Chapter 17 - Trip Ends.
The next hour consisted of me driving the car --- since Mario has been driving since midnight and needed rest -- and all of us singing songs along with the radio.
I glanced at my watch, it was nine'o clock. I sighed.
Just eight more hours until we were in Alabama. She warned us not to be late, so I was going to do everything to be on time. While driving, I thought about all the things I knew about Evelyn now.
I looked back to when I was just another person with crush on Evelyn Mosby, the most popular girl of the school. And now here I was, travelling to another state without even informing my parents about it.
Never would anyone even in their wildest dreams imagine someone like me doing this. If someone would have told me in the past that I would be doing this in the future, I would have laughed at him.
I looked on the road ahead of me, and hoped that it would lead me to Evelyn.
The last eight hours passed something like this.
Eight Hours To Go..
"Good morning everyone" A voice said from the back seat, and we realized that Ben was up now finally.
"At last" Marilyn said.
"You have caused us a lot of trouble Ben" I told him, still driving the car.
I caught a look of him from the rear view mirror and I could see that he felt extremely guilty of what he did.
"I am sorry" He said, scratching the back of his neck "My friends just forced me to drink a lot"
"You think?" Mario said.
"On the positive side, there are only eight hours left before we reach there" I told him and he smiled.
"How much water did you guys even give me?" He said.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"I need to pee" He said.
We all groaned in union.
Seven Hours to go..
"Let's make a deal" Marilyn said out of nowhere, after a few minutes of silence.
"What sort of deal?" Harry asked.
"We know that when we are back, the following weekend will be our graduation. How about we write each others graduation speeches?" She smiled, proud of her idea.
"We can make it as bad as we want for fun" Mario suggested.
"And they can't suspend us because we're already going out of the college" Ben added.
"When are we making our stop?" Harry questioned.
It was planned that we would make a stop at a suitable place where we all would rest for an hour.
"In around two hours" I told him.
"That's too much" Ben said "I really need to pee"
Six Hours to go..
"Change the song, I am not singing along to Miley Cyrus anymore" Ben complained.
"We don't have many other CD's" Marilyn told him.
"I.Won't.Sing.Along" Ben pouted like a child.
"What are you, twelve?" Marilyn replied.
"This is getting boring" Harry suggested "Let's play would you rather"
"Okay, go on" Marilyn grinned.
"Archer, would you rather dance naked on a street or kiss Madam Sprout?" Harry asked me, smirking.
I turned to look at him.
"What's the difference? equal embarrassment" I smiled and said, at which they all laughed. "But I would rather kiss Madam sprout" I winked.
"I beg to differ" Harry scoffed.
"Harry" Ben said "Would you rather Kiss Marilyn or Archer?"
"That's easy" Harry said "Archer" He said and Marilyn rolled her eyes as everyone else in the car hooted.
"I got one for Marilyn" Mario said before he asked his question "Would you rather secretly have sex with a goat or have everyone think you had sex with a goat even though you didn't?"
Once again the car erupted with laughter.
"Now that's a hard one" Marilyn complained.
"Just answer it"
"I'd rather have everyone think about it" Marilyn said.
"Jesus, now the image of Marilyn having sex with a goat is stuck in my head" I fake groaned.
"Stop imaging me naked" Marilyn joked as she punched my shoulder.
"Oh don't worry, the goat seems way more interesting than you" I winked playfully and everyone laughed once again, earning me a high five from Harry.
And there was a moment of barely a second. While laughing along with everyone, the thought just crossed my mind for a second but was enough for me to realize it.
I was having fun.
Five Hours To Go..
"This place seems fine enough" I suggested.
We were looking for an empty place to stop our car and take a rest for about an hour.
Agreeing with me, Mario --- who was once again driving the car --- stopped the car at the side of the road. It seemed like no one ever passed this road as it was completely empty.
"There are lots of trees here. There must be a lake somewhere" Marilyn said before rushing to find it, followed shortly by Ben and Mario.
That left me and Harry behind. We didn't speak a word for the first five minutes.
The silence is always comfortable when you are with the people that you love. However, Harry soon broke the ice by speaking.
"What if we don't find her?" He said out of nowhere, sitting on a giant rock located near the car as I rested my back on the car.
This was the question I was dreading the most.
"I don't know" I sighed "We have to be positive"
"I know that Archer, but what if we don't find her? I can't see you go through what you will" He looked at me, and I looked at the road ahead of us.
"What if we don't find her.." I repeated his question.
"Just" Harry said "Just be fine please"
I didn't respond.
"I am not saying we won't find her Archer. I really hope we will. But what I mean is that maybe Evelyn doesn't want to be found" He stated.
"What do you mean?" I said finally looking at him.
"I think Archer" He sighed before speaking further "She doesn't want to be found. She's just teaching you how to live a fun life"
"You're wrong, it can't be true" I argued.
"You will realize it is once you let go and relax. Have fun Archer, because like I said before maybe that is what she has been trying to tell you all along" He said.
Three Hours To Go...
I rested my head against the window. Just three more hours before I would actually get to see Evelyn again hopefully.
Maybe then, all that I had done till now would all be worth it. Maybe.
Two Hours To Go...
"We should do this road trip thing often" Ben said.
"You think? Best experience of my life" Harry agreed.
"We don't even know much about each other" Mario said.
"How about a game?" Marilyn said "We all one by one tell each other things about ourselves that others don't know?"
"I will go first" Mario said "I've never been in a relation. Like ever"
"What a waste of good looks" Marilyn said.
"Stop flirting with him Marilyn" Harry said and Marilyn rolled her eyes.
"Jealous?" She asked and this time Harry rolled his eyes.
Harry was about to reply but Ben interrupted him.
"My turn" He said "I lost my virginity when I was fourteen"
"See? Even this ugly guy got lucky" I commented.
"I know you love me Archer, no need to express it" Ben winked and I fake gagged.
"Marilyn's turn" Harry said.
"Well , I wonder if it's too much but.." She hesitated "I am adopted"
There was a silence of about one moment.
"Cool" I said before continuing "Harry's turn"
"I like to sleep naked" He said sheepishly.
Marilyn snorted.
"Your turn Archer" Harry said.
I thought for a second before smiling as I said the next few words.
"This is my first time falling in love" I said "And surprisingly, with the lost girl"
One Hour To Go...
One hour. Sixty minutes. That's all that was left before we would be in the state of Alabama.
I tried to sleep to pass time as Harry continued to drive car but sleep deceived me once again.
I sighed for the umpteenth time.
Harry's phone started ringing suddenly.
"It's mom" He said panicking.
"So?" Archer said.
"I forgot to tell her I wouldn't be home" He gulped.
"Who forgets to tell their parents that they won't be home?" Marilyn asked.
"Apparently, Harry" Ben pointed out, clearly enjoying the situation.
"I will just cut the call" Harry said.
"No, don't. It will only make things worse" I said but it was too late, he had already cut the call.
I shook my head at him.
As we passed the board that read 'Welcome To Alabama' my heart beat quickened. It was faster than ever before and I was feeling a mixture of lots of things.
I felt scared yet confident. I had never really talked to Evelyn before, and now maybe, just maybe I was going to do so
"Where exactly in Alabama are we supposed to go?" I asked.
"Right there" He said stopping the car, who was about to give up too. It was continuously being driven for last fourteen hours.
We had stopped right out of a little hut which looked like it was very ancient. One look at the building told me that it had no electricity or modern appliances. Outside the house, goats and cows food was present in a very large amount.
I walked into the room and head doors closing behind me, which meant I was being followed by them.
Walking into the hut, I realized that it was very dark inside. I took out the torch from my bag and turned it on.
"It's so empty" Marilyn stated, looking around.
"Just like always, huh?" Mario commented and she nodded.
They continued talking but I wasn't listening anymore. Because yes, we made it there. And yes, we had to go through a lot.
But there was no sign of Evelyn in that small hut.
Could it be that we were too late?
I kept looking around with the help of a torch until I stopped, when I found something unusual.
I noticed something written on a wall with the red paint.
Flashing my light on it, I realized others standing right beside me staring at it with me.
"The population of this state was 111,123 thousand. Surprisingly or not, it will be one less now -E" It read.
I could feel tears forming in my eyes now.
I realized something, and started taking steps forward toward the writing.
I bought my shaking hand forward and touched the paint. While removing my hand away, I knew that my realization was true, as my hand adopted the color of red.
The paint was literally fresh.