If a girl could love whoever she wanted when her life was controlled by those who only cared for what she consists of, where could she even think to find love? If love was not on the table for what possibly could be, how could she ever consider friendship? Thoughts were the only thing a sentient being was capable of, so if loneliness disguised itself as boredom when all one can do is think, where would she who was considered emotionless find it in her to try? The only home she had was the thoughts that accompanied her. The room that held her couldn’t even compare.

The fan creaked amongst the various muffled sounds in the room. Soft music played, a melody so sweet it could rot teeth. Like a hum in the wind, tranquility soared through the vibrations.

“I like someone.” The girl confesses. “They are special to me, they are far from just anyone to me. They are mine, and we’ve known each other for a long time now. They care for me, pay attention to me, stand up for me, love me for me. My special someone, they-” 

The tv clicked to a black screen. The room was cold, dimmed like a basement. The lone tv was its only source of substantial sound, snuffed out like a rock to a black hole. A small pink haired girl wearing a green jacket, purple shirt, and half green half purple shorts threw the tv’s remote onto her bed and flopped beside it.

Despite the atmosphere, tranquility far defined her day-to-day. All things considered, one such epilogue to her chapter was her location. She laid not in the room of a house, but a trailer, and her last hour was upon her. She never knew what the next day had in store for her.

She scoffed.

The trailer hit a pothole, shaking the entire car. 

“Can’t even lay in peace.” The girl sits up. “Hey!”

She opens the curtain that covers her room and walks to the front of the trailer where another curtain hangs. She opens the second set of curtains, revealing an older man of more casual wear than her own, a window that shows purely road and dead grass, and a passenger seat full of fast food. 

“What?” The man glances at her.

“Can you steer clear of the potholes?” She asks. “I almost fell off of the bed. I can get damaged.”

He scoffs. “Don’t mess with me. Like you can feel pain.” He grabs the steering wheel with his left hand and points to the passenger seat. “Hey, can you hand me that burger?”

“Why? Like you need food.”

“Har har, you’ll need to try harder with the fat jokes.”

“And you need to try harder with yours, but sure. Noted.” She opens the brown bag and grabs a somewhat soggy burger. “Ew, I don’t know why you eat this stuff. So messy.”

“Unwrap it for me.”

“Sure sure,” she unwraps it and hands it to him.

“Thanks.”

“So, now that you’re fed, can you not hit every pothole in existence?”

“Yea, whatever. Hey, we’re almost there, so get ready. I lent you my daughter’s pj’s since I spilt coffee on ya, but your clothes are clean now. They’re right there,” he points to the passenger side floor. “You can put her stuff in the bag when you’re done.”

“Aw, and I was getting used to the cotton clothing. Such a shame.”

“Alright. Get 'em and go.”

She bends down and reaches over the food. The car jostles up and she bangs her head under the dashboard.

“Hey!”

“One last one for the road,” he laughs.

She huffs and snatches the bag off of the floor. “Always so rude.” She gets back up and shuts the curtains closed.

“Eva,” he says, “keep your head up out there. Don’t let anyone mess with you like I do.”

“I know. Not everyone will be joking like you are, they might actually mean it.”

“As long as you know.”

“Just make sure to finish your wet bread pickle patty, hunger is making you delusional.”

He huffs but she hears him take a bite out of the burger.

“We’ll see how you act when they finally let you eat. You’ll beg me for a burger then!”

“Ha! You really are getting delusional.”

The girl walks away from the man and into the trailer’s small bathroom. She drops the clothes into the sink and sighs as she holds onto its sides.

“You can do this.” She says to herself in the mirror. “New place, new job, new tests. Just like always.”

She smiled at herself and a beautiful girl smiled right back. One with long reflective black hair and white roots, dark purple eyes, and a baby blue body with soft pink outlines at the joints.

“This is for the Eternal, for Eva Elenor to become a mother. You have to become a-”

The room rattles. The girl almost falls into the wall next to the sink.

“What in the-” she bursts out of the bathroom and flips the front curtain open. The driver’s seat is empty. “Sir?” 

She looks out of the window where she finally catches his gaze. The man is standing next to a woman in a navy blue suit and a long, thin white coat. The woman keeps a stern look while talking to him. She flashes him a card soon before she stops talking and looks at the car. The girl ducks behind the curtains.

“They didn’t even let me enjoy my last hour.” She sighs, then hears a knock on the side door. A habit that never left the man even after his daughter passed away. “Yes?”

The door swings open.

“Hey,” says the man.

“Hello.”

“Looks like your departure came sooner than expected. Couldn’t even wait for me to reach the dang checkpoint.”

“It seems so. I enjoyed our time together. Ask- I mean, please ask them to wait a moment. I still have yet to change.”

“That won’t be necessary. We have to go now, you can change later tonight after you’ve settled.” The woman intervenes. “We can give your dead daughter’s-”

“What?” He glares.

“...clothes back by mail.” She glances between the man and the girl. “Eva. Come.”

The woman walks away before anyone could say more. 

“Yea, just adjust that bun of yours and walk away.” The man clicks his tongue. “Watch out for her, nasty one she is.”

“Thank you.”

“For what? Common sense?”

“For teaching me and sharing a piece of your life with me when you didn’t have to. You were nice in your own way.”

“Don’t try and flatter me now, girl.”

“Really, you were the finest old man I could never ask for.”

“Oh, and now you got jokes. Gone get Eva, before I get tired of that plastic face of yours.”

“Har har, it’s metal, not plastic, but nice try. It was a “fun” journey.”

“See? I told ya. Remember what I told you, girl, keep your head up.” He pats her shoulder and smiles. “Keep the clothes. They’re no use to me now.” He shoves her out of the trailer. “Just like you. Ha!” He slams the door shut.

“No goodbye?”

The trailer revs up and begins backing up. The front window stops right in front of her.

“Nope!” He says.

The trailer shutters before moving forward at an alarming speed. The woman in the suit and coat yelled to the driver of the car blocking the road to move, and the man actually almost hit them. The driver almost hit the wall too. Without so much as a hello, he barged into the girl’s life as a temporary driver, and after a week, he left without a single goodbye. He taught her so much, ways to casually speak, to joke, to watch tv, and even how to value herself more. The man was mysterious yet so readable, blunt but nice. He was her first friend and yet she did not know his name, and she never would.

“Goodbye, sir.”

“Eva!” The suited woman yelled. “Come on, we have to go!”

“Okay ma’am!” She ran over and hopped into the car, the door slamming shut soon after.