Radio

Chapter 6-10

Chapter Six

I continued to remind myself of our unit's motto, while I simultaneously prayed that Vapor wouldn't embarrass me by telling them about the silent moment with the barista as we approached the van with six lattes split evenly between us in cup holders. The rest of the unit stood in the parking lot, Dialect clearly overjoyed with a huge smile spreading across her face by the maps in her hands, Vapor and I passed them their hot lattes, with the exception of Surge. Vapor had decided to hold his latte as hostage, claiming she had gotten an extra one for herself to help her deal with being in the van with him and his "non-stop" talking for the past five plus hours. That was a complete exaggeration of course and after some coaxing, Vapor finally handed the latte to him.

There was also something comforting about this area, regardless of my dream of one day living in a big city like Philadelphia and us being in the middle of a rest stop. I breathed in the air, slightly heavy and humid from the recent rain, as much as my lungs would allow me. And on either side of the rest stop, there were some trees whose leaves varied from yellow, red, and brown, while the other trees seemed to be desperately clinging to the green in their leaves. It was simply magical, but also a little saddening because it reminded me of the property where my childhood home stood. It almost knocked the wind out of me and brought me to tears, which I tried to wipe away without smudging my eye makeup.

However I was pleased to see, through my peripherals that Feather was standing next to me. His presence, as per usual, begun to wash away the darkness suffocating me, making it easier for me to breathe again.  For he too seemed to be absorbing the nature alongside me as I looked in the direction of a patch of trees that barely had any leaves, unlike the ones I had seen moments before. Through the branches, the sky peeped between them and allowed a flock of Canadian geese in a v-shape formation to come into view. Feather and I could just hear them honking over the racing vehicles on the highway as they flew over us, heading south.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Feather asked.

I nodded.

We watched the geese until they became so small as the distance between us and them grew.

"We should probably get in the van before the twins throw a hissy fit," Feather said with a chuckle.

I smiled and nodded as I followed him into the van, still hoping Vapor wouldn't say anything about the barista or hadn't already, which I was now realizing I had failed to look at his name tag said his name was.... Oops!  Not that it matter because like I had said many times before, I would never see him again.

Blank turned the key and with all of us now situated in our seats, he pulled the van out of the rest stop's parking lot and back onto route 401. Unfortunately, he accidentally went past the street the house was on, which none of us would have known if he didn't mutter a series of profanity. All of us in the back started to laugh so hard that we nearly toppled over each other, if it wasn't for our securely fastened seatbelts. I, myself, nearly forgot to clamp both hands over my mouth, especially with the profanity continuing in Blank's thoughts that followed what he had said aloud.

"Taking the scenic route, are we?" Surge asked breathlessly.

I thought you knew exactly where we were going or do you need one of Dialect's maps to help you out, I couldn't help chiming in.

"Quit it," Vapor said sternly.

I imitated a police siren through everyone's mind because when you only communicate through telepathy, it's super easy to create dead-on imitations of sounds and people's voices. Call me "Master Sound-machine," if you will.

"I SAID QUIT IT!" Vapor yelled, which immediately stopped all of our laughter because none of us wanted her to come to the back of the van and use her ability by sliding her hands through our chests and tightly gripping all of our hearts, specifically Surge's and mine.