| 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐑 | 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐗 𝐎𝐂

Chapter 24

The three drove along the long road in silence, seeming to go wherever the road led to. Klaus was driving, Five was in the passenger seat, glancing at Kali in the rearview mirror to see how she was doing, and Kali was sitting on her knees in the backseat with her headphones on and excitedly watching as everything flew past the window. If you want to know, she was keeping track of different things and how many times they pass them. Kali noticed Five's frequent looks but she didn't acknowledge them. He was acting strange, ever since they got together he's been extremely protective and worrying about her far more than usual. Maybe that's just how all boyfriends are though.

"What are you doing, Kal?" Klaus questioned, giving her a suspicious look through the mirror.

"She's counting." Five answered immediately.

"Seems fun." Klaus chuckled, looking back to the road.

It was silent again; the only sound was the engine and tires of the car on the rocky road. Kali enjoyed being in the car, especially since she didn't have to worry about going home to be greeted by crowds like when they were kids. That just made car rides scary.

To be honest, there wasn't much to count out here. They've been driving for thirty minutes and all she has so far is 43 signs, 117 telephone posts, 3 cars, 2 farmhouses, and a gas station. Most people would forget the number within minutes but it's like her brain kept files and whenever she needed that number back, all she had to do was go through the files and pull one out. It made sense to her... maybe not to others but that's their problem, not hers.

Five sighed, "This actually isn't so terrible." Kali tore her eyes off the scenery to show Five that she was listening. It physically pained her to think about all the things that she was missing, just to be a decent person. (It didn't physically do anything, she just likes to be dramatic.)

Klaus beamed at his brother, "See? Told you."

"Come to think of it, my whole life I've been under the gun. Missions for dad, working for the Commission, trying to survive the apocalypse. I was always looking around every corner, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's nice to just breathe." He admitted. Kali tried not to laugh as 'Macarena' started playing in her headphones. She didn't even add that to her playlist! God was really testing her... her boyfriend just opened up about his difficult life and she's back here trying not to burst out laughing.

"Good for you, man. Retirement is suiting you."

"What're you laughing about?" Five chuckled, turning around in his seat to look at her. She quickly took off her headphones and struggled to properly put them on his head. "I got it, I got it." He muttered, putting them on himself. He listened for a few seconds and playfully rolled his eyes, "Wow, you certainly have a unique sense of humour." He handed them back and she turned it off and set it beside her. She felt her legs beginning to fall asleep from sitting on them for so long and quickly sat down properly before they could start doing the weird tingly thing.

Five seemed to have remembered something and quickly spun around to open the glove compartment, "Oh! Uh... All right!" He pulled out a map and marker and Kali leaned forward so she could see it from over his shoulder. "So, I've circled all the roadside attractions along the way."

"Oh, I'm not sure we're gonna have time..." Klaus tried to say but Five kept talking.

"We have to go to Brownsville Big Nickel. Oh, Ricky's Bakery has award-winning pies." Five pointed to all the places excitedly.

"If you just let me explain..."

"Or there's this Cow Henge. That's it- Don't-" Five smiled brightly as he tried to convince his brother.