The Last One | Project Fear

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

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The atmosphere on the RV is different the following morning. We'd stopped off at a hotel again and gotten some sleep after Fairfield County Infirmary. Early this morning, we checked out and got back on the road and it feels like we've been driving for eternities at this point. It's really only been a few hours, but still—we've been in the RV for almost three weeks now. Though we've stopped at hotels, it's only been for a night, so we're all exhausted.

But it's different. The air is charged. We're all aware that this is the last stop, the end goal that we've all been looking to reach. The home stretch.

It's unbelievable.

I tuck and untuck my hair from behind my ears, sitting cross-legged on my bed in the RV. We've pulled over and Dakota's utilizing the time to film himself, most likely talking about the location that we're headed to. I have a few Polaroid pictures set out before me that I'd taken on the trip. I'd basically stopped taking pictures with it on the locations, but I'd been using it for other things. Random pictures during a pit stop, a great view from the RV window driving through the country, and some of the guys being absolutely ridiculous. Then, there's the one of myself and Dakota that either Alex or Tanner took after the first location.

I can't help but smile as I look at it, because it's probably my favorite. It's just a genuine moment between two people who really didn't know each other well in their most vulnerable states.

"Incoming!" Tanner shouts as he runs into the room and launches himself onto my bed.

"Dude!" I shout through a laugh. The Polaroids all go flying as he lands and I bounce nearly a foot in the air on the mattress.

He strikes a pose, laying across the bed, a hand popped on his hip and his other propping up his head. I roll my eyes playfully at him, gathering up the Polaroids that I can find. He grabs one of the ones I'd taken of him at the county fair the other day and smiles at it before handing it to me.

"So," my cousin starts, "last location's coming up."

"I know," I agree with a nod, looking over at him. "It's so insane. I can't believe it."

"It feels like we just started this thing," Tanner says. "But at the same time, like we've been doing this for a thousand years."

"That's true," I reply. "I'm actually—Dare I say it, I'm actually kind of sad that it's almost over."

"Ooh, are you telling me that you like sleeping in haunted abandoned locations?" Tanner asks and I roll my eyes again.

"No—the sleeping alone is the part I will miss the least," I inform him. "But . . . spending time with you. That's been fun."

"Yeah, it has, hasn't it?" Tanner replies. "I feel like this is the most we've actually seen each other."

"It probably is," I say, giving him a half-smile. "I mean, I know we text and talk a lot, but hanging out, doing something like this—it's totally different. It makes me really sad to think that in a few days, I'll be back in New York and you'll be back in Nevada."