Free Sara by Greg Herren Page B

hug. “I’m so sorry.”
    â€œI told him not to drive home,” she said, her voice quiet. “He was drunk. After he dropped me off, I shouldn’t have let him drive home. I shouldn’t have let him drive me home. I shouldn’t have let him drive. If only—”
    â€œIf you’d gone with him you’d be dead, too.”
    â€œI know.” She wiped her tears away. “But that doesn’t make me feel any better, you know? What’s really funny, though, is that Noah didn’t usually get drunk like that, Tony. He would have a few beers and maybe catch a light buzz, but he didn’t like getting sloppy like he did last night.”
    â€œHuh.” I had no idea whether Noah drank a lot, so took her word for it.
    â€œAnd he just kept talking about that bitchy girl with you guys on Friday night.” She went on like I hadn’t said anything, her face twisting angrily.
    â€œWhat?” I looked at her. “Sara? He was talking about her all night?”
    â€œIf that’s the name of the girl who was with you guys at Vista on Friday night, yeah. The girl who was so nasty to us when we stopped by your table?”
    â€œYeah, her name is Sara. Sara Sterling.”
    She rolled her eyes. “He wouldn’t shut up about her.”
    â€œWhat did he say?”
    She got off the swing and walked to the end of the porch. “He said awful things about her—it was weird, it was like he knew her. But she just moved here, right? How could he know her? When we were going out to the truck last night leaving the party, he just went on and on.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “We had a fight, and it wasn’t just about him being drunk.” Her voice quivered. “It’s all my fault, Tony, it’s all my fault.”
    She started to cry again. What could I do? I walked over to her and put my arms around her and held her tight. She put her arms around me, and she cried. I didn’t know what to say to her. I’m lousy in those kinds of situations. I am always so afraid that I will say the wrong thing, so I just stood there and made little sympathetic noises that did absolutely no good whatsoever.
    Finally she stopped crying. “I’m sorry, Tony.”
    â€œIt’s okay.”
    â€œMaybe I should tell you about it.” She stopped herself. “No, maybe I won’t. I think this is something I need to deal with myself. I’m not ready to talk about it, though.” She pulled herself away from me. “I need to go get ready. We’re going over to the Greenes’.” She kissed me on the cheek. “Thanks for coming, Tony. Where’s Glenn anyway?”
    â€œHe’s um—” Oh, the hell with it , I thought. “He’s out with Sara.”
    Her face darkened. “Tell Glenn to be careful, Tony. He needs to be very careful.” Without another word she turned and walked into the house.
    The screen door slammed behind her.

    *

    I dreamed about Sara again that night. This time, I was driving down a dark road, and someone was singing loudly along with the stereo. I looked over to see who was driving, and it was Noah. He had a beer in his hand, and the way his head was bobbing he was obviously drunk. “Slow down, man!” I shouted at him.
    He turned and looked at me, and his face was covered in blood. “What do I care, man? I’m dead already.”
    And I could hear that laughter again, that horrible laughter.
    â€œShe’s going to kill us all, man,” Noah said. “She ain’t gonna rest until it’s all over and we’re all dead.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œSara. Who did you think? She hates us all, and she’s going to kill us all. She hates, man. She really hates.”
    â€œWhy, Noah?”
    He just looked at me like I was an idiot.
    The laughter got louder.
    He winced. “Make her stop, man, make her stop!”
    It grew louder.
    He