This story is by Stephanie Newbern and was part of our 2024 Spring Writing Contest. You can find all the writing contest stories here.
Cammie’s mouth quivered and dribbled with sweat as she looked at her watch: 8:47pm. Her breath grew more labored with each second that passed. Step on it, Aubrey! Please step on it!
“You’re nervous, aren’t you,” Aubrey grinned, as she maintained one hand on the steering wheel.
Cammie didn’t want to answer, but felt she needed to. “You know good and well I am. I can’t be late for giving Mama her medication. I’m all she’s got left to care for her.”
Aubrey laughed. “Yeah, I know. But it was fun though, wasn’t it? We needed a night out with the girls. Well, at least I did anyway. I had to drag you out like always. Life’s too short, ya know.”
Cammie turned in the passenger seat and glared at Aubrey. “I should’ve kept by ass home.”
Aubrey shrugged. “Sorry you didn’t have fun. Won’t be too much longer.”
Cammie tried her best to keep her gaze out the window, even though it was dark as pitch. I should be happy to spend time with my BFF, right? What the heck is wrong with me? She wondered. Of course, there was no easy answer.
This was one of those times Cammie hated living deep in the backwoods, in No Man’s Land. But her family had lived here for generations. She didn’t dare leave the only life she ever knew, even though she should well be onto college by now.
To keep her mind off how late it would be before she got home to Mama, Cammie fidgeted with the locket Aubrey gave her on her 21st birthday. Her fingers traced over the inscription: Thank you for being my Unbiological Sister. Cammie tried to force a smile since it was the only gift she ever received, from anyone. She couldn’t forget the last words Mama said to her before she fell ill from the stroke: So, you’re 21 years old! So what! That ain’t nothin’ special! Hell, at 21, I was raising my four younger brothers after my folks, your grand folks, were killed in that robbery. Be thankful you still got a Mama.
Maybe we were sisters in another life, Aubrey always loved to remind Cammie whenever she felt the need to complain about Mama.
Aubrey hummed a happy tune as she drove on. Cammie felt herself nodding off two or three times but tried to stay awake.
Cammie shivered a bit. Why? She wondered. It’s 98 degrees out on this blazing summer night.
Cammie strained to look out the windshield. It seemed darker than usual. Maybe a fog was coming in. Surely, Aubrey knew where she was going, having made this drive a hundred times.
Suddenly, a bump and a jerk forward. Something’s got to be off, Cammie pondered.
“Hey, umm, you know we passed my house, right,” Cammie raised her voice to be heard over the car radio. “Right?” Cammie asked again.
Aubrey didn’t answer.
“Aubrey, are you okay? What’s going on?” This time Cammie turned in her seat to face Aubrey.
Aubrey continued to stay silent. What happened to the jovial Aubrey who was humming a few minutes ago? “Hush,” she finally said.
Cammie reached out to touch Aubrey’s shoulder. Maybe she’s having a nightmare, Cammie tried to convince herself. Aubrey pushed her hand away. “Don’t touch me!”, startling Cammie enough to back up against the passenger window. Cammie shook her head in disbelief, trying to say something. But no words would come.
Who is this person in the car with me? What if I don’t make it in time to give Mama her meds?
Aubrey maintained her gaze on the road and tightened her grip this time on the steering wheel. Finally, she took a deep breath. “Your Mama doesn’t need you.”
That was enough for Cammie to speak. “Wh-wh-wh-what do you mean by that? Take me back home right now.”
Aubrey started to turn up the radio, but for some reason, decided not to. “I’m taking you to where it’ll just be us. You and me, kid. Against the world! Don’t know where I’m going yet, but it’ll be far, far away from here. From everybody.”
Cammie sensed her lips were dry and moistened them. Can’t let Aubrey see me shaking! “Look, if you just turn around at this next sign…” she began.
Aubrey’s mouth gaped open, as if an idea came to her. “At the next sign? Did you hear yourself? You said the word ‘sign’!” She rambled, as if showing off a big, exciting project to her classmates. “You know this is a sign that it’s just gonna be us besties…forever! No other family. No other friends. Heck, I didn’t even like those chicks we hung out with back there.”
“But your sisters and your brother,” Cammie pleaded. “You still care about them, and they need you.”
Aubrey pounded the steering wheel with her fist, and the car swerved a little. “Don’t ever mention them to me again,” she whispered through gritted teeth. “YOU are my sister now, and I will tell you as many times as you need to hear it.”
But Cammie persisted. No, I can’t give up. “I’m so happy to have you for a friend. I’d do anything in the world for you. But Mama, she…she…,” her voice trailed off.
Maybe another approach? Cammie remembered her watch and held it up. “Look, it’s 10:17pm! The last dose I gave Mama should be wearing off now. We can’t let her die!”
Aubrey frowned, then quieted down for a minute. She turned off the radio, the first time Cammie saw her do that, and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as though in deep thought. “You do love me, right, Cams?”
“Huh?” Cammie shook her head, unable to process this. How Aubrey continued to drive, in the dark, despite her long-winded tirade, was beyond comprehension.
“Well, it makes sense, doesn’t it,” Aubrey went on. “I mean, who stood up for you in junior high school when all the girls laughed at your scrawny body in gym class? Who gave you notes so you could cheat on the final English exam, AND kept you out of trouble?”
Then Aubrey paused. Cammie held her breath, hoping that would be the end of it.
Aubrey turned her face to Cammie, “Who spent every last dime I had on your 21st birthday gift?”
Cammie closed her eyes and tried to think of something, anything other than what was happening. Despite the pitch darkness, and Aubrey driving without a place in mind, Cammie thought of her life a year ago. Christmastime. Just before Mama’s stroke. She remembered holding Mama’s cold hand and caressing her thinning hair. And seeing Mama’s tear-filled eyes.
She remembered hearing Mama’s voice, “Cammie, girl, I love you.”
“Aubrey. Turn this car around,” Cammie’s voice was faint.
No response.
Cammie leaned into Aubrey and grabbed the steering wheel. The vehicle careened for a bit before jerking to a complete stop on the gravel road. They shivered as they faced each other.
Aubrey’s gaze fell upon Cammie’s locket, which she twirled in her fingers, then snapped it off from around her neck. One of the locket’s beads popped, hitting the windshield. Aubrey jumped back in her seat, startled. Her hand left the steering wheel for the first time tonight.
Cammie dangled the locket in front of Aubrey. “This locket means that much to you? Here!” She threw it to the backseat of the car.
Aubrey gasped, “No, no! What are you doing!” She jumped into the backseat, searching for it in the dark.
“We do need each other, Aubrey,” Cammie declared, while sliding into the driver’s seat. Her fingers trembled as she took over the steering wheel. That wretched steering wheel! “You need me so you can feel loved.” She looked back at Aubrey who continued to feel around for the locket. “And I need you…” she paused, “…to tell my Mama what you did. This ends tonight.”
Aubrey found the locket. Unable to meet Cammie’s gaze, she curled into a ball in the back seat. “But will you still love me, Cams? I-I-I really need to hear it,” Aubrey sniffled.
Cammie didn’t answer. “It’s okay, you can do it. I have faith in you to tell Mama. Don’t be nervous. Isn’t that what you always tell me?”
The car took several tries to start, and the engine finally turned on.
Cammie looked at her watch: 10:37pm. As she made a U-turn back onto the main road, she murmured, “If this friendship can survive, Mama can survive too.”
After a seemingly endless drive through the stifling dark, the headlights revealed the route marker sign Cammie longed for: LINWOOD CITY, JCT 23, NEXT RIGHT. Homeward bound at last, Cammie sighed.
When Cammie pulled into the driveway of Mama’s house, Aubrey finally spoke, while clutching the locket, “Weeping may endure for a night…”
“…But joy comes in the morning,” Cammie finished.
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