The Skylar Experiment : Dead Ending (second draft)

85. The Billy Motel

RILEY

WE SPENT HOURS ON the road. My knees locked as if I'd been amputated, and ants ran up and down my legs. After Lauren fell dormant and the music faded, the remaining of us were plunged deep into our minds, trying to make sense of the near future.

The thought of holing up somewhere safe and good ways away from home sounded bitter and enchanting simultaneously. It was the best option we could afford.

The boys made a few pit stops for food and supplies before sundown. Gas stops glided by on the roads.

Something gently skimmed my arm, then trailed up to my neck. I ripped my gaze off the glowing billboards to plant it into a rear-view mirror as the warmth seeped through my skin.

The burst of the back door over my flying body and the strike of the hard wooden deck took my focus off the rolling street for a second.

When I blinked it away, my reflection stared back into the window. I swallowed and rested a hand over Luc's healing fingers, then nestled into his side. He squirmed to settle me in—decided later to wrap it around my shoulders. His heart beat steady against my ribs. With my eyes shut, that alone could lull me to sleep.

"Does it hurt?"

"No," I whispered. "It's fine now."

I traced the rugged calluses over his palm. He pressed me closer; I felt his sigh float down my cheek. We stayed like that.

Luc stirred once past the last city, and I saw the hour on the dashboard. Almost 10 pm. Every sign on the highway gave directions for Pennsylvania for the last fifty miles.

Raymond veered off route 32 and pulled into a small parking lot facing a yellow brick-walled building. It was longer than tall, squat with a black pitched roof, and surrounded by flowers.

Above the flowerbed, people painted 'The Billy Motel' in red. As we rolled toward a free spot, one window held a blue neon sign that read OPEN.

A faint hum in the car roused my attention. Lauren's ruined ponytail tipped over as her neck swung, and the next thing she was taking the scenery in with groggy eyes. She studied the various arrows pointing at an office and a bar, then the red pillars by the hall of doors. Raymond cut off the motor and twisted to us.

"How many rooms you want?"

Luc glanced at me first. "I'm staying with her."

Lauren sat up straight, and her eyes wandered over the parking lot. "I'd like a room alone."

The silence that welcomed her communication was like a cold breeze between the seats. I had to physically rub my arms to ward off the discomfort. 

Raymond looked down before clearing his throat. Then, he left and immediately followed the office arrow, hands digging a wallet out of his jean pocket. Meanwhile, I hopped out.

Frigid night wind filtered through thin trees shielding the entrance to a camping park on the other side of the road. 

Luc and his sister joined me a minute later and we stood contemplating tonight's full, clouded moon. Laughter issued from the diner's window along with tinkles of glass. It smelled weakly of grilled meat and spirits, of warmth and firewood.

"How long did I sleep?" Lauren asked.

She'd been spacing out, rocking on her heels. Her voice was hushed and silky, which I used to find creepy, but it sounded more preoccupied than anything else.