Motorcycles and Lies (Anxceit)

Getaway

Virgil drove for a while, enjoying the wind which whipped through his hair and pierced his ears. Janus held on, his knuckles white and thighs beginning to burn from holding onto the seat. The ride seemed to go on forever to Janus but seemed like nothing to Virgil who drove the vehicle with practiced skill.

Truthfully, it took about an hour to get there, Virgil opting to speed when on the back road to shorten the ride by a half hour. Though it made the ride shorter, Janus was not a fan. However, the painful ride was quickly forgotten as Janus looked around where Virgil had brought him.

The area was a clearing surrounded by willow and cherry blossom trees, hanging over them with a beautiful sense of dauntingness. In front of Janus was a running stream with glittering rocks jutting out of it and around the edges, the grass lush and without weeds, though the outer edges seemed overgrown with flowers and uncut grass. As Janus stepped off the motorcycle, he noticed the ground was still moist from a storm a few days earlier. He resisted the urge to ogle at the sight in lieu of keeping his sterner appearance.

"Like it?" Virgil asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Janus looked up at him and took a second to respond, "Yeah, it's pretty. How'd you find it?"

Virgil cocked his head to the side in thought, "Mama used to take me where when I was little. She stopped when I was around five, but I always wanted to go again. Though I wanted to find it again, so the first time I drove this baby out alone, I went searching. Obviously, I found it and fixed it up."

"Why'd she stop?" Janus asked as he sat on the ground, ignoring the quiet, squishing sound it made.

Virgil pursed his lips, his eyes clouded by turmoil. "I dunno, guess she just got busy."

While being able to tell this wasn't the whole truth, Janus dropped the subject, instead, turning and going towards the water, never having his back fully to Virgil.

He inspected the stream, enjoying the pretty fishes that swam past and the shiny rocks that lay beneath the water. He scooped a few rocks up and set them on the grass, choosing a few to keep after washing them with the stream water as to not get his pockets dirty. He gently placed the rejected ones back into the water and turned towards Virgil, who opted to slouch on a tree a few feet away.

"What are you doing?" Janus asked, his brow furrowed.

"Watching." He said simply.

"I'll have you know that I don't trust you and if that's what you're going for, good. If not, then I suggest not stalking me while I collect rocks." He looked up at him, a slight glare in his eyes, enough to show he was serious.

"Dude, chill. You're fine. I have a knife but it's in the 'cycle. Go find it if you want, but druggies like to come out and sometimes attack around here so better safe than sorry."

He looked Virgil up and down, his stomach turning with uncertainty.

"I'd like to look, if you don't mind."

Virgil smiled and whipped his head towards the motorcycle silently. Janus went over and looked, checking any and all places a knife could be. When he found it beneath the seat, he gently picked it up and inspected the engravings. The letters V and C were on the bottom of the handle in elegant letters. Under them was R and S.

Janus looked from the knife and to Virgil. "Who's RS?"

Virgil's mouth opened a little as he let out a breathy laugh. "Nobody, why?"

"It's not 'no one,' it's carved into your knife under your initials. Still, it's not like I'm gonna hunt someone down."

"Or are you?" Virgil had a glint in his eye, playfulness evident in his features. Janus let out a breath through his nose, pocketing the knife.

"Nevermind...but I'm still curious."

"Well live with your curiosity 'cause I don't wanna tell you just yet. After all, I just met you," he teased, imitating Janus's cautiousness. Janus wiped his face in his hands in frustration as he walked back to the stream. He dipped his hand in and felt the gently flowing water.

"Do you ever wonder how other people live?" Janus asked suddenly.

"No, why?"

"I guess it's just a sense of not being normal. My normal isn't someone else's but that's not unusual. What's not is the fact of how different mine is. I'm surrounded by people who try and protect me at all costs, lest my parents hurt them for not doing their job to protect me. I can handle myself with almost any weapon and hand-to-hand, I don't need it. Yet, with so many enemies, you can never be too careful...I just want to be free of having to be on-guard all the time. I just want to relax sometimes."

There was a pause while they both turned over what had been said.

"What if I was that escape?"