We Made It

Winter awoke to the sound of gravel and dirt being shredded, and soft country music playing in the background. Opening her eyes slowly, the image of a road became clearer, the station's number in bright blue, with a dark radio back to enhance the lighting. She could hear Luc's humming and the tapping of his nails on the leather seats in his new Toyota truck, the car shaking every other moment with the hard landscape. The moon was high in the sky, shining like a brand new dime, and the northern United States was now in the end of the day transition, the Earth's natural light azure. Through Winter's peripheral vision, she could see a bottle of Five Hour Energy leaning in the cup holder, its size too small to fit the entire circle. Yawning, Emily "Winter" Walters sat up a little straighter, turning her head to look at Luc, his eyes firmly on the road, the dust particles flying around his face, clear of their direction from the car's front lights.
"Mornin'," Luc said, not looking at her. Because of his fond of watching action movies, Luc was afraid of driving, and almost never took his eyes off the road in fear of causing an accident and spending his after life in misery.
"Morning?" Winter asked, rubbing her tired eyes. She looked at the radio's time, which was about twenty minutes ahead, but always seemed to go ahead by a minute every day: 2:47. It was roughly 2:30 AM, Winter estimated. "Oh wow. How long have I have asleep? How long have you been driving?"
"Since around nine, last night. You knocked out half an hour into the trip, swimming all day," Luc's Texan accent sliced through the air, so different from Winter's Detroit accent. Luc moved to Detroit when he was seven, but he was born in Beaumont, Texas. "I'm surprised you could even make it to the car. I thought your daddy was gonna wake up."
"Well 'Daddy' had a few too many beers last night. Him and Rachel were fighting again," Winter replied, feeling more awake just by looking at Luc's (most likely) empty energy drink. She loathed the topic of her new stepmother, Rachel. Winter's father, Bill, wasn't rich, but had enough money to lure in a gold digger, which was just was happened.
"What about?"
"What else? Money," she rolled her eyes. "There's never enough to pass around."
"Well," Luc started, and Winter groaned. Her close friend of eleven years is genuinely interested in the stock market and the financial world. "If the government handed out money like candy, then the value of the dollar would decrease. I know a lot of people complain that-"
"Luc," Winter touched his arm. "Please shut up." he laughed, played with a piece of straw in his mouth that he always seemed to have, and started humming again. Realizing the horrible sound of music playing on the radio, Winter changed the station, pressing a random button. A Disney song started playing.
"Winter!"
"You Texan people need to learn country music isn't the best," she said, reaching in the back seat and taking out Luc's cowboy hat he liked to wear. "But the hats sure are nice."
"Hey, that's my hat," he said, making a soft swerve as the road turned left.
"I know," Winter put it on, fixing her ash blond hair a little, the tips tickling her bare, pale shoulders. "Anyway, where we headed?"
"Well right now, we are in..." he fiddled around with the GPS a little, pressing numerous touch-screen buttons that led to more button options, looking back on the road every half second. His tan fingers quickly ran around the screen of the GPS, eager to find where the map was, afraid he would get in an accident. He would hate it if he was the reason him and his best friend were to die. Or, even worse, if he survived and Winter died. Happiness would never be possible in Luc's personality again, replaced by the endogenous depression, melancholia.
Finally, Luc pressed a button, showing a full on map of the U.S. Then, as quickly as it had showed, the United States of America was replaced by Canada, its white and red maple leaf flag in the upright corner for illiterate people. "The southernmost part of Ontario, Canada."
"Canada?" Winter asked, appalled. "Why there- er, here? I thought we were going to New York? And how on earth did you get into Canada?"
"A few paperwork here and there, passports, momentarily you waking up-"
"I woke up?"
"Only to sign some things, I doubt you'd remember it, you were practically sleep walking, and boom! We were in Ontario. It's a great shortcut to Buffalo." Luc finished.
"Aren't you tired? I'll take the wheel," Winter offered. "And nice shortcut."
"Thanks, and getting out of Canada's gonna be a tad harder. But no, I'll keep on driving. That's my third energy drink,"
"Third? Luc, you've been driving for, what, five hours? It should've been your second,"
"I get very heavy-eyed, thank you very much. You're not my mom, Winter,"
"But I'm your friend, Luc, and you know how I feel about energy drinks."
"Ugh, Winter," he groaned.
"What?"
"Energy drinks aren't all that bad,"
"Yeah, but they're still bad,"
"Speaking of bad, take my hat off. You may have lice,"
"Lucas!" Winter whined, and he started cracking up. He's a pretty humorous person.
"Emily!" Luc replied, mimicking Winter's voice pitch.
A few houses started popping up, the porch lights on, flies swarming around the only source of light attached to the frame of the small home.
"Finally, some civilization. I thought the apocalypse had finally happened," Luc spoke.
"Don't play around like that, you know I don't like that kind of talk," Winter said, grateful there were some houses. She would've gotten scared if there weren't. The idea of the sudden extinction of her species scared the hell out of Winter, but it fascinated Luc, and he loved to tease her about it.
After a half hour of silent driving and more country music (Luc's choice of audio), city lights came into view, and Winter was in her comfort zone again. Being from different places, Luc and Winter had different point of views. Luc, being a country boy, was perfectly content sleeping in a shack outside in the middle of a cattle field with no noise except the crickets making their usual playlist. Winter, on the other hand, was petrified of the idea sleeping alone anywhere dark and silent, and preferred a high apartment with plenty of lighting, with much noise to send her to sleep. But, Luc did like driving in the city much better, with a slim to none chance of a hog appearing out of nowhere and getting hit by a truck. Also, there were stoplights and stop signs to tell people when to come to a halt. He didn't need another trip to the hospital due to slight head trauma from a speeding SUV.
"So, motel or car?" Winter asked Luc after a couple of minutes.
"What do you mean?" Luc asked. Winter was a vague person.
"Well, around noon tomorrow- today, technically- my male co-creator will realize I'm missing. Around one he'll call the police, and your folks are sure to have called them beforehand, so then we'll both appear as missing persons. Since Detroit might as well be in Canada, it'll be a choice of where we might've gotten "kidnapped." To avoid more attention, should we at least have the 'comfort' of a motel, or the safety of your truck?" Winter explained, tapping her fingers to the beat of a guy she guessed was named Billy Bob. A stereotypical person, she is.
"Hm..." Luc thought it over. He wasn't good with options, he was too indecisive, thanks to his mother, Mary. "You know I can adapt to pretty much anywhere."
"Well I can't. Motel it is," Winter replied, yawning. "Pull into the closest one you can find."
"Got it, boss," Luc said, the piece of straw in his mouth starting to taste unpleasant. He had a whole stash of straw, tied together by a bread tie, in his duffel bag. Because of his life long attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, commonly known as ADHD, Lucas always needed to keep moving, and straw was a good way of keeping him going. Also tapping his foot against anything could keep him a bit calm.
"Ooh, there," Winter pointed at a half-lit neon pink sign with the words Cheap Motel shining. Well, most of the letters were shining. The 'c' and 'p' in 'Cheap' and 'm' in 'Motel' were burned out. It ended up saying heap otel "At least it's short and to the point."
"Hopefully they're only talking about the price," Luc replied, parking in the parking lot with a total of ten spaces, only one occupied. The car was Luc's.
The two runaways unbuckled their seat belts. Luc offered to check how much the room cost, but Winter was unwilling to stay in the car alone in front of a random motel in Canada. They both hopped out of the car, bags and all, Luc's hat still on Winter's head, and walked to the motel with little ease. The neighborhood wasn't exactly nice. The motel was to the left of the road, low and dark, with the roof letting droplets of rain fall to their deaths on the concrete sidewalk. To the right was a closed post office that looked as if it hadn't been used in years, which was most likely the case, and there were no other cars around. Yes, they were still in the city, but what seemed to be the darkest part of southern Ontario.
The front door opened with a creek. Luc and Winter stepped onto the ugly green carpet with dark red flecks. There was a small light brown desk immediately in front of them. Winter inhaled the cigarette wrench of the room, a couch edging to come out, the specific smell and gas not agreeing with her asthma.
"Hello?" Luc called out. A door behind the desk opened, slamming the desk with such force Winter shrieked and hid behind Luc, expecting a serial killer with an AK 47 to finish their nineteen years' worth of living, and a shovel to hide them behind the motel. Instead, a curse was said, and a short pale lady with short red hair like Annie's (the movie) walked out. She slammed the door shut, clearing her throat, and throwing a cigarette bud on the floor. It landed behind the desk, out of sight.
"Yes?" she asked, stepping out from behind the tall desk and looking at the teens. Her voice was raspy and old, reminding Luc of two pieces of sandpaper being rubbed together.
"We need a room," Luc said.
"Are you two in a relationship?" the lady asked, coughing slightly. It was then Winter realized she still needed to cough, and the fright escaped her as her own cough came out. She also cleared her throat.
"No ma'am," Luc replied, standing up a little higher. "Just two people in need of a place to stay for the night."
"Well that's too bad. I have ten rooms, all with one bed in each. One of you can sleep in the tub," the lady said, looking at Luc. "Here's your key." she went behind the desk and opened a drawer, tossing a key to Luc, who caught it with ease. Luc's older brother, Liam, played baseball, still does, but just for fun. The two often played catch as youngsters in both Beaumont and Detroit. "And I need eight dollars. Now."
Winter fished for money in her pocket, taking out a few bills. Luc took the money from her, added some of his own, and paid the woman.
"Go through that door, pick any room except the last. Good night." she disappeared behind the door again, once again slamming it.
"Come on," Winter pulled Luc's hand and followed the woman's instructions, going through the door to the right and walking down a narrow corridor lit by only three lights, scattered aimlessly on the walls. She picked the first room she saw, opened the door, and went inside, Luc following.
"This is... nice..." Luc said, looking around. There was a bed in the back, with a blue comforter and four pillows, with a small bedside table, complemented by a dim lamp. Nothing else was in the room, except for a door that led to the bathroom. Winter peered inside, finding a small toilet, old sink, and beige tub squeezed together in the small room it was provided.
"Yeah, luxurious, huh?" Winter asked with sarcasm. She dropped her two duffels' on the floor and plopped herself on the bed. "Well, I'm going to bed. You?"
"I still have my Five Hour Energy buzz going on," Luc said. "Three and a half more hours of energy."
"Well I'm tired," Winter checked to make sure there were no random critters under and in the bed before hiding under the covers, reaching to turn off the lamp.
"You could at least try to sleep," she said, patting the space next to her. She and Luc have slept together (that's all, just sleeping) before, lots of times, and this time would be no different. "Our first sleepover in Canada!"
Luc laughed, slipping out of his shoes, laying down next to Winter. He turned to the right, on the right side, and Winter turned to the left, on the left side.
"Good night, Emily," Luc said, finally turning off the lamp.
"Good night, Lucas," Winter replied, smiling, and falling into a deep slumber.