The Cadillac controlled without any issues, but Traveller was too nervous to enjoy it.
He pulled into the Pearly Motel and found that the parking lot was empty. Even stranger, the door to his room was open a crack.
The Cadillac crawled to a dreadful stop in front of the door. The air felt tense against his skin.
The door remained still.
He eventually managed to force his body out of the car. His legs moved tensely towards the door.
He slowly edged the door open with his fingertips.
The room looked almost exactly as it had when he left. The only difference was the open switchblade laying flat on the ground in front of the open bathroom door.
Traveller approached and picked it up nervously. The blade was clean.
He checked the bathroom. It looked exactly as it had when he left.
Everything seemed too normal.
Then, the panic set in. The bag.
He dove down to his knees and lifted the bedsheets.
The purple bag was still under the bed, exactly where he left it.
He sat back on the floor and relaxed.
Absolute silence.
Having given his room key back to the receptionist, he carried the purple bag on one shoulder to the car and secured it in the trunk.
Traveller sat in the car, slamming the heavy metal door shut.
He let out a long, tense breath as he raised his hands to the wheel.
The sun had started to set.
The engine turned on with a powerful roar and he drove off.
Traveller still felt too anxious to enjoy the drive.
Rose’s head rested on her palm, leaning out the open window of the tow truck. Her hair blew in whichever directions the twilight wind decided. Her eyelids were red and tired, dryly clinging to her eyes as she watched the endless trees of the neighbouring forest pass.
Ron sat silently at the driver’s seat. He held the top of the steering wheel with a tight grip.
He couldn't see her face behind her thick, flowing hair. She hadn’t looked at him since they left the motel.
He exhaled irritably. “Look, you’ve known about her for years now. You can’t seriously think I’d leave her for you.” He breathed deeply, calming himself. “What we have is good. Don’t ruin it.”
She became tense and mumbled.
“What was that?” He was becoming annoyed.
She shook her head.
“No, go ahead! Let’s hear it.”
Rose continued to shake her head. “Pull over.”
“There it is! Just run away again! Real mature!”
Rose reached for the steering wheel and pulled it towards the curb. The tow truck veered right.
Ron pushed his palm into her face and forced her away from the wheel. He veered the tow truck back left. “What are you, crazy?!”
“Let me out!”
“Quit acting like a kid!”
Rose’s hand folded into a loose fist and collided with Ron’s cheek. She had never hit him before. His face barely even moved.
He pushed her back again, this time with a punch of his own. Her back slammed into the side door. The blow had grazed her black eye. She felt at it.
Ron tensely returned to focused driving.
She formed a tight fist. It shook.
Ron noticed the shaking fist out of the corner of his eye. He spoke with condescending annoyance. “What?”
She didn’t aim for the face this time. Using all her body weight, she pushed her fist directly into Ron’s groin. He let out a feminine scream of agony. She didn’t have to reach for the wheel for the tow truck to veer right this time.
The truck hadn’t come to a stop yet, but she opened her door and dove out, rolling onto the soft grass. Her entire body ached from the shock of the landing.
On her hands and knees, she dizzily watched the tow truck screech to a halt. Her brain felt like a shaken-up can of soda.
She struggled to stand upright.
Ron hopped out of the truck and hobbled around the back, just in time to see Rose disappear behind the trees. Forcing himself to move beyond the sickening pain that had been flowing up into his stomach, Ron pushed ahead and followed.
Rose ran as fast as her short legs would allow. The forest seemed to go on forever.
She looked back. The road was already fairly far away now. Ron had been catching up to her.
Looking forward again, she noticed a nearby collection of bushes. She panted heavily, trying to push her already-exhausted legs even faster.
Rose dove behind one of the bushes and disappeared from Ron’s view.
It only took Ron a short moment to reach that bush, but by the time he did, Rose was nowhere to be found.
He looked around. There was no sign of her. “I know you’re still hiding here somewhere!” he yelled out to the wilderness. “I would’ve seen you if you ran off.” Each of his steps were very deliberate. “You can keep hiding, but I’ll find you eventually.”
Traveller had to count his fingers when he saw the tow truck that had been messily stopped at the side of the road. Still ten.
The truck was empty and he could hear Ron's voice coming from within the forest.
The Cadillac continued moving forward.
His grip tightened on the wheel.
Rose had managed to shimmy up to her feet behind a nearby tree without being spotted. Ron was checking a nearby bush. He was slowly but surely moving in her general direction.
Rose scanned her surroundings. Ron was right. There was no way out for her without being spotted.
"Come on, Rose. I'm not going to leave you alone out here."
Her hands tingled with adrenaline, but the rest of her was frozen. Too scared to move, too scared to hold still. If she was going to move, it had to be now.
Then, she heard Ron’s voice. “What the—”
Rose peeked around the tree.
Traveller didn’t have much body weight, but it was all flung at Ron with a tackle.
Ron stepped back, remaining on his feet. He pushed Traveller away with relative ease.
They stood about two metres apart. “What the hell are you doing here?” Ron raised his fists. “This has nothing to do with you, Skinny.”
“Didn’t you hear?” Traveller raised his fists. “I got involved.”
Ron charged towards Traveller.
Traveller remained in place. He bit down on his lower lip in anticipation.
A little closer…
Less than a metre away now, Traveller swiftly reached into his back pocket and pulled out the already-open switchblade.
He angled it towards Ron’s thigh, but he hadn’t been quick enough. Ron’s punch hit him in the head like a boulder and sent him flying back before the knife could make contact.
Traveller lay on his back, blades of grass sticking up into his skull. He raised the switchblade again, this time aiming for Ron's shin, but Ron had seen the blade now and wasn’t about to let Traveller get a cheap shot like that in. He stepped back, dodging the blade, then leaped forward, landing on Traveller’s wrist.
The sheer shock of it forced his hand to release its grip. The switchblade escaped his grasp and slid across the grass, too far for him to reach.
Traveller raised his hands to Ron's face, but Ron’s reach was longer. Ron was on top of him and had wrapped his hands around Traveller’s neck. The grip tightened. Traveller’s skin molded in the shape of Ron’s fingers like dough.
Traveller continued trying to reach Ron’s head, but it was a futile attempt.
His lungs burned, begging for air. The dim evening sun had become blindingly white.
“Hey,” a woman’s voice called out to him casually. "Need help getting up?"
Traveller looked to the side.
The blonde girl from his dream stood over him, although she was about ten years younger. Back then, she styled her hair into straight bangs and a ponytail. Multiple different colours of dry paint stuck to her face. She was wearing their high school’s gym uniform: grey tee-shirt and purple shorts. It was the same outfit he was wearing.
He sat, both of his palms leaning back on the patchy grass bordered by the school’s track field. His eyes squinted to look up at her through the layer of sweat that drenched his face. “I'm okay. Just not a big fan of this whole ‘exercise’ thing.”
“Yeah I’m sure it’s just been a fad these last few thousand years. It’ll probably blow over soon.”
She sat next to him.
The rest of the class continued running the track.
She reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out a small pack of cigarettes.
He nervously scanned the field, making sure the teacher wasn’t watching. “What are you, crazy?”
Looking back at her, a cigarette was already lit between her lips. “Just enough to keep things interesting.”
"This is so surreal. Am I dreaming?"
"Count your fingers."
"Huh?"
"Count your fingers. Usually when you're dreaming you won't have exactly ten."
He followed her instructions, and, sure enough, all ten fingers were still there.
It took him a moment to speak. “You’re the new girl, right?”
She smiled at him mischievously, mouth open as wide as possible and eyes pushed shut by her cheeks; the spots of dry paint cracked a bit. She spoke through her sharp teeth as they held the cigarette in place. “I’m Violet. Who the hell are you?”
The blood poured onto his horizontal face in a steady stream. Ron’s grip on his neck loosened.
Blood flowed to his brain again. Ron was still above him; his mouth hung open. The blood had been pouring out from the side of his neck.
Traveller used this leeway to completely free himself from Ron’s grip, crawling backwards like a terrified crab, coughing to catch his breath.
Ron held at the wound, but there was no plugging that hole.
A terrified acceptance dawned on his face. He flopped to his side.
Rose stood over Ron. She held Traveller’s bloody switchblade. She was drenched in more red than Traveller Her face and shirt were almost completely red.
She fell to her knees next to Ron’s twitching feet.
The twitching stopped.
Traveller sighed and flopped onto his back. He was enjoying the feeling of air in his lungs again. “I’d call that a pretty firm breakup.”
She couldn’t tell if she wanted to laugh, cry, or vomit. “I don’t know why I went with him. I just—"
“—Don’t need to explain.” It was oddly tranquil. The sky had turned a dark purple. “Do you still need a ride out of here?”
An uncertain smirk formed behind the blood. “I’d like a ride out of here.” The smirk transformed to a full smile, pure white teeth sticking out from the red and eyes pushed shut by her cheeks. “What I need is a shower.”
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