Abscond

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Things in my town of Virginia Beach are not necessarily ordinary. Sure from an outsiders perspective we all look like regular people, doing regular activities,...paying regular bills.
For the most part that assumption is true. Ex the crowded beaches in the summer and more traffic than usual during holidays. We are a tourist city after all.
What's different you might ask? Well, everyone who was born and resides here must pay Time. Nobody knows exactly who Time is or how paying this being came about. All we know is that something happens if we don't pay. We don't know what it is either, but we do know that the people who don't pay go missing when the clock chimes midnight on the last day of the week to pay.

I am currently listening to that clock chime. Reality has sunk in that I forgot to pay.
I frantically run out of my room down my dark hallway to the front door. Grabbing my go bag and putting my shoes on, I grab the extra charger I keep in my kitchen, then my keys, and sprint out of my apartment and down the hallway to the stairs.

As I'm running through the parking garage trying to remember where I parked I hear my phone ring. Checking the screen I see it's my best friend Lilith.

"Hello?" I say panicked.

"Y/N! Can you please come get me? Please, I'm begging you!" Lilith says, sounding like she's crying and running.

I continue to look around and finally spot my car.

"I'm leaving now actually, where are you?" I ask, sprinting toward my car, unlocking it before I get to the door.

"Lynnhaven Mall, please be fast. I'm scared" she answers, sounding like she's crying even harder.

"I'll be as quick as I can, send me your location and hang up so you can save on battery" I instruct her as I pull out of the parking garage with a screech.

"Okay" she says hesitantly.

Once I hear the ding and see her message I hang up the phone. She's in front of the JC Penny's.

Keeping this in mind I speed down the road. The nights the clock chimes are always bare. No one wants to risk being out in case they forgot to pay.
I'm taking a shortcut through a neighborhood to avoid as many traffic lights as possible. Despite the threat that emerges on these nights, the police still heavily enforce the law. Meaning I'd have to stop at every red light.

The mall is in view and I make my way across the road. Once in the complex I swing around the side of the building where the JC Penny's is. Lilith is standing in front of the doors, visibly shaking.

I bring the car to a halt and open the door from my seat. Lilith jumps in and as soon as both her feet are inside the car I drive off. Heading as far away from Virginia Beach as I can.

Neither of us say anything. The abnormal darkness of the night embodying our feelings just fine. There are never any stars on nights like this. As if nature knows what's about to happen.

I don't even know where to go. Or if Time can still get Lilith and I outside of the city. People have heard of others escaping and still being alive. But they haven't come back and nobody has heard from them.

This back road is tripping me out. The lanes are so skinny, the shoulder is a ditch, the trees are thick and unkempt. Driving on roads like this are not my thing given that I have grown up in the city and never been anywhere else.

"Y/N, I'm sorry for making you do this. I was just so scared" Lilith says, breaking into tears.

"Lilith, I wouldn't have just left you there for god knows what to happen to you. We're running for the same reason anyway" I respond, placing a comforting hand on her shaking one's.

"You're right, we're in this together" she says, sniffling and wiping her tears.

I smile to her and focus back on the road.

I don't know where we are going, or how long we are going to drive. But stopping doesn't seem like an option right now. I guess I'm driving until we absolutely have to stop.

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Author here! Welcome to Chrono!
The plot is based off of a nightmare I had while recording my dreams for my psychology class😅. So I hope it's good enough🥰

Happy reading!

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