The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

It was September 2nd, 2019. Heath was maneuvering through the mom-hugs and extended family well-wishes as no one helped him load his luggage into his car. He packed his suitcase down in the backseat. The trunk was full—his computer, his TV, his game consoles, everything.

“I can’t believe you’re 18 already!” Olivia, his mom, grabbed him once again as he shut the rear door. “My little college man.”

“Big college man,” he countered. He hugged her back.

“I’m going to miss you so much!” she said.

“Niece, let go of the young man.” Aunt Hazel’s voice cut through the crowd of gathered family and struck Olivia in that way Heath had always seen.

“Yes,” Olivia nodded. She retreated with a big smile. Tears were starting to gather in the corner of her eyes. “It’s just... It’s too soon. There’s so much more I gotta do for my baby.”

“There’s even more he has to do for himself,” Aunt Hazel rebuked Olivia. She stepped forward. Aunt Hazel was ancient, in Heath’s eyes. She had thin white hair, old wrinkled skin, dark green eyes. She was sharp, mentally, and fit, physically, if you forgave the hand tremors. She met Heath’s eyes and he gave her a little nod of thanks.

“Oh, my little man’s leaving home.” His mom was still going on.

“For four months,” Heath said. “They kick me out of the dorms at Christmas.”

“Then I have you for a month? Three weeks and you leave me again, and—”

“Niece!” Hazel interrupted sharply. She was watching Heath. He was tugged this way and that by his mother. Hell, by his mother’s sisters, and Hazel.

“Thanks Mom.” Heath took Olivia’s hands. “You’re a great mom.”

“Really?” she said, hopefully. “You’re such a nice boy. My good boy.”

“Niece, let the rest of us say goodbye,” Hazel said, sharply. She moved forward on her cane and marched up to Heath.

“Of course. Of course. But I get the last hug. And—”

Aunt Hazel shut Olivia up with a sideways gesture. Heath felt himself getting hot under the collar. He always got frustrated when people treated his mother dismissively. When it was Aunt Hazel, he never said anything. She met his gaze and he gave in. She tutted disappointedly.

She stepped close. He opened his arms for a perfunctory family hug. She poked a finger to his chest.

“You’re off to make something of yourself,” she said. “That’s your car. My foolish niece didn’t buy it for you.”

“Yes, it’s—”

“It wasn’t a question,” Aunt Hazel said, steamrolling him. “I was pointing out what good you’ve done.

“You’re a good kid. Responsible, when you have to be. But you’ve yet to take control of your life. Get out there, find yourself a calling, find yourself a girl.”

“Aunt Hazel, I hardly think—”

The same gesture shut his mother up once again.

“You don’t stop looking just because the first one is better than nothing.”

“But I have to choose a major and—”

“And if engineering’s not for you, try economics,” Aunt Hazel said.

“I’m taking political science,” Heath said.

“Well, good thing you can change your mind,” Aunt Hazel scoffed. “I wasn’t talking about your schooling. You’re good at school. You’re a good kid. You’ll go more than far enough to feel better than the bad kids who shit the bed, and only far enough to get pissed off at the bad kids who make it all of the way.”

“What? OK, that’s weird advice,” Heath said. “I’ll see you guys all at Christmas break. Or maybe I’ll drive home for Thanksgiving weekend, and—”

“No, don’t come back for us. Take control of your time and try to be busy with a girl by then,” Aunt Hazel interrupted sharply. “You’re 18 now, this has gotten pathetic.”

“What?” Heath’s cheeks burned red. “Listen, that’s not your business—”

“My family is my business.”

“And, what if he doesn’t meet a nice girl by Thanksgiving or—”

The gesture again. Olivia’s chin fell. The blush on Heath’s cheeks turned from embarrassment to anger. He said nothing.

“I thought so,” Aunt Hazel said, with a surrendered sigh. “This is for you.”

Her hand shook as she leaned her cane against the car and reached into her cardigan pocket. Her hand was surgeon-steady when she pulled it out. A chipped bronze arrowhead dangled from a tough black cord. She reached out, pulled open his left hand, and dropped the head into his open palm. His mother’s sisters, Jenny and Karen, stepped closer out of the crowd.

“You can’t control everything, but this’ll keep someone unworthy from controlling you,” Aunt Hazel declared.

“It’s a good luck charm?” Heath looked down incredulously.

“I don’t wait for luck,” Aunt Hazel said. “Neither should you.”

“Thank you,” he said. He was polite and well mannered, not thankful. He stuffed the arrowhead in his pocket. Aunt Hazel stepped back and it was the rush and flood of hugs and goodbyes. He was amazed he didn’t have to back over a second-cousin or a godmother to get out of the driveway. He beep-beeped the horn and waved.

He was hardly around the stop sign at the end of the street before he yanked the pendant out of his jeans.

“Fucking hell,” he said, with a smile. He tossed it into the passenger seat and couldn’t find it, though he hardly looked, at the end of the two hour drive to Halifax.

“I can’t believe you said all of that to him,” Olivia said, turning to Aunt Hazel with all of the strength she could muster. Aunt Hazel tried the gesture but Olivia barked. “Don’t you wave your hand at me when I’m not interrupting anything! If Heath follows your advice, he’s going to end up with a string of bitches who’ll eat him alive. What he needs is a nice girl. Someone to bring back home.”

“Niece, sweetheart,” Aunt Hazel said, narrowing her eyes at Olivia. “Even the nice girls are going to eat Heath alive.”

Aislin leaned over the counter and smiled broadly at the skinny man typing up her delivery ticket. She put her elbows down. Her winter coat was unzipped and the sweater below hung away from her throat. He could almost almost see her tits. She was dressed fluffily, comfortably, bralessly. What should’ve been eight seconds of typing took four minutes.

“Oh thank you so much!” Aislin beamed, her smile could easily melt all of the frost outside. “This whole thing is so scary!”

“No need to be too scared,” the clerk wore a fake mask of confidence. “Are you, uh, going to get home safe?”

“Oh yeah,” Aislin smiled and gestured to Heath, who was sitting across the post office lobby. “I’ve got a good friend driving me home.”

“Oh, a good friend…” The clerk’s excitement fell. He printed off the stickers and stood up. He walked around the desk to where two big rubber totes waited. They were closed tight with zip ties. She had stuffed in all of her stuff from her dorm room. It was get-out-and-go-home time. The apocalypse was starting. Coronavirus.

“This is a good idea,” the clerk said.

“Yeah, it was mine.” Uly, the next girl in line, another a teenaged college freshman, also very pretty, smiled brightly. “But I have to send mine to The States. Ashie’s just going across the province.”

“Only so much room in Heath’s car though, yeah,” said Tabitha, a third girl. Her stuff was in a cardboard box and a wheelie suitcase with the zippers closed by little padlocks.

“You’re all with him?” The clerk looked excited again.

“Yeah, they’re all mine,” Heath said, with a smile from across the room. Aislin snorted in laughter. Uly had a hand on her hip as she grinned. Tabitha shook her head.

“Your stuff might arrive after you,” the clerk warned.

“I have more clothes at mom’s,” Tabitha said.

“Thank you again,” Aislin said to the clerk. Uly was next in line. Aislin sat down next to Heath.

“You OK?” Heath asked.

“I’m great,” she frowned. “I was hoping for a couple of snow days, not the semester being canceled.”

“Yeah, and they shut down a lot of restaurants. So it’s going to be gas stations for snacks as I drive you home.”

“You sure it’s OK? I mean, Sydney’s out of the way from Lunenburg.” Sydney was four and half hours northeast vs Lunenburg’s two hours southwest.

“So’s the PEI ferry,” Heath gestured to Tabitha. “And the airport.” Uly turned and waved with a bright smile. “But, how else are you going to get home? They’re shutting down the dorms.”

“Not even Uly’s on your way,” Aislin nodded. “You’re just the kindest guy, you know?”

“I’ve been told,” Heath said. He cracked a smile, but Aislin was already jogging back to his car. He would’ve ran to catch up but a loud crack called his attention across the street.

“Where the fuck are you?” Nadine shouted into her phone. “They closed down the dorms. Why aren’t you at your apartment?!”

“They closed down the college,” Art said. “I’m on a plane. Going back home.”

“What the fuck! You said we could quarantine at your place!”

“Babe, come on. Be reasonable.” Art scoffed. “You know damn well this is a big deal. Why don’t you go home?”

“Ugh! Who’d want to get stuck for six weeks, or however long this shit is going to take, with their parents!”

“They’re saying 18 months for a vaccine. You really want to lock ourselves up together? We don’t even fuck every day anymore.”

“Jesus, I said ‘no’ one night. One! I had midterms!”

“And thanks to kung-flu you wasted your effort. It’s all pass-fail now. Maybe if you had put out properly, you’d have somewhere to stay.”

Transcribing Nadine’s following vitriol was pointless. Art had hung up before she had taken in the breath to begin shouting. The early March wind was frigid. Her hair lifted off her ears and they hurt with the cold. She ground her teeth and stomped her feet. She screamed, punched, and swore.

She shrieked. She hadn’t meant to let go. Her phone shattered off the bricks of her ex-boyfriend’s apartment. She was hyperventilating, more from anger and disgust than panic. What was she going to do now? She had to get home. It was a two fucking hour drive to her dad’s place in Lunenburg! That was four hours to get home, if she could call him and he could leave immediately. She almost pulled her hair out. Her eyes flew wide.

Heath! The one person that she knew from high school and had ended up in her dorm had to be that little simp. She pushed her impatience with him aside; she could really use him now. He had done so much for her, and all she had to do was smile and keep the snarky comments to his face and not behind his back.

Fuck! She’d gone out of her way not to have his number. Assuming she had a phone. Not that that would help right now anyways. No phone, no ride. Her stomach sank. She just had to hoof it back to residence and hope. She finally settled her breaths some.

She started walking. Hopefully he hadn’t left already. Fuck! If he was here he could carry her bags. She dragged her suitcase and her backpack bounced heavily on her shoulders. A wheel caught the frosty ground and pulled her downhill. Every street in this frozen hellhole of a city was a fucking hill! She nearly collapsed, but managed to save herself by shoving her bag into the concrete with a loud smash. She was nearly crying.

“Where are you going! We’re almost ready to leave—”

“Nadine! Nadine!”

Nadine had barely managed to get her boots beneath her when she snapped her head across the street to the post office.

“That bitch uses him.” Nadine recognized Aislin’s voice. Nadine was shocked to see Heath darting across the street. Her heart fluttered as the carhorn of a speedy Jetta belted at Heath. He was waving and apologizing, and then he dashed across the asphalt, free and clear. There wasn’t much traffic anywhere. The city was quiet and mostly shut down. There was his car. Her heart started beating madly.

“You alright? I saw you fall.” Heath stopped a couple of paces away.

“I caught myself before I fell,” Nadine corrected.

“OK. Are you alright?”

“No,” she said, with a little headshake. “Art’s fucked off. I broke my phone. I don’t—”

“Well come on, you can at least use my phone,” he said. He fished his phone from his pocket.

“I could use a ride home,” Nadine said.

“Um… Well, I’ve got room, maybe. We’re taking the long way,” Heath said.

“I don’t mind stopping at the airport first,” Nadine said. 15 minutes the wrong way only added thirty minutes to the drive, right? That was much less than getting her dad.

“Oh, um. I’m driving Tabitha to the ferry and—”

“Well, getting ahold of my Dad and getting a ride home’s still going to take me four hours and change, so five total for you to take Tabby to the ferry before we go home… Your car has a heater. That isn’t the worst scenario,” she forced a smile. He melted a little. She stood taller.

“OK, but I was going to take Aislin all of the way—”

“Oh my god!” Nadine rolled her eyes. “She can get a flight to Sydney!”

“But—”

“Fine, your bad decisions are your bad decisions,” Nadine said. “If you’re committed to driving all day, then you might as well take me home first.”

“Um…”

Nadine slung her backpack off of her shoulder and gave it to Heath. “Let’s go, and this time we’ll cross the street at the crosswalk.” She gestured half a block up the street. Heath did his best to catch up.

Heath was trying his best to fit Nadine’s suitcase in the trunk.

“What are you getting out for? Just scooch in,” Nadine huffed.

“That wouldn’t be fair. Taking the bitch seat from...” Aislin teased out a smug sarcastic smirk, from the front seat.

“It’s not that. I’m getting out first,” Uly said. “I don’t want to have to climb over you.”

“Then why didn’t Tabby—”

“I was smart enough to lock the door!” Tabitha called from inside the car. “I’ve already got my seatbelt on!”

Dammit! Heath lifted the trunk and tried to force his and Nadine’s stuff in. He and the other girls had mailed most of their stuff, which had taken Heath two full trips from residence to get to the post office, but they each had an overnight bag and a backpack in the trunk as well.

“Can someone take their bag on their lap?” Heath asked.

“For a drive this long?” Aislin frowned.

“Shove it in, it’ll fit.” Nadine rolled her eyes.

Heath let his shoulders slump. He did his best. The cracking sound came from his own backpack. He didn’t dare to look; the trunk latched closed.

“Nadine, please get in, I want to get on the road,” Heath said, he walked and held the door for Nadine, who growled into the car, and then Uly, who curtsied.

“Is there room for our winter coats in the trunk?” Tabitha leaned forward to ask.

Heath frowned. He tossed his keys to Aislin. “Start the car and the heat. I’ll make room.”

He waited as the four girls shimmied out of parkas and mittens. He accepted them and never had to return a “You’re welcome.”

At least the coats, scarves, and toques could fit in and around the bags. He still had to stuff his own bag dangerously hard into the left corner of the trunk and tramp it down to make it fit. He pulled out of his own leather coat and shivered as he raced around to the driver seat.

Click. Click.

He had to bang on the window. Aislin jumped and dived over to unlock his door.

“Sorry!” She shouted over the EDM she was broadcasting from her phone to the speakers.

“Not my usual,” Heath said, preferring rock and rap music.

“Thank god for that,” Aislin teased.

“Alright, we’re off to the airport,” he said, twisting in place to reach his seatbelt.

“What time’s your flight, Uly?” Nadine asked.

“It’s not until late late,” she said. She unblacked her phone. “Just over eleven hours from now.”

“Then why don’t we go south and drop me off first?” Nadine suggested.

“What? Don’t your parents live near Heath’s anyways?” Aislin said. “You’re getting out last.”

“Dude,” Nadine said, dismissively. “It’s like six hours to your place.” Nadine rolled her eyes.

“And I’d feel better if he had company in the car on his ride home, even after he drops Tabby off at the ferry.”

“Oh, Pictou’s on the way to Cape Breton,” Tabitha said. “I’m getting out second.”

“Look, it’s maybe two hours if there’s traffic,” Nadine was saying. “Does it look like there’s enough people on the road for traffic?”

Heath slumped his shoulders.

“You can always just drop her off at the bus station,” Aislin suggested.

“Hey, I gotta go through customs and who knows what’s going to happen to international flights and everything.” Uly leaned forward and tugged the corner of Heath’s sleeve.

“We’re going to the airport first,” Heath decided. “After that, we can work out what to do.”

“We’d better.” Nadine crossed her arms.

“We know what’s going to happen,” Aislin said.

Tabitha leaned on the door and watched the city streets waft lazily by.

It was a rocky start to their pandemic. Everyone was on edge, nervous. But Heath, Heath was almost in heaven. The girls he was driving were all constant figureheads in his fantasies.

Aislin, riding shotgun, was the girl next door. Literally, in residence. She was the one Heath knew the best. His and her roommates, Calin and Lucy, had basically signed wedding vows before orientation had completed. Over the last six months Aislin and Heath had spent an evening or so each week together. Heath had never mustered the courage to ask her out beyond that.

“She was out of his league.” or any of the other shit he’d tell himself as his stomach turned to ice or he tripped over his tongue. If it was only about looks, maybe. She was gorgeous! She had wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was fair, but that was more of a winter thing; she had been very tan when they had met. She was almost self conscious about her white skin now.

Planning for an afternoon stuck in a car, she was dressed very comfortably. She wasn’t wearing makeup. A thin gold chain with a turtle shaped locket was her only jewelry. She chewed a bobby pin as she raked her toque flattened hair into a ponytail. She wore a dark blue zip up sweater and loose jeans. She had kicked off her sneakers.

Uly sat directly behind Heath. She was American, with midnight black hair and fair black skin. She had shared nearly every class with Heath and she was the kind of girl who got to know everyone in her classes.

She literally wore pajamas in his car: the bottoms at least. They were fluffy flannel and deep scarlet red. Her top was a light black t-shirt, cut low (as all of her shirts were.) She sat with her knees wider than she felt comfortable, because Nadine had pushed Uly as they had sat down. Uly brushed her hair back over her ears. Earrings, charms on chains, dangled to her shoulders. She set in a couple of ear-buds and turned up the music from her phone until Aislin’s choice was drowned out.

Uly was very happy to know Heath. She had quickly discovered that he didn’t drink and had one of the only cars among dorm-living freshmen. He was dependable and she took advantage of that. A yin to her yang. Her first semester away at college had been a blur. She had to be 21 to drink back home; she had turned 19 (Nova Scotia drinking age) by the end of September.

“Heath! Take me home! Please!” And he would, middle of the night, thunderstorm, whatever.

He’d get there. He had kept her out of a few pretty nasty hookups, but he was no fun to party with. She needed a bit more craziness and adventure. But, she wasn’t unthankful. She didn’t think it fair to take and not to give. She felt he deserved something. That’s what Tabitha was for.

Tabitha and Uly made unlikely best friends. They weren’t roommates; they lived in different dorms. They weren’t classmates; they were barely under the same faculties. They did have the same lunchtime sized holes in their class schedules three days a week. One hungover afternoon, Tabitha had rubbed a moaning Uly’s back in line of the cafeteria. They’d been together ever since.

Together at lunch, Tabitha was comfortable saying no. She didn’t like pubs. She didn’t like bars. She didn’t like clubs. She preferred books or video games or Netflix binging. It was more accurate to say that besides lunches, the common afternoon coffee, or meal hall breakfast after Uly’s uncommon morning walks-of-shame, they hadn’t been together.

Tabitha was laid back, unhurried in nearly everything. She had red-brown hair that was impossible to brush straight and even harder to curl. She wore bright colors, today’s were sky blue (tank top) and cloud white (camo yoga pants.) She crossed her brown and battered hiking boots under Aislin’s seat.

Tabitha liked Heath, well enough. Aislin or Uly had introduced her a couple of times each to him. He seemed as comfortable and low key around her as she was. Well, yes. He was a guy. He looked at her tits a lot. Who didn’t? They’re pretty hard to miss. But beyond those occasional faux-pas, It had been nice, for a couple of months, to know at least one guy that she didn’t have to have her guard up around. For the next couple of months, it was hair-pullingly frustrating. For the last two months, they hadn’t crossed paths so often. Heath had been the first person she had tracked down when she had arrived back after Christmas break. He hadn’t changed and her New Year’s resolution had died immediately.

Hell, if there wasn’t this pandemic, she might’ve been done with him. Yet she wasn’t, and she had a ride home. She kept her eyes out the window and was surprised to see her pale reflection smiling at her. She fidgeted. She kicked something. She bent down. Nadine nudged Tabitha back towards the window. Tabitha said nothing. She sucked the tip of her left index finger as she just rotated the little bronze arrowhead in her right hand. She was happy. Halifax scrolled lazily by.

Nadine rode bitch, crossed her arms under her tits, and pouted into the rearview mirror. She had done everything she had been able to leave her small town behind. She had designer sunglasses holding her silver-blue dyed hair from her face. Her thick hair spilled forward off her left shoulder with only minimal effort. Perhaps a little more. She put her obsessive compulsive hands down on her lap.

She was dressed to surprise her boyfriend. Thank God Heath had been there. She had not been looking forward to hiking back across town in a miniskirt. She probably didn’t have to go all of the way back to the dorms, but with so many businesses shut up, it’d still have been a slog to hunt down somewhere to call Dad and wait.

Nadine was tall, the tallest including Heath (by 3 cm) in the car. She was fit, not overly muscled but you could see her abs when her belly was showing. She had spent a good amount of time on her makeup. She smirked after every prolonged look Heath made in the rearview. She was confident that it’d be airport then Lunenburg. Fuck the ferry. Fuck Cape Breton. She may have gone from the hottest girl in her high school to just any other girl in Heath’s car. Yet, she knew what motivated boys and she hadn’t phoned it in like Aislin or Uly. Tabitha was Tabitha.

“Heath?” Nadine spoke up. She had to keep the pressure up. Knowing that Aislin was lost in her music, Tabitha was vacant out the window, and Uly was enjoying her victory over the fight for leg room. Wounded gazelle: time for the lioness to pounce.

“Yeah?” he asked. His phone erupted in a ringtone. “Shit!”

“Stop!” Aislin reached over and put her hand on his shoulder. She reached across her own body with her right hand to pull his cell phone from his pants pocket. Luckily, the virus had cleared the streets. Heath pulled the wobbling car back into his lane. “It’s your mom.”

“OK, great,” Heath started to say. “Let it go to voice mail and I’ll—”

“I’ll put it on speaker,” Aislin said. She twisted down the volume and tapped the screen.

“Hi Mis—”

“Heath! Oh my god!” his mother shrieked madly.

“Mom! I’m driving. You’re on speaker phone,” he said.

“Yeah, of course you are. Hands free and all of that. Good boy,” she muttered. Her panic erupted again. “Oh my god!”

Uly pulled her buds from her ears. “Oh sorry!” Without her skull in the way or Aislin’s music to compete with, the beat filled the vehicle. She mumbled something inaudible and turned the volume down on her phone.

“You’re not alone?” his mother asked.

“I’m driving a few of the girls from dorms home,” he said.

“Hi!” Aislin said.

“Hello Olivia!” Nadine said.

“Nadine?” Olivia grumbled. “No! Oh no. No. no.”

“Mom! What’s going on?”

“It’s Aunt Hazel…” Then she was crying. All of Heath’s passengers and all of Heath’s hushes couldn’t put Olivia back together again.

Nadine was doing her best not to dance and weave happily. Heath had sped to the first highway off-ramp and looped across the overpass to reverse course.

“Oh my god…” Heath took a heavy breath. “Shit, sorry. I, um, I’ll turn back around and—”

“We have plenty of time,” Uly said, leaning forward and fingering Heath’s shoulder. “You have to check-in. I understand.”

“Um…” Tabitha frowned.

Nadine elbowed her.

“No, I’m sorry. Of course,” Tabitha said. Knowing the real reason they had left this early wasn’t to get Uly to the airport. It was to have time enough to get Tabitha to the ferry. She wasn’t certain Heath knew that. Aislin did. So did Uly.

Heath’s mother had been fraught. Panicked. No one could get a hold of Aunt Hazel. She had the coronavirus! Heath had kicked in some purchase before her panic had overtaken his mother.

“Don’t worry, Olivia,” Nadine had shouted into the space made between Olivia’s panicked breaths. “Heath’s a good boy. He can go check on Hazel.”

“Aunt Hazel…” Olivia had worriedly muttered. Heath’s eyes had lit up and his foot had pressed down on the accelerator.

He had looped and around before Heath could say “We’ll be there shortly, love you, Mom.” He was kinda cute when he was blushing to his ears for saying “I love you.” in front of these girls.

“Try to keep the pig-in-shit grin off your face,” Uly leaned in and whispered to Nadine. “He’s terrified.”

“What if she does have the virus?” Heath took a hard breath. “I can’t subject you all to—”

Aislin leaned over and grabbed Heath’s wrist before he could touch his blinker.

“Drive. Check-in on your aunt,” Aislin said. She looked back over her shoulder. “He’s a bit panicked. Does anyone else have their license? I never got mine.”

“No,” Uly frowned.

“I have a learner’s permit,” Nadine volunteered.

“I, um...” Tabitha leaned forward. “I don’t know how to drive stick.”

“It’s OK,” Heath said, patting Aislin’s fingers until she leaned back into her seat. “Besides, I wouldn’t let any of you drive in that.”

“That what?” Nadine said, leaning forward. “Oh, those are some dark clouds.”

The cold March rain pelted the windshield hard enough for Nadine to flinch back. “Right, I guess not.”

“You sure you’re OK, Uly?”

“I’m sure.” Uly agreed. “I know what I’d do if it was my family at risk.”

They all did. They were all worried. They all had family. The girls all took out their cell phones. Except for Nadine. Oh well, two hours drive, half hour for hugs and everyone’s going to be OK’s, and a final fifteen minutes to get her home. She leaned back. Uly let Nadine push her knee out of Nadine’s space this time.

It only took an hour and change to drive as far as they needed to. The highways were clear, not a lot of travel during a pandemic. Throw in inclement weather and it was flat pavement for miles. Heath made excellent, mostly illegal, time.

Aislin hadn’t turned the music back on. Her parents had understood. They were safe. She was almost looking forward to family board game nights as far as the horizon could stretch.

“Tell us about this boy?”

“Goodbye mom.”

“Use cond—”

What. The. Hell. She smiled and leaned back.

Uly was feeling confident. Her family seemed fine. Her brothers and sister were still in school as the governor disagreed with the mayor. They’d all be fine. She switched over to putting her headphones back in. She had traveled to a new country and all she had seen so far was an airport and a small city. One look out into the rain and thunder made her figure Nova Scotia was a place to visit in the summer.

Nadine leaned back, no longer making the effort to meet Heath’s eyes in the mirror when he looked around. She checked her nails and readjusted her bra. Her baseline was still all presentation.

“I’m with friends, Mom.” Tabitha was talking in circles on her phone. With Uly and Aislin off theirs, Tabitha’s conversation was filling the car. “Yeah, we got a scare. We’re taking a quick detour to check-in on family.”

“Hope she listens this time, Tabby,” Nadine yawned. “After all, seventh time’s the charm.”

“That’s just Na—Noreen?”

“Nadine.” Nadine glowered.

“Right, oh like you’re any better with names, Mom!” Tabitha growled.

“Where are we?” Aislin worried as Heath turned off onto a barely paved country road.

“Almost there,” he said. The limbs of the trees reached over the road, all but scratching Heath’s car. His car wasn’t a gem, it was clearly used. It wasn’t scratched to shit and beaten. Aislin frowned.

“Bye. Mom,” Tabitha said through a sigh. She hung up the phone. She immediately powered it off. “Holy crap, where the hell are we?”

“We’re going up Aunt Hazel’s driveway.” Heath declared as he slowly turned his car onto a winding path up a grassy hill. “We’ll check in. Call Mom. Shit! Then I can get you home.”

“Breathe,” Aislin said, soothingly.

“I’ve never been this far from a concrete sidewalk before,” Uly said.

“Yeah, it’s very murdery out here,” Nadine said.

“It’s the woods,” Heath said. “She likes her privacy.”

“Well, good for h—holy shit.” Nadine said as the trees pulled away and opened to the grounds. A three story house sat on a brown lawn. Lumps of snow from her plowed driveway were not quite eroded from the afternoon rain.

The house was impressive. Not classic-horror-movie, but a big three story house with a lattice of winter-dead ivy up its left side. There was no fence, and the driveway was packed earth, and the garage wasn’t built to the same standards of the main building.

A flash of lightning lit it up. There were lights on in the front room and one of the upstairs rooms.

“Grab the grey garage button from the glove box,” Heath said.

“What?” Aislin said. The thunder rolled over them and shook the girls from their musings. “Right.”

“The grey one,” Heath corrected. Aislin pulled out a second button and tried to hand it to Heath.

“You can push the button without touching the wheel,” Uly said politely.

“Right, sorry.” Aislin hit the button and the garage rolled open. There was no car in the bay.

“Does this mean she’s gone?”

“She built this so we could come visit her,” Heath explained. “She doesn’t own a car.”

It was a relief when they were under the roof of the garage. The incessant rap of fat raindrops on the roof stopping seemed to take some weight off of their shoulders.

“You guys can wait here.” Heath parked the car. Aislin shut the garage door the moment the engine stopped. “I’ll be—”

“I, for one, am stretching my legs,” Nadine declared. She may have been less than thirty minutes from home, but she didn’t want to get forced back into the bitch seat for even that short of a ride. There was a chance of shotgun or at least a window and an armrest if they all got out.

“Right,” Aislin said. “Besides, you don’t really want to be alone, do you?”

“OK, let’s go.” Uly was the first out of the car. Aislin had to put her shoes back on and Heath was meticulously shutting down everything and making sure his car was in pristine condition.

“No one left any garbage, right?” he asked. Nadine was the only one left by this point. She lifted an arrowhead on a string out of the door handle.

“I got it,” Nadine said. She let the triangle dangle. Not rich enough for her, but it was nice looking. Something more for a guy, maybe? She didn’t have a pocket so she hooked the loop around her thumb and wrapped the cord around her wrist like a bracelet. She tied it with a lazy knot and stood up.

“Aunt Hazel!” Heath fastidiously wiped his boots on the mat by the kitchen door. All of the girls did so too before they followed him inside. “Aunt Hazel!”

Heath knelt down and untied his boots as he shouted. There was no answer. In contrast with his unhurried practiced politeness, he was pale and shaky. The moment he was out of his shoes, he bolted into the house calling for his aunt.

The girls stood in the small porch next to the kitchen. They said nothing. Lightning flashed. Thunder followed much closer now.

“Wanna see if she’s got any snacks in the fridge?” Uly asked.

“Oh, hell yes,” Nadine agreed.

“Can we just go into a stranger’s house and—” Aislin frowned as Tabitha went straight to the fridge.

“Yogurt? Fruit?” She lifted a yellow apple and took a bite.

“There’s like five bottles of wine on a rack by the sink,” Uly said with a smile.

“That might be a little much,” Nadine frowned. “I’ll have a yogurt.”