Unravelling

Chapter 46 - Imperfect

Running away is boring.

I have come to that conclusion about seven hours ago. That is how long we have been on the road again after spending the night in that ugly but kinda fun 70's style motel. We have only stopped for gas once and that has been about two hours ago. Will stocked up on junk food and drinks then, but all my M&Ms are now gone and so is my soda.

All I am left with is water. Also boring.

But the worst thing is this seemingly endless highway. All it does is go on, and on, and on. The only even remotely interesting thing is when traffic becomes a bit heavier, which usually happens if we approach a bigger town or something. Then at least I get to look at something different from just miles of tarmac and mind-numbingly repetitive landscapes.

I have tried to engage Will in car games a couple of times but he is totally not up for it. My family always claims that I am horrible company when I didn't get enough sleep. It sure looks like Will and I have that in common, because he has been kind of crabby ever since we left this morning.

Actually, I am surprised that my mood is as good as it is. I don't feel that I am cranky at all. It might be because I am still pretty excited about this whole running away adventure. It has turned my usual daily routine completely upside down and maybe a side-effect of this is that I am starting to handle sleep deprivation better.

My brother came back from the supermarket exactly 32 minutes after he had left me behind in the motel room last night. I know this so precisely because after about 20 minutes of being alone, I started to get antsy. From then on, my eyes remained glued to the digital clock on the bedside table. It turned out that I am not as good at staying by myself as I thought I would be. I kept hearing strange noises and at one point I was convinced that somebody was trying to get into my room.

That scared me and suddenly, Will's paranoid prediction that somebody might want to kidnap me didn't seem so far off anymore. I don't think I have ever been more relieved to see Will than I was when he finally returned.

As it turned out, his idea of buying "supplies" meant him getting me a set of new clothes as well as toiletries – including hair dye and scissors! Will claimed with a very sincere expression on his face that I had two choices: either I had to dye my hair black or he would cut it off for me so that I could pretend to be a boy.

In hindsight, I must say that I am impressed how long he managed to keep up this silly charade. He only collapsed in a heap of laughter once I was all set up in the bathroom, ready to let him dye my hair. He had made such a compelling case of why he deemed that necessary that I eventually caved and agreed to let him change my appearance.

Will claimed that, since I had thrown out his cell phone and he therefore had no means to keep in contact with our eldest brothers, Alex would have ended up filing a missing person report. Which means that my face would be all over the TV stations. According to him, the whole country would be on the lookout for a 4'8 girl with straight, dirty blond hair reaching the middle of her back, travelling with a "hot guy" – his words, not mine!

He made me believe that if I dyed my hair black, I could avoid unwanted attention. It sounded reasonable enough to me, so I decided to go along with it. After all, getting caught is the last thing I want. That was when he finally caved and told me that he had only been teasing me. Yet again. It don't know what it is with him, but he seems to think that constantly teaching me lessons is the way to go. It is getting annoying real quick.

I considered for a moment to dye my hair just because it sounded like something fun to do that I have never done before, but Will said that it would look really weird and that Sean might not even recognize me if I showed up with dark hair. But I think with the clothes that Will bought me, Sean will be confused no matter if I am sporting an unusual hair colour or not.