Along the Way

Chapter 6

I shook Alex awake after I had some what come out of my frozen state. She groaned in disagreement, shifting to the other side.

“Alex wake up now,” I demanded, but my voice was slightly shaky.
She groaned again, but got up anyway.

“What’s up?” She asked, almost cutting herself off with a yawn.
I pointed over to the group of television that sat in the window. She followed my gaze and watched along with me. The same story was playing, Alex rubbed her eyes, almost in disbelief it seemed.

“You’re joking,” She whispered, almost inaudible for me to hear.
I glanced in her direction. Her messy hair was still sprawled across her face, but I could see her expression stand out more than anything. Her mouth hung wide open and her eyes seemed to pop out of her head.

I looked back at the screen, shaking my head in disbelief as the news woman spoke.

“Hello and welcome back to News channel 2, I’m Gannet O’Conner and we have breaking news for you this evening. About a week ago, on May 23rd,  teenagers Naomi Faye and Alexandra Winters were last seen heading out of a diner and were supposedly heading to local Pacific City park. Nearby citizens reported hearing gunshots in the park region later that evening. Naomi and Alexandra have not returned home since, police are investigating the area for any signs of murder or kidnapping of the two girls. More information tonight.”

Alex and I sat there for a long moment in silence. Neither of us could comprehend any of this.

“W-what? What about t-the notes?” She squeaked after a long silence, clearly still fazed.

“Mayb-be that’s something for t-tonight?” I stumble over my words just as much as her, my statement sounding more like a question.
She nodded, and swiftly turned back around in her seat.

“How a-about we start w-walking again-n?” I finally proposed after a few more moments of silence.
She nodded once more before grabbing her bags. I followed shortly after, grabbing my bags as well. The only reason I could come up with as why people wouldn’t stop was because they saw us in those photos and wanted nothing to do with it, because if anyone found out they had contact with us, they’d get involved and possibly blamed for our ‘kidnapping’ and or ‘murder’. I sighed heavily as we stood up and started walking again. We were still both very spooked, so we walked in silence. But guess what? I found out the name of the city. It’s sort of irrelevant now, but useful I guess.

Sullivan. I’ve never really heard much about this city other than the fact that it existed.

I sighed again, realizing that distracting myself wasn’t really working. I still kept thinking back to the news report.

“I spy something… green,” I concluded, trying to lighten the mood.
She looked at me curiously for a moment before chuckling.

“Really, Naomi?”

“Yes!” I insisted.

“Alright then,” she replied, looking around as we walked. “That sign?” She asked, pointing to a vibrant green, home-made sign some protesters had made and left on the ground.

“Yup! Your turn!” I giggled and smiled widely, trying to cheer her up all the way.

She laughed at my bubbly attitude before glancing around the area.

“I spy something… orange!” She squealed, getting all jittery with a goofy grin.

“Hmm,” I started, looking around until I made a 360 degree turn. “That building?” I concluded in a question.

“Nope!” She laughed, “This is a tough one.” She grinned widely, almost evilly as she bounced around waiting for my next answer.

“Uh…” I stumble around, looking for something orange.

I glance back in her direction. She has a wicked grin across her face and a devilish look in her eyes.

I look myself up and down.

“My t-shirt?” I ask.

“No no no! You weren’t supposed to guess it!” She shouted in an angry tone.

I wince at the unexpected yelling, but I don’t think she noticed.

“Fine, you’re turn,” She admitted grumpily.

I chuckled at her anger. We played I-Spy for awhile, until we got to the town of St. James. We then began ranting about random things to pass the time waiting for our food at another diner.

“Dinosaurs would definitely win in a fight!” She argued, getting furious with my disagreement.

“BLEH! Go my dragon flames! You’re dinosaur is dead now!” I stated,
confident that she couldn’t come back from that.

She frowned for awhile before a wicked grin came across her face again.

“Dragons never existed, so dinosaurs win by default!” She cheered in delight.

“How do you know? Dragons could’ve just been another type of dinosaur.
There were flying dinosaurs may I remind you,” I kept a factual voice, making her more mad.

She huffed in defeat before slumping back in her chair. I giggled at her somewhat dramatic scene. Our food came by and we were happy to have a nice meal for once.

We had enough for a small breakfast and small diner tomorrow, but we’ll worry about that later.

We tipped the waiter and left, ready to continue and find a place to rest before continuing the journey tomorrow. I had a feeling that because of that news report, tomorrow is not going to be an easy day.