A Shade of Cool

XVII: On The Road

It had been two days previous to Thanksgiving when they searched Eric's locker, a crowd gathered a whispered amongst themselves as each one was pulled into the office to answer some questions. They asked the regular; When was the last time you saw Eric Stock? Where were you Thanksgiving evening? How well do you know Eric Stock?

Eric had ran, the last time I heard. He's stolen some money from his Dad and left town. The authorities had really stepped up, cruising the streets, searching his house and badgering each one of his friends. As for Ana? She never came to school, in fact she never left her house and remained in her room. Her Mom put down each one of my offers to come over with a 'she's really tired' and 'she just wants to be left alone'.

I decided that it meant she was still unresponsive. She had been in that state since that night. Just nothing. I knew that would change soon, very soon. I informed Noah of my ideas the day after Thanksgiving.

"There's another victim," I told him.

"I know, Stacey, but he said he never touched her, not that I believe him but I doubt he raped her-" Noah looked puzzled.

"Even after last night?" I frowned.

"I don't know..." Noah shrugged, looking down for a second then back up at me, "What did you have in mind?"

"I know exactly where Stacey is. Only she can help us get him busted," I said to him with a smile but instead of joining, he groaned and ran a hand through his hair as he shook his head slowly, "No, no, this is wrong."

My smile faltered, "Wrong? Wrong how?"

"This girl doesn't need this shit being brought back into her life. Plus, don't you think it looks rather... suspicious if you just rock up with another victim of his?" Noah pointed out.

"Not at all!" I frowned, "It will help Ana's case even more! Seeing Eric getting his ass tossed in jail will give them both satisfaction and closure!" I knew it was a lost cause, he clearly didn't agree. I took his hand in mine and looked him in the eye, "For me then. Please."

"God, I don't know, Jacob..." He moaned.

"Fine, just let him get away with it! Move to another town, do the same thing. Although this girl might not be an Ana or Stacey, they may not talk. And then what?" I took a deep breath and exhaled, "What if it was Kathy?"

His face changed, "Jacob..."

"No, just think about it!" I said quickly, seeing his face redden, "Would you let him get away if it was Kathy?"

He sighed and inhaled and exhaled deeply as his cheeks bore red and his eyes narrowed, the first time he'd actually scared me a little. Finally he nodded and closed his eyes, "Fine, okay?"

I stood, watching them ransack his locker, pulling out books and equipment. I slowly stepped out of the crowd and into the empty hall. I decided to leave tonight, we needed this to go quickly and smoothly. We needed her now because the sooner we got her, the later they'd find him and lock him away. If it meant missing a few days of school, that's what it meant.

It was exactly three hours between Chicago and Indiana. I'd looked up the campus and knew the exact route and saved some money for the journey. We were taking Mom's car. We just had to hope that we wouldn't get pulled over. Noah had take some driving lessons so volunteered to take us there.

I had already packed a few things so only had to meet Noah at mine and head off. Sure enough, there he was. Stood on my porch with a bag by his feet as he had his hands in his pockets.

"You ready to head off?" I asked.

"Yup," He lifted his bag and headed over to the car, which I unlocked allowing him to open the boot and put it inside, "What time will we get there roughly?"