The misfits

chapter 9

Alisan 

We found a small place to spent the night. It was evident that Brian couldn't drive, so I took the car towards the city. We were soon greeted by the city's sign, an old and run down image of the words welcome that appeared as everything but welcoming. The red was washing down and so was the blue, being replaced by new paint instead. Neon graffiti was etched into the night over tear-washed concrete. It was exactly how I pictured it into the map. After we got out of the car, we tried to navigate through the city, the silvery melody of the drawl of sightseers and the strong, distinct accents of the locals drifted through my ears as they ambled past. I felt more like a tourist then a runaway. Brian held his head up, as to not show any signs of weakness, walking behind us as he tried to capture the city's essence with wide eyes. Indeed, there was a change in atmosphere from earlier, a softer kind of tension. Evelyn was one step behind me, and I slowed down in my walking, as to reach her and Brian.

- How's the city? - I ask the both of them.

- Quite boring, but maybe that's because there is nothing much to do. - Evelyn says in a distinctive tone, putting her words in a way that makes it seems like she was rather asking a question then stating cold facts.

- Says the one that tries to keep us out of "trouble"- snickers Brian, and turns his attention towards the second he gets hit. - Didn't you tell us that you didn't knew the area?

- Well, I might have lied, - I shrug.

They start laughing and bugging in my arm. Evelyn walks in a drunk stance, shoes in her hands, while Brian takes the lighter from my pocket and lights a cigarette that he got form who knows who, maybe Eve. They bounced remarks between themselves like a kid's rubber ball. They were never sure if they really got wittier as the evening wore on or if it was just the effect of the liquor making everything seem so much funnier. Maybe the situation got us drunk, or the fact that we haven't properly slept in three days and drank a full bottle of whiskey. But we weren't drunk at all. I am apprehensive, yet unafraid. It is the jolt I need to know that I am walking into a storm, but not so much that my steps will be hindered. If anything it gives me the courage I need to make them, knowing that few good things in this life come without a cost to the self. I can't believe that in three days all that I ever had and wanted changed in a moment. Moving in abnormal patterns, a small park appeared behind a block of building. We sat down in one of the broken benches, trees surrounding everything that our eyes could reach. Some of them were withering with age, while others were blossoming in their peak. The grass wasn't greener here, yet it was dark and I couldn't see either way. Eve was scrunching her nose, trying to make vision of her whereabouts. There was still a bit more in the bottle, which would be finished by the morning if Brian didn't gulp it all down now. We drink in silence, hoping that the answer lies at the bottom of the bottle and then the next bottle and the next. And so the night drags on. Few words exchanged between us. And the words that are spoken are slurred and senseless. The morning comes just like that, and we rise with the sun. Moving in our feet, the grass is indeed more yellow that I first thought. Brian groans in the distance, leaning on me for support.

- Please tell me you didn't drink as much as I did, because I can't approach a single human being.

- Don't worry, I..can talk.

Evelyn had already woken up and taken the map on her hand, putting little signs on the closest border we had with Arizona. She glanced in our direction, and went on to finish her work. The park started to fill up with more people than I imagined for such a small area. Lost in my daydreams, I forgot that we had to ask someone, or anyone about the city's whereabouts, and possibly someone that knew the area. I felt dread covering my whole body, suddenly to afraid to approach any of them. From my side I hear a soft voice speaking, punctuating the words in a curious manner, as more to show then to tell:

- I love crowds. I love the way people walk, roughly in one direction, weaving a little, chatting as they go. I watch them, some heads down and lost in thought and wonder what their private worlds are like - each of them viewing this same place, this same day, from a unique perspective. Some of them notice the sun, others the cloudy remains of yesterdays rainstorm. Either way their footfalls soothe me better than a flowing river. You can ask them anything and they will answer. Watch.

And there she goes. I can't catch much of a glimpse, except the fact that the person she approached seems to be quite comfortable with the situation. Evelyn puts her hair past her ear, and smiles at their direction. Hands mixed up with each other, they speak both with their words and their actions. They rock side to side, talking faster than I can comprehend, but Evelyn seems to do just fine. Then in the conversation joins one more person, a young woman somewhere of the same age. She respectfully removes the other out of the conversation, but not before they flash a candy coated smile towards her. Evelyn runs back to the bench, seemingly out of breath.

-Did you find anything? - Brian asks, but doesn't get any response. That makeshifts for an answer, clocking him down back in the bench.

- Don't worry too much. I know someone we can ask.