A Day in The Life

You're Born To Find

Alex took in the terrified expression on her target's face. Target, agh. As wrong as it sounded, Alex had no other choice if she wanted to get anywhere in this damn investigation of hers before the sunset on the horizon. And so, she walked around the counter to snatch the knife from where it had been embedded in the wall.

"Have I got your attention? Fully?" her voice was flatly emotionless.

Terrified, her peer nodded.

"Good," Alex replied, exhaling through her nose to slow her rapid heartbeat. "Now go around back, and pack a travel bag of food. Ice packs, snacks, whatever- just do it quickly and carefully. And no funny business, or calling the police. I really don't want anything else slowing me down today."

And so, she waited. The buzz at the base of her skull, however faint, was slowly becoming more intense, and so impatience threatened to overwhelm her. With a soft clunk, a duffel bag packed to its bursting point was deposited on the table, and the girl nodded.

"Good," Alex choked the response out of her mouth. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way to get to the next town before four in the afternoon..."

Suddenly, a hand gripped her arm. Alex looked up, and she found the girl she had more or less assaulted with the knife just earlier was gripping her wrist and refused to let Alex tear her wrist away.

"The next town... you'll never make it there on your own before four p.m!" She yelled, startling both Alex and herself. 

"And why would that be?" Alex replied, mildly annoyed.

Wordlessly, she pointed at the clock on the wall.

"IT'S THREE THIRTY?!" Alex shrieked, the shrill tone to her voice causing even some of the few picture frames on the wall to shake dangerously, threatening a complete collapse. "Why didn't you tell me, whatever your name is!?"

With an equal sass level, her captive responded. "First of all, my name is Isabella, you jerk. And second, because you never asked!"

Alex opened her mouth to retaliate, but instead, she had no witty response to give. "L-let's just get a move on, already... before this makes me regret every decision I've ever made until this point, all over again."

Isabella's nostrils visibly flared. Storming past Alex, she tossed the travel bag in Alex's direction before snatching a silver set of car keys off of the wooden wall hook, attracting raised eyebrows from her observer. "What in the name of Hestia are you doing? Are you actually planning to come along? I told you, I don't need help."

The door was halfway open before Isabella responded, and she didn't look Alex in the eye. "I can live with danger, but what I can't live with one more minute of the deafening boredom that comes with working around here."

"And," Isabella added, "I can always scream 'stranger danger' like in the movies. You'd really rather not get arrested, no?"

With a coy expression clear on her face, Isabella rapidly led the way outside with her. Around the back of the building was a large half-paved six-by-six section of rocks that barely qualified as a road, with a surprisingly modern car half on the road and half off. In fact, despite the car's obviously new condition, it was dusty. When Alex forcefully pulled opened the passenger door, her fingers caught on thick trails of spiderwebs, and she stumbled back with a scream caught in her throat.

"Climb on in," Isabella replied with a twinkle in her blue eyes. "Let's get this show on the road."

With a grand gesture, Alex rolled her eyes and climbed in.

  ☆  ☪   ☆

"Next town isn't that far from where we are now by car," Isabella said over the car's panther-like roar. "Maybe ten minutes, more or less, depending on whatever problems those idiotas down there have gotten themselves into."