Collide by Christine Fonseca

breath.
    More deep breaths, more coaching from Josh. Finally, the car quits shaking, the windshield wipers stop, the radio turns off.
    “Better?”
    Like anything will ever be better now.
     

     
    Clouds dot the afternoon sky as we continue the drive toward Geneva. I watch the barns and farmhouses stream by, my thoughts filled with David. “I’m still mad at you, Josh.”
    “I know.”
    “Both of you.”
    Josh laughs. “I’d expect nothing less.”
    We drive along the edges of endless cornfields buttressing up to thick forests. I think of my time with David, replaying every moment, every kiss.
    “When did he figure things out?” I ask. “When did David know about WITSEC?”
    The question floats too long without an answer.
    “No idea,” Josh finally says.
    “Would you tell me if you knew?” I stare at Josh, his eyes fixated on the road ahead. He’s the only one I trusted with my feelings for David.
    Josh held me when I cried over David’s departure. Josh read the endless texts I sent and helped me destroy David’s silly notes he’d leave in my locker when I finally accepted David wouldn’t be coming back.
    I confessed my love for David to Josh.
    “I don’t think he knew much before he left. He wouldn’t have hurt you that way.”
    “You did. So did Mom and Dad. Why wouldn’t David?”
    “He just wouldn’t.”
    “I’m not sure I believe you.”
    We ride in silence for several more miles, past Lake Cayuga, and the quaint towns folded into the landscape between the different finger-shaped lakes in this part of New York State.
    “How much farther?” I ask. The sooner we get this over with, the better.
    “A few more miles.” Josh turns the car down a long stretch of highway.
    My heart beats harder than I want it to as I remember meeting David in Honors Chemistry. He came late and took the only seat left in the class, right next to me. His piercing green eyes were enough to draw my attention, but it was his voice that captivated me. One word and I was his.
    David asked me out by the end of class. I was seeing Gabe so I refused. David asked me out every day after that, telling me I deserved more than Gabe could ever be. After the fiasco with Gabe at Homecoming, David picked up the pieces of me. But by then, I’d sworn off boys. Until Winter Formal.
    David’s gift of the locket was surprising; we hadn’t even been on a date before the dance. But, I liked him more than anyone I’d ever met. There was a comfort in his eyes, a familiarity I craved. We met for coffee the next day, and he was gone the day after that. No goodbyes. Nothing.
    Now I know why.
    Josh winds the car through an old housing track near the center of town, turning down a small cul-de-sac banking up against more cornfields and a deep forest. He stops at the second house and waits.
    The house is nothing like I expect. Old and rundown, it reminds me of something from an old Hitchcock movie. Fitting, I guess.
    “I’ll go and get him,” Josh says. “It’ll be easier.”
    “Not going to happen. I’m going with you.” I’m out of the car before Josh can disagree. Apprehension climbs up my spine as I walk the long drive. My legs wobble.
    Josh steadies my arm. “It’ll be okay.”
    I inhale deeply and release the tension as we climb the porch steps and knock on the door.
    The farmhouse is larger than it I’d imaged from the street, but just as run down. White paint peels from the porch’s banisters and shutters. The screen door is fragile. Any strong wind would pull it straight off the hinges. Josh knocks again.
    “Hello,” I call out. “David?”
    Nothing.
    We walk around the porch to the back of the house. The place is empty. Deserted. “Hello,” I say again. There is still no reply.
    “I thought you said he was here.”
    “He should be,” Josh says. “What do you want to do?”
    “Are you sure we’re at the right house?”
    “As sure as I can be, yeah.”
    A cold fear bores through me. “Josh . . . do you think .