November's Truths

Chapter 6

Eleutheromania (n.) a great desire for or obsession with freedom

~

Caspar sighed a bit as he looked at the road making sure that he was staying in his lane. Although there were no other cars, which was odd for a Saturday, Caspar didn't want to take any chances at messing up. Especially since he wasn't alone, he didn't want November hurt, she already did that on her own. Hopefully today she wouldn't do anything reckless and actually just have a nice relaxing day. He did occasionally glance at her, mostly when she made noises like rummaging through the cassette tapes or humming along to a song. He liked that she made her presence known, it reminds him that he's not alone that she's here with him.

November leaned back in her seat staring out the window. She wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings. Everything on the other side of the window was blurry and just streaks of color. Her mind had wandered off thinking of her home, her life, and Caspar. Every time she was away from home she always found herself in a debate to decide if she should go home or make this the time she left it for good. Although she was only seventeen she was already thinking of her life and reflecting on all the things she regrets doing, of course, she's only seventeen so there isn't much for her to regret but still enough to dwell on. And Caspar, well he was her best friend practically her only friend. Her attention was only brought back to reality every time the radio would go quiet. Occasionally a hum would be heard from her as she absentmindedly listened to the music.

Eventually, her mind came back to reality and she became more aware of her surroundings. November blinked and rubbed her eyes, she looked out the window again paying more attention to the area. All she could see were trees and bushes, this confused her a bit, weren't they just in the town? Where did all these trees come from? Caspar looked over at her a bit and chuckled as he could see the confusion on her face. "Are you okay Nov?"

"Where are we going? How long did it take us to get here? Weren't we just in town?" She asked looking utterly confused.

"Well we're just outside of town, and there are clearly woods we're not going too far into the wood just a little longer okay November?" He asked and smiled happily. He liked that she was totally clueless about where they're going. Usually, it's him who's clueless and November being sure of where she's going. He guesses that she's not used to being kept in the dark about where she's going. Now that he thinks about it November, for as reckless as she is, always knew where she was heading or what she was gonna do.

November scoffed and huffed a bit, "How do I know you're not just taking me out into the woods so you can finally murder me. The very thing you've been planning for years ever since you met me." She said suspiciously and glared at him jokingly.

Caspar was shocked and amused. He busted out laughing and looked at her briefly and then back to the road, "If I was gonna kill you I wouldn't have bought you pillows and blankets and food." He said smiling.

November smirked a bit, "What if you wanted my final hours alive to be some of my most comfortable final hours before you brutally take away my life to sacrifice it to the Witch." She joked, giving Caspar the most cheesy smile she could muster.

Caspar couldn't help it as he busted out into laughter. It was too much for him that he had to pull over to the side of the road so he wouldn't lose control of the wheel. He hadn't laughed this much in days and he felt like he really needed this. He needed this relief and mood booster. He knew that November would make him feel better he just didn't expect it to be this way. Caspar's laughter started to die down a bit as he looked over at her. November was just staring at him as if he was a mad man. He doesn't blame her though, it's rare for him to laugh like this and especially to a joke about him murdering her. Maybe she does think that he's gonna murder her, it isn't like him to make spontaneous plans and he was sure that her uneasiness of not being in control of where she was going. He cleared his throat and straighten up, "November we may be best friends but I wouldn't waste my money like that. Seriously though November I'm not gonna murder you. I just thought I should finally do something random."

"Something random could be murder." She said and laughed a bit, "Relax I trust you, Caspar, I know you're not gonna murder me. You're too nice and honestly, I think I could take you on in a one on one fight."

Caspar chuckled a bit more, "Yeah I'm sure you can if I'm being honest." He said and pulled back onto the road. He eventually pulled onto a dirt road leading into the woods, just a bit further and he parked in front of a lake. The trunk was facing the lake, the water was a vibrant blue color with the sun's reflection shimmering in the water. November got out of the car and looked around, taking a deep breath of fresh air. The scent of rain lingered in the air, but there wasn't a rain cloud in sight, she found it a bit weird but figured that it was just the lake. Caspar opened the trunk and carefully took out the bags making sure that nothing fell out of the plastic bags. He pushed down the back seats, making the space bigger. Caspar then added the blankets making sure it was comfy, he lined the inside roof with the string lights and added the pillows. He then put the snacks in a corner of the truck.

"Hey, Nov the car is ready."

November looked at him curiously and slowly made her way to the car. Upon looking at the trunk she gets inside and smiles. "This is amazing Cas, what made you think of this?"

"I dunno I just thought of it and you seem like the kind of person to enjoy something like this. I think I might have seen it in a magazine picture." Caspar said and got in as well.

"Oh well thank you magazine picture because this is actually amazing." She said as she grabbed a blanket and wrapped herself in it, getting cozy.

After a few minutes of talking and getting comfortable, the skies became grey. Soon it started raining softly. November looked out the opening of the trunk, "I thought it was supposed to be sunny today."

"Yeah that's a bit weird", he says as he closes the trunk door so they wouldn't get wet.

November rummaged through the bag in the corner pulling out one of the drinks. She offered one to Caspar but he shook his head, she put it back and opened her drink.

"Hey, Cas do you ever feel like running away from everything?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like do you ever just want to just run away from home, school, just things that you can't control."

"Well, never felt like running from home but I have felt like running from things I can't control. But then where would I go? I think it's just better to face these kinds of things head-on."

November sighed a bit.

"Do you feel like that sometimes?", he asked.

"I want to be free. Not like get out of this stupid small-town kind of free. But like. . . I don't have to worry about people judging me kind of free. The kind of free where I'm not scared of making people angry or disappointed."

"I would want to get out of this town even if it's for a couple of years, I think that's what freedom means to me. That I'm about to just leave when I want and not have to worry about whether anyone wants me to stay."

November looked at him, "Yeah. . . leaving here sounds nice but where would you go?"

"I don't know. I'm hoping to get to a college that far away or away enough."

November wanted to say 'what about me?", but she kept quiet. She didn't want to be a reason to keep him chained to this small town he wants free of. November just wanted to spend as much time as she could have with him.

The rest of the day was peaceful with the rain eventually stopping. Caspar and November eventually head back to town. The vibrant colors of the woods dulled slowly as they got closer to town. 

(sorry for not updating recently just been busy)