And Then She Was Gone

Goodbye Alex

The car ride away from home, would have been completely barren of noise were it not for the large German Shepard sitting directly next to Elizabeth, panting excitedly taking in the constant change of scenery through the passenger window. The radio remained off and the windows were rolled up as Elizabeth drove forward, feeling the apron strings of both her Aunt and Uncle being stretched and stretched until they reached the point of oblivion and finally snapped. She had only been twenty minutes into her car ride, but already it felt that there was an immeasurable distance in between them.

She would not be returning home tonight, or the next night or even the next. The next time she physically would see them would be in a year after her long awaited sabbatical. While she could feel the excitement beginning to bubble within her, it was still being bogged down by the sadness of leaving her family for such a long time, mixed in with guilt knowing they both would be worried and lonely in her absence.

She knew these mixed emotions would only be momentary, that once she was finally on a route which had not been ingrained in her brain through frequent use and the need for her phones GPS took place, she would finally be able to enjoy her new adventure. However, there was one more stop she needed to make and one more person she needed to see before she could finally depart from this deeply wooded part of Pennsylvania and declare herself a traveler. Exploring areas not yet explored and seeing sites which had yet to be seen.

The clicking sound of her turn signal snapped her out of her autopilot, the black explorer pulling into the pumps of a large gas station fit with a convenience store. This was it. This was her last stop before she hit the open roads.

Reaching over to the passenger side floor she rifled through the purse nestled tightly beside the cooler her aunt had lovingly packed for her. She pulled out her blue wallet which contained just about every form of personal identification she could need for this long journey.

Giving Shelby a pat on the head and muttering a few words citing she would be back shortly, she turned to open the door and immediately shrieked clutching her chest as her very breath escaped her body.

Alex had just appeared out of nowhere, crouching down and peering into her window with a grin, no doubt capitalizing of the clear distraction her purse provided. Obviously, amused by her reaction.

His grin was returned with a glare as she grabbed the handle of the door and pushed the door open into him without remorse. "How do you do that?!"

"Do what?" He said catching the door with a huff as he stopped it in enough time from hitting into his upper body. He chuckled a little more, stepping back and allowing the door to open so she could make her way out.

"Just pop up like some kind of night stalker!" She said in frustration, adjusting her yellow cardigan quickly with wallet still in hand, smoothing it out against her upper body and then reaching for her hair and picking at it for good measure before she was to begin her walk into the convenience store, attempting to clean up her appearance before she was among strangers within.

"Don't you think that's a little harsh? Pretty sure the night stalker was a serial killer.." he said thoughtfully, as he straitened to his full height, measuring just a little shy of her Uncle at around 6'4". his thumb and fore finger encasing his square jaw.

"Well, your skill for sneaking up on people is rather alarming and I quite think you enjoy it." She said huffily, closing the car door and beginning to take steps towards the store.

Before she could make any real distance, his arm stretched out forming a barricade as his hand firmly planted on the front end of the SUV. "I thoroughly enjoy getting a rise out of you, that's for sure." he said with a wink, taking in her features with his eyes quickly sneaking a fleeting  not so subtle glance up and down her body. "You look beautiful, you don't need to fuss with yourself." he said after the fact, noting the attempt to smooth out her appearance.