The long road home.

Boom!

Eating bacon and eggs in a moderately priced diner in some semi-costal town in Western Mexico should be at least moderately enjoyable for just about every human on this planet, But...

I'm in a moderately strange mood.

Sam asks if I want something to drink.

"Coke please."

He gives me a real questioning look- the sort that an owl could wear, "but you hate coke."

I just shrug, I'm in a strange mood.

Still giving the worried eyes Sam gets up to find me some Coca-Cola, I watch as he is directed to a vending machine in the corner of the room and kind of roll my eyes at nothing then proceed to stare around the room, there's not a lot happening despite the room containing about forty people, everyone is just eating, reading or having a chat. For a moment I wonder if it's safe for us to be here, being 'wanted criminals' and all but then I get distracted by an old guy in the corner who is all worried about something happening outside, he points to his wife, who has trouble turning around.

An explosion rocks the building.

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I start breathing again, but I can't do much else.

I'm torn between laughing and freaking out, What happened, what happened, what happened.

Given the volume of noise made my every other person in the room I decide to go with just being quiet.

There's no dust, just controlled chaos.

My eyes travel the room, almost as a survival instinct, trying to locate a familiar face, most of the people in the diner stay exactly where they are, some still holding their meals, a few of the quicker thinkers rush to see what's happening, I locate Sam in the front of this queue; he looks more than a little startled.

I don't see my coke.

It takes about two minutes for the sound of a fire engine to join the noises, two and a half minutes for Sam to find his way back to me and three minutes for him to make any sort of sense.

"The Corolla just exploded."

"No it didn't." I say, marvelling at how calm my voice is.

"It did, What? If you don't believe me then go look, go on; look, go on"

"Sam!" I put my hands on his shoulders, "Calm down okay? I'm gonna take a look."

"It's gone," he mumbles into nothing.

I stand up, not entirely sure of myself, a lot more people had gone over since the fire engine arrived and being unsure of yourself in event like this is probably the easiest way to get trampled. I walk five steps, then get my foot trodden by a hopping woman.

I sit back down again, feeling vaguely disappointed; Sam gives me wide eyes for a moment before focusing his intensity on tapping his fingers against the glass table; I actually worry that he will crack it. His hair falls over his eyes and he keeps making spastic attempts to right it.

"Calm down Sam, the police will be here in a moment and everything will be alright." I say, only half realising how pathetic movie-schoolteacher I sound.

"Aimee- the police?"

"Yeah..."

"The police- Who are trying to send us back to America..."

"Maybe they won't recognise us?" I say, while knowing full well that they will.

A police car pulls up and that pretty much does it for Sam, he half-hides behind the table and looks around for a door; Because that isn't suspicious at all.

Sam opens his mouth a few seconds before he begins to speak "Shit, we should get out of here."

I meet his green-green eyes and nod, I don't think anyone notices as we slip out a side door, then speed walk down the curb and cross a street, cornering, then cornering again we slip into a group of people out and about, enjoying their Saturday morning.

I grab Sam's hand; he holds on tight, as we pass a carpark I see a corolla like ours but white and trashy; an innocent thought slips into my mind; We don't have a Corolla anymore. It may sound stupid but that thought tips a balance in my head and suddenly I'm tilting into an out of control thought train.

What are we going to sleep in? – How are we going to get home

We drag each other through a shop, then into an outdoor park, we sit down on the grass facing each other.

To say I'm in full out panic mode is like saying... Saying.... Saying... That an explosion destroys stuff.

"Sam, what are we going to do? Like WHAT HAPPENED? How could the corolla? Urrrg," hot and prickly is my skin.

Sam, now 95% more calm then me touches my face, "Aimee it's okay."

"What the heck? No it's not okay, we have almost no money, no car no accommodation, no protection, Sam I want to go home."

He bites his lip and starts picking grass, he clears a sizable patch before he looks up at me, and when he does his expression is 21 symphonies'.

"You really want to go home?"

I'm about to reply to the affirmative, but then I stop; with words still melting on my lips I see that he will take me home, that he will abandon his everything, his life spirit- to take me back.

I close my mouth.

I shake my head.

I could never do that to Sam.

He looks a little relieved, he grabs my arm and then twists his body so that his back is leaning against mine.

When he speaks his words travel through me, I feel them rumble along my spine at the same time as I hear them, "I'm sorry about the Corolla Aimee."

I sigh, then in my flattest monotone ever I say, "Well... at least we have each other."

Sam laughs, and the feeling of his laughter running through my back makes me laugh, although my laugh probably has too high a tear content to be counted as a real laugh.

Nevertheless; sometimes when bad stuff happens the best thing you can do is laugh.

Okay, so I deleted mountains, it sucked, and it sucked quite a bit, I hope you like this chapter better. 

~cheers Eli