Cloud Chasers

thirteen | softly spoken magic spells [pt. two]

She sat on the passenger seat as he started the car. The car radio blasted a synth music reminiscent of the eighties.

The music made her bounce on her seat after she fastened the seatbelt. "I'm ready," she said.

As they drove, her mind tried to rationalize everything for a minute. How was it possible that she could feel the thrill of the speed? The goosebumps from the synth music? Why did the Lobby, in all its unrealistic fashion, feel more real to her than the real world?

She looked out the window and saw the skyscrapers melting together in a fluorescent trail. The streetlights passed by in steady flickers of tangerine, that along with the city's neon lights were reflected on the hoods and windshields of other cars.

In front of them, the cityscape was the backdrop to the split sun setting in the night sky of many dark and vibrant colors.

"You see," Chase spoke over the magical sounds, "the thing is, there's a lot more to the Lobby than this city."

"Yeah? So where are we going?" Joyce asked, still admiring the mesmerizing view.

"As close as we can get to that sunset," Chase said, pointing a finger toward the sun.

When the city ran out of skyscrapers around, it was a straight shot accompanied only by the streetlights. The other cars also disappeared along with the buildings, so they had the road all to themselves. Soon, they passed a sign that said: "You are leaving Hiraeth. Come back soon!" And after that, another one said: "Welcome to Outrun" exclusively in neon.

The streetlights got replaced by palm trees made of artificial polygons, as the night progressively turned into evening around them, the vibrant colors getting brighter.

In front of them stood a winding highway, the fluorescent asphalt had the center line made of magenta-colored neon. It matched the lower part of the night sky ahead of them, as the split sun got closer and closer. On the sides of the street, nothing but a deserted and vast wireframe landscape that grew into electric blue poly-mountains far away, with brief appearances of vivid orange lakes.

"Now brace yourself," Chase said with a wink and hit the gas. The sudden high-speed pushed her back to her seat.

They sped through as the synth music got progressively more intense. The car drifted at every turn, sending her flying left and right as she desperately held on to anything available. Joyce lifted her feet as she strapped herself to her seat. It felt like the car was lifting off the ground and her soul was getting detached from her body. And, in that moment, her body was nothing but a weightless vessel with adrenaline rushing through its veins. The loud music intensified along with her heartbeat. She burst out laughing loudly, though she didn't reach the music's level, so she laughed even louder.

"Why are you laughing?" Chase shouted at her.

She kept laughing like a maniac. "I feel alive!" she screamed.

Chase wooed and laughed like a madman, too, as he picked up even more speed. A sense of freedom and excitement coursed through their bodies as they raced against the wind. The initial fear was gone throughout the ride, as they drove unhindered on the winding road, often entering fluorescent tunnels. But the fear came back when they met a roadblock of cars parked horizontally in the middle of the street.

"Oh, sh—" Chase drifted abruptly. He'd been going too fast. After drifting for a few yards with a screeching sound of tires on the asphalt, the car was sent flying through the air, right toward the wall of cars.

With her heart thumping in her chest, inside a car swinging in the air, several memories flashed within millisecond.

The first time she met Chase, the prejudice she had toward him. The first time he took her to Edysium and told her his story, how she felt connected to him. The first time she hugged him after he returned from the Lobby, when she feared he was gone. The time he hugged her after she showed him her story. The time he held her tight as she cried herself to sleep. The many times he played songs for her and always made her feel as if life was maybe not that hard. Like there was still room for someone to care about her, to not hate her. Like there was still hope for her to find another alien among all the humans in the world.