Black Rose

1.

"What a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive."

DAY 1:

We had been driving for hours in painful silence. There was the occasional mumbling of something insignificant and asking for a rest break. But other than that, it was silent. Silence so painful that it gave my mind the opportunity to wander to places it shouldn't.

Alice said magic isn't inherently bad, but my powers can still do bad things. Why would I be given something...dark? What is my purpose with them? If I'm being honest with myself, I don't want anything that could possibly do harm. And neither should the others. Alice can have these powers. I would be doing us all a favor in taking this darkness away. For the safety of themselves, and everyone else.

The phrase 'an enemy of my enemy is my friend' kept playing through my head. There's a bigger threat out there that wants to take over everything and anything in its path. Including Alice. Alice wants the threat eliminated. So do I. But I also want her eliminated. If she gets rid of the threat with the powers she's planning on taking from the four of us, then there will be no one else out there that will be able to defeat her. She's taken so much from me and has made this past month a living hell. And she needs to pay. So the biggest question that is going through my head right now, is which enemy do I consider my friend for the time being?

We had been driving all day. We left Fort Gibson around nine in the morning. Looking at the clock on the radio face, it read 9:36 PM. We'd been driving for about twelve hours straight. I asked Badge if he needed a break and if he wanted me to drive, but he insisted that he was fine. He probably didn't trust me to drive his car. It's not like he bought it with his own money. He won it in a game. But I could tell he was getting tired. His eyes were starting to blank and droop. Not too long ago I saw a sign that said we made it to Georgia. This seemed like a good spot to stay for the night.

Making it to Georgia made me think of my family. I've never been to Georgia before, but this is where my parents first met and where Clark was born. In a way, this was the beginning of everything. I hadn't expected to miss them, but I did. I can only imagine the turmoil my family is going through right now. They've tried calling me hundreds of times. But I couldn't find it in myself to pick up the phone. Alice has my mom. I'm the only one who knows how to find her, and I'm sure she's going to make sure that the shapeshifters won't be able to find her until I deliver on my end of the deal. I left my home in shambles. But I promise I will fix it. Somehow.

After much convincing, Badge finally agreed to settle here for the night. We stopped by a store to grab a few things: extra clothes, toiletries, some food. The small town that we stopped in didn't have much of a selection when it came to hotels, so we had to settle for a very sketch looking motel. Stepping outside of the car, the nights here felt warmer than they did in Oklahoma. A little more humid. Even for late September. But it was an inviting kind of warmth. Especially since I've been feeling nothing but cold inside lately.

Badge reserved the room while I waited in the car. I followed him silently up a creaky and pretty unstable stairwell to room number 214. He slid the keycard in the hole, and a green light flashed, unlocking the door from the other side. Badge pushed open the door, and I followed him inside. The room wasn't too bad. It was better than what I was expecting it to be based from the outside. The bathroom was immediately to the left, a small closet on the opposite side. A small, plasma TV was perched on a stained dresser. The only thing that did catch my attention was the singular bed nested up against the stucco colored wall.