Page 5 of The Dare

Mom is still there with a far off look as I come back.

“You okay sweetie?” she asks, her eyes full of concern.

“I’ll be alright. Where’s Suze?” I ask, sniffing as it registers I can’t hide the fact I was crying.

“She’s in the bathroom, that way,” she says, wrinkling her mouth as she jerks her thumb in the opposite direction I just came from.

“What’s wrong with that?” I ask confused.

“Nothing,” Mom says. “Now tell me what upset you, was it Suzanna, just now?” she insists. “I’m not going with you the whole way home, so we don’t have all day together,” she reminds me.

Mom really is trying to work things out again with my dad, even moving in with him for a while. Letting Suze and I have our home all to ourselves.

“Nothing,” I fib. “Just motion sickness I think,” I murmur, looking past her as I hear Suzanna coming back, her squealing, shrieking voice winding up with each step she takes.

Like a chipmunk on helium.

“What is it?” I ask, almost annoyed by her happiness as she grips onto my arm with both of her hands.

“Your turn next, Natasha. I don’t care about the rules… it’sgottabe a dare!” she squeaks, digging into my arm so hard I’m thinking she’s lost her mind.

“Fine,” I huff, pulling my arm back.

“Dare,” I tell her defiantly.

Do your worst.

Chapter Two

Michael

Why the train?

I ask myself that again before I even get aboard. I’ve got my laptop, my duffle bag and that’s all. But there’s something about the train that seems different.

Odd.

Unusual.

A shiver runs down my spine before I board, giving me a chance to imagine the train crashing. Like people who are scared to fly do before each flight.

I brush it off, knowing that I stand a greater chance of dying from boredom on this almost empty ghost train than in any train wreck.

It’s a train wreck that I’m trying to get away from too.

The one called my life.

“You need a break,” My doctor told me. “Go on a holiday somewhere unusual… do something that scares you,” he advised me.

“Hell. You can even use my beach house out West if you want. It’s sitting there empty ten months of the year.”

As one of my best clients, he knows me more than most.

My whole life is one big fucking vacation, that’s part of the problem.

I never meet anyone exciting or done anything interesting.

Why?