▶ Life Is A Highway (Roaming Alchemist Series/ Book One)

▶ 67'

▶ 67’ 

 The new Audi was turning around the bend with too much speed, and Sera couldn’t help but inch backwards, she knew what was coming. Not because she’d seen this match over twenty times in the last eight hours, but because she felt it inside her, deep within her. That love of cars remained, and when something bad was about to happen to cars. She could feel it. 

The car flipped, landing on its hood, the clunk of metal crashing onto asphalt made her grimace, like it was scratching at the insides of her head. The car ripped apart before her eyes, the ground engulfing the metal in cloud of black smoke and red flames. 

Sera yelped, and her mom shot her the same look she always shot her at this exact moment. A look of knowing, a look that told her exactly what she didn’t want to hear. She was being too manly. She wasn’t being girly enough, “Sera, sweetheart, how about you watch something else?” 

Sera’s eyes darted up, she disconnected herself from her headphones and shut the portable DVD player, “How much longer to go?” 

“Look honey!” Dad cried. Sera, her baby sister Autumn and her mom looked out the window with glee. There were houses dotting the horizon, and in the distance, Sera could faintly see the ocean. She almost screamed in delight. She’d never seen the ocean before. When Sera had travelled in the past, inland was mainly their set location. She had seen the snow, woods and forests, but she’d never seen the ocean. Excited was becoming a dull word. 

She grabbed Autumn’s little chubby hand and her blue eyed sister looked up at her with wonder, finding her more interesting then the landscape. Sera couldn’t take it all as the passed the ocean, she needed to see it. To touch it, and swim in it. 

“Wow, dad, can we pull over?” She asked excitedly, Autumn was beginning to shake now, becoming the impatiently little girl she was, she looked so cute right now. Sera though she was the cutest thing to grace the planet, with her little golden hair tied in piggy tails that hung loosely down her front, she had glittering blue eyes that impatiently scanned over anyone but Nora, and her mother. She took Sera in like she was a piece of information, scanning her completely, and if she didn’t scan Sera with her eyes, she run her hands over her like she was trying to find something. She was small, and chubby like a little two year old should be, but she was taller than most kids her age. Sera loved her little sister more than anything in the world, and when she wasn’t around her, she couldn’t stand it. 

“Look Autumn,” Sera commanded, facing the ocean, “You see that big blue thing over there? That’s the ocean, look Auty!” 

Autumn looked and lost herself in the blueness of the sea. She smiled the cute little toothless smile children do. 

Sera’s dad peeked into the backseat, “Sera, Autumn, we don’t need to pull over.” He stated with a grin, “Because we’ll be living here,” 

Sera gaped, trying to collect words. Every other place she’d moved was a small inland town, it was hot and dry and there was only the bathtub to cool her down, she remembered their first move with Autumn. It was the nicest house yet. It was a double story cottage house, overlooking the start of the local forest. But there, it was cold, it rained all the time and she doubted she’d ever see the sunlight again, until her parents announced that the cold and rain was no place to bring up two little girls, and they launched to the road once more. 

Sera learned to love the road, but not because of moving on it. Because of what moved them from place to place, the cars. She was trying to teach Autumn her love of cars, but her mother didn’t allow it. Her mother wanted Autumn to be the little girl she’d dreamt of. She wanted nothing more than to take Autumn shopping, and braid her hair. Doing things like that seemed out of reach for Sera.