Read Going Gray for Free Online

“We’re going to see Dad in a minute.” Justin took hold of a plastic bag, then pointed at her.
    “Blood, Emily,” he said, wiping at his own mouth. “Bleeding.” Emily spat out the blood in her mouth and moved her hand to her side. She’d hit the windshield hard, breaking something, and it was deep, causing her to bleed internally.
    “I know, buddy. I’ll be okay.” Her voice wavered, filled with uncertainty. “Another turn and we’ll be at the mall. Understand?” Justin nodded, and she watched some of the color return to his face.
    The last mile was a near blur. Emotion, and whatever had broken inside her, had started to take hold. Emily followed the blue line until she hit a parked car, bouncing off of it. But unlike the car that had crashed into them, she’d gone slow enough that she could back away and continue on.
    Emily bumped into another parked car and then a third. From the backseat, Justin had become livelier, laughing at the comical way his body bumped around.
    “Daddy never does that,” he said. “Again, again, again!”
    “Not now. Not on purpose, anyway.” Her words sounded slurred and her mind felt foggy. “Got all your plastic on?”
    “Uh-huh,” he answered. “But I don’t know how to make eyeballs.”
    “Push a finger through the plastic.” She heard the thin sound of plastic stretching and popping. The car hit something again. But it wasn’t another parked car. They’d hit the concrete curb separating the asphalt from the mall’s entrance. They’d made it. All at once, Emily thought she was going to begin crying.
    “A hundred steps,” she said aloud. “A hundred steps to the doors.” A small fact she’d learned only because she and her girlfriends had counted them out one afternoon after they’d grown bored. She stopped then and thought maybe she could drive over the curb—drive up to the doors. The bollards , she remembered. Stumpy concrete legs sprouting up through the pavement like guardian statues. They’d been installed after the last hurricane, keeping the cars off the sidewalk. She couldn’t see them, but they were there.
    “Are you ready, Justin?”
    “I’m ready,” he answered. “But where is your costume?” Emily grabbed the plastic bags and stretched one over her left arm, grimacing when pain knifed from deep inside her. She grabbed another bag, pulling it up her other arm, punching a hole for her hand. More pain that threatened to make her black out. The inside of the car was turning over, and for a moment she couldn’t remember why they were at the mall. Dizzy, she cradled her head. Their time was short.
    “Emily?” she heard. “Let’s go, Emily. I wanna see Dad.”
    “The water,” she slurred. “Cover your head with the plastic, we’re going.” Opening a bottle, she dumped it over her head, pushing down her hair. The cold water woke her up. Her long red tresses fell flat, covering her face.
    Soon her feet were outside and the salty fog captured her lungs. The condensation on the car’s handle burned instantly. She ignored it, opened Justin’s door, and sucked in the car’s air.
    “Take a deep breath, and hold it as long as you can.”
    “Hold it?”
    “Try holding your breath, okay? On three.”
    “On three? But I’m scared.”
    “I am too. Dad will be in there.”
    Justin reached up, clutching his sister’s neck.
    “One… two… three!”
    Emily began counting as she walked toward the mall’s tall glass doors. This was one walk she could do with her eyes shut. A straight shot. One hundred steps from the curb to the doors—eyes open or closed.
    By the twentieth step, the air had leached through her wet hair, but she pushed forward, stretching her gait. Tears were streaming down her face as her eyes tried desperately to wash the poison burning them. Justin’s hands were loosening, falling away from her.
    “Hold on,” she coughed, hearing raspy mucous rattle deep in her throat. Blood continued to fill her mouth, and by the