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Nights were long yet peaceful, the city lights painted the black sky and kept the roads lit up. Toby spent most of his time on the bridge to sit and watch the cars below. At some points, he even let his legs dangle off the ledge.
He was wondering about things.
He wondered just how long of a fall it would be, how long it would take for him to hit the ground.

A few whispers came into his mind, some debating his thoughts, others encouraged them.
Toby growled to himself, leaning his head down onto the ledge he was hanging onto.
He was tired, very tired.

It was about 12 AM, the moon was directly above the city. Toby would occasionally stare at it. He still had his backpack, though it was nearly empty. He was basically toting around dirty clothes and empty cans of food at this point.

Toby was walking down a quiet neighborhood, bigger, richer houses lined the sides. He wouldn't admit he envied the people that had good lives. He grew up learning the difference between real love and abuse. Before he didn't know any better.
Bruised eyes and bloody knuckles and noses weren't love.
He wondered if his mom had figured that out yet?

Toby was deep in the heart of Denver, huge neighborhoods like this were littered all over the city, finding him wouldn't be an easy task.
However, Toby noticed headlights coming directly at him.
His eyes slightly squinted, they were really bright to his sensitive eyes.

The car came to a stop right where Toby was walking.
He stopped, guessing it must be another person looking for him so they can get the credit, but when the window was rolled down, the boy was met with the blonde girl, her hair stringy and thrown up into a quick ponytail, it was obvious she had been worried.

"Lyra, I can explain-" Toby was quick to start excusing what he did but the girl didn't want to hear it, she was livid. "Get in the car."

Toby stood there, a little shocked at her tone. It was when she raised it, he flinched, getting into the passenger seat.

"Seat belt." She demanded, not even looking him in the face. Her hands were tight, firm against the steering wheel.
Toby pulled his seat belt on slowly after removing the bag from his back and placing it at his feet.
He knew not to say much.
Lyra didn't start driving again just yet, she seemed to be dazed out, staring into her lap, pursing her lips together, disappointed.
Toby's jaw twitched, worry pouring over him. His gaze was shifted to the window where he stared.
The sidewalk started to move, so did the trees. They were driving slowly out of the neighborhood.
Toby could feel the rough motor of the old minivan they were in rattle.

It wasn't till 8 minutes into the drive, Toby spoke out.
"Lyra, i'm sorry i-"

She cut him off.
"Do you know how worried I was?!"

Toby quickly sunk down into the seat a little, pulling a hand over his seat belt. He didn't like when she yelled.

"You know how lucky I was to actually find you? Huh! Weeks. WEEKS Toby! You were gone for WEEKS."
Lyra sped up a little, finally pulling onto one of the main roads.

Toby kept his glossy gaze directed out of the window, hand on the door handle. Her yelling was making his adrenaline spike, or maybe it was the sudden unnatural number of warning signs he started to see on the road.

Some of the street lights were flickering, and the car kept seeming to speed up even more. The signs became blurred in motion, the yellow lines in the road were going so fast they all seemed to connect.

His anxiety was rising to where he could feel it in his throat, like something was choking him.

"Lyra, can we please slow down?"

Toby failed to notice just how dazed she seemed, like something was in her mind.
Toby looked over finally, leaning out of his seat a little.

The street lights continued to flash, like they were going through a tunnel in reverse.
They'd pass what little number of cars that were out, breaching the speed limit by a couple of miles.

'we're going so fast..'

Toby took a few breaths, hearing sighs escape the girl. They slowed down a little, turning onto another highway, one leading to their side of town.
Toby kept his gaze out of his own window, keeping his eyes on the trees and a few houses they'd pass.

In a flash, a loud semi-truck would speed past them, making Toby flinch and having to catch his breath. They were on the main road.

Toby just so happened to notice that the street lights behind would flash, like something was catching up to them.
He was aware he was the only one seeing this.

"Lyra, do you think we can.." Toby turned, the road ending fast to meet with the tall, featureless creature, spider-like legs projecting out of its back.
It stood right in front of them. They were going to hit it at this speed-
Toby freaked out, being the only one laying eyes on this being.
With a loud scream, he reached over, jerking the steering wheel to the right.
They swerved  around it, missing it by inches. The screeching of the wheels didn't stop there, the momentum of the car was too strong.

It was just then that everything started to flicker, Toby's surroundings went dark. The street lights flipped upside down in slow motion, and glass seemed to fly in front of him. It was almost like he was in a space with no gravity.

Then everything hit, the car was violently flipped, as if they also ran into something on the way into a ditch, also crashing into a tree halfway.

The car finally landed in a ditch on the side of the road.

It was all so dark.

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