Uncovered Lightly

Chapter 2

Driving silently on the empty road, Cici’s thoughts began to drift towards how much work she still had left to complete. She had been so busy these past few days focusing on revising for her year nine exams. She may be homeschooled, but her mother was incredibly insistent that she achieve the highest grades she could and Cici always loved learning new things; it kept her busy and entertained, so she thrived on this type of education. After all, Mara was great at helping out whenever she didn’t know the answer to something. Mum used to playfully snap at Mara for helping, saying things like “Leave her, she won’t learn it if you keep telling her the answers!” and “Mara, do you not have anything better to do than to work on a math paper.” However, the sisters both knew their mother secretly loved how much time the girls would spend together when working on these papers, Mara usually preferred time alone, and it warmed their mother’s heart to see them together.

These memories triggered an alarming thought in Cici’s mind. She had been incredibly distracted by studying and having to practically abandon another house that she hadn’t stopped to think about where her mother was, and why it was taking her so long to get back to them. She was only supposed to be gone for one night. The thought alarmed Cici to no end, and she immediately broke the silence to question her sister.

“Is Mum meeting us there?” she asked quickly.

She received no response to her speedy question, so like the mature girl she was, Cici snapped her fingers in front of Mara’s face in a bid to capture her attention. Mara flinches slightly but doesn’t take her eyes off of the road.

“What?” She grumbled.

“What?” Cici mimicked in a mocking tone. “Stop ignoring me.” Pouting, Cici began to fiddle with her thumbs, a habit both sisters inherited from their mother.

With little interest in replying to Cici, Mara replies in a nonchalant manner. “Oh, sorry. I'm not meaning to, I’m just trying to focus on the road”

“So… she is meeting us there then?” Cici huffed out, once again growing increasingly frustrated at the one-way conversation. “Tamara!” she snapped, having enough of being ignored. This finally seemed to pull Mara’s attention, yet she shocked Cici by pulling the car over. Mara took her seat belt off and turned to face Cici, but she did not say anything. Seeing a raised eyebrow and an increasingly curious face across from her, Mara sighed and reluctantly decided she had to actually talk to her sister in order to stop the annoyance of being interrogated 24/7

“I don’t know yet. I… it’s difficult, okay.” she stammered over her words, not making any sense to Cici, which seemed to unfortunately make her curiosity peak instead of mellow.

“What’s difficult?” Cici probed, insistent on finding out anything at all. At this point she didn’t care what it was, she just wanted to know something. Anything.

“Difficult to explain.” Mara answered.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Cici joked “Well it must be, considering it’s taken you 13 years to spill the goss to me.” A small giggle escaped Mara’s sullen face. “I’m serious though, I want to know why I haven't been told anything.” At the change in Cici’s tone, Mara straightened in her seat and carefully nodded head in understanding.

“Can you wait until we get to the hotel? It’s getting dark quickly, and I don’t want to get caught in the rain. You know how much I hate that.” Cici could see Mara’s reluctance but accepted this as a solution. Instead of responding, Cici nodded towards the dash, to which Mara plugged her seat belt back in and began to drive off again.

The car was in a comfortable silence, but from all the heated conversation, Cici became a tad sweaty, so she rolled down the window a little and gazed out into the dense forestry they were driving through. Suddenly, a blur of something black and blue stole her attention in the distance. Whatever it was, they kept pace with their car, running incredibly fast. Cici couldn’t see it properly, but it appeared to be very, very large. Bigger than any animal she had seen before. Extremely fascinated with what she was seeing, she rolled the window down the rest of the way in an attempt to get a clearer view.

Just then, the car came to a slow stop. She didn't look away from the animal, yet she knew from the red hue flooding the dark greenery that they were at a red light. The animal stopped its movement and turned its head slowly towards their car. Cici was in a trance. Bright red eyes stared back at her, her mouth silently falling open at the sight. She could see more clearly now. She registered that she was looking at a wolf, a giant wolf.

A cool breeze blew through the open window, which was followed by Mara’s undeniable gasp. This immediately snatched Cici’s attention away from the creature, and she turned to see Mara’s face etched with fear. Without a word, Mara sped off, going faster than what Cici thought was safe. Cici released a light squeak at the unexpected force the speeding car brought, as she sat back in her seat.

“What are you doing? That was a red light!” Cici shouted.

Mara winced, her face aghast for some unknown reason.

She began to weave expertly through the winding roads, which were surrounded by dense woods. It was dark now, and an eerie feeling spread through Cici, understanding a little more why Mara might not like driving at night. She always thought her sister was too cautious and a scaredy-cat when it came to the dark, that she was too caught up in the horror movies she had seen and maybe superstitious. Mara always preached to Cici that just because we can't see anything doesn't mean there isn't anything there, which Cici always thought was some attempt to scare her, like annoying sisters do. Cici’s thoughts were interrupted when something large hit the side of their car, sending them spinning off the road.

“Mara!”