Collide Read Online Free Page A

“Yell, scream, cry. Anything.”
    Dad sighs his annoyance.
    “What do you want us to say? We’re worried about you?” Mom’s voice trembles. “Well, we are, okay? Happy now?”
    “This isn’t my fault, Mom.”
    She spins around and pins me with her glare. “Is that what you think?” she yells.
    There’s no way for me to answer her questions without making things a lot worse, so I let the silence engulf us and count the minutes until we’re home and I can hide away from Mom’s expectant glare.
    “I’m speaking to you, Dakota.”
    “What am I supposed to say, Mom?” My voice is strained and hollow. “I saw something weird and it freaked me out. This doesn’t mean I’m crazy.”
    “And in the lobby?” Mom won’t let this go. “What happened?”
    I wish I could disappear, get swallowed up by the back seat of the car. I guess silence is better than her version of the Inquisition.
    I stare back out of the window, noting the thick forests as we reach the top of the hill. This isn’t our street; we aren’t headed toward our house.
    “Where are we? Why aren’t we going home?”
    Dad clenches his jaw.
    “Mom?”
    She grabs the paper and hands it to me. I read the newspaper headline again, noticing the large San Francisco Chronicle across the top. National news. About me and my little breakdown. Great. I scan the page and pull out the highlights:
    Screaming about a man dying, her head exploding, the young woman threw scalding hot coffee at the barista and several patrons before trying to flee the scene. Friends and family have refused to comment on the situation. The injured barista stated that the girl is a regular and has never “acted strange” in past visits to the coffee shop.
    The words form a noose around my neck, making the event more and more real. I get why Dr. Donaldson wants me committed, why my parents are pissed. I’m nuts.
    Crap times two.
    “So?” I ask again. “Did you decide to send me to Mountain View after all? I didn’t do anything!” I crumple the paper and throw it on the seat.
    “Dakota,” Dad says in his most authoritative voice. “Your incident made the national news.”
    “I know,” I say as I wring my hands. “It’s ridiculous, with all the craziness in the world you’d think there’d be something more interesting to report about.”
    “The article poses a serious problem for us, Dakota.” Dad grinds his teeth, a strange mixture of concern and anger pushing through his expression. “Ten years ago your mom and I went into witness protection.” His voice is too controlled, too rehearsed.
    My brain struggles around each word, every syllable. “What are you talking about?”
    “You made the news. We’re exposed now. In danger. We can’t stay here anymore.” Dad’s words come out in an angry huff. “We have to leave Cambria. Now.”
    I open my mouth to object and the words die before they are spoken. There is just nothing I can say that will make any of this make sense.
    “Christyn!” Dad says as he stares hard through the rear-view mirror. “They’ve found us.” His voice compels me to turn. A large black SUV with windows black as night rushes up the winding road, closing the distance between us.
    Panic floods Mom’s expression, replaced by a foreign steely resolve. “Dakota, unbuckle your seatbelt and do exactly what I tell you to do.”
    “Mom?”
    “When the car slows, jump out and run to your brother’s house. You know how to get there from here, yes?”
    “W-what?” My throat closes around my fear.
    “Dakota, you have to do this.” Mom grabs my hand and squeezes hard. “Unlock the door.”
    I follow her instructions as the black SUV rams into the car, jolting me forward.
    Dad grips the wheel tightly and we begin to swerve off the road and toward the tree line. “Find your brother.” He says before retrieving a gun from the glove compartment.
    “Dad? Mom?”
    “Just go. Run. Don’t stop. No matter what happens.”
    Mom opens my car