Gone

Chapter Nine: Journey

I fought with myself to not fall asleep again. Though anyone who saw my current state would undoubtedly notice the dark circles around my eyes. I needed to stay awake, by God I didn't want to see anymore nightmares. The image of that man tearing away at my Mother as she could no longer scream for help was something I had seen enough of.

Once I was of sound mind and senses, I left to make sure my bike was inside and locked up. Finished with that, I then followed Matt down to the Jeep he had parked on the other side of the tower, the wind blowing through his thickish short hair, and completely messing with mine. I didn't recall seeing such a vehicle so either I was oblivious to it or it came from Alice. The rain had stopped a little bit ago, but the ground was unsurprisingly soaked and muddy. The one part of rain I didn't enjoy. Matt opened the passenger seat door for and Alice, who I didn't notice trailing behind me, had went around and crawled into the trunk, which had a sleeping mat and two large boxes labeled "Matthew's Apple Juice".

"Jesus Christ, Matt. Not judging or anything, but do we really need that much Apple Juice?" I asked,

"No, we don't, but I do. So shut it and park it." His finger was aimed at the passenger seat, clearly not having my jab. "Besides, every good road trip needs a nice drink on the go."

"Water does exist you know," I added. That won me glare, followed by a very sassy expression and exaggerated tone.

"Yes cause I wanna go about the already mundane days with nothing in my throat but the lack of taste from water." His expression lifted then he gave a half smile. "Besides water is everywhere, kid, not like the world is short on it." The way he handled and talked about things confused the daylights out of me.

That, like Alice, never grew old nor annoying to me. If he hadn't explicitly told me no when I asked him about it, I'd assume they were family. His answer ended along the lines of  "The only blood that connects us was the kind that came with a case." I did wonder about how they knew each other, though I disliked prying too much into the bonds other people had with one another. Still it was odd. I knew about Riley, but not once did I ever see her. Maybe she's new to this like I am, just arrived before I.

Still on with that particular train of thought, I decided now would be a good time to ask, lest my mind would be distracted once more. "So Matt, how long were you a Private Eye?" There was long pause.

"The events that lead to it are a bit more complicated then you may think," he finally said, followed by a sigh. "To make a long story short, my father was head of a not so pleasant, but powerful group in my hometown. Once I learned of this I gathered every piece of evidence I could and went straight to the police, whether it was because they were on my old man's payroll, or because they thought I was affiliated, they tried to arrest me for half of what I brought in. Would've worked if Riley hadn't spotted me while trying to file a missing person's case for his mother. He distracted the authorities and we made off together, moving here to Virginia, where we pledged to not let injustice run amuck anymore."

There was a heavy silence in the air. But now I was more curious than ever. I decided to restrict myself to one question for now, as I didn't want to offend or hurt him inadvertently.

"How long ago was that?" My head tilted and I stared at his now expressionless face, his dark eyes giving the sense that all life had left him in the time he took to tell me that. He went to open his mouth to speak when a familiar voice from behind had answered instead.

"Five years ago, he met me later that same month! Well actually he had me arrested for breaking and entering his house, but we made friends after that," Alice declared rather tongue in cheek like to us. I looked in through the mirror and saw her curled up on the mat, slowly starting to drift off. The way Matt's eyes glanced over at her made me feel that wasn't the case, or at least the shortest version of that story.  I decided to save my questions to her for later though, as I didn't want to come off as annoying.

I glanced over at my reflection now, my undercut style was still present in the abnormally white hair, though the sides had definitely grown out a tad much. I haven't been taking care of myself lately. Still, I looked like me and that's all that mattered. With an overpowering sense of exhaustion looming over me, I shut my eyes and sighed, deeply regretting doing so as I slipped out of consciousness once again.