Escape From Reality

The Ride

In the morning, knees bunched together, I sat outside on the porch steps and waited for Jacob to come. It was Saturday and as usual, my dad had already left to go to the office. It was a habit of his to sometimes return to the office even during the weekends to work on whatever stupid project his boss had tasked him with this time. It was one of the things I hated but not speak about. At least not until yesterday. I grimaced slightly as I recalled the memory.

I had always silently bore the things I detested, never speaking up about them, but with the appearance of Jacob in my life and these dreams, suddenly everything in my life seemed to change. I had talked back to Layla for goodness sake and I had screamed at my dad about his work. The old Chloe would have never done either of those things. But I had.

These dreams had changed me.

My bored eyes trailed on the occasional person that passed by, from families bringing their children to the park during weekends to play, or a sweet elderly couple taking a stroll together. Rarely anyone was alone this beautiful sunny morning, except a lone jogger who was fitting in her daily exercise. I watched the streets, wondering for the first time about their stories. Did any of them have dreams like me and Jacob? What was going on beyond their walls?

It was as if I put on a pair of glasses, looking out through the lenses with a new perspective, watching the children run down the street and the couple laughing silently behind.

After a while of watching people, I spotted a black-haired boy slowly pedalling into view. He was riding his bicycle with the gentle ease of someone with experience, and I heard the shrill ring of the bell as his eyes found mine. He gave me a small smile as he called out my name.

"Chloe!" He made a motion to lift his hand off the bicycle handles to give me a wave before he seemed to think the better of it and placed his hands back on. Giving him back a small smile of my own, I slowly stood up from my seat as Jacob pulled to a stop at the front of my house.

"Why did you ride your bike over?" I asked quizzically as he hopped off. His house wasn't that far from mine so it didn't make much sense for him to ride the short distance.

"I spent last night thinking about it. I think we should go see my dad today." Jacob suggested as he kicked down the kickstand for the bicycle.

"Oh. Where does he live?" That seemed like a good idea. Going to Jacob's dad's house might provide more answers about the journal.

"Out of town. It's a 3-hour bike ride away."

"3 hours?" I opened my mouth in shock. That seemed like a really long time to pedal and I had not cycled in a while. Not too sure whether I could survive the journey, I asked nervously, "Is there a shorter way?"

"I can't exactly ask my mum to fetch me there or ask my dad to pick me up. He would flip. We have to go in there and surprise him," Jacob reasoned.

"What about taking the bus there?"

"There is no bus going there. The only way other than by car is to cycle."

"So you know the way to cycle there?"

"Of course, I did this multiple times. Come on Chloe, don't you want answers?"

"Of course I do." I gave a deep sigh, wishing that there was another way. But the promise of answers was too much and I decided to agree for that sake.

"Fine, I guess I have no choice ." I sighed again before entering the house to go fetch my bike. Jacob followed behind as I walked through the living room into the backyard to retrieve my bike chained to the bike rack. It has been such a long time since I used it that the chain was rusted over. My dad bought me this particular bicycle to ride to school, but since it was such a short walk away, I ended up not using it.