It's not a lot, because I was sitting in a car and we got home, but it follows off of the confrontation in the diner, sort of, and hopefully you all remember that. If not, I'll throw in the last few paragraphs of what I last posted for Nuada.
As she slid into the driver’s seat, the young woman felt moisture fill her eyes and knew that what she usually did when she was this upset was call Maggie.
Her head ached as she started the old Mustang and backed out of the diner’s parking lot to find the motel even though she just wanted to drive.
The room Nuada acquired for the night smelled strange and didn’t look all that clean, but she didn’t find any bugs or mold in her inspection, so it would suffice. She dumped her bags on the short dresser.
Sound from her neighbors’ TV filtered through the wall and she was too tired to care. Drawing the curtains and throwing the bolt, Nuada crawled onto the bed, setting her cell phone’s alarm to go off early the next morning.
Her head hurt as much as her chest did in the moments before sleep took her. The young woman refused to let herself cry, though, her dark hair strewn across the white pillow case. Still in her clothes, Nuada drifted to sleep.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Panic filled Nuada when the noise registered and she bolted upright, drawing in a breath as she took in the dark room, grey light just beginning to filter through the edges of the curtains.
She checked her cell, which had finished peeping at her. 0500. Gram’s Burgers opened in half an hour to cater to the truckers hitting the road at this hour, and Nuada planned to be there before too long.
A tightness to her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten a full meal in… Nuada settled her feet on the floor, running a hand through her mussed hair. Days, she decided. Having to spend so much time with her brother had caused her emotions to be on a constant high, and depleted her appetite to almost nothing.
Nuada considering going for a run as she dug through her bag for a new set of clothes, but decided against it. She didn’t want to risk an encounter with just about anyone right at the moment.
It took ten minutes to shower and set her hair to rights. She didn’t leave anything behind when she went out to her car, not having any plans to stay another night.
She settled into the front seat and checked the time again. 0525. Silvery eyes stared out the windshield as her fingers drifted to the paper tucked into the breast pocket of her lightweight jacket.
It’d taken hours to decipher Dad’s scrawl, and days to realize just what the short message had meant.
The Mustang protested as she started its engine, cutting off her own thoughts. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. She had to talk to Mr. Stafford, figure out exactly what was going on, and then somehow cut ties with her brother and friend enough that they wouldn’t hound her.
Weariness weighed on Nuada’s shoulders as she backed out of the motel’s parking lot and got onto Main Street. The town had nothing to hold her attention; she’d been through too many in the last two weeks alone.
As expected, Gram’s Burgers had several large semis pulled into the sizable parking lot, but most the front row of spots were available and Nuada pulled into one on the far end. Now that she was here, the thought of food was almost nauseating, but she knew she had to eat. Especially if she wanted to put in some distance later that afternoon.
The door creaked as she pushed it open and stepped out, dragging her messenger bag with her. The morning air was still chilly, but the sky was a mix of pink and blue with the rising sun.
For a couple of minutes, Nuada just stood and breathed. There wasn’t a lot that beat country air in the wee hours of the morning and she hadn’t had a lot of chances to enjoy it; not with the hours she’d been pulling to get herself and Agyros here by Mr. Stafford’s requested date.
Not a lot, I know, and it'll be void before too long if I can stagger through NaNoWriMo (the whole series of events after the diner are going to change; drastically) but it's something.
And now I need to either sleep or watch some TV. I haven't decided which yet.
Thanks for reading!
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
