Read When They Fade for Free Online

destiny.
    I open the door and peer inside. A girl. She looks about my age, maybe a bit older. Medium-length hair and a heart-shaped face. She’s wearing a fleece jacket with a hood and a pair of jeans. Black boots. I always look at the clothing first. I like seeing how everything has changed over the years. I rarely get picked up by females. So something like this is a bit of a treat, especially since she’s young. I wonder what decade this might be. A few Fades prior, I got a glimpse of a newspaper. The date was 2011. I wonder how much time has passed since then. Maybe tonight I’ll get a clue.
    “Thanks,” I say as I climb inside.
    She smiles, a little wary, but not overly. She’s a very pretty girl, but there’s something in her eyes that says she’s unhappy. Boyfriend troubles, probably. It often is.
    The girl puts the car in gear and the tires start to roll. The fog moves around us, brushing up against the car, keeping everything strictly between us and the outside world.
    “Where are you going?”
    “The next town,” I say. My standard reply. I know that Evander is a small community about ten miles ahead of us. “You can drop me off anywhere.” I smile slightly. That lie always makes me want to break out in a grin.
    The girl hesitates for a moment. “Yeah, sure,” she says. “I wasn’t planning on going that far, but why not.”
    “Where are you going?” I ask.
    “Nowhere. Just out for a drive. Didn’t realize it was going to be this foggy.”
    “It’s beautiful,” I say.
    I remember when I went down to San Francisco with the group. Julian woke me up early one morning and we snuck away. We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge in the fog, admiring the way the whiteness swallowed up the ocean beneath us. It was like we were walking across the clouds. I told Julian that it looked like we could jump right into all that softness. He laughed and held my hand tighter.
    All that reminiscing makes me look down at my hands. I swear, I can almost feel his touch. It’s been so long since anyone held my hand. I look over at the girl and wonder what I’m going to see when I touch her skin. Should I do it discreetly or just reach out and get it over with? It’s hard to tell. I’m not sure what sort of reaction I might get.
    She notices me watching her, and her fingers dig deeper into her steering wheel. Her face hardens. There’s something there just beneath the surface.
    “Is something wrong?” I ask.
    “No,” she says, but her tone suggests otherwise. She glances over at me, looking at my face. “Are you from around here? I’ve never seen you before. I thought pretty much everyone in this area went to my school.”
    I shrug. I could tell her I’m visiting friends, but she might ask which ones. She’s right: this is a small community, and everyone knows everyone. The teenagers are probably a tight-knit crowd. I have to be careful. I don’t want to spook her—well, at least not yet.
    “I’m passing through,” I say. “My name’s Molly.”
    “I’m Tatum.”
    We sit in silence for the next minute or so. I look at the sun visor above my head, wondering if there might be a mirror there. Would she think I was weird if I checked? Would I even recognize myself?
    “You don’t have any luggage.” The girl pulls me from my vain thoughts.
    “What?”
    “Luggage. You don’t have any.” She eyes me again, suspiciously. She’s got a good point, too. If I’m passing through, a hitchhiker trying to see the country, I should at least have a change of clothing or maybe even a sleeping bag. I look down at my empty arms. I don’t even carry a purse.
    “It’s in a locker at the bus station,” I say quickly. “In Seattle. I used to have an old friend here, so I just came down for the day. But he’s moved away.”
    She nods, obviously buying my story. There is a bus station in Evander, so she’s probably thinking that’s where I’ll want to be dropped off. I turn to look out the window. After