Pieces of Us (SatoGou)

Chapter 6

I stand up and start to leave before I take my irritation out on Dawn. I know she has pure intentions, but how did she expect me to react when she announced I'm being dragged along with her and her girlfriend, with someone I haven't been friends with for years? She'll go off with Chloe, and leave me with Goh, in the hopes that by the end of it, we'll be friends again, but it doesn't work that way. Not with Goh and I. We'll be lucky if we don't tear each other's throats out by the end of it.

When I get to my room, I start to pack my things, throwing them haphazardly into my case, not caring if things are clean or not, or if they get creased. I pull the zipper shut and hoist it back off the bed. I pack the rest of my things into the backpack I brought, and throw that over my shoulder, looking over the room once more, making sure I have everything.

I drag my case down the hall to Brock's room and knock on the door. He answers the door, eyes half-open, yawning. "Ash? Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, just thought I'd let you know. Come to Unova soon, yeah?" I ask.

"Of course," he says, and pulls me in for a hug, patting me on the back. "See you soon."

"See you," I say, throwing him a wave as I head back down the hall. I decide I'll text Gary when I'm home. I don't really feel like disturbing him and Misty this morning. They were probably up late. I pull out my phone and shoot May a text, explaining that I'm leaving, and that I'll see her soon.

I don't see anybody in the halls, or on the stairs, and make it to the door without being intercepted by Dawn. Outside, the sky is blocked out by thick, ash-grey clouds, a storm looming on the horizon. It's so dark it may as well still be night. I head out to my car, wanting to be gone before Dawn notices. She'll be upset for a while, but hopefully she understands why, and gets over it soon. She can still go on the road trip without me, anyway.

I throw my luggage in the trunk and climb in, starting the car. As I put it into drive and pull away, the sky opens up, and rains buckets down so fast the wipers can't really keep up. I drive slowly, wipers flying back and forth over the windscreen, for about forty minutes, until a thick fog rolls in, forcing me to pull over on the side of the road, still two hours away from Pallet, but I'll have to wait for the storm to pass before I can go anywhere, because the visibility is literally zero.

I try to turn on the radio, but I'm in the middle of nowhere, and the only thing it picks up is an annoying crackle. I look at my phone, but I have no signal. The only thing around me is trees, but I can't even really see them, the fog is so thick. I sigh and throw back my head, closing my eyes and praying that maybe I can sleep until it passes.

A knock on my window has me jumping up. A woman has her face pressed up to my window. She's in a raincoat, with an umbrella, which is barely holding up in the wind. I roll my window down a little, even though the rain starts to pelt me through the gap.

"Storm's not due to pass until tomorrow afternoon!" She shouts over the wind. "There's a motel just down the road, though!"

"Thank you!" I call back out the window, and she nods, stepping away from the car. I see the headlights of her own car through the fog. Not wanting to get lost, I wait until she pulls away and follow her tail lights slowly through the rain, until she pulls off, and I see the bright light of the motel sign. I park the car and consider not even getting out, and just sleeping in my car until tomorrow, but it's only midday, and I still have no signal. Besides, the wind is so strong it's rocking the car a little, and I definitely don't feel safe.

Resigning to the fact that I'm going to have to go inside, I get out and run from my car to the office, where an angry looking woman chewing loudly on something sits behind a desk reading a book. She doesn't look up when I walk in, or even when I clear my throat. She doesn't look up until she finishes the chapter, and places her book upside down on the desk.