Dissolve (5 page)

“Hi, we are looking for something cheap that still runs decent,” Nessa told the salesman.

“I have this nineteen eighty five cutlass sierra for a bargain, only fifteen hundred. If you are looking for a steal, then this is your car,” he said, holding his hand in a sales walk around the car.

I could tell that she was trying to get a read on him and before he could respond, she moved down the rows of cars and settled in front of a rusty purple mustang from the nineteen eighty six. “This one is the one we want.”

“What a great choice. I will sell it for a mere two thousand just for you young ladies,” the salesman said.

I could see Nessa was not willing to bend so easily and I watched the ping pong match begin.

“I am willing to pay one thousand four hundred for it.”

“That’s highway robbery and you know it. How about nineteen hundred?” he suggested.

“It has one hundred eighty thousand miles on it and is leaking oil. How about one thousand five hundred?” she asked peering underneath the car.

“It still runs good, seventeen hundred is my final offer,” the man said sternly.

“Sixteen hundred cash and you have a deal,” she countered.

He seemed to hesitate, and then nodded. “Congratulations on your purchase, let’s go inside and finalize the deal.”

Panic coursed through me as I thought of the paperwork we might have to sign. Nessa followed him towards the small trailer office and winked at me. I let out a sigh of relief and followed them inside.

I watched as Nessa forked over the money in exchange for the title and a set of keys. He shook her hand and she thanked him for his help. She turned around and flashed me a big smile. I followed her out and we got into the rusty purple mustang. I threw the bag in the back seat and we sat in complete silence until we pulled out on the road and had made it a few miles from the dealership.

“Nessa, that was amazing the way you negotiated with him. You are a natural,” I said.

“Reading his mind helped. It was one of the few cars on the lot that wasn’t a lemon. It leaks oil so we will have to put a fresh quart every couple hundred miles but it runs like a champ.”

“There is even an eight ball on the shifter, classic. At least it has a radio,” I commented.

“Ok, time for the important question. Where the heck are we going?”

My eyebrows knit as I deepened my thoughts. “Mexico and Canada are out since we don’t have paperwork. I say we go south as far as we can go. Florida maybe, there are tons of tourists there and we could blend right in,” I suggested.

“I am game. Let’s stop at a gas station and fill up before heading on the road,” Nessa said.

I nodded, deep in thought all the way there. So much had become so complicated and fast. What would have happened if I hadn’t had Nessa there to go through this with me? My body shivered just thinking about that possibility. As we pulled into the gas station, I smiled and leaned over for another hug.

“Thanks. What was that for?” Nessa asked.

“Being here with me, I couldn’t have done this alone,” I told her.

She just smiled and closed the car door before pumping the gas. A few minutes later, she shut the pump off and leaned in the window.

“I have to go pay; do you want a drink or anything?”

“I will go in with you. I want to look for a few essentials,” I answered.

“Okay,” was all that Nessa said. Then she headed into the convenient store.

I followed behind her and made a beeline for the premade coffee drinks. I was in need of some serious caffeine. I grabbed two double shots and then wandered towards the miscellaneous supplies. They actually had hair dye here, only two colors though. I picked up both the honey blond and the burnt auburn. I also grabbed two razors, deodorant and two toothbrush/toothpaste combo kits.

I paid for my purchases and hurried back to the mustang, just beating Nessa there by a few minutes. Tossing the supplies into the bag, I opened one of the double shots and reveled in the taste of caffeine straight to the bloodstream. She added oil to the car then tossed the carton in the trash. Then she shut the car door and turned the keys in the ignition. The car thrummed to life and I let out a small smile in spite of things.

“I got us some necessities and hair dye. I thought it might help us blend in,” I told her.

“Genius, I didn’t even think of that! I got a few bottles of water, a quart of oil and a map. I figured we would take the most direct route to Florida and I will need you to navigate.”

“Awesome, we are off,” I said as we turned out of the gas station and onto the highway heading south. I turned on the radio and scan the stations until I found a slow emo band and watched out the window as the Illinois scenery passed us by. Fields of corn and old barns filled the view all around us.

I began to filter my thoughts, trying to figure out what our purpose was. Everything was becoming so jumbled and I was losing track of reality faster than I ever imagined. Finally, I looked to Nessa and turned down the music.

“Do you think there are more of us out there?” I inquired.

“Maybe, I wish we knew more. Tom has been murdered and we now have a killer on the loose. Not to mention the mystery guy that doles out magical powers and seems to be keeping tabs on us. I didn’t want to freak you out Cora, but I thought I saw him as we turned onto the highway. He was in a newer black Impala and I swear his eyes met mine as we drove away. It was creepy and I am totally the one freaked now.”

At this, my eyebrows shot up. “What? Are you sure? Why didn’t you stop and question him? We need answers Nessa.”

“I didn’t stop because what if he is Tom’s killer? I don’t want to give him the chance to murder us too. It is just too disturbing, I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok, I don’t blame you. I am just so confused and I wish we knew what was going on. The new powers are awesome, but why us?” I asked.

“Maybe we are part of a bigger plan in place. We just can’t know what it is right now. I say we run until we can’t. Besides, we have always wanted to do a road trip to a tropical destination. We could make an adventure out of this,” Nessa said.

Nessa always did look to the bright side of things. I put my hand over hers and smiled. “Thanks. Thanks for always being so darn positive.”

She gave me a crooked grin and grasped my hand. “It’s just you and me Cora.”

Satisfied for the time being, I turned the radio back up and we sang as we drove out of Illinois and briefly through Kentucky before heading into Tennessee. The hours flew by and the time not thinking about all the heavy stuff gave me some semblance of peace. The sky turned from brilliant yellow to tints of gold and orange as the sun melted away and the night began to take hold.

I let out a stifled yawn before turning the radio down once more. “I think we should stop for the night. We didn’t sleep well last night and we can make it the rest of the way tomorrow then.”

Nessa hesitated and then sighed in resignation. “Ok, let’s stop at the next town before Atlanta. We still have to find a dive, unfortunately. It’s just part of the gig I’m afraid.”

“It will give us time to dye and cut our hair. I also managed to get some scissors at the last gas station. It is about time for a new style. Luckily, we both have long hair so it won’t be hard to change it.”

“Ok, help me look for a place and we will stop,” Nessa said.

It took nearly twenty minutes until we found a place run down enough for us to stop at. The Motel sign flashed vacancy and the building was a long strip with about fifteen rooms to it in total. The numbers on the doors were displayed on a diamond overlay. I prayed these at least looked better on the inside than the last one.

“Stay here, I will get the room,” Nessa told me as she stepped out of the mustang.

I nodded then sank down in the passenger seat trying not to draw any attention to myself. I noticed the number on one of the doors had come loose and was hanging sideways. The paint here was peeling as much as the last one and the vacancy sign gave off a buzzing sound. It took her nearly ten minutes and I was starting to worry when she finally came out. It looked like she was holding a key and I let out an exhalation of relief.

“We are good, we just need to move the car to room twelve,” she said turning over the engine and gliding into the spot in front of our room.

Once inside, I took a look around, inspecting our new digs. It wasn’t as bad as the last motel room; this one at least had a clock. The clock read 8:07 and I moved from the room with one king size bed to the bathroom. It was relatively clean if you didn’t look too closely. I reminded myself that the fear of germs was just a phobia and that I was not in any real danger.

Nessa reentered the room with the bag in tow, now slightly fuller due to our gas station purchases. She sat it on the bed and turned to me. “Are you hungry? I got some sandwiches from the last gas station for our dinner. I didn’t want to risk ordering pizza here.”

“Sure, that would be good. Did you have any trouble getting the room?” I inquired.

“Not too much. They wanted my license, but I pretended to be digging in my purse and gave him puppy dog eyes when I couldn’t find it. I pleaded for a room and said I was real tired,” Nessa explained. “He really wanted to get back to his porn in the back room, so it wasn’t a tough sell. I paid and batted my lashes as I thanked him profusely.”

I giggled at that. Nessa’s mind reading was so cool. She definitely had a useful power. We opened our plastic wrapped sandwiches and washed them down with waters. I didn’t realize how hungry I actually was until I finished off the sandwich and went for some M&M’s from our last vending machine raid. Finally content, I lie back on the bed and finally allowed myself to breathe.

Nessa was lying on her side with her arm propping her up next to me before speaking. “Are you ready for makeovers? I want to be the honey blond so I call dibs. You can be the burnt auburn.”

Too tired to protest, I nodded in agreement. I didn’t care if my hair was Martian green at this point. I sluggishly pulled myself up and retrieved the hair colors from the bag. It took several hours for the whole process to complete.

We took turns with each other’s hair, until we stood there with the end results. Nessa was a honey blond and her hair was cropped into a tapered style. She looked beautiful actually. I gave her a pleased grin and then turned to look at myself in the mirror. The burnt auburn looked so drastic with my porcelain skin and she had cut it straight at my shoulders. There was no way anyone would recognize either of us now.

“We both look so hot! This was a great idea Cora!” Nessa exclaimed.

“I agree no one will even recognize us now. We look pretty sexy.”

“I can’t wait to show off my new look tomorrow. I look so different,” she said.

“Hmm, oh yeah, sorry I am just so tired. Let’s pick this up in the morning if that is okay?”

“Yeah sure, let me just set the alarm for the morning,” she replied.

It was only a matter of minutes before I crawled up underneath the cheap comforter and my body began to un-tense. I soon proceeded to drift off to sleep.

Chapter 5:

Through all the mess, I managed to actually have a peaceful dream. I dreamt I was an incandescent purple butterfly floating lightly through the summer air. I reveled in the warm night and the soft breeze I was encompassed in. Looking up, I revealed a gibbon’s moon waning in the inky night amongst the twinkling stars.

Gentle as the breeze itself, I landed on a blade of grass. I was surrounded by an entire field of swaying grass and I sank down to the soft earth. Time seemed to stand still as I took in the warm peaceful night.

That was when I woke up, and I meant that I really woke up. I was lying in a meadow, the cool earth beneath me. My blue eyes snapped open in panic. I soon realized that the moon, the breeze and the grass were no figment of my imagination.

Naked and panicked, my mind began racing as all the thoughts course through it at once. Where was I? How was I going to get back to the motel? Naked and exposed, I tried to steady my breathing for fear of the panic. I stood up, looking around under the cover of darkness. My heart raced and then skipped a beat as I saw the motel just off to the left of my field of vision.

Knowing that I couldn’t walk back there naked, I chose the option to dissolve. I was shaking and it was hard to gain my bearings. Sinking down to the ground, I remembered the trick Nessa taught me. After a few tries, I managed to succeed. I was a dandelion and my particles were molecules floating carelessly on the wind like fluffy bits of seeds.

Once again, the feeling of the soft breeze surrounded me. I swirled with the flow of the air towards the motel and soon I was seeping into the corners of the mildew laden door. Wasting no time, I reformed on the other side and quietly slid on my clothes. Too freaked to process any of this, I climbed back into bed and slowed my breathing to a steady rhythm.

When I woke the second time, Nessa was already up. She was standing over the bed, peering at me with concern. I didn’t understand why until I looked at myself and realized I had dirt smeared on my arms. Damn, I was going to have to tell her.

“Nessa, don’t freak out, but I sort of dissolved in my sleep last night,” I said meekly.