Free Red Flags by C.C. Brown Page A

behind me. He took me
through his neighborhood, and, thinking with my rational mind, I
realized that he had no intentions of putting me on the freeway in
this car – not yet anyway.
    We arrived at a stop sign, and I was
paralyzed with fear once more. I knew that getting to the stop sign
would mean I would have to try to get out of first gear again. I
took a deep breath, attempted to do what I did the last time, and
to my surprise, I came out of first gear. I must have given it a
little too much gas because the tires squealed, but nonetheless, I
was out of first gear and the car was moving. Jason instructed me
to make the next two rights and that would put us back on his
street. At the bottom of the street, was an incline, and that
presented another challenge that I was not prepared for.
    Jason sensed my fear and without looking at
me, barked the next set of instructions.
    “When you come off of the clutch, the car is
going to naturally roll back, so you’ll have to give it enough gas
to propel us forward.”
    I heard his words and fear gripped me
again.
    “What if I stall and we roll backwards?” My
voice was barely audible by this point.
    “Well, I guess the cars down the road are
going to have to file an insurance claim,” he said very
sarcastically. “Seriously, if that happens, just hit your
breaks.”
    I took note of my new instructions and
prepared myself for what felt like a monumental task. I eased off
of the clutch, and just as Jason said, the car started to ease
back. A bit startled, I pressed the gas. Apparently, I gave it too
much gas and the tires squealed. The car jerked forward, but to my
surprise, the car moved up the incline – we didn’t stall.
    Feeling victorious, I pulled the car back
into Jason’s driveway and beamed my pearly whites in his direction.
He was trying very hard to stifle a smile, but I could see it
creeping through. I turned the car off, and set the parking break.
I sat back in my seat, feeling the rigidity leave my body.
    We walked back into the house, and taking my
hand in his, Jason ran his other hand through his hair, while
simultaneously blowing out his breath. I guess I stressed him out.
Once we were back in the house, I realized that I had not had my
phone since Jason took it the night before and I ran into the
bedroom to retrieve it. Six missed calls, and five text messages.
Two of the missed calls were from Chelsea, and four were from my
dad. Three of the text messages were from Chelsea, while the other
two were from Mila. I began to scroll through the text messages and
found Chelsea apologetic, and Mila pissed.
     
    from Chels
    *hey doll. I’m sorry about how I acted. Tell Bradley
I’m sorry too!*
     
    from Chels
    *I get it if you are mad, just let me know you are
okay.*
     
    from Mila
    *Seriously, Chelsea told me what happened. She is
sorry, let us know you are okay.*
     
    from Chels
    *Okay Cara. Enough of the ghost man act. I’m worried…
respond to one of us.*
     
    from Mila
    *What the fuck Pinks? So unlike you, I will call for
a search party soon.*
     
    A sting of guilt hit me. I was usually a very
responsible person, and I didn’t leave people worrying about me –
well not anymore. Having my two best friends so apologetic,
worried, and angry put a bad taste in my mouth. Jason took my phone
last night, and while I understood why he did it, I had to let him
know that he couldn’t dictate things to me. I turned to go and find
him but he was already standing in the doorway of the bedroom.
Because I was startled, and pissed, I stared at him with anger in
my eyes. He looked confused and moved into the room.
    “What’s wrong?” he said with caution in his
voice.
    "Jason, you took my phone and shut it off
last night; my roommates have been worried about me,” I angrily
barked at him.
    He stepped closer to me, and moved further
into the room.
    “Cara, do you really think I would leave your
roommates hanging like that?” He tried to gauge my reaction, but