Crash Course in Shane Mathias

11. Arrival

Have you ever driven through San Antonio traffic as a tourist? This is absolute torture, Shane thought. Driving through it regularly was one thing, but driving through it when you could get lost at any second and you're still tired from the day before is something else entirely. 

Shane and Jugatxi dreaded getting up that morning. They'd had slept comfortably, but both had felt it wasn't enough. Luckily, the traffic in San Antonio wasn't bad for normal standards; it could have been so much worse. They were so close to their destination, Corpus Christi, Texas. After they had passed San Antonio, Shane felt a shift in the atmosphere. He was anxious and he was getting a headache again. He started thinking of what could have become of him had it not been for Jugatxi. He would have probably walked around the world lost and meaningless, living selfishly and arrogantly. It was a life that he could imagine vividly and it burned the back of his eyelids. He wished he could shake it out of his head, but it wouldn't be cut loose. 

Shane wished that Jugatxi would say something, but for the whole stretch of road between San Antonio and Corpus Christi she said nothing. It left Shane to stare at the expansive blue ocean as they passed the section of highway that was set exactly over it. It was very beautiful, in an unnerving kind of way. Shane kept seeing himself falling in and getting lost within its depths forever.

Soon they were off the highway and in one of Corpus Christi's smaller counties that Jugatxi finally spoke again. "Here it is," she said as she turned onto a smaller street and immediately into the driveway of a house on the right-hand side of the street. "Would you mind opening the gate?" Jugatxi asked of Shane. 

He didn't reply, but stepped out of the car immediately. The gate had two doors that swung inward and wasn't even locked. There was a gravel road that led to a garage and a house that seemed to have been place in the middle of a forest. The trees towered over everything, offering a nice shade from what Shane imagined would be a blistering heat in the summer. There were small plants on the ground, but no grass, and instead of soil there was sand. 

Shane walked on the gravel toward the house, and just as Jugatxi turned of the car, a man walked out of the house. Shane got extremely nervous and started to feel a bit clammy. Jugatxi just greeted the man cheerfully ."Glad you two could make it," the man said as Shane walked up and very slickly wiped his pants on his jeans before her shook the man's hand. "Your parents were always welcomed here," the man told Shane and Jugatxi. Jugatxi smiled smiled sadly, but the comment just left Shane wondering. What happened to his parents?