Page 51 of Tailwhip
After circling the block a few times, I finally find a parking spot on the side of the coffee shop. I turn the truck off and jump out and walk quickly inside. It is surprisingly busy in here. I look at the menu and notice a new latte which is right up my alley. Chocolate chip cookie dough latte. I am sold, seeing my favorite ice flavor as coffee. I can’t go wrong with this one. I place my order and wait at the end of the counter along with everyone else, double checking my phone to make sure I haven’t missed a reply from Anthony, but still have nothing. It’s not like him, but maybe he decided to go out–maybe he was getting stir crazy at the house. The barista calls out my name and I move to grab the cups. Moving over to the station that has the creamer and sugar, I add the amount in Anthony’s coffee that he likes and head to the front.
Holding one of the coffees against my chest and trying not to spill to push the door open, an older gentleman sees me struggling with the drinks and trying to get my keys out. He comes over to open the door for me. With a smile, I tell him “Thank you!” and walk outside.
I think to myself, I really need to look into getting an automatic starter for the truck; it feels even colder somehow since going in and coming back out.
I set the drinks on my hood because I still didn’t manage to get my key out of my hoodie pocket. Finally, yanking my key out and reaching for Anthony’s coffee first, I am hit by a blinding excruciating pain on the right side of my head. Dropping the coffee. I go to touch the spot that is hurting when I feel another sharp pain on the same side of my head.
I fall against my truck, knocking over the other coffee. I reach to grab my head and when I pull my hand away, it is covered in my blood. At that moment, I feel the warm, thick liquid running down the side of my face and starting to drip into my eye.
Everything goes blurry, when…
30
Anthony
Alone – Nathan Gray
Jolting awake from the loud banging on the front door, I hear both Noah and Mateo shouting. “Is anyone home? Let us in! We are freezing out here!”
I look at the clock on the wall, and it is almost 5:00; Ashlynn still isn’t home. I, for some reason, get a sinking feeling, but she is with Neha. I shut down any negative thoughts.
Going to the front, I open the door. Noah and Mateo knock me out of the way to get inside with the heat. “Dude, we were banging on the door for a good 5 minutes!” Noah says.
“Yeah, sorry, I ended up taking a nap after looking over some of the tour footage.”
Mateo’s eyes go wide. “You have the tour footage. Can we see some of it?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Yeah sure, it’s not done with editing yet, but you can watch what we have. Did you guys have fun snowboarding? How did you even get back?”
Noah sighs and throws his head back to rest it on the back of the couch. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to walk for a week. That shit is harder than it looks. They have buses that go from Keystone to Frisco. We just hopped on that.”
Mateo starts laughing at him. “You’re just not a natural athlete!”
Throwing a dirty look over, Noah says, “Dude, you ate shit just as much as I did!”
“Yeah, I know! Where’s Ashlynn at? Still hanging out with Naha?” Mateo asks.
“Yeah, I figured she would be back by now. Let me call her and see what they are up to.” Grabbing my phone, I see too many missed calls and text messages; one or two is normal, but this is multiple. I see Ashlynn’s message and open it first.
6 Unread Messages
10 missed calls
Sent at 4:30
When I see the timestamp, I get an even worse feeling. Continuing to the other missed texts I see that three are from Neha, and three are from a number I don’t recognize. All Neha’s say is, “Where the hell are you? Answer your fucking phone.”
And the number I don’t know only says, “This is Heath, and we really need you to answer your phone, man. Please.”
I look at the missed calls next: all Neha and Heath. What the fuck happened? I go to tap on Neha’s name to call her when my phone starts to ring. I answer right away. “Neha, what is go–”
She interrupts me before I can finish my question, and my heart sinks with what comes from her end. “Ashlynn was assaulted outside the coffee shop. Someone found her laying by her truck. Her head was all bloody. You need to get your ass here now!”
I am trying to process what she just told me. My words fly out of my mouth, harsher than I intend them to. “Neha, what the FUCK do you mean she was assaulted?”
Starting to cry on the other end, she says, “I don’t know; they haven’t really told me anything, just get here. Please.”
“I have to get an Uber, I will be there as quickly as I can, okay?”