Regina by Mary Ann Moody Page B

was very surprised. “We will have
Anna back in four months…. Do you know where to look?” He asked,
his voice coming back strong and firm.
    “Yes sir. The mark is on the forehead, in
red.” Sarah responded.
    For hundreds of years, Sarah has thought of
nothing, looked for nothing but that red mark on an unknown young
girl’s forehead. It has chased Sarah for so long, she felt weary
from it.
    “That is all, for now.” He said, breaking the
silence. “I want confirmation you arrived safely in Marcus’s care,
then I expect to hear from you again in forty-eight hours. Am I
clear, Sarah?” He demanded without anger.
    “Crystal.”

Chapter Twelve
     
    The ‘pasture party’ was in a large circle of
surrounding cars and pickup trucks in the middle of nowheresville.
Katie picked me up at eight the next night from Grandpa’s house.
Her brand new little yellow Volkswagen came up the driveway safely.
I laughed to myself. This was not the way she really drove!
    At first, I was sure mom and dad would say no
to a party when we were here for a funeral. However, I think dad
regretted the way he acted towards me and convinced her to let me
go. Again, I wasn’t use to them telling me what to do. They are
never around to help or guide me, so they shouldn’t start now. We
all agreed we needed a break from each other and letting me out of
the house would give us time away. I felt great as I got into
Katie’s car.
    “My birthday present.” She gushed about the
car after she picked me up. “I’m so glad I met you! The girls here
are nice but I think we get along best.”
    How odd of her to say this. We’ve only talked
a few times on the phone.
    We took CR 226 to once again in order to get
back to the main highway. When we were halfway down 226, Katie took
a left on CR 224. I had never been this way before and was
interested in the scenery.
    We passed mobile homes on concrete blocks,
new and larger homes, acres upon acres of open pastures of green
grass and livestock. Mostly cows grazed here but I could see the
occasional sheep, goat and pigs. This road was rich with large
trees that reached as far as they could to the sky. Beautiful
garlands of ivy and moss hung from some of the trees, adding a lot
of charm. Since it was getting dark quickly, a creepy feeling came
over me as we drove deeper into the woods.
    Have I been here before? I wondered. Was this
road in my dream too?
    Barbed wire fencing ran along the road. I
swore everything looked familiar, from the gravel in the road to
the shape of the trees. Soon the houses disappeared and the only
scenery that remained was dark farmland. I shook my head; feeling
intense déjà vu was getting to me. I couldn’t recall the exact
dream but I knew I was on this road before in a dream and it was
important.
    A few moments later, we arrived. Katie parked
her car and took her place in the circle. Most of the cars were
facing inside the circle, allowing the headlights to give us plenty
of light. The pickups were turned around, giving us seats and had
the music blazing into the night. I saw a couple of kegs of beer on
one side and cans of beer on another. A couple of kids were sitting
on top of the car hoods, laughing and guzzling their beers. Kids
who came with someone were off to the side, making out. A cute
older girl with her red hair in pigtails was walking around the
party with a video camera. Suddenly, the girls started flashing
their boobs at the camera and shouting. Others were dancing
together in center. I laughed; this was an awesome alternate
universe! People didn’t do stuff like this at Will Lawson! Then
again, we don’t have a big pasture to party in either. I decided to
let go of my stupid dreams and have some fun and this seemed like
the best place to have it.
    Guys in their football jackets were dancing
with the girls in the middle while another was doing keg stands.
Some girls were doing back flips off the back of one of the pickup
trucks. The one who did the best got