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We drove for 20 minutes not saying a word to each other. I noticed Trine peek back at Maw and study him. Then she decided to introduce herself.
"Hey." She said, trying to get his attention. Maw didn't notice and still looked out the window, aloof.
"Hi!" She said louder. Maw then looked back with an irritated scowl.
"What, Toots?" He answered, crossing his arms.
"Well, I just thought we should, you know, introduce ourselves." She said a little quietly.
"Nothin' to introduce, just drive me somewhere far away and drop me off. Easy as pie." His voice sounded young but raspy with a slight cockney accent.
"Right. Well, my name is Trine," She said. "And her name is Exe." She pointed to me.
I felt my cheeks turn a bit hot as she said my name, but I looked over at Maw and blinked a hello at him. He took in my looks.
"What do you have? Jaundice?" He said in a satirical, mocking tone.
"What? No! It's just the sclera color I was reincarnated with!" I replied, irked.
Maw chuckled to himself. It was one of those throaty, guttural chuckles that made you shrink in your skin.
I tried to focus on the road and Trine reluctantly went back to reading her books. I saw her move her pillow to block the moonlight from her vision. She still was uneasy about the moon. I then shifted my thoughts to Maw. It would be foolish to think he would lighten up to us too soon. I'm sure he's a nice guy, he saved us after all, I told myself. And well.. something saved him. None of us wanted to talk about what happened to Ryder. We didn't need to talk about it. All that mattered is that we're safe now and back on the road to Paradise. We rode for about an hour, it was mostly quiet aside from the flipping of pages and random grunts from Maw in the back. He was certainly weird and quiet most of the time. Then half-a-mile across from us was a cliff with no road on it. It looked completely dangerous. It winded around a mountain and if you fell, you would be met with rocks and spikes at the bottom. I would have never dared to go there, until I saw that that was the only way we could go. The other, safer road went right, not heading East anymore and East was where the sun rises, the only place Paradise lies, but if we went around the mountain, we could die.
"Trine, dead end. What do we do now?"
Trine looked over and peered over the side of the mountain.
"Oh, God." She exclaimed. "It's too dark to see where we're going too! Well.. we could find a different way,"
"But we'd have to drive for at least another hour back!" I panicked. "I don't know if there even is another way!"
Maw stared at us with contempt and picked his teeth with his long nails as we panicked about where we should go. He growled and straightened his posture.
"Everyone shut up. I'll take the wheel." He said with a smile creeping up his face.
"Wh... what does that mean?" I asked, becoming anxious.
"Don't worry about it, just trust me." He said, getting out of the car already. I looked unsurely at Trine. She shrugged.
"How about you sit with me in the back?" I asked Trine. She agreed and Maw switched seats with me. As we walked to the back I saw Trine avoid looking at the moon, even covering that side of her face with her hand. She won't be able to avoid it forever, I thought. I helped her into the car and we sat looking like two confused, helpless baby ducks, wondering where we'll be going next. Maw gripped the leopard patterned steering wheel, his nails tapping the leather. He started slowly backing up from the cliff and I relaxed. Phew, he wasn't going to... OHH, HOLY SH-
Maw sped up like a cheetah and accelerated the car onto the cliff side. He grinned wide, his tongue slipped through his teeth and he cackled with excitement. The car bumped and shaked up and down and up and down as it twisted around the mountain side. I started screaming and Trine kept repeating a prayer to herself.
"NYEHEHEHE! THIS IS SO FUN!" Maw whooped with glee and jiggled his legs with elation, his boot heels knocking the car floor.
"YOU'RE INSANE!" I cried, holding onto my seatbelt for dear life.
"THANK YOU!" He guffawed, looking back at me. "That means a lot!"
Trine clutched my arm and squeezed her eye close.
Maw took another turn around the mountain and I felt my second life flash before my eye as I saw the bottom of the cliff on the side. The car got so close to falling multiple times, but it kept balancing like a miracle. I wasn't sure if Maw was trying to kill us, but I was too busy freaking out to rationalize. I shut my eye too, holding myself tight. Then, the bumping stopped. Trine and I both opened our eyes and we were on the other side of the mountain. I caught my breath and grasped my hand over my chest. Trine looked around frantically and loudly exhaled, fixing her scrunched up shirt.
"See? Wasn't so bad." Maw said as he looked at us with a devilish grin.
"You almost drove us off a cliff, you psycho!" I shouted, sweat dripping off my eyelashes.
"Fair, but I did get us to where we needed to go! You're welcome!" He said, his foxish grin going back into a small smirk.
Trine was still quaking. I asked if she was okay and she nodded, breathing in and out.
"Alright, get out of my seat!" I demanded, pointing to Maw and then to where I was sitting.
"Fine, don't get your eyelashes stuck in a twist." He replied, ending the sentence with another one of his annoying chuckles. I switched back into the driver's seat and Trine went back in the front passenger's seat. Maw returned to the back seat, relaxing. He crossed his legs and put his hands behind his head. He licked his teeth again, a little tic I've see him do multiple times along with his quiet grunts while riding with us. Trine glanced back at him with a furious stare.
"What is your problem!?" She yelled.
"Look, I got us around, didn't I?"
"That was so reckless! You're lucky we didn't slip!" Trine slapped the shoulder of her car seat with anger.
"Reckless is my middle name." He said, sticking his tongue out of the corner of his mouth playfully.
"I'm starting to rethink letting you come with us. We should've let someone else take you." I said, not sure if I meant it.
"Awe, you don't really mean that." He yawned. "Where are you two headed anyways?" He asked.
"Pft, like we'd ever tell you." Trine replied, turning back to face frontwise in the seat.
He gasped quietly. "Is it a secret? I can keep a secret."
"Well, it's... it's not a secret. It's just... private." I said, feeling a bit of sorrow.
"You going to a genital doctor or somethin'?" He asked plainly.
"No!" I replied quickly. "It's- ugh! It's none of your business!"
"Whatever. I'll just sleep till we get to the next town, then wake me up and throw me out of this damned car, yeah?" He said, resting his head back.
Trine looked at me with an irritated expression.
"I wish we were in Paradise already." She sighed.
"Still got a long way to go, I'm sure."
"Paradise?" Maw repeated behind us. "You're going to the Paradise?"
"Yes?" I answered.
"Have you.. forgotten as well?" He asked wistfully, fidgeting with his nails.
I tried to answer but my mouth froze and just breathed out. It was a moment where everything froze. Was he one of us?
"H-... have you?" I forced myself to ask.
"Yes." He said, looking down. "I thought all this time I wasn't worthy of remembering and I was punished for a reason I don't know why. That's what Ryder told me."
Trine looked back at him and gaped.
"Another one of us!" She squealed with excitement. "Oh, wait I'm supposed to be mad at you!" She went back to her angry expression.
"Well, I'm coming with! I've heard great things about that place from the last visitor of that red, feathered face-ache." He frowned thinking of Ryder but then he grinned to try to make himself look appealing to us.
I couldn't say no. We all needed to stick together, even if Maw made us seeth. I looked back at him, remembering the environment he was working in, the many assaults he must have taken from Ryder, the murders he saw at that fake carnival. I felt some kind of kindness melt from my heart and I gave in.
"Okay, fine. You can stay, Maw."
He cheered. "You won't regret it, Toots!"
"Rule number one: don't call either of us "Toots"." I insisted.
"You got it, Eyeball!" He smiled and then licked his teeth once more.
I groaned and focused back on the road.
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