Atom Heart Motherfuckers

Moving Day pt. 8 - "Happy Travels, Sanity Unravels"

⚠️Content warning: Angst and self hatred with a bit of violence, as well as mentions of sexual assault⚠️

Authors note: I promise I'm trying to keep it lighthearted but I suppose I can't help but add heaping amounts of angst to my stories. We're going to be delving a bit deeper into character motivations and processing of trauma, so be advised. I will try my best to make most of the following chapters silly fun, but unfortunately this storyline will return, I can't just leave it unfinished. Thank you for understanding!

    In the distance, they could see a tall brown building which towered above the skyline. It was in the center of the road, as if it was the goal they were working towards. It hung above the landscape; the trees that dotted along the side of the road allowed the building to peek through. All of the scenery, from the road to the vegetation, the unlit streetlights, the sky, even the surrounding houses pointed to it. It was like a mirage, a faint reminder of the city and the seemingly untouchable concept of relief. The blazing sun continued to beat down on the both of them. It was two-thirty, the hottest time of the day, as well as being the beginning of the summer.

Rick continued to speed-walk on the side of the motorway, occasionally checking over his shoulder to make sure Syd was still following behind. Cars continued to speed by them, creating a refreshing gust of wind with each vehicle that passed. It was clear that nobody cared about the two madmen on the side of the road. Syd felt slightly anxious that someone would crash into them, despite the fact that they were on the safer side of the barrier. Rick would typically be the one to remind everyone to stay as far from the road as possible, but he was still fuming. Rick was dead-set on his goal of making it to a hospital, any hospital would do. He was hyper-focused and didn't care about the aching in his legs. They had been walking for twenty minutes already in the sweltering summer heat, and Syd was beginning to feel slightly faint. Rick was also lightheaded, but refused to let it prevent him from his goal as he continued on just as strong as when he began the trek.

He was determined. He refused to quit. However, the heat began to really get to him. He was already sweating profusely and his head began to spin. The pinpoint focus he had on the brick building began to blur. He felt disoriented and confused; it hurt to think. He no longer thought, the only thing he knew was that he had to make it to that building. It was everything in that moment; all that mattered; all that has ever mattered; all that will continue to matter. He had to get there. Rick's awareness began to change. His vivid perception began to shift into something surreal and dreamlike; as if he was dreaming, or on the cusp of sleep. He was neither asleep nor awake, stuck in a hellish limbo he could not escape. He realized that it was the same state he slipped into in the backseat of the car. Rick tried to push the thought to the back of his mind, repressing it along with countless of other traumatic memories and emotions, but another entity in his mind couldn't stop thinking about it. His mind began to race in his hypnagogic state.

"What the hell happened back there?" The voice questioned.

"Nothing. Be quiet." Another entity hissed. This voice was harsh.

"No... there was something definitely wrong. Something happened."

"Absolutely nothing happened. Now stop."

"I know something happened. You can't tell me that you don't know too. Something happened, you just don't want to confront it."

"Shut up. I said to shut up. For the love of god, shut the hell up."

"We we're almost assaulted. That's what happened. We were almost taken advantage of by someone we thought we could trust."

"We weren't taken advantage of. Calm down. You don't know for sure what he was going to do. He isn't like that. He's married for Christ sake. He has a kid."