The Hunt (Forgotten #1)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

“ I don’t think it’s a good idea, to light that up right now. We’re in an unfamiliar area and if we get pulled over that could be a big issue.” Kaliah crinkled her nose in anticipation of the smell that would soon fill the already cramped and uncomfortable car.

“Uh, would you just shut the fuck up? You’re killing our vibe, Kaliah.” Sasha rolled her eyes heavenward, inhaling deeply on the blunt she gripped tightly between her thumb and forefinger. She slowly blew out puffy clouds of smoke in circular patterns, filling the car with the pungent stink of marijuana.

Kaliah blindly reached for the window button on the back passenger door beside her to get some fresh air but the glass remained in place.

She pressed again with no result. “The window isn’t going down.”

“Because I locked it, girl.” Brianna said from the driver’s seat. “First of all, it’s too chilly for the window to be down and second, as you just pointed out, we’re in an unfamiliar area so we don’t need to draw unwanted attention. The police could be hiding anywhere.”

“But I can’t breathe, and our clothes are going to reek when we finally get out of the car,” Kaliah protested.

Kaliah waved at the cloud of smoke that engulfed the car but it didn’t stop it from infiltrating her nostrils. If this continued, she’d be just as high as her travel companions.

Nicole who was sitting next to her in the back seat released a loud groan. “Uh, can’t we just toss this bitch out on the side of the road? Who invited her anyway?”

Brianna chuckled. “Be nice, Nic. You’re going to make her cry. Besides, we needed a fourth person to help us pay for the room because Desi’s baby daddy was tripping and she couldn’t come with us.”

“Well, I’m not sharing a room with her,” Nicole declared, staring at Kaliah in a way that dared her to say something back.

“Me neither,” Sasha chimed in before taking another deep drag from her joint.

A sinking sensation in the pit of Kaliah’s belly made her wince. These so-called friends of hers had been making sly comments about her since the beginning of their journey. They’d made fun of her outfit, the way she talked, walked and her enthusiasm to be a part of this girl’s trip she’d been looking forward to since she’d been invited.

If she pointed out that they were being rude, they called her sensitive or said they were joking. It got to a point where she sat quietly in her seat not saying anything while Sasha, Brianna and Nicole laughed and chatted like she wasn’t there. It made for an excruciating 10 hour road trip and according to the GPS, the last time she checked, they had four more hours to go.

There was one point in their journey where she’d fallen asleep, and she woke up to an empty car. She was in the parking lot of a restaurant and no one had bothered to wake her up! When Kaliah had gone inside, they were finishing their meals and refused to wait for her to order food, stating that they were already behind schedule.

Hearing she was only asked to come along as a stand in tracked. These so-called friends of hers had been leaving her out of things since high school, so why would now be any different? She’d spent money on new clothes and getting her hair braided for this trip only for them to make her feel like an unwelcome guest.

Speaking up would probably lead to them all ganging up on her again, but she’d had enough. Between her empty stomach, the beginnings of a headache and their ‘inside jokes’, Kaliah had enough.

“If I’m paying the same amount as the three of you, I will also get a bed. The website says there are two full size beds in each room. I don’t care if none of you want to share the room with me or not, I will get the accommodations I’m paying for, and the three of you will just have to figure it out.

The car went silent.

But Kaliah was far from finished. The anger that had been festering within her had finally bubbled to the top and exploded. “And another thing, if you didn’t want me to come along on the trip, you shouldn’t have invited me in the first place. Or maybe you could have canceled it altogether because you couldn’t afford to go without a fourth. Don’t be mad that I’m here in Desi’s place, be mad because you’re broke. You three need to grow the fuck up. This isn’t high school anymore and I’m tired of being your punching bag.”

“Whenever I make a suggestion, you tune me out or tell me to shut up. Maybe if you would have listened to me, we wouldn’t be lost in the middle of nowhere because you wanted to take a shortcut that wasn’t on the map. Now we have no idea where we are, no one has been able to get phone service in the last half hour and the car is low on gas.”

“Whenever we get to Green Springs, the three of you can go off together and leave me alone and I’ll just do my own thing. But until then, please refrain from talking about me like I’m not sitting here. Now, if you’d kindly, unlock the windows please, Brianna, so I can roll mine down because the smoke is making me sick, otherwise, I’m going to throw up all over the back seat.”

No one spoke for several moments until Briana kissed her teeth. “You’re so damn sensitive. That’s why we never want to hang out with you. We were only joking.” She tapped the button on the side panel of her door.

“What part was supposed to be funny?” Kaliah challenged.

“See, I told you, she’d pull a stunt like this,” Nicole chimed in.

Kaliah glared at her seatmate. “Pull what kind of stunt? You mean standing up for myself? You know, Nicole, you’ve had a lot to say since this trip started but you haven’t said anything directly to me. I’m sitting right here.”

Nicole folded her arms across her chest, turned her body away from Kaliah and stared pointedly out the window as if she couldn’t be bothered to respond. She had always been the one the friend group who had the most to say but whenever anyone called her out, she went silent. All bark and no bite.

“Ugh, I can’t wait to get out of this damn, car,” Sasha groaned and took another puff from her joint before handing it to Brianna.

Clearly none of them were willing to apologize or even address her concerns, so Kaliah had no choice but to let it go. At least the window was now unlocked.

She inhaled deeply once the cool, fresh air flowed into the car.

This was supposed to be a nice vacation to the Tennessee Mountains in a nice cabin over-looking a scenic view of the forest. It was just outside of the city where there would be a lot of activities and an annual Halloween festival that usually drew people from all over the country.

They rode in silence for several more miles. Kaliah pulled out her phone and noticed there was still no signal. It was odd that they’d been in a dead zone for so long. It was starting to get dark and there didn’t seem to be any signs that indicated upcoming rest stops or gas stations. The road was surrounded by woods one either side of them and it seemed unending.

“Fuck!” Brianna slammed her hand against the wheel.

“What’s the matter?” Sasha asked, rolling down her window briefly to toss out the remainder of her joint.

“The fucking check engine light just came on. And do you hear that? The engine sounds funny.”

“The engine always sounds funny,” Nicole snorted. “I told you, you should have rented a car instead of packing us in the hunk of junk.”

“Yeah, with what extra money? Your cheap ass didn’t want to contribute to a rental and my baby was running just fine before we left,” Brianna responded.

“And now it isn’t. We’re not going to make it to Green Springs tonight. We’ll have to find a cheap motel and in the morning figure out what to do about this car situation,” Sasha reasoned.

“With what money? I didn’t budget to spend extra money on a hotel. We may have to sleep in the car tonight unless one of you can cover me.”

Nicole scoffed. “You always want someone to spot your broke ass, Brianna.”

The car swerved slightly before Brianna straightened it out. “Bitch, you were the one crying broke last month at brunch because you had to pay your boyfriend’s child support to keep him out of jail. We all had to cover the tab even though you were ordering stuff off the menu you couldn’t pronounce. I don’t even know why you’re with that bum in the first place.”

“At least my man isn’t fucking my best friend who’s been smiling in my face this entire trip.”

Kaliah’s mouth fell open.

The smirk of evil satisfaction on Nicole’s face told Kaliah that Nicole had been holding that bit of news for a moment like this.

How had she considered any of these women her friends? People who clearly didn’t like her. Hell, they didn’t even seem to like each other.

Once again the car went deathly silent as realization dawned on the other occupants of the vehicle exactly what Nicole meant.

Sasha flipped her an errant strand of her long hair over her shoulder and released a nervous laugh. “Nicole, you’re always running your mouth about stuff you don’t know anything about.”

“What the hell is she talking about, Sasha?” Brianna demanded.

“I have no idea. You know Nicole likes to make shit up.”

“Was I making shit up when you told me you’ve been fucking Damon for the past three months and you felt bad for going behind Bri’s back? But you can’t stop because the dick game is sensational. In fact you let him hit raw and I took you to the drug store to get three pregnancy tests when you were late. I recorded one of our conversations by the way.” The smug smirk returned to Nicole’s full lips.

Before Kaliah realized what was happening, Sasha reached in the back seat and swung her fist at Nicole. Brianna, also activated took one hand off the steering wheel to rip off Sasha’s wig.

“Bitch!” Sasha screamed grabbing her wig cap covered scalp.

The driver and passenger started throwing punches, and the car swerved to the side of the road.

Kaliah screamed at the top of her lungs as flashbacks from a previous accident hit her. She’d managed to survive that one even though it had changed her life forever. She feared, she wouldn’t be so lucky with these two idiots fighting in the front seat.

All she wanted was to have a little fun vacation. She didn’t think it would end up in her death.