Lament

Chapter Twelve

I had closed my eyes while riding on the back of Daniel's bike. Despite our recent fight, I still trusted him enough not to crash us.

I felt the muscles in his legs flex as he shifted gears from three to one. As we slowed down, I opened my eyes and looked around. We were no longer in my small hometown of Connecticut, but we weren't in the woods either.

Daniel slowed to a crawl and finally stopped the bike and cut the engine, so there was no sound in the silent hours of the morning.

I took off my helmet and looked at my surroundings. We were stopped in front of a three story apartment complex with decaying bricks and shattered windows. Weeds grew from cracks in the ground and the road was horribly misshapen. There was nothing around for miles.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Radiator Springs," He answered, swinging his leg up and over the bike without smacking me in the mouth. "Ya know," He went on, looking up at the building. "Off Route 66 from Cars."

I raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"

Daniel shrugged. "Due to the lack of a smile," he replied without looking back, "It was a terribly horrible one."

I snorted, "You could say that."

He turned halfway from his torso then and looked back at me with spectical eyes. "Aren't you going to look around?

I lifted my arms and gestured to the peice-of-crap building in exasperation. "What's there to see?"

Daniel, to my surprise, smiled widely. His mood from before was finally gone. "You'll never know if you don't look."

I slouched down in my seat and sighed as I watched the darkening clouds roll toward us. I shook my head and swung my leg over the bike, putting the kick stand down.

With my chin raised defiantly, I stormed past Daniel without a second glance. He chuckled. softly to himself.

"This doesn't make me any happier." I pointed out. "I'm still posses and don't you forget it."

He didn't laugh, but I could almost feel him smile from ear to ear. "Alrighty then." He said from behind, "No jokes. No laughing. Just a stone face."

I rolled my eyes and gently nudged the door that was barely hanging from its hinges with my foot. The screen had already fall off from he harsh weather, I guessed.

When I peered inside. I realized that I was right; there really was nothing to see. All the furniture was gone and the walls were mold-stained and he air smelled of decaying crap. Mildew too.

"Please tell me that there's an underground tunnel that has a decent little room with a bug-free guarantee." I said.

Daniel snorted. "Sorry, princess," He teased. "But I didn't really have time to make all of that happen in such a short notice."

I turned and glared at him. "Princess?"

He shrugged one shoulder. "So? Don't tell me you're offended by he term."

I narrowed my eyes to spits and let out a deep breath. Daniel raised his eyebrows and raised his hands to his mouth in horror. "Crap! It seems I've finally hit a weak spot! Now I know what'll puss you off if I ever need a good comeback."

"Screw you!" I snapped back.

"Sorry, but we're not that close." He retorted.

I felt my face turn red and before I could get anything else out of my mouth, he was striding past me with victory written all over his face. Clenching my fists. I turned and followed reluctantly, thinking of all the ways I was going to get back at him.

With a snider comment ready to form on my lips, I turned the corner and immediately held my tongue.

Remember when I said there wasn't anything to see in his piece-of-crap building? Well... let's just say I was wrong.