The driving made Layla carsick beyond her normal capacity, but she managed to keep her hearty breakfast tied down until the first actual stop for some lunch. Moving around only helped for a few steps, but it was apparent that it was coming and it was approaching fast. Layla charged her way to the nearest trash can, but only reached half way before Layla took the plunge in a bush. Evacuating everything in her system in a few short, but powerful heaves. Terra stoked and patted her back until she was done. Layla wiped the miniscule chunks of obliterated fruit from her chin as all of them walked into the diner. Will sat in the corner booth and prompted everyone to follow as he made himself comfortable on the dirty cushions. Within a few minutes after ordering, their food had arrived in abundance, Although her stomach was now as empty as the diner around them, she went easy on the food, chewing so thoroughly that it was almost a liquid. All of them were quiet in the car and it was no different here until Layla swallowed her fry and spoke.
“I’m sorry about last night.” She said plainly, she knew it was only to clear the air, but it needed to be said.
“It was a bad day and we all felt it.” Mike said apologetically in between bites of his enormous burger.
“It wasn’t our place to rummage, but after what Mike told us, I couldn’t resist.” Will spoke as he waved down the waitress for the bill. Yesterday was a blur in Layla’s mind and it was a blessing. She retrieved the Aspirin from her bag and popped two into her mouth, the sting of her arm was presenting a concern to the trip. If it continued, she would say something. Loading themselves into the car after paying the bill, Will set off again on the highway. Layla soothed her stomach and watched from the passenger window as the others prattled off jokes and nonsense. Slowly Layla’s eyes shut once more and to sleep was the best way to pass the time.
Layla woke in a snow covered landscape and glanced across the field to the treeline from where she stood, dreams were a delicate thing she reminisced and delighted herself with. The road was calm and free from distractions enough for true sleep to be attainable. Layla always loved her dreams as she controlled them as if she was a god inside her own head. This time was different. Layla normally walked on the beaches of impossible length and flew between mountain tops like she was the wind, but today she was stuck in the place in the most literal sense. Bound to the cross of a scarecrow and forced to watch the field. In the distance a bright orange glow peeked through the pines, the scarecrow’s cross did everything in its power to resist any movement, but eventually she managed to snap the ropes and fall into the powdery snow. It was cold to the touch and bitter in her mouth like ash and dust. Layla actually felt cold, which she never felt before. She pressed onwards towards the light, the cold breeze sent sharp daggers into her lungs with every breath. Carving a path through the snow and through a jumble of trees, she finally laid her eyes on a massive fire. She warmed herself for a moment before seeing a shadow walk across the light of the vibrant flames, as blurry as it was the shadow was a man. Tall, taller than anyone she had ever seen and when she focused on it, the figure disappeared leaving nothing in its place. Layla stood there in the bonfire’s radius, basking in the glow, she thought to herself that if she was going to be stuck here, she would enjoy the imaginary comfort. It was just a dream and the danger was non-existent. Something drew her eyes to the edges of the fire, a sweater. One of the sleeves was burnt clean off to the shoulder, but the rest seemed fine until she recognized it. The unique and rather ugly image was a sleigh, like a child’s depiction of Santa's sleigh. Gasped in fright as the rest of the fire transformed, every bit resembled something she remembered from last year. This was the cabin Will took us to every year after we started dating. Framed paintings turned to dust, leaving only the solid oak frames smoldering in the dirt driveway. She looked around frantically for anything resembling people, but the only thing to appear was debris of various things she knew and saw for years. Layla screamed as she heard a voice from right next to her ear that sent shivers and paralysis through her entire body. She felt as if her body was submerged in the frozen waters of Blackstone bay for years before.
Atlas. Find the boy, find the door, find the.
The voice and it’s message abruptly halt and faded when Layla is forcefully awoken by Terra who was violently shaking her shoulder
“Hey sis, Are you okay? It looked like you were having a nightmare. I didn’t think your nightmares were that bad.” Terra said. Luckily they were alone in the car. Layla rubbed her eyes from any loose tears and sat up.
“Where are we?” Layla replied groggily, brushing the question aside.
“We are about a few hours away. Will stopped to get gas and Mike is grabbing some energy drinks for us.” Layla glanced outside and saw the moon in the sky, closing in on the horizon. Will and Mike opened their doors and shut them in synchrony.
“Look who's awake.” Will said playfully. Mike distributed the cans between all of us. Layla didn’t decline the can. She sipped the can’s sweet contents as they drove down the road, the early morning hours had its magic. Layla only saw one car on the road, its headlights lighting up the asphalt for a second as it passed. The music of the radio did little to ease her mind, that dream sent shivers up her spine. The meaning eluded her until the sun rose above the trees and a line of blaring sirens forced Will to pull into the strip of dirt along the sideroad. Disappearing into the distance.
“That can’t be good, but it’s not our problem.” Will said.
Firefighters and police waited for them when they turned onto the private road. Will stopped the car and walked up to the police officer setting up the road block. Several minutes of arguing pass, and Will forces himself back to the car with a business card in hand.
“What is going on?” Mike asked as soon as the door slammed shut.
“Gas leak went wrong, every house on this road got torched alone with everyone in them. It happened a few hours ago, but they didn’t get the call until one of the locals saw the smoke.”
“Oh my god.” Terra gasped out in shock.
“It can’t be a gas leak, someone would have called sooner. Especially some of the people I know here, they are graveyard shift people and not to mention all of these cabins have their own propane tanks.” Will explained, none of the others were willing to argue. Will hid the car down one of the dirt roads and we waited for every emergency vehicle to leave. We walked down the private road until we reached the cabin. The charred pieces of memories drenched in water, Layla couldn’t help to notice that only the house and its contents were burned.
Will and Mike fought tears as they tore through the crumbling debris, Layla’s eyes caught on an object at the edge of the property, the bright colors only faded slightly from the muddy water. Layla walked cautiously to the object and using her hand, she brushed the mud and ash from its face. A sweater poorly depicting Santa's sleigh, she pulled it from the puddle and held it in front of her to examine. The sleeve was burned horribly and nothing was left before the shoulder. She dropped the sweater back to the ground and stood. She remembered the dream as if she was living it over again, she glanced around for terra and sprinted towards her the moment Layla saw her.
“We have to go now!” Layla exclaimed, Will and Mike ran from the crumbling cabin. Through the trees they saw a cop car coming back down the road. They shot into a dead sprint back to the car, avoiding the road through the surrounding forest. Clawing for every breath as the four found their way back to the car, and piled in.
“That wasn’t a gas leak, this was Arson.” Mike pushed his head into his palms.
“I’m going to kill whoever did this.” Will’s rage seethed through his teeth.
Layla understood the pain of losing one’s home, but this was more than she had been through.
“Hey, let's go back into town and get a hotel for the night. We can’t do much today.” Layla calmly stated, she wanted to tell them. That nightmare was too real for a dream and looking upon the destruction sent shivers across her skin. Will forcefully shifted the SUV into drive and sped down the road like a whirlwind dragging the fallen leaves, uprooting them from a dying slumber. Soon underneath the shallow streetlights and bright sign of a motel; upon further thought Layla had misspoken, a small place like this could only support the minimum lifestyles. She sat disgusted in their temporary accommodations, wondering if the room was not only clean, but how many people slept peacefully in the room and how many decided against sleep in exchange for a dance in the sheets. Distracted for only a moment, but startled when Mike shoved the keys of the car into Layla’s hand. Terra peered through the window’s wispy curtains to Will waiting on the corner for Mike. They mentioned a bar down the road, something from their youth, comfort was a glass away. Layla laid her back on the bed, her thoughts swirled madly inside her mind. Questions without causation, and likely answers slipping through the gaps of reality she knew and admittedly took for granted. ‘What if I caused it?’ She thought to herself, of course she knew that was nonsense. It was a matter of circumstance and the strangeness of the last few days had clearly given the nightmare as a result.
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Will lead the way to “The Pit”, a bar just off the state road. He remembered his first drink there when he turned 18 with the help of his father, it was the one winter he wouldn’t be beaten to a pulp. Though he hadn’t visited apart from the occasional passing during the holidays. Mike was quiet and slow compared to Will, staring at the cracks in the concrete as he placed one foot after another in pursuit of Will. The cold breeze was a godsend with the stale and congested air trapped with them for the journey.
‘Fuck it.’ Will thought as he turned to face Mike.
“What is it?” Will shouted at Mike. if there were people around, Mike had wrangled their attention with the force of whiplash. Mike lifted his eyes from the pavement and stared at Will with a shock akin to spilled milk.
“Why do you care? You are going to drink and I’m following you because I don’t want to be alone.” Mike shrugged past Will and continued down the weathered street.
“You aren’t mad?” Will grabbed at Mike’s jacket, ripping one of the buttons from its threaded anchor, “What the hell is wrong with you. We lost the last thing we have from our parents and you want to play the sad bitch.”
“Fuck you.” Mike murmured under his breath, he felt the air become colder as he began to see his breath manifest as a cloud of vapor.
“Fuck me? Fuck you,” Will pushed Mike to the ground with little regard for the sharp gravel he would land on, “I’ve enough of this, one job after another gone south in one way or another. I can handle that and come back smarter.” Mike sat without even a quiver in his body; he stared at his brother for a long time, watching his every move only to see that it was as obvious as an open wound. He was hurting, the pain boiling over in a fit of rage, contained only by the line he reserved for his friends and family.
“I know how you feel.” Mike stood and brushed the back of his jeans twice. The bar was only a block away now and the neon shone brightly in the light of the receding dusk.
“YOU DON’T KNOW HOW I FEEL!” Will screamed at the top of his lungs, he charged Mike and tackled him to the concrete, the sharp gravel that had hurt through the denim of his jeans had now penetrated his skin, he felt the burn of dirt and grime in every scrape. Will forced Mike to his back and shoved knee on the top of his chest as Mike fought back, but was powerless to even move Will’s 200 pound frame.
“He hit me every day since Mom left.” Will delivered a punch to Mike’s jawline.
“He beat me for every mistake I made.” Mike felt his nose trickling with blood as it ran down his cheeks and stained the filth sidewalk a dark crimson in the faltering light. He stopped struggling in exchange for trying to breath through the bloody saliva streaming down his throat.
“He took me away from her and the only time I felt safe was that cabin.” Will came down with one final strike before the street light above them finally illuminated them, Mike saw Will casted in light through one good eye unclouded by swelling flesh. Will jumped back from Mike, tears filled his eyes as well as terror for his brother’s wounds. Mike sat up with trepidation, his wounds only looked bad, but in reality Mike had been through worse. Physical pain was only a limit to Will, but to Mike, it was little more than an ache.
Will fell to his knees before Mike. The water works of his realization sprayed eagerly from his eyes; despite his willingness from hostilities, the aftermath proved too much for his mind to handle. Mike placed a hand on his shoulder and knelt with him.
“I know what happened, mom told me everything when he passed. I’m here now and… and.” Mike’s eyes trembled with his own tears, he struggled to hold them, Will thrusted his arms around Mike’s torso. It was a different feeling, normally it was the other way around, but that was the perk of being younger. He pulled Will to his feet as best as he could without falling over himself, his vision spun for a moment and the daziness settled as he felt Will’s gaze.
“I think that was our shortest fight yet. Too bad you busted up my face to do it.” Mike smiled through his bleeding gums towards the pain was a little much, but with a cold whiskey in his hands he knew he would be alright in time. Will’s anger softened to a flatline as he listened to Mike’s labored breathing. It would take a long time to get back to when they were and he knew that Mike would not live this down easily.
“I need a drink.” Mike said as he took his first step towards the bar, Will was surprised to hear this as he remembered the chip Mike had worked so long to earn.
“Five years down the drain.” Will replied, he steadied Mike as he wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
“I could tell you down to the hour since my last drink. I couldn’t care less about five years down the drain, I have earned this drink unless you have another way to get rid of the pain.”
“Mike, you always carry around a bottle of aspirin and you want to drink away the pain.” Will chuckled aloud at the implications for such a thing for anything other than pain-killers.
“I’m not talking about my face.” The seriousness of Mike's tone silenced Will’s joking personality in its tracks. The drink was for more than just the stinging of the open cuts, swelling he felt rising in his cheeks, and the bruising around his eye; he wanted it because it pulled a memory from the muddy parts of his memory. Mike didn’t want to trade childhoods with Will, but he would have preferred one of any other, including an orphan’s upbringing in the care of a careless system. What Will experienced physically, Mike experienced in the form of mental and emotional. Pills for the sake of fake illness and attention only for grave situations. Half of the time Mike came home from school to an empty house, an empty pantry, and bedding directly on the floor with no bed to speak of. His mother became a streetwalker for the money, drugs, and the occasional talk of being loved by someone too stupid to not notice the rot in her soul.
Their drinks piled on one after another and soon the tab was little more than a mortgage payment for one of the locals. They joked and used the various attractions of The Pit. a pool table missing the eight ball and a mechanical bull tucked into a back corner for the rare times that freshly adulted women and men came in with a license fresh from the press. Of course Will was the first to try the latter, and to his surprise he succeeded to ride the metal beast for all of ten seconds. It was after midnight that the bartender decided to cut them off and nearly toss out the swinging double doors. Will turned to Mike with an impossibly large grin, it was signal enough for Mike as he lunged in for a hug; as it turns out Mike was no longer the serious drunk he was before, but he now swung like a pendulum between a loving childish canter and sweet tears of lost joy.
“They probably miss us, Mike. That’s it for tonight.” Will took his place as the adult in this activity, although his speech was more than slurred from the bitter taste of Tequila he felt burning away at his stomach lining.
“I’m tired any*hic*way.” Mike began his stumble down the street with Will in tow. At this moment they didn’t have a care in the world, and as for the cabin they spent year after year in, they considered it a lost cause because it was a chance to start again.
Layla woke in a cold sweat to a loud clattering in the room, she rose from the ruffled sheets and tossed blankets to see the door to the hotel room nearly ripped off of its hinges. The wooden frame was splintered to pieces and past the threshold Layla saw the bright red brake lights of a car. She fell from the bed and nearly ran on all four limbs to get to the door, but managed to rise to her own two feet. When she stepped onto the cold concrete of the cheap motel she froze solid with fear, she felt like her body was shutting down and at the corner of her eye she watched a great shadow grow on the side of the motel and followed its every step to the running car. It was an old model, something her grandfather would have owned in the sixties. Eventually she saw Terra come into view in the arms of a large man dressed in a long and tattered black coat. Her vision blurred for a moment when she stared into his face, but when he looked at her, Layla felt a warmth running down her legs against her will. The man shoved Terra’s unconscious body into the trunk of this car and when he closed it, Layla saw the only thing that mattered: a plate completely unobscured and the name of a state. The car drove into the night as fast as lightning before Layla felt the pull of a mysterious force, it ripped her backwards to the bed, she tried to let out a scream. Layla did hear a scream, but it wasn’t coming from her. She turned her head as best as she could and saw Mike and Will at her bedside, shaking someone awake like their life depended on it. Layla watched as they desperately tried to watch Layla up. She looked as if she was being tormented from the inside out. Layla stared at her body as she was pulled closer and closer to it until eventually they became one. Her body lunged forward and shrieked as loud as humanly possible with such fear that she felt the strain of blood vessels within her neck nearly burst as she relented to cry instead.
“He took her, the man that burned our cabin down.” Layla spoke between the sobs emanating from her fragile frame. Between the tears she looked at Will and Mike who stood there stunned at her revelation; they struggled to comprehend in their inebriated state, but Layla wiped away her tears and took the laptop from Will’s bag. Despite her fear of criminal activities, this was the first thing she would do willingly. She typed the plate into the police database they had the privilege of breaking into a few months ago. Lo and behold, her dream of the car and the plate had a match within it.
“Get your asses in the car NOW.” Layla shouted at the two, shocked at the order they had received.
“We are going to Texas.”