Nova 05 Ruin Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

close?”
     
    I waver at her question. Although I’ve told Clara a lot of stuff about me, there’s still things I don’t know about her. “Sort of. I mean, she knows about Mom and everything.”
     
    I have zero confidence that Clara will easily agree to make a road trip across the country with me, but perhaps with a bit of persuading, I can convince her. I just need to make her an offer she can’t refuse.
     
    Besides, even though I’m still not positive my mother is actually dead, it’ll be nice to have someone I care about with me in case that’s where this journey ends. Even if that person won’t admit she cares about me, too.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 

Chapter Three
     
    Clara
     
    I’m having that dream again, the one about the car accident.
     
    My father is lying in the street, surrounded by bent pieces of metal and shards of glass. My mother is still stuck in the car, and the passenger side door so crunched in, I can’t get it open. The vehicle that side swiped us is several feet away, smashed into a streetlight post. People are gathering around, crying, calling nine-one-one, while I stand in the middle of the madness, unscathed except for a cut on my head and a stabbing pain in my arm.
     
    “Daddy,” I whisper as I inch toward him. The glass crunches under my shoes and the air smells like burnt rubber. “Dad…” I trail off at the sight of him.
     
    His eyes are open and his breathing is wheezy. There’s so much blood on the ground and around him. At first, I just stand there, staring helplessly at the scene. But then my father whispers my name and I snap out of my trance.
     
    Kneeling beside him, I slip off my jacket to use to put pressure on the hole in his stomach, which seems to be the main cause of the bleeding. I take his hand and try not to cry. Try to be strong.
     
    “Everything’s going to be okay,” I lie. Deep down, I know the truth—this is bad and more than likely will end in tragedy.
     
    “Where’s… your… mother…?” My father gasps, and his eyes are unfocused as if he’s drifting off to a place only he can see.
     
    Hot tears bubble from my eyes and spill down my cheeks. “She’s fine,” I lie, knowing it might be the last thing I ever say to him.
     
    “Good.” He almost smiles. “Take care of her, okay?” His head slumps to the side and silence surrounds us.
     
    “Dad,” I sob as tears pour from my eyes. “Daddy, please don’t leave me.”
     
    Silence.
     
    “Dad... please.”
     
    My blood roars in my eardrums.
     
    A rooster crows from somewhere.
     
    Roosters crowing…?
     
    Huh?
     
    My eyelids spring open and a feather lands on my forehead.
     
    “What the hell?” I bolt upright in bed and pluck the purple and teal feather from my head. I spin the feather around between my fingertips. “Where on earth did this thing come from?”
     
    As if responding to my question, a rooster crows from somewhere nearby… from somewhere inside the apartment. Throwing the covers back, I plant my feet on the carpet and pad over to my partially opened bedroom door.
     
    My skin is damp from the dream I was having. Well, not really a dream. More of a memory of that day three years ago when I lost my father. It’s been so long since I dreamt about that day that I forgot how exhausting remembering could be.
     
    Sighing, I step out into the hallway to find out why I heard crowing. I instantly stumble back as a rooster flaps its wings, and feathers spew through the air.
     
    “Mom!” I cry then flinch as the rooster pecks at dust particles and its talons claw at the carpet. “Could you come here for a minute?”
     
    The rooster crows again then barrels toward me, looking as evil as the devil himself. I skitter around the bird and it ends up diving into my room. I slam the door, locking the crazy bird inside, then scramble down the hallway to the living room.
     
    My mom is camped in the recliner in front of the television, laughing at what appears to be