kicks ✓ || namgi || k.th

031: dust

chapter 31: dust
location: several

They woke up the next morning and went back to the University of Denver to check emails. Nothing.

"I don't know where we go from here," Namjoon muttered as he drove the van to the nearest McDonalds. "We've got even more questions than what we started with. Sara knows all about the van. She said it was part of a government experiment. That explains why there's nothing online about it. It was all secret. But it doesn't explain why she disappeared like that." He chewed on his soft drink straw. "More questions than answers."

"We need for her to email us back again," Seokjin said. "What happens if the van breaks down again? What happens if we have more issues?"

"She kind of saved our asses back there," Yoongi had to admit.

Taehyung was lost in thought. "Namjoon," he finally said, "I think she's a ghost."

Namjoon glanced back at Taehyung; the car was still parked in the McDonalds parking lot. "Okay?"

"There was something I looked up before, at Carnegie Mellon. Said something about a Sara Dinah LaPostale who died a long time ago."

Namjoon's blood ran cold when Taehyung mentioned the word LaPostale. "LaPostale is the manufacturer of our magic purple van. She said so herself."

"Did she say her last name was LaPostale before?" Seokjin asked.

"Sara Dinah," Taehyung said. "She introduced herself just as Sara Dinah."

"So is she really a ghost?" Hoseok asked. "Maybe she's been haunting this van, and she just shows up when we need help!"

They drove back to the hotel. None of them knew exactly what was up with Sara, but Taehyung's story was becoming more plausible. Everybody had watched Sara literally disappear from the van when she had pushed the button. Taehyung sat on his bed and continued to think to himself. Sara was certainly fascinating -- and beautiful, to boot -- but there had always been something odd about her. The way she had spoken, the slang she had used. It would make sense if she had lived a long time ago, and was now just a ghost. Was he falling in love with a futile situation?

He wanted to find her again to ask her, but that was easier said than done. Especially considering that they only occasionally had contact -- and Taehyung paused. He remembered, all the way back in Arizona when they had gone birdwatching. He had only briefly glimpsed Sara's face, but she had worn the same blue dress.

"She was there," he whispered.

Jimin looked up from the Cosmopolitan magazine he was reading. "Hmm?"

"She was there." Taehyung stood up and grabbed a pad of paper from the hotel desk. "She was in Arizona, when we were at the park." He wrote that down. "And in New York State, at the lighthouse. And then she was in Oregon, at the parade. We keep running into Sara. There's no way she could have traveled that far, that fast. She must be traveling like we do. And every once in a while, we run into her. So, in theory, all we have to do is keep pushing the button until we run into her again. Then we can get more answers, figure more things out."

"But how do we know that we're gonna see her? It's not like we randomly land exactly where she is." Jimin put his magazine away.

"But we always seem to find her on the first day." Taehyung was being stubborn. "She must end up nearby somehow. Nearby enough to go to the St. Louis Arch. Nearby enough to go to the same parade we did. She might have been nearby at other places, and we just never saw her."

"And if she's connected to LaPostale somehow, then we need to know more." Namjoon nodded. "I agree. Tonight, we sleep. Tomorrow morning, we go someplace new, and we keep our eyes open for her. If we don't find her, we go someplace new the next day. Odds are we'll find her within at least a week. Then, we figure out why she's disappearing so much. We need to know if she's really a ghost."

"Pardon me for asking," Jungkook said. "But why are we caring so much about this Sara girl? I get why Taehyung-hyung is, he likes her and all of that."

"Because she's tied together with the van," Namjoon said. "For all we know, she really might be haunting it. I can't help but think that our destiny is tied in with hers somehow."

They went to bed, and the next morning they teleported to Nashville, Tennessee, the home of country music. Namjoon said the group should stay close to where they landed; if Sara landed nearby, they could find her (or she could find them) faster. But after a night of line dancing, there was no sign of her around. It was time to reroll.

The next morning they landed in Norfolk, Virginia. Jungkook wanted to tour the Naval base, but it was too much of a risk. Instead, they drove to Virginia Beach and sat on the shore for the day. Jungkook bought a Frisbee at the local grocery store, so even though they didn't swim, they could still run along the beach, sand in between their toes.

Since Norfolk's location was too tied into the government, Taehyung hoped that they would be more isolated the next day. They traveled to Las Vegas instead, a nearly impossible place to find Sara considering how big it was. They did take over a casino, though, and spent about $25,000 of Namjoon's money on gambling. It was Hoseok who won most of it back playing Blackjack.

Staying in Las Vegas was incredibly expensive, so the boys packed up that night instead and traveled out of town. Since Namjoon had been drinking, Taehyung took over driving the van. He eyed the button as he drove. This was the button that kept bringing him back to Sara...or maybe it was the other way around.

"Take us to where Sara is," Taehyung whispered, and then he pushed the button.

Reality flickered around the van. A new skyline appeared over Taehyung, one that seemed familiar to him. It wasn't until there were signs for the George Washington Bridge over his head that he realized he was on the New Jersey Turnpike. They were spitting distance from New York City -- and seconds from being caught.

"Shit," he whispered as he got off the turnpike at the next exit, then woke up Namjoon to get money for the toll. He drove into Newark, praying that they were somehow far away from New York City proper to not get noticed. The car blazed down Raymond Boulevard, screeching to a halt where it merged with Market Street.

And standing right in the middle of the road, right by where the gas station sat, was Sara Dinah LaPostale. She looked like she had just been through a tornado -- her long brown hair was a mess, but she was okay.

Taehyung parked the van, temporarily not caring who saw them, and jumped out of the van. He called her name. She turned. And she ran straight for him, into his arms. If Sara was a ghost, then she certainly didn't feel like one; Taehyung could hold her just like any other woman.

"What are you doing," she whispered, and then, "I thought --"

He kissed her, quickly, then grabbed her by the hand. "You're coming with us, aren't you?"

"But --"

"I don't care how many times you disappear, Sara. And I don't know what's going on. But you know about the van. You seem to have a connection to that van. And if you do, then you're one of us. Okay?"

She bit back tears, then grabbed Taehyung's hand. "You guys are from New York City, right?"

"Yeah, we need to get out of here."

"You sit. I'll drive." Sara jumped into the drivers' seat. "And whatever you do, do not push that button if you want me around. Hold on, boys. We're going to Philadelphia."