Serenity Somewhere

Part Two

Barbara did her best to find peace in the pleasant change in the atmosphere, but she couldn't entirely enjoy it. After months of planning a nearly inconceivable act of defiance and close to a full day executing that plan, she had felt stretched thin long before she noticed the highway patrol cruiser behind her. After what still felt to her like a narrow escape, she was feeling more like a wet cloth that had been wrung dry. The brief but overwhelming scare seemed to have sapped nearly all of the energy she had left, leaving her with just enough to keep moving forward.

She wasn't entirely sure how much longer her remaining strength had to hold out, and she made it a point to not ask. Though they had passed a major milestone in finally reaching Oregon, Vancouver was still far enough away for the distance to be depressing. With the better part of her fears behind her, the road ahead now looked like an endless expanse of asphalt lined with trees. She found herself almost happy to see the monotony of the scenery broken by a bridge ahead of them crossing a narrow river.

Barbara wasn't at all surprised when she felt Haley fidgeting in her seat, clearly experiencing her share of the lack of enthusiasm. She looked around her for anything of interest and, failing miserably, her cheerful demeanor began faltering.

"Hey, Babs? Other than Oregon, where the hell are we?"

Barbara's stomach tightened in response to hearing Haley's nickname for her. Two of her three long years of middle school were spent cringing at the sound after someone feeling particularly clever discovered the name of an old cartoon rabbit and, seemingly overnight, made half of the school aware of it. By the time she met Haley in high school, she had endured so many references and pulled so many shredded carrots out of her hair that mere mention of the name in any context made her physically ill.

For reasons that she had long since given up attempting to understand, Haley was in love with the nickname. It was the first thing that Haley had ever spoken to her about. Another thing that Barbara had given up on attempting to understand was why any pleasant conversation between them didn't immediately come crashing to an end at that point. In all of the time they had known each other, Barbara had never quite gotten the hang of saying no to Haley.

Much to her surprise, hearing the name coming from Haley eventually became a source of comfort. Seemingly simultaneously, Haley's voice formed a knot in Barbara's stomach and eased it into loosening. Though she didn't question Haley's ability to have such an effect on her any more than she questioned anything else, she had never managed to get used to it, either. It took a long moment for her to recover to the point of being able to respond.

"Huh? Oh...no idea. I was really only worried about getting to Oregon. Why?"

Haley looked for a moment as if she was trying to figure out how to answer the seemingly simple question. "I...I was just wondering if—oh, hey! Look!"

Barbara jumped at the sudden change in Haley's demeanor. In an instant, she went from looking as if she may fall asleep again to looking as if Christmas had come early. She was smiling widely and bouncing in place as she pointed at the road ahead of them. Following her gaze, Barbara could initially only see that traffic was becoming more congested, the vehicles in the distance visibly slowing to a crawl. As they rounded a corner, several buildings lining one side of the road came into view between the trees. Their signs were coming to life as their lights turned on for the evening, competing with each other as they displayed the names of restaurants and gas stations.

Barbara looked at Haley curiously. "What's wrong? Are you getting hungry?"

Haley's expression quickly turned sheepish as her eyes fell on a plastic bag next to her feet, still halfway filled with snacks. "No...not really..."