Monstersona by Chloe Spencer

Author:Chloe Spencer [Spencer, Chloe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: monster, LGBTQ, queer, bi, bisexual, ya, young adult, gay, adventure, horror, scifi, science fiction
Publisher: Tiny Ghost Press
Published: 2023-02-14T00:00:00+00:00

AFTER OUR RESPITE, WE finally get back on the road. We drive through the greater part of northern Ohio, through small dusty towns and one too many billboards about Lake Erie vacation rentals. We cruise through Cleveland’s outskirts and manage to beat most of the lunch rush hour traffic. Ohio’s Midwestern landscape is oddly flat and framed with golden prairie fields. Every so often it’s punctuated with odd little clusters of green spaces, overgrown crab grasses and shady oak and birch trees. Compared to the coastlines, the trees are so much shorter here. Stubbier. Kinda browner? And the horizon stretches on almost endlessly, making this leg of the trip feel even longer than it actually is.

It’s weird to think our entire lives blew up only four days ago. Weirder to think about how in just one or two days, I’ll be in Minneapolis and reuniting with my sole surviving parent, who may or may not be an asshole that influenced the destruction of my teenage social life, and his own marriage. And I don’t know what’s going to happen to Aspen at that point. If she doesn’t really have an aunt, does that mean she just goes with us? Will my dad let her come and live with us in Washington? Or will he call up CPS and let them deal with her? I don’t want to imagine that possibility. We’ve both been through enough as it is—her more so than me. The idea of turning over Aspen to complete strangers, ones who would potentially abuse her more, makes me sick to my stomach. I know I can’t let that happen. I have to convince my father to let her live with us. It would only be for what, two years? Then we’ll both be off to college, and we can figure things out from there.

This could work.

“Uh, Riley? What does this mean?”

I lean over and squint at the dashboard. There’s a little red light on, but it’s kinda faded, and I can’t tell if it’s referring to the battery or the engine. I check the gas meter—we’re all good there, only about halfway down.

“I don’t know.”

As soon as I say it, I notice something from underneath the hood. Smoke. Aspen and I both look at each other, and she flicks on her turn signal. She begins to pull over, and suddenly I hear a loud POP!

The car begins to spin around, and we shriek in terror. We both grab the steering wheel and carefully try to redirect the car over to the shoulder. A few assholes blowing past us blare their horns, and Aspen rolls down her window to cuss them out. I flick on the hazards. We attempt to pull over, but there’s a broken-down car in the way.

“You gotta be kidding me!” Aspen shouts, jerking away from the shoulder.

We narrowly avoid the car and move onto the exit ramp. The car barrels down the shoulder, bumpily, until it finally pulls to a stop. For a few moments, we sit in shocked silence.

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