Mieux Que Tout

02

02 | elle et moi

Annie's father's car cruised smoothly like a jet without turbulence on the highway. Tapping her thumbs on the steering wheel, she had flicked through radio channels, drunk two bottles of water and coasted past the immense ocean with the windows down. Five hours had passed since she had phoned her mother. The scenery had changed drastically from wilderness to coastal vegetation to the fringes of outlying suburbia. Houses peppered the shoreline, Annie glimpsed at their stark designs that were clustered between rocks and shrubs, their views unrivalled.

Before the veil was pulled over the sun, she had watched the sky explode like a fireball - a result of the impending fire that ravaged a far forest. A glow of orange simmered on the stark hills, the blue of the horizon smudged a greyish haze. She thought the fire was chasing her, embers twirling in the breeze, a cloud of thickening smog like a smoker's exhaled breath. She had thought of her mother then - imagined a curling veil pour out from her thin lips, red lipstick stuck on her two front teeth. Don't tell me, she would say, you're staring because my teeth are stained.

The stars shone dimly as the sprawling city lights in the distance appeared, pulsating like a heart beat. They matched the rhythm that pounded in her own chest.

At the edge of the city, Annie was crushed into one lane of six, paused at a red light. The ground rumbled as trucks sped past in the opposite direction. Cars thrummed with revved engines and boomed with music.

Annie rolled up the windows, coughing as exhaust expelled into the air. She dug out a map from the glove compartment. It was her father's, the same one he used for the exact journey twenty-four years ago. She smiled, feeling the softness of the worn paper as it unfolded, her fingertip tracing the frayed edges. Coffee stains splashed across the page. Black markings covered a few street names, whereas blue lines indicated the way of navigating to a place.

Sally, her friend, had warned her to stay off the main strip, to take a back turn and bee-line for the junction that would lead her to the suburbs perched on the hills. Annie had listened intently, and outlined the route in red pen on the map circling Sally's house, the final destination. She was thankful for the tip as the streetscape was a complex maze made of concrete. But the heavy traffic constricted her journey as she snaked around the city like a boa vista.

"Took you long enough!" Sally exclaimed, running towards her, arms in the air as Annie parked the car off the curb. The engine whirred as it shut off. She jumped out and slammed the door behind her.

"Hey!" Annie said, arms outstretched as Sally flew into them, blonde hair falling over their faces.

Sally laughed. "I can't believe that you're actually here!"

"It's been a long time coming," Annie grinned.

"Too long," Sally said, stepping backwards. She pushed her hair out of her face. "But you know... now that you're here, we've got all the time in the world."

"I just can't believe its been two years since I've seen your face." Sally continued. Annie laughed, turning around and opened the boot of the car. It was a long space, mostly covered in orange dust from the gravel at parking lots. Inside, there was a small unopened cardboard box and her one bag.

"Jeez! That's all you've packed?"

"Sure is."

Sally reached inside and pulled out the brown leather duffle bag by the handle. She inspected it, fingertips sliding over the smooth material.

"This is your dad's, isn't it?"

Annie nodded. "And the stuff in the box," she pointed to it. "It's mostly just his old notebooks and a few records."