Black-Eyed Seattle

Why?

Chapter 4

The next few miles are pretty uneventful. I'm pretty sure Chase fell asleep, and the sides of the road are covered with nothing but pines and cypresses. The only thing I have to entertain myself with is playing with the curls atop of Chase's head.

The house is only a few miles away from us now. I decide it's a good time to wake Chase up so he isn't groggy and moody once we get to the house. I stop the car in the middle of the street, not really seeing the point in pulling over.

I lean over so I can see his face, his eyes shut and mouth parted open. I don't want to wake him, but I know it'll be better for the both of us. I rub my thumb against his face gently and say his name in the softest, most gentle voice possible.

"Chase...." I say as I gently shake his head slightly from side to side. He groans and pulls my shirt over his head. "Come on, babe. You have to get up." I whisper to him. He groans louder and buries his head deeper into my soft stomach. I giggle at the childish action.

"Come on, we're almost home," I say to him in a slightly serious tone. I rub my fingers up and down his back softly. "You can go back to sleep when we get to the house. Right now, I need you to get up." After a final groan of protest, the older boy wrestles his face out of my shirt and pushes himself up out of my lap.

He sits up in his seat, hair in a mess. His back is completely hunched over as he looks out into the landscape with dead eyes. I move my hand to brush his bangs off his forehead. As I put the slightest bit of pressure on his head, his skull tips back and he leans it on the headrest. I smile to myself, "you must be really tired, huh?" I ask him.

He whines and falls onto my shoulder. "You're gonna fall back asleep if you don't sit up." I say to him. I turn the key in the ignition and the car jumps back to life. Chase slowly lifts his head from its resting place. I continue the drive back to our house.

I look in my rear view mirror, just as an instinct, and see something unexpected. Another car was following us. This was no ordinary car, though. The car behind us held our two best friends; Maverick and Justin. Maverick and Justin had started dating just around the time Chase and I did, and we were always bickering over who was the better couple.

Maverick had recently dyed his hair purple out of spite, for his boss told him not to have any unnatural hair colors. I'm still surprised as to how he didn't get fired at his newly obtained job. You would think his boss would like the new color, since he runs a casino, think it would fit in with the vibe of purple lights and tacky disco balls.

Justin has black hair, always has, probably always will. He's more of a simple guy, doesn't like the party scene as much as Maverick does. He owns a small vintage shop near the heart of Seattle and pours almost all his time and energy into it. It surprises me how they get along so well, from first glance, they have nothing in common.

"Justin and Maverick have already caught up to us, it looks like Maverick's driving." I inform Chase. He rolls down the window and sticks almost his entire upper half out of the car. I glance over and see him violently waving to the car behind us. I look in the rear view mirror again to see Justin doing the exact same thing.

I look back to the road, and I can finally see a small dot in the distance. That dot is the first house on our street. Our neighborhood is very spaced out, all of us have large back yards and at least 200 feet between every house. It's a nice neighborhood, there about ten houses but only seven are occupied. "Almost home!" Chase says in an enthusiastic tone.

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We pull into the driveway, I park and turn off Chase's car. I swing the door open as Maverick pulls in on the other side of the wide patch of concrete. I hear Chase shut his door and the engine of the other car turn off. I begin walking towards the front door, wanting to get it unlocked before everyone crowds around me.

I barely open the door before Jade is pushing her long snout through the adoor and forcing herself out. I open the door the rest of the way and she scrambles out so fast she almost falls down. She scampers to the three boys, jumping up at Justin.

I walk in our house and hang the keys on the hook. Maverick steps in behind me. "Fucking Christ, I forget how big this place is sometimes," he says in a awed tone. "Yeah, well I mean we went from a one room apartment to this so that's valid." I say back to him.

The rest of our small group filters into the open space. "So what was that back there, anyways?" I ask whomever able to respond. "It's been happening for a while, every Wednesday, people in that city go nuts. I'm not sure why, or even if anyone notices it."

My eyes widen in shock. I turn to Chase. "We've lived here for like three months and we've never gone into town on a Wednesday before?" I ask him, slightly surprised. "We're homebodies, if we do go into town, it's only to pick those two up or drive to the airport," he states. I guess he's right.

"Do either of you know why that happens?" I ask Justin and Maverick. "Well-"

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