Audrey left the house quietly while her parents still slept. They had both had a late night; her mother from serving drinks at the bar, and her father from drinking half of them. She hopped on her father's Mustang. It was her father's in name only, as Audrey was the primary driver ever since his DUI last year. Instead of starting the engine, she disengaged the parking brake, and let it roll down their long, sloped driveway, swerving around her mother's Corolla with practiced grace, and backing neatly into the street. Here she did finally start the car, a reasonable distance from the house so that she hoped it wouldn't alert her parents to her departure. She didn't want to get entangled with either of them, and ruin her summer freedom.
As she pulled down their side street toward one of the town’s main roads, she put her flip phone on speaker and dialed.
"Hey Aud," a tinny, crackling voice came through.
"Hick, got any work for me? Even just one?"
"Sorry, sweetheart, but I usually just extend everyone's loans around the festival. People get forgetful, you know? Just trying to give them one fewer thing to think about."
Audrey, who had been hoping that same forgetfulness would translate into pocket money for her, grimaced but kept her tone light. Hickory Earhart was a very nice man, and she wanted to stay on that side of him. "Alright, I understand. But if anything comes up, I dunno, like you need shelves moved or something...?"
Hickory was perfectly capable of moving any shelves he needed moved. More so than Audrey, truth be told, but he didn't say so. "You'll be the first I call."
"Right, thanks Hick, you're good people."
"You too, enjoy the festivities, should be a good one this year."
As she ended the call, she wondered what festivities she was meant to enjoy without any money. Her mother always gave her gas money out of her tips from the bar, but Audrey would never ask for more. She knew an allowance just wasn't in the budget.
~~~
She turned the car away from festivities(many of which were, in fact, quite free) and instead toward the edge of town. One of the roads that led to the nearby highway had a small paved parking pad on the side of it. Just three parking spaces, in faded white lines, and a sign marking a trail into The Shaded Grove. The trail was generally disused, including today, when Audrey walked right off it and into the woods, heading for the heart of the Weeping Sam.
Audrey wasn't dressed the best for the adventure. Her boots, at least, were functional, if well scuffed Doc Martens, but she wore constricting skinny jeans. On top, she had what had once been a plain black T-shirt, but she had bleached a spooky face onto the front, and cut and tied it at the sides until it was a raggedy sort of tank top.
She walked with her hands in her pockets, not sure where she was going, nor exactly why she had come here. Presently, she came to a certain fallen, rotting tree and, not yet noticing that she wasn't alone, she lifted her foot up and kicked in some of the soft, spongy wood.
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