Akina's Reflection

XV

Rather than risking another inn, we parked Antonio's truck on the side of the road, and slept there instead. Morning was quick to come.

Antonio yawned, starting up the engine.

"Ngg, thank god the cops didn't find us..."

The engine, stubborn as ever, refused to start. Antonio cursed, a lot.

Though still startled by last night, I was able to smile, and even laugh a little at Antonio's trials and errors. Though funny, it did take us about fifteen minutes to get the car started.

"There we go, hey Sayoki? Think you can get an address for that office?"

I opened up Aubrey's laptop, then the Indigo Creek map.

"Down town, at the far north side, farther from the creek."

"Okay, I think that would be enough directions to take us there. Our tank's low, so we're going to stop at a gas station, okay?"

"Alright," I reply, though not really paying much attention. I stared out the window, watching cornfields, and later people's homes pass by.

It made me think a little, of Aubrey. Where is he by now? Is he already waiting for us, at Mirror? Or is he looking for a way in? Maybe he has already reunited with Cody.

As Antonio said, we stopped at a local gas station.Already, the buildings were beginning to look more familiar, like the buildings of downtown.

"You can go buy snacks, or use the bathroom, or you can always just stay in the car, okay?"

I did have to go a little, so I hopped out of the car, making a beeline towards the station. There were a lot of good looking snacks there, and I began to get hungry as well.

I walked towards the bathrooms, then paused, in front of the two doors. One with a 'Men' sign, one with 'Women.'

I stared at the two doors, then walked into the men's restroom. I never really liked public restrooms. They were very, awkward to me. I don't like the smell, or the open urinals, but most of all, I always get uncomfortable around those two door signs...

After finishing, I washed my hands and quickly left. I was lucky no one else was there, it would have been worse for me.

I walked aimlessly towards the short gas station aisles, examining each product. I finally grabbed a bag of candy and a bottle of iced tea, paid for my items at the register, and left.

"Did you buy anything for me?"

"Buy something for you? If you wanted something, you could have told me, or gotten it yourself Antonio!"

Antonio fished a couple dollars from his pocket, and walked into the station. I sat alone in the truck.

Antonio seemed to be taking his time, so I opened up Aubrey's laptop once again. I searched through his files for the folder of text files. I clicked the second one and began to read once again.

"One day, I asked Cody why Charles hated him so much. Cody looked at me, and only told me it's because he's different from the rest of the family. I always thought there was more to the story, I should have told him to tell me more. But I never forgot the way Cody looked at me, he was always sad, but this time, it was so much different.

It made me remember that Cody's entire life was made up of disappointment, useless beatings and depression. I swore to myself never to ask Cody again.

Charles got worse and worse with Cody. Scolding becomes yelling, simple empty threats become full out beatings for Cody. By the time he was ten, bruises were an everyday thing for him. Charles and Mom were also not getting along as well. They seemed fine when I was around, but I always noticed a slight glare at each other. They seemed to have been arguing more, I've heard them.