All That Leads To You

Chapter 17 | The Rush

"i'm 15 for a moment. caught in between 10 and 20, and I'm just dreaming, counting the ways to where you are."

Thanks so much Aphrodite270 for the beautiful cover!

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School flies by fast. I've learnt that it works to have something in mind—something to look forward to—for time to move quicker, or at least feels like it. Even if it doesn't, there's something to occupy your mind. In most cases, I'd hate to be alone with my thoughts. But not today. Weird.

     The atmosphere inside Xander's Jeep is calm, a complete opposite to how things were last night—with unanswered questions filling every corner like missing pieces of a puzzle. Nothing much was said afterwards. We simply looked at each other then looked at the paper from the envelope. I was expecting more words to suddenly appear on the page. So was everyone else. All we wanted was to be sure.

     And now we're here. The radio is off, but the silence doesn't bother me. It's not a complete silence anyway, with the windows slightly rolled down at the top letting the noise from the outside world enter. Every once in a while, the sound of a sports car speeding up can be heard. Even the wind sings its own tune from time to time, mostly in hushed whispers.

     Adrenaline and wind.

     I'm in the passenger seat, so I've got the side-view mirror of the car to look at. Dylan rests his head on the window behind me, eyes gazing out. He looks tired with his usual goofy charisma gone. I let him have his moment and look out my window as well. The wind lightly blows on the top of my head, causing some of my brown locks to stray away and sway over my cheeks. I smile when I spot a young girl sitting at a bench with a golden retriever puppy by her feet. She holds the leash but doesn't pull on it. They both just sit there.

     I want to tell her to keep it safe. I want to tell her that though it's true that nothing lasts forever, it can feel like it when you hold on to things tightly—whatever it is. The world isn't as pretty as I remembered it was when I was eight.

     I should have held on to him. West.

     "So what's the plan here?" Ocean speaks up, pulling me away from my thoughts. She's now hunched forward and leaning against Xander's seat. I turn my head slightly to catch her eyes. "Do we split up?"

     "I reckon that'll cut time," Xander shrugs, "but should we?"

     "Why are you asking me the question back?"

     "I'm asking everyone!"

     "You directed it at me," she huffs before sitting back. "What do you guys say?" she asks Dylan and I.

     I sit there in silence for a moment. Sure, it will save us some—maybe even a lot—of time, considering the size of the theme park and all the attractions in there. Besides, there are other places to check as well, like stands, shops, toilets—wait do we need to check the toilets? It's the safe thing to do, right? It sounds so silly, I think to myself. But this whole thing seems that way as well to anyone from the outside, so what is there to lose in the first place?

     "I think we should stay together," Dylan casually answers, lifting his head from against the window and sitting up. "Maybe not the entire time, but at least at the start."

     Ocean nods. "Sounds good."

     "Wouldn't it be great if we could get a view of the whole park?"