Tradition Comes Third

The Driver And Passenger

Author's Note: School starts on Wednesday. That means the updates are going to be slowing down :(

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"Hunter, come outside," Dad said.

"No!"

I turned around to see Ava lunge forward. Her eyes were wide and she was shaking her head. Mom and Leah grabbed her, and held her back.

"Ava, we'll deal with you when we get back," Dad said.

"No!" Ava screamed. "You can't do this!"

Mom held onto both of Ava's shoulders, and Leah stepped in front of her. Ava was yanking herself free, and I could see the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"We have to go," Jared said.

Dad grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me outside. They took off running across the field and I followed. They ran into the woods, and there was a thin trail weaving between the trees. I struggled not to stumble on a rock. A cramp ran up my side. I was grateful when they started to slow down. I leaned forward and panted for breath. Every breath burned my throat and chest.

Jared cut through the trees, and over to the road. A car was pulled over to the side, but it was such a small street that the car looked almost like it was sitting in the middle of the road. I stayed behind Dad as he and Jared walked over to the car. Two men, only a few years older than myself, were in the car. There was muffled yelling, and throwing their hands up in an argument. The passenger pointed at Jared as he walked toward the car. Jared tapped on the window with his knuckles, and the driver lowered the window.

"Are you guys stuck?" Jared asked.

"We're lost," the driver said. "We must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. We can't get a signal to pull up a map."

"Our farm is right here," he said. "We could give you a map."

"Like a paper map?" The passenger raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know that any still had those. That would be great."

"If you want to drive us to our farm we could get it for you. It's just right up the street."

"Yeah," the driver said. "The three of you can get into the back."

Jared opened up the door and slid in. I got squished in the middle between him and Dad. A song was playing on the radio, and it brought back an uneasy feeling of reality before all of this happened to Ava and I.

"Keep going straight, and take a left when you see the mailbox," Jared told them.

The driver nodded his head, and took the car out of park.

"Where are you two from?" Dad asked.

"We're from Chicago," the passenger said. "My Grandma has a cottage somewhere around here that we are spending the weekend at."

"Chicago? Isn't that a really busy city?" Jared asked.

He shifted in his seat, and reached into his pocket. He pulled something out. My heart pounded when I saw that it was a knife. He flicked the blade open.

"It's pretty big," the passenger said before leaning forward to change the radio station.

"Is this the mailbox you were talking about?" the driver asked.

"Yeah, that's the one," Jared said.

He turned, and the gravel driveway crunched under the tires. He pulled in behind the other cars in front of the house. The driver shut off the car and it was quiet for a second.