Straight On 'Til Morning (from html) by Christopher Golden

Author:Christopher Golden [Golden, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

4

It was astonishingly easy for them to arrange it. A lie is only difficult to construct when you intend for it to endure. Kevin knew that; warned the others of it, even. None of them had any illusions about what they were doing. It would require a miracle for their deception to go undiscovered. And when it was revealed . . . well, the gravity of their punishment would vary according to the nature of their parents, and how long they remained away from home.

The Murphy brothers would be grounded. Their mother had been through enough heartache with their father that they hated to create more, but it wouldn't be the first time. For Jack Ross, the idea of being grounded—a near certainty—held no particular power. April was not so blase. The idea of their fourteen-year-old daughter going off on an overnight in the woods with her boyfriend would not sit at all well with her parents.

Kevin and Jesse had rummaged through their closets for backpacks. If they kept walking until morning—even if they called Jesse's friend Greg Esper for a ride home—the soonest they'd be back was midmorning. That meant they would need some supplies, at least for breakfast. While their mother was sitting in her bedroom going through bills with a cigarette in one hand and a Diet Coke on the nightstand, they raided the refrigerator: Chef Boyardee meals and a can opener, a small pot, long wooden matches, half a loaf of bread, a can of Spam and a bag of Oreos. It was not exactly the breakfast of champions, but none of them addressed the possibility that it would not be breakfast at all, but the only food they would have in whatever place awaited them when the sun came up.

All the food went into one backpack. Into the other, they jammed a pair of metal flashlights, clean T-shirts, socks and underwear. Jack made a quick run back to his house for a change of clothes. If they were gone long enough, April would have to deal with dirty clothes, or wear the spares they packed for her. Four sweatshirts went in, just in case it got cold. And a bar of soap.

Just after nine p.m., heavy with the knowledge of the likely repercussions, the four of them walked together up Fox Run Drive to the wooded circle at the top. They paused there for a moment. Kevin leaned his head back and looked at the darkened sky. It was so clear that he saw not only the bright stars, but the tiny pinpricks beyond them, and the distant flickers past even those. The sky was filled with stars; too many, as if those which usually lurked on the far horizon of space had come out to look down upon them in morbid curiosity.

At least, that was how it seemed to Kevin. A rare night, warm and electric.

As he stared up at that beautifully adorned sky, Kevin sensed his brother coming up beside him.

"Know what this reminds me of?" Jesse asked.

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