Ok so I just fixed some things that I didn't like about this chapter, particularly the part where Atlas is telling Lucas her life story. Yeah, she seems more human now, so that's what matters.
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As they were heading towards the highway, Lucas turned down the music a bit.
"So, where to?" He asked, curiosity was bubbling up inside the pit of his stomach. With Atlas it seemed as if there were so many opportunities, so many chances. The possibilities seemed to be endless.
"What, you've never heard of a surprise before, Chicago?" Atlas replied, she chuckled at the image of Lucas' startled face as she mentioned his home town. He so obviously wasn't from California after all.
"How did you know that?" Lucas asked cautiously, looking slightly frightened. It was in that moment Atlas pulled out a wallet. A wallet that happened to be his.
"You know it's way to easy to take your shit." Atlas said cooly. She had taken a quick peek at his drivers' license since she wanted to know where he was from.
Lucas, who had been quietly sitting there when she pulled the wallet out, touched all his pockets frantically, nothing. He quickly grabbed his wallet from her waiting hand and put it in his right pocket. He turned to the window and laughed. This made Atlas break a small smile, although it still showed off her deep dimples. They continued throughout their ride silently, just looking at the passing cars and lights surrounding them. It was a comfortable silence indeed. Not one you'd feel as if had to be filled with words. All they needed was the serene atmosphere around them, on the highway to who-knows-where in a stolen car.
Surprisingly enough, these occurrences weren't the least bit strange to Atlas. As said before, she had done this quite often. And it was in no way meant to use people for her own entertainment, but rather, just done in hopes of finding a new friend. And by the end of the night - had anyone even made it there without bailing - if they could laugh at all their misfortunes and happy endings, if they could honestly say that they knew one another, in their heart and in their soul, they were to be inseparable afterwards, simply the best of friends. The truly sad part is, no one had ever made it through the whole night, sometimes days, with her. But she had a good feeling about this one. There was high hope for Lucas.
Lucas, on the other hand, had never been quite as spontaneous as this. He did do things that were amazing of course, but never had they been done in such a fashion. Atlas had a peculiar way of working, everything she did seemed to be done in a way that was different and alluring. Lucas had a way of admiring and abiding to this, but he had always done things in a way that drew people to him all the time. Not when you least expect it, like his partner for the night does. And although Lucas had felt a slight bit of nerves as for what was to come tonight, he knew he would come out of this with a smile on his face and a new friend. As well as the fond memories from it and more to be made with her.
Lucas had been pushed out of his thoughts as they stopped, by what appeared to be, a beach. A beach in the middle of nowhere, but nonetheless, a beach. Atlas parked the car in the sand.
"A beach? Creative." Lucas said sarcastically. This was actually fine, he somehow had a feeling that this was more than what meets the eye.
Atlas just ignored his snarky remark, if he had any idea what the hell he was in for. Then again, Atlas didn't either.
They both hopped out the car, as they began to walk to who knows where, they were talking. They had both been looking up at the sky, it was exceptionally clear that night. And so beautiful. All the stars that you could never dream of seeing in the city. All the different colors and patterns and shapes. It was magnificent. Atlas took a deep breath, and began to speak.
"Where do you think you will be 20 years from now?" Atlas asked, whenever she was in such a serene environment she'd have an abundance of questions going through her curious mind, just waiting to be answered.
Seeing as Lucas wasn't answering, she let him have time to think over his answer.
"I personally think that by the time I'm 39 I'll be traveling. I've always wanted to travel, the world seems so big and has so many possibilities, why bring it all down to one state, or one country, or even one continent?" She said.
"And who do you see yourself globetrotting with?" Lucas questioned, but not before continuing, "Because I know I personally would love to go around and back again. Maybe not necessarily with you, but." He laughed near the end, there was no doubt that he would enjoy traveling, but after all, there's only so much time before an enigma is solved.
They had continued walking, not in silence, but just asking each other random questions of sort. But never the boring, unconventional ones. No, it was always the ones you wouldn't expect to be asked, especially by someone you had just met an hour ago.
Suddenly, Atlas stopped. She started to go closer to shore.
"What are you doing?" Lucas asked her amusingly. He had a feeling he knew what was going to happen. But needed confirmation nonetheless. Although instead of answering his question, Atlas looked back. She smiled widely and winked at him before she began to take her top off. Her jeans following suit.
Lucas stared in awe. She had been so open about herself. About her body. He hadn't noticed he was staring.
"Well, are you just gonna stand there?" Atlas said to Lucas, who had been taken out of his slight daze at her sudden words. For a second, his mind went blank. What was he supposed to do? Then he realized, and began to take his shirt off as well. When he had just began to pull his pants down, Atlas ran in to the water. She went under.
"Holy shit it's cold!" Atlas yelled at Lucas, who was standing there and laughing at the scene in front of him. He had nearly been staggering around just because this seemed so funny.
"What the fuck are you laughing at? Get in here so I don't freeze to death alone!" Atlas shouted at him, as she said this he laughed and began to run towards the shore. Going in and immediately going under, then pulling Atlas down by her legs. As they both came back up she splashed him.
"I fucking hate you!" She said as she did so. They were both laughing. As they stopped Lucas slowly began to lean in closer to her.
"Oh really? Do you?" He said smugly as he got closer. His heart was was racing as he was doing so. And although you couldn't see it in this dim lighting, his face was beginning to flush. He was nervous, but you could hardly tell. Atlas had begun to flush as well. He was getting closer. Her smile had grown a bit. He was getting closer. She could feel his breath. He could feel hers. It smelled of peppermint. It was intoxicating. He was getting closer. They were centimeters apart. She put her hand in his hair. He was right there.
She submerged his head underneath the water. As he rose up again, he noticed she was much farther away, laughing relentlessly.
"That's payback motherfucker!" She said as she was still laughing. He began to laugh as well.
"Oh you're dead." He said in a mock angry voice. He lunged at her and sent themselves both under. When they came back up she splashed water on his again.
It continued this way for quite some time. Just two kindred spirits. Adventurous souls. Attacking each other in the waters of an abandoned beach.
It was when they had decided it was time to get out that they realized they didn't have anything else to wear, and that they were going to literally freeze. At least Lucas thought so. Although when he brought this up to Atlas, she didn't seem the least bit worried. They picked up their dirty clothing and got in the car.
They drove in silence at first. But then they began to talk.
"Aren't your family gonna be worried about you?" Lucas asked Atlas.
"My family is dead." Atlas replied nonchalantly. Lucas wasn't all that shocked. He knew something was off about her.
"You mind me asking what happened?" Lucas said, what could he do, curiosity was gnawing away at him.
"My life was fine, 'til I had turned six. My dad took up drinking. Drinking led to arguments. Arguments led to..." Atlas paused for a moment, trying to compose herself as she felt the lump forming in her throat. Lucas immediately knew what was being implied. "Both me and my mom. I started carrying a knife around with me." Atlas looked outside the side window, anything to make sure she didn't look at him, she didn't want to see the pitiful expression that would of course be laying on his face. "So one night when I was ten, my mom and dad had been arguing quieter than usual. Usually I could hear her crying, begging him to stop." She looked out through the front of the car, a frown beginning to appear on her face, tears forming in her eyes. "But I couldn't hear that. So I grabbed my knife and went up towards the door." Atlas stopped once more so she could hold in a sob. No way in hell was she going to cry. "I saw my dad strangle her to death." She said shakily, the look of pain on her face almost physically hurting Lucas. "Then when he noticed I was standing there and had seen, he lunged at me, he was trying to strangle me too." She began to silently cry as she was speaking, he could see the sobs raking through her body now as she tried to keep her eyes open, on the road, and away from him. Lucas reached to grab her hand, but before he could she moved it to the steering wheel. No. Not sympathy. She doesn't need sympathy. "But before he could I slit his throat with the knife." She looked straight ahead with a now more determined look and tone, as if she was reliving her emotions during the incident. "From then on it moved quickly. Blood, screams, cops, and then a bus ticket to the orphanage. But everything turned out fine for me. I met the people I consider my family there. I love them." Atlas looked back at Lucas and gave him a smile. She turned back around and wiped away her tears.
Lucas on the other hand, looked at the girl with a mixture of sorrow and awe. Sorrow for the fact that such a mesmerizing human being with a gorgeous soul would ever have to go through something as horrific as that. And complete and utter awe at how open she was. She openly told him her life story. Her awful life story. Lucas was stumbling over his words, trying to find something, anything to say back to her. But he couldn't seem to find them.
They had stopped in front of a department store at a strip mall. No one was around. It had closed around an hour ago. The shocked look on his face was immediately replaced with one that held confusion. What the hell were they doing here? he wondered.
Atlas walked towards the front door. The street and sidewalk was covered in garbage that people hadn't bothered to throw out themselves. When she got the front door, with Lucas closely behind her, she began to pick the lock.
It was when she was doing this that it dawned on him. Well, he supposed they needed clothes anyways. No harm, no foul, right?
As they walked in they noticed the darkness around them, Atlas turned on the flashlight on her phone and went to the control room near the front. Lucas followed suit, assuming she went to turn on the lights. And she did so, but then what puzzled him was why she went towards the computer. He was watching her as she typed seemingly at an endless pace. She noticed his curious expression and decided to begin explaining to him what she was doing.
"If we just shut down the system it'd be too obvious, but if we put it on an empty loop until 6:00am, they won't notice. And of course I'd need it to look like the tape wasn't tampered with. Which is what I just finished." She said the last part as she clicked the final button.
"And she's smart, well damn, you just keep getting better." Lucas said with a smug and flirtatious smirk adorning his face.
"Ha ha." Atlas replied sarcastically with a smile on her face. They walked out of the control room and went towards the clothing. Thank God they'd finally have something on bedsides their still slightly damp underwear.
Lucas was about to go straight towards the jeans, but atlas stopped her by placing her hand on his chest from the side.
"Don't take too much, don't take something that costs too much, it'd be too obvious, it wouldn't just seem like it got lost in shipping." Atlas told the eager boy. His smile slightly dropped, but it was smart of her to tell him that. Or else he would've just taken the whole store.
After that they both went to either sides of the store. They put on clothes and ripped off the tags on them to make it less suspicious. They both then proceeded to grab a number of shirts they saw that appeared to have plenty others in stock. They took shoes, they took shirts and tops and shirts and shorts and, specifically Atlas, leggings and a few skirts. The store had been very big after all. If they wanted something they could take it, it'd all just look as if it got lost, nothing too bad. And by the end they both walked out with a decent amount. They went back to the car after Atlas locked up shop again. They ran to the car in fear that someone might've seen them and got in. When they got in they laughed heftily. And drove.
"So have I made it through the night yet?" Lucas said mockingly to Atlas as the drove with the windows down. Oh how oblivious he was.
"Check the time hun." Atlas replied, she smirked, they had barely gotten started.
"Oh wow it's only 1:00am." Lucas said, it felt as if it'd been so much longer, almost an eternity. Although he wouldn't mind having Atlas around if it was.
"Exactly, you got 5 hours left babe, and we've barely started." Atlas said smugly, this is the farthest anyone had gone with her. It was satisfying to see she found someone who wasn't so uptight and worried all the time. She had a smirk on her face. Lucas smiled and replied.
"Well then, get driving! We only have 5 hours." E was smiling at her as he said this. She smiled back and chuckled. He really was very interesting wasn't he. So hellbent on proving her wrong. When she turned her head back towards the road, she turned up the radio. And they quietly hummed as they reached another highway. Where to? Who knows.