Fragments (One-Shots) | Mystery Skulls Animated

Exhaustion (2/3)

A quick check-over revealed the van to be in perfect working order. Vivi turned the key in the ignition and the engine sparked to life. Weird. She revved the engine experimentally, and it roared back at her, loud and smooth as ever. She noticed Arthur wincing in her periphery.

        As they pulled off the side of the road, she shot a quick glance at Arthur—to find his eyes on her. Just as they would have made eye contact, he averted his eyes, instead fixing them on the road ahead. Beside him, Mystery's ears were pressed flat against his skull.

        There was nothing on the road ahead of them. She raised her eyes to the mirror—and nothing behind them. Not another life form in sight.

        The clouds above seemed to be miraculously clearing. Before they had blotted out the moon, casting shadows across the landscape, but now thanks to the beams of unhindered light Vivi could see the road to their hometown almost as clear as day. As she looked to her left, she could make out the dim street lights that illuminated Tempo, and buttery squares that were the lit windows of houses beckoned to her. Beyond that, the road snaked along a dusty plain and in between the flat-topped mountains that surrounded her home. She sighed. Just seeing the town made her feel relaxed and safe.

        She soon came to a T-intersection—the far side of the road to the left was lined with bare, twisted trees, and on the other side ran a strip of tall grass before the treeline cut off the shrubs. Vivi turned off to the right, the van lurching as it transitioned from the bumpy dirt road and onto smooth tarmac. She heard soft snores to her right and Vivi smiled to herself. They had been on the road all day (their first proper road trip for months), responding to ambiguous calls before returning to check out the warehouse. Turns out most of their clients were superstitious elderly people living alone and thought that scavenging raccoons and opossums were a cause for major concern. To be honest, she couldn't blame them for the possums—savage little gremlins they were—but tonight, she'd thought they'd finally found a supernatural hotspot. Of course, she was disappointed.

        As the bluenette focussed on the road in front of her, she found it gradually growing hazier, harder to concentrate on, and she found herself detaching. She shook her head and scolded herself. This is why you should fit in substantial rest stops when road-tripping, Vivs. As the driver you're responsible for everyone else in the vehicle. But, try as she might, she couldn't clear her mind, and now the road was winding and writhing like a snake. Suddenly, a black shape appeared on the road in front of her and a split-second later the van jolted.

        Shit, she thought, and braked, releasing her seatbelt and groping for the doorhandle. She slipped out of the van and almost immediately her knees buckled underneath her, sending her sprawling and cursing.

        ". . . Vee?"

        That was Arthur, drowsy with sleep.

        "Wha . . . What's going on? Did we hit something?"

        "Mmhm," she managed, and, bracing herself against the wheel, dragged herself to her feet. She started a few steps forward and fell again.

        "Vivi?— Are you okay?"

        There was a small scuffle and then her blurring vision was overwhelmed with orange. "Who—oh my god, Arthur, you're a dandelion."

        "I won't take that as an insult." Something settled on her shoulder—his hand, most probably—and she managed to force herself to focus on his face. Two concerned eyes blinked back at her.

        "Whoa, Vivi— your pupils are dilating like crazy. You didn't, like. . . take anything, did you?"

        "Arthur!" she snapped.

        "Okay, alright, just. . . you're not drugged or concussed?"

        "Jesus, I don't know. . ."

        "Alright, hold on a sec. Let's get back in the van."

        He hoisted her up and dragged her past the door.

        "Arthur— there's the driver's seat. You've missed it."

        "You are not driving like this, Vee."

        Fair enough.

        Once she was buckled in on the passenger's side, her lump of a dog slumped in her lap, Arthur ducked around the back of the van to check the road. When he came back and sat himself in front of the steering wheel, he reached across and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Your conscience is clear, Vee. Just a weird blue tree branch."

        Mystery's ears shot up next to Vivi.

        She sighed. "Good, I'd be having nightmares for weeks."

        "Mmhm. . ."

        She could tell he didn't believe her, which was fair enough. Her retro horror films, though the cause of his fair share of nightmares, had never bothered her.

        "Just don't crash the van," she chided.

        "Crash my old gold boy? Never."

        She laid back, closing her eyes, hoping to get her head to stop spinning. The engine hummed, but the van didn't move.

        She cracked open an eye. ". . . Arthur?"

        "Yeah, yeah, I'm all good." A pause. "Hey, Vee?"

        "Yeah?"

        "You know the gho— the, uh, the walk you took earlier?"

        "Mhm."

         "Did you like. . . do you remember what happened in the time it took for you to sit down?"

        She scrunched up her nose. "Uhh, I don't. . . I don't think so. . . I was just walking. Mystery ran off."

        "And then you were on the ground?"

        "Mm, yeah."

        "Uh. . . alright. Maybe you just tripped or something."

        "Probably." She remained with her eyes closed. "Maybe that's how I got my concussion," she joked.

        Arthur huffed, but she could tell he wasn't really laughing.

        With the van rumbling like a great sleeping beast, she suddenly found herself feeling tired. It was relaxing, sitting like this, listening to the purring engine.

        Arthur pulled them back onto the right side of the road and continued to drive. About five minutes down the road, he cast a worried glance at his friend. Vivi was already sleeping soundly, but Mystery was sitting up beside her, sniffing cautiously. Then, with a little grunt, he turned and fixed his eyes on Arthur.

        The mechanic gave a small sigh and glanced up at the sky. "Something's up, huh, Lewis?"

        Mystery cocked his head.

        Arthur dragged a hand down his face tiredly. "Eughh, I dunno. Maybe she did just trip or something. Road trips are draining—even for Vivi." Reasoning with himself made him feel better, and he relaxed slightly. "There probably wasn't even a flash. We're all tired. I probably just imagined it. Right buddy?" He glanced at Mystery. "Right, Mystery?"

        The dog's ears flattened ominously.

        Arthur's tired smile faded and he focussed back on the road.