her pace to a jog, scanning the area where the Pinto had been parked. The clothes she’d carefully hung on the line that morning were lying limp and wet in the grass. Her favorite green sweater appeared to be immersed in a puddle.
    Mel could see that Cecily wasn’t there, but she called her name into the darkness of rain and thunder anyway. She ran back down the street, hoping to find her. For as far as Mel could see, the street going into town was empty. She turned and ran back to the overpass. Every few minutes, she called out Cecily’s name, but no one answered.
    As Mel’s disappointment turned to anger, she stopped calling for Cecily and began to yell. “I! Hate! You! Cecily Tulley! You hear me? I hate you!” And she kept on yelling until the only thing left in her was sadness.
    Exhausted, Mel collected the clothes she’d hung todry earlier in the day. She couldn’t believe her blanket had been spared; it had been tucked next to the side of a pillar just enough to have remained mostly dry. Mel needed to get out of the rain. Sound moved in all directions under the overpass – even the sound of her flip-flops touching down on the asphalt echoed in the vacant space. She didn’t remember it sounding this way when she’d explored The Pillars, as she called them, that first day. It had felt safe then. She tried to convince herself that this was the same place, and that the shivers running up and down her spine were caused by nothing more than the darkness and the rain.
    Mel found a small cave-like place up behind one of the shorter pillars that supported the road above, and it gave her a vantage point to watch the street. It was hard to climb into the space with her wet jeans. She finally managed by running at the concrete wall, jumping, and pulling herself up with her fingertips until she could lift one leg onto the ledge and hoist herself up. She wrapped her blanket around her shoulders; but even so, she was unable to get warm – much less contain the salty tears pouring from her eyes. She thought about Fearless, and his window ledge, and she hoped that he’d either stayed in the soup kitchen or found a place to stay dry. The rain continued to pelt against the asphalt for what seemed likean eternity, at times beating like a million drums in the dark. Mel prayed for the rain to stop, and, to her surprise, moments later it did. But what remained was silence, and stillness, and although Mel tried to stay calm, her imagination filled the quiet with fear.
    Why wasn’t Cecily here?
The question sat in front of her, demanding an answer. Mel pushed it away. It pushed back.
    Mel curled up into a tighter ball, her arms wrapped around her knees, her teeth chattering uncontrollably. She was cold to the bone and too scared to move.
Cecily would show up. She wouldn’t just take off
.
    Every now and again, Mel called Cecily’s name and listened as a hollow echo reverberated through the concrete pillars. It was an eerie sound, and the place felt haunted, especially when the smell of menthol drifted from somewhere. Mel hoped it was a sign.
Cecily would be back soon
.
    She probably came, saw the car gone, and went looking for me
, Mel thought. But that did little to console her fear. What she knew for sure was that Cecily hadn’t taken the car – because Mel had the key. The only possibility was that it was towed, or – a shiver shot straight up Mel’s spine