We’re Never Getting Home by Tracy Badua

Author:Tracy Badua
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2024-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

SATURDAY, APRIL 23

11:41 pm

Worst-case scenarios tornado through my mind like a scene from the Wizard of Oz movie. A fractured plank of wood here, a cow, a rocking chair. Is Mom feeling well? Does Dad somehow sense I’m not on my way home? What fresh hell did Jackie bring upon us this time?

I force myself to draw a deep breath before dialing. I could be panicking for no reason.

But there’s always that worry whenever you’ve gotten unexpected bad news by phone before. It might be nothing. Or it could be something.

And the last time it was something, I wasn’t around.

“What’s wrong?” Maddy asks, drawing me out of my head.

“I— My mom texted.”

“Everything okay?”

“She just said to call her.” The flitting one bar of reception taunts me. I raise my arm up toward the clouds and for a moment, I see a rare second reception bar before that too dances away. “But I’m barely able to text. I haven’t had reliable service since we got here. If only we were on our way back home, I could—”

“Maybe we’ll stumble on a couple bars of reception as we walk?” Maddy says.

She doesn’t seem to recognize the urgency in me reaching my mom. She’s probably even side-eyeing me for trying to respond immediately, as if this is some function of the leash my parents have on me. Sure, Maddy doesn’t share the same kind of tight-knit relationship with her own family, but she should know better about us, after our afternoon in the hospital parking lot. I don’t have to call my mom back immediately; I want to. I want to be there for them. And I’m not going to waste time wandering the Orchards hoping for passable phone reception.

“I need to get somewhere higher up or maybe even away from these mountains altogether. But we’re still without a car, and even if we had a ride, we can’t just ditch the guys.” As much as they may deserve it.

She scans our surroundings. “Maybe we don’t need to get away from the mountain. Like you said, if we just get high enough, then . . .”

Her words fade as our eyes both land on the highest point in the Orchards.

“No, no way,” I say, stumbling a step away from the Forest Wheel. “It’s not even running. I think they closed it when the rain started.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to check. And it’s where we think Everett’s headed too, so we can kill two birds with one Ferris wheel.”

“First of all, that is definitely not how the saying goes. Second, wouldn’t that huge metal wheel be the worst place to hang out with these storm clouds around?”

She plants her hands on her hips. “Please. It’s not that bad of an idea. Face it: we’re not getting out of the Orchards until we get Everett and those keys, and we have no clue where either of them are.”

I sigh, all my possible protests escaping with my breath. The biggest mental block is getting around the this-should-have-happeneds.

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