Suburbia (h.s)

chapter two.

The next two minutes proceeded like a well-rehearsed dance. Harry led me outside to his car which had been parked outside, the same one I had briefly questioned on my walk home from work. He didn't need to threaten me to be quiet or tell me what he would do if I tried anything to break away from him. My spirits were too broken to put up a fight. They'd been left back on the floor of Lola's room with my shattered phone. Harry opened the back seat of his car, placing me on the seat before taking the driver's place up front.

I felt as if I were watching everything that was happening around me, but happening to someone else. The engine started in a low hum and I found myself laying down across the backseat, closing my eyes tightly. If I didn't look, I could almost pretend that I was in someone else's car. Anyone else's.

Harry's car slowly began rolling down the street, and I felt it take us around the familiar curves of my neighborhood and then outside onto the busy main street where the town's shopping district was. Where my job was. I had just been there, innocently working the cash register and helping families on their shopping trips gearing up for the upcoming summer months. I wondered how long Harry had been sitting waiting for me.

"I'm glad to see you're finally behaving yourself." Harry hummed from the front seat. His voice woke me up from the trance I had worked myself into, having only been focusing on the bumps and steady speed of his driving. I opened one eye, peering up at him in the front.

He turned around and looked at me quickly, smiling before making a right turn. "Sometimes I miss this town. I know you will too, it's only normal when you move to a new place. You might be homesick for a while. But you'll like where we're going much better." He paused, "At least eventually."

I groaned against the leather of his seat. His car smelled new, clean. The seat was cool against my face. Slowly, the car came to a stop.

I slowly lifted myself up, using the strength left over in my arms to come upright. Looking outside the windows, I recognized us as being at the end of the shopping district at the turn before we would enter the freeway. Harry was going to take me out of town. Far away.

"I know you're feeling scared. I know I frightened you back there with my yelling. But it was the only way to get through to you. I wish I hadn't needed to do it that way. Not everyone goes so easily, they always say that..." His voice seemed to wander off. It seemed to me that he was talking more just to hear himself, "I'd just hoped you'd be different. We had a rapport together."

Instinctually, I wrapped my arms around myself.

"Are you cold, darling? There's a blanket back there, why don't you wrap yourself up and lay back down? Get some rest. We'll be on the road for some time." My eyes met his in the rearview mirror before I quickly looked away.

"Oh," He said, absentmindedly tossing something gently to the backseat. It landed next to me, "There's your little story you were reading. Maybe you can read a bit before getting some rest. It's still just light enough so you won't strain those pretty eyes of yours."

I looked down at the Nancy Drew book. He must have taken it before hauling me out the door. I fought the urge to let out some kind of indignant laugh at the situation. On the cover, Nancy and her friends peered into a boat, undoubtedly looking for some clues to solve their mystery. It was too ridiculous to bear, Harry having smashed my phone, but also having taken care to make sure he'd brought my book with him.

"I don't understand." I managed to get the words past my lips with a cough. My throat felt rough and scratchy.

Whether or not Harry heard me, he didn't say anything. Instead, we sat in silence before he clicked some buttons and low music began to play through the speakers at the front of the car. Old music, just the kind Harry used to listen to before.