𝐖𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐍. ˢᵗᵉᵛᵉ ʰᵃʳʳⁱⁿᵍᵗᵒⁿ ¹

011

011. 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝘄𝗸𝗶𝗻𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲.

"𝐒𝐎 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐀 𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐖," Steve asked, from the driver's side of the car.

His hands were clutched on the steering wheel, and the darkness outside was beginning to slip away. The black BMW was driving on a long, straight road, empty of cars and vacant of people— they were on their third hour of driving and it was far too early for anyone at all. Two hours had gone by, Lori didn't care enough to keep track of time, but Steve announced every hour, and now finally they were in the last minutes.

They didn't talk much in the car. Mostly because Steve had declared himself driver and Lori fell asleep within fifteen minutes, and stayed asleep until the moon disappeared and the sky tinted with a lighter blue. He didn't mind her sleeping, and he'd actually glanced over a few times and looked at her— because he'd never seen Lori so... well, peaceful. He drove with the radio softly playing in the background, Lori fast asleep in the passenger side, for what seemed like forever. At times, he caught himself wondering why she decided to come with. He figured it was only because she wasn't going to let her mom's car go unsupervised. He didn't dare think of any other reasons.

Now, the sky was getting brighter, and the sun was just beginning to peak out at the end of the road. And the car, their car, was nearing the end of that road.

Lori had just woken up only moments ago, and when she opened her eyes after two hours she nearly clean forgotten what was going on. She'd woken up and whipped her head to the side, her face panicked, but Steve only smiled calmly and then it set it.

She was rubbing her eyes, now. "What." she said, her voice monotone.

"Wake up, sleeping beauty, we're almost there," he said, with a small laugh falling past his lips. "And I asked why you had a ladder outside your window."

She took in a large yawn, speaking through it, "I don't know," she said, her voice groggy.

He glanced to her, his eyebrows furrowed. "And why was it unlocked— that's a safety hazard, you know,"

"Okay, I really don't feel like going through the logistics right now," she looked at him with hard eyes, and then slumped further into her seat. "Fuck, what time is it?"

He chuckled. He didn't know it at the time, but he was only mildly taunting her because he wanted to hear her voice— after two hours of being in the same car, not hearing a word.

"Six," he said, his voice now coming out softer.

She let out a sigh, feeling her body ache with sleep. She'd only gotten about four hours, and now she was feeling it in her head.

"My god," she said, looking out the window. Her knee was folded up and her elbow rested on it, her head perched on her palm.

He didn't say anything for a while after that, he simply drove down the rest of the street. She didn't speak, because she couldn't find anything to say. But although the silence was loud and they weren't friends, not even close— it didn't feel awkward like it should.

They rode off the long street and turned a corner, steering the car onto another one— out of the forest area. The trees were orange and red, the leaves were falling all over the yellow lines of the road, the tires of the car crushing them as they drove. She was staring out the window, and he was driving, the radio playing in the background. She listened to the sound of the tires on the pavement and the muffled noise of the wind through the trees. Long ago they'd passed the Evansville sign, and they were just now reaching a little town.