Sugarcane and Indigo

On the Road to Truth part 1

The car ride to the plantation was quiet. Indigo kept glancing at me every now and then waiting for me to speak, concern written across his face. But I didn't have anything to say. Well, nothing I could tell him. I kept imagining Violet's final moments. Was she in pain when she died? Was she scared? Did she somehow know it was our fault? These questions kept echoing through my head on reply like the chorus of a bad song. Honestly, I didn't even know what I was doing here, sitting in a car with Indigo. I knew who killed Violet now, so why was I tagging along?

    A glance at Indigo answered that question for me. I was going for him, because he didn't deserve to find this out alone.

    "Lavender, just tell me what's wrong," Indigo demanded, finally breaking the silence.

    I turned away from the window that I've been staring out of for the last twenty minutes to glance at him.

    "Nothing's wrong, Indigo."

    "Bullshit. Something's going on with you. Just tell me."

    I started to grow frustrated. Why couldn't he just leave me alone?

    "Indigo, I'm only going to say this once. I. Am. Fine. Just focus on driving."

    Indigo sneered but turned away back to the road. After a moment I turned back to looking out the window. The car was quiet for a few minutes before -

    "You'd tell me if it was really bad, wouldn't you?"

    I growled in annoyance and flipped over to look at him. "Do you have something against being quiet? Did silence do something to you when you were a small child? Honestly, I'd like to know."

    Indigo's lips quirked up as he fought a smile at my sarcasm. "Do I have something against silence? Of course not. But I do have something against secrets and you definitely have a secret."

    "I don't have a secret," I denied.

    "Don't lie to me, Lavender," Indigo warned. "I know you well enough to know you're keeping something from me."

    I snorted. "You don't know anything about me, Indigo. Absolutely nothing."

    Indigo raised an eyebrow but kept his eyes on the road. "Oh, is that so? I know nothing about you?"

    Something in his tone warned me that I should quit while I was ahead but you never got anywhere in life without pushing forward.

    "Yeah, that's right. You know nothing about me. You barely knew me when we were kids and you barely know me now. We're strangers for all intents and purposes."

    "Strangers?" he barked out.   

    I nodded decisively, "Strangers."

    "That's bullshit and you know it!" Indigo protested, "We aren't strangers."

    I huffed in frustration and threw my hands up above my head. "Well, what are we, then? Cause we sure as hell aren't friends. We never have been. Violet was my friend - not you. Violet was the person who knew everything about me - not you. And Violet is the only reason we're spending any time together now. Face it, Indigo, you don't know me - God, you don't even like me!"

    Indigo nodded, almost to himself, and started veering the car right. He slowed to a stop on the shoulder of the road, before turning the car off and turning to look at me.

    His dark eyes were staring at me intensely like he wanted me to remember what he was about to say.

    "I know you, Lavender Fletch. It doesn't matter that we haven't spoken in years or that you were closer to Violet than you ever were to me. I know you. I know that you like talking to flowers when you think no one's listening. I know that you can always tell when you're being lied to - you crinkle your nose, just a little. I know that you prefer potted plants over cut flowers any day of the week. I know you. Everything else is you just being too much of an ass to recognize what's right in front of your face."