Unpaused: Dwell of the Past

Prologue - Falling

​"Goddamnit! Move out of the way!" the man on the driver seat shouted.

His voice echoed throughout the car, waking Alexandra up from her nap. She jumped and tried to focus her eyes on something that made her uncle shouted.

A car had cut him off without turning on the blinker. He almost hit the car's back side, but he braked just a few inches before it did.

"I... I'm so sorry," her uncle said, rubbing the passenger's shoulder, worried if he had upset her after he accidentally woke her up from her nap. "That guy was careless. I gotta brake before I hit it. Did... Did I wake you up?"

She was a little bit annoyed, because it was finally the first time she could be able to sleep after a long time, but she couldn't be mad at him. If he hadn't braked, both of them probably wouldn't have survived.

"Oh that's okay Uncle Dan, if you didn't break, well, I won't wake up forever," she joked and laughed a little. The air became tense, "I didn't mean to say that,"

Silence.

"Look, I know it's been tough on you these past four days," he said and gave her a reassuring smile. "You can let it all out, it's alright," he smiled.

The way he talked, reminded Alexandra a lot about her father. His voice, his language, his gesture, his everything.  It was him, it was so him.

Memories.

She missed her father so much, she regretted every single day she wasted, every single hug she could've had, and every single opportunity to make him smile and proud to have her as his daughter.

It was all gone, no more chance. It was all too late, no more time.

"Thanks so much, that helped a lot," she smiled back.

"You know, I almost forgot," he said and grabbed something from the dashboard.
It was something square, a little shining, and blue. She could guess it even before she could take a clear look of it. Her smile was never wider.

"Does it look familiar to you?"

"No way!" she smiled happily. She took it and just stared at it with excitement. She didn't believe that her uncle knew what she wanted.
"It's The Chain! Jonathan Fleming's first album!" she said in excitement. She held the album in front of her so tight, still couldn't believe what her uncle had bought.

"Yup! I know it's your favorite and I actually have never bought you something that you actually really want, I thought it would be perfect to give it to you now," he said, feeling happy to see her happy-self back.

"Wait, how do you know?" she asked.

"Well, since I'm a detective, or some sort, I have sources everywhere,"

It reminded her of the time when she was only seven and both of them played detective games where they had to find clues to find a missing object. They would spend every hour every day just to play the game. It was their favorite.

"What? From my friends?"

"Just so you know, we could see people's accounts without having an account," he said. "Like social media, I mean,"

"You checked out my social media accounts?" she laughed.

"Oh well, you keep twittering and photo-gramming or whatever,"

"What? No way! How do you find them?" she was surprised. "And we people call it Twitter and Instagram by the way,"

"Let's say, you got friends. That's it. And do people really gramming a picture?"

"Yeah, right. And gram is not the one in kilograms or something, it's just... gram,"

"Go ahead, put the disc on the tape. I wanna know who Jonathan Fleming is, I mean, like, I'm sure my voice is still better than his,"

"You bet," she said and inserted the disc. "Thanks a lot, Uncie,"

Dan kept driving to the West. She was astonished by the breathtaking panorama of the bright sun and the tall pine trees. It was relaxing.

It was another complete silence in the car. There was nothing but Jonathan's raspy and the beat of the music in the air. Alexandra felt like Jonathan was singing for her, right in front of her.

Daydreams.

They were the only things that sometimes made her feel better. The scenarios she made inside her head kept playing over and over again like a movie.

She kept imagining all the good things she wanted to have or she never had. It was silly sometimes when she smiled a little over the things inside her head, but at least she could just be happy, even a little.

"I'm going to sleep again,"

"Sure. Want me to warm up a little?"

"No it's enough,"

"Alright, happy sleeping,"

"And happy driving for you,"

It took up to four days to drive from New York City to Seattle. They decided to go by car instead or plane because Alexandra had never been in a plane without her father. He used to share his plane food with her and sometimes they had a game where one of them was blindfolded and was fed with plane food. If they could guess the food, they won. The winner could buy any snacks they want in the airport. Her father was the one who always won, but still, Alexandra was the one who devoured the snacks.

Alexandra already missed the cool breeze, the sound of car horns in the middle of the night, the hot dogs, the tall buildings, and her father's loft.

Leaving New York was tough for her. But she knew she had to be back anytime soon. She had to be back to her life again, leaving the past and the memories she had in New York City behind.

She knew where she belonged; she knew where she was supposed to be.

One place that couldn't be replaced.

Home.