Breathless Read online

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  My house was dark and quiet as I tiptoed through the kitchen towards the front door. I didn’t sneak out of my house much. My parents were pretty cool and let me stay out late on weekends—until one o’clock. Still, I was seventeen years old, and a lot of the parties my friends threw went on much later than that. I didn’t always want to party until dawn, but sometimes I did. The parties at the Nelson farm were infamous.

  Nelson was an old family in Bramford. Their farm covered acres and acres of land, and they owned fields that weren’t being used for anything. Fields far from any houses. The Nelson kids, who always threw the parties, were twin guys. Derek was on the football team with Toby. He was a nice guy. Eric was on the wrestling team. He was an absolute jerk. They always managed to get several kegs, and they would set up on one of the abandoned fields. Half of Bramford High would show up, pulling their cars onto the field, creating a circle of shining headlights. People would blast music on their car stereos. People would dance.

  Once, at a Nelson farm party in the summer, my best friend Lilith and I got roped into a wet t-shirt contest. We were both kind of drunk. Generally, I found that sort of thing pretty sexist and stupid, but at the time it seemed like a good idea. Lilith won. She was much better endowed than I was. Plus, Lilith was no virgin. Not like me. Lilith hadn’t been a virgin since the tenth grade. In fact, Lilith lost her virginity at a Nelson farm party. To some guy named Jack, who had moved away last year. Lilith was a lot crazier than I was. I would have liked to be a little crazy, but it was like everybody had somehow decided for me that I was supposed to be this goody two-shoes. Even if I wanted to do something crazy, someone was always there to stop me. Like Toby not having sex with me or cutting me off after five beers. “I don’t want you to get sick,” he would say. Maybe I was insane not to be grateful for such a considerate boyfriend, but just once, I wanted to do something completely outrageous without anyone “looking out for my best interests.”

  Other people did all kinds of crazy things at Nelson farm parties. Like drugs. And chicken contests in their cars. And beer pong. And, for God’s sake, pre-marital damned sex. Which I might never, never have.

  Tonight, I was going to the Nelson farm party. I took careful steps towards the front door. Several times already, the floor had creaked so loud I was sure my parents were going to wake up and ask what exactly I thought I was doing. But so far, I was safe.

  I placed my hand on the doorknob and turned—slowly, slowly. The doorknob’s turning didn’t make any noise. But as I eased the front door open, the door moaned on its hinges. To me, the sound was deafening. I paused, holding my breath, waiting for the sound of my parents wandering downstairs to investigate the noise. But no one came.

  I slid out the front door, carefully closing it behind me, and started across the lawn. Toby was going to pick me up in his truck at the end of my driveway, which twisted up around a hill so that it was out of sight of the house. Once I crossed the lawn and got on the driveway, I only had a few feet to go before I was out of sight and home free. I tried not to make noise as I hurried. It didn’t take long until I was on the driveway.

  The gravel crunched under my feet, but I was pretty sure that I was too far away from the house for anyone to hear. Still, I tried to tread as quietly as possible. Then I noticed something.

  I could still hear the sound of gravel under feet.

  But it wasn’t coming from my feet.

  It was a different rhythm than my footsteps. There was someone else walking on the driveway!

  Damn it! I knew someone had heard me. I whirled, looking behind me. I could still see my house, still and dark in the night. There was no one there.

  But I could still hear the footsteps.

  Were they ahead of me?

  I stepped forward, then thought about what Jason had said. He’d said that his staying with us would make it dangerous for our family. Were the people after Jason walking down my driveway? Were they coming for Jason? For us?

  For a brief moment, I was ready to run back to my house and crawl into my bed. Tendrils of fear had knotted themselves around my spine, and I wanted to hide under my pillows.

  Then I shook myself. I was going to a party, damn it. I was not going to let anything get in the way of that. I stepped forward again, squaring my shoulders. If I had to meet these crazy people that were after Jason, then so be it. If they were as dangerous as Jason said, I wouldn’t be safe in my bed anyway.

  As I walked, I could still hear the footsteps. They sounded close. My heart started to speed up. I rounded the bend in my driveway, and my hands were shaking.

  Ahead of me, I could see a shadowy figure walking away from me.