Indwell (Chasing Natalie's Ghosts) by Nicole Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

but in a boyish way. I definitely wasn’t interested in him like he wanted me to be. I’ll have to be careful not to give him any ideas tonight. I turned his radio on and it blared loudly, startling me. He turned it down a little.
    “Don’t you like punk?”
    “Sometimes, just on a lower volume in such small spaces.” I was missing Adam already. Justin began telling me who was at the party. I didn’t really care. I just hoped he would bring me home early. As we pulled up to an old farm house, there were already a lot of cars parked in the drive way. Some cars were even parked on the lawn. `Someone’s going to be in trouble tomorrow’, I thought.
    As we walked closer to the house I could hear laughing and loud music playing. There was a lot of shouting too. I had never been to a big party before. I liked to be alone or in small groups with my friends. This party was starting to make me nervous already. Justin noticed I was slowing down. He grabbed my hand.
    “It’s okay. I won’t leave your side, I promise,” Justin shouted as he opened the front door. I was handed a drink even before the door closed behind me. I was well aware of the effects of alcohol. I was no stranger to drunken revelry. I had even indulged on a few occasions myself back in one of our previous towns. The summer before we moved here I had been searching for a place to hide in our house when I had stumbled upon one of my father’s stashes. He had grocery bags full of green weeds. I had called my cousin, Danielle, to come over and help me with it. I knew I could sell a few small sandwich sized bags of it without my father even noticing. She was more than willing to help me out. Danielle and I had become pretty good friends after that. One night we had grabbed a bottle of vodka off the table to celebrate our business partnership. We did shots until we emptied it. She also taught me how to play a few drinking games.
    One particular night I was so sick I threw up in a ditch as we walked home from her friend’s house. I was fourteen at the time. She was a few years older than me. I thought we were immortal then. We climbed trees, flung ourselves off swings, rode on a tube through the rapids. We used to put on our rollerblades, squat down and grab car bumpers at stop lights and dare each other to hold on when the light turned green. We had a few scraped knees but never any serious injuries.
    Justin grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a group of people, half of which I knew from school, which was a relief. They were all in great spirits. I quickly finished my drink and was handed another one by one of Justin’s friends. I thanked him and went to find a seat. I climbed up onto a stool, crossed my legs and looked around. As I was sitting there, I couldn’t help but watch two long haired boys dressed in denim from head to toe about to come to blows over which band was better. As I laughed quietly an older guy walked over to me. He stood beside me. He was dressed in black from head to toe. His black hair was short and slightly spiked. He wore rings on every finger. He introduced himself as Hayden, holding his hand out for me.
    “Hi Hayden, I’m Natalie,” I said, holding his hand longer than I should have. It felt familiar, like I had held it before. I quickly brushed the thought aside. `Are you happy now mother, I’m making friends with a Satanist’, I thought to myself as I looked at his rings.
    “You don’t look like you really want to be here. I was hoping I wasn’t going to be the only one. Are you from around here?” he asked. Not this question again, I thought.
    “I’ve just recently moved here but probably won’t be staying long.” I was trying not to think about leaving Adam. Some of Hayden’s friends came over to talk to him. I looked at him and his friends and realized they were years older than most of the people here. They must be the suppliers of the legal and illegal substances floating around at this party.
    “Follow