Seems to Change

Thud!

"Is everything okay?" Mom asked.

I shrugged and continued putting my clothes inside my suitcase.

She sat beside me and fixed the ones I just threw in.

I waited for her to say something, but she didn't say a word.

"I'm at a loss," I muttered.

She looked up to me and smiled, "I believe in you."

I sighed and she put her hand over mine.

We packed my things in silence and never said another.

After a few hours, we then finished.

"It will get dark soon, don't you want to travel tomorrow?" she asked.

"I'll be okay," I assured her.

She reached out for her back pocket and handed me a ring.

"What's this for?" I asked.

"I love you. Whenever you feel alone, home is here," she reminded.

A tear fell from my left eye. I hugged her.

She helped me put everything in my car.

"Contact me when you get wherever. I'll be always waiting," she said.

I headed for the driver seat and before coming in, I whispered, "I'll see you soon, Mom."

As I drove away from our house, I became more confused.

The first song I played ended as I passed the second store in our town on the way out.

"I'll be okay," I mumbled to myself.

My heart began clenching so I took a stop.

After that, I drove.

I took a break for a couple of minutes.

After that? I drove.

I had to go to the bathroom.

And after that, I drove.

I drove for eight and a half hours.

The road started being blurry so I searched for a spot to rest.

I closed my eyes and drifted off.

'Who are you?'

The sun hit the glass of my car, waking me up.

I stepped out of my car and stretched.

It seemed that I have slept in an empty parking lot.

I grabbed my bag inside and went to the store to buy food.

As I came in, the cashiers started looking at me weirdly.

"Who is that?" I heard someone say.

I shrugged it off and continued walking.

Each step I take feels like it's being watched.

"They're just not that friendly to new people," the woman beside me explained.

I chuckled and said, "It very much looks like it."

"I'm Alora," she said and I nodded.

"I saw you outside sleeping. Are you going to move here?" she asked.

I shook my head and said, "No, I was just going to buy some food."

"What's your name?"

I smiled in response and made my way.

I searched through for some food that will fill me for the next set of hours.

After buying, a kid on the entrance tripped me, causing me to make a mess.

The guy that walked in front of me shook his head in disappointment.

Alora rushed to my side and helped me clean up without saying anything.

"Thank you," I said and she grinned before heading off.

As I was about to go inside my car, I saw some people staring at her.

I sat in my car and observed her as she put her bags away.

People are rolling their eyes at her, glaring at her, and talking about her.

Maybe she's new to this town as well and was looking for a friend.

I sighed and climbed out of the car. I moved my feet to her direction.

"My name is Amaury," I introduced.

She chuckled and greeted, "Nice to meet you."

"Are you new here?" I asked.

"Yes, my family and I moved here a couple of weeks ago," she answered.

"Oh, so that's why," I mumbled.

She laughed and said, "Don't worry, I'll wear them off." she added, "What about you?"

"I just quit everything and was hoping to travel around for some time," I explained.

"That's cool. Where are you off to now?" she asked.

"You know, there were parts of this journey I didn't think through," I said.

She chuckled, "Would you like to start by making friends in this city?"

"I actually think I'd like that. You already have friends here?"

"I do. Hardly a few though," she replied.

We drove for about ten minutes until we reached their house.

"Let me introduce you to my mom first," she said.

We went inside and was greeted by her mom.

"Mom?" she shouted.

"Here honey!"

She headed to what seemed to be their living room and I followed her.

"Mom, this is Amaury. My friend," she introduced.

"Oh, hello dear. I haven't seen you before," she noticed.

"Good afternoon Mrs,"-I stopped.

"You can call me Aviana or Avi," she suggested.

I nodded and said, "Nice to meet you."

"She's traveling around,"-the front door shut, making Alora pause.

"That should be Kiran. He's my brother," she explained.

"What's going on?" We turned around and I got greeted by a guy in front of me.

"Kiran, this is Amaury. She's new," Alora said.

Kiran smiled and walked away.

"He greets nicely," I mumbled.

"Don't worry about him. He's been great in adapting to the town," Avianna joked.

We laughed and I nodded my head in response.

"There's food on the table if you guys are hungry," she said.

We went to their kitchen and Alora heated the food up.

"You must be hungry. How many hours did you drive?" Alora asked.

"Actually, would you mind if I cleaned up a little first?" I asked back.

She nodded. "Oh, yeah. Go get what you need from your car."

I walked outside of their house to my car.

"I'm sorry for being rude earlier,"

I looked up to see Kiran leaning on the hood of my car as he smoked.

"It's okay. Been getting a lot of goodness today," I shrugged.

He chuckled and asked, "Around where are you moving?"

"I'm only kind of dropping by. I'm just starting to travel around," I explained.

"Really? That's going to be tough. Good for you," he said.

I thanked him, "Alora's going to show me around with her friends."

A woman passed us by and stared at us all throughout.

Kiran shook his head and laughed.

I showed Kiran my things and said, "I'll head inside. Nice to meet you again."

After getting ready, Alora and I grabbed a bite.

"Do you like arcades and stuff?" she asked.

"Sure. Anything's okay with me," I assured her.

We then finished eating and went out.

Alora drove and we met her friends at a festival on the further side of town.

"This is beautiful. I thought we were going to an arcade," I said.

She chuckled. "Well, they have lots of games in here. You came in a good time."

"Alora!"

We turned around to see two guys running towards us.

"Fane, red shirt. Egan, black shirt," Alora informed.

"Is this Amaury? Nice to meet you," Fane greeted.

"Hey, hey! She's new. Don't traumatize her," Alora joked.

Egan nodded at me while smiling and headed to Alora's side.

"Where are Emmie and Mileva?" Alora asked.

Fane said, "Emmie said she's on the way. Mileva however must be with your brother."

Alora shrugged. "Let's go give Amaury a good time."

I walked to Alora's side and asked, "Mileva's with Kiran?"

"Eh. They're confusing," she informed. "You like Kiran?"

I shook my head and said, "No."

She chuckled and rolled her eyes, "He's a good one. But you'll have a hard time with Mileva."

"Hey, Amaury, what ride would you like to go?" Fane asked.

"Maybe we can start with that one," I grinned and pointed at the coaster.

Egan laughed. "Fane's game is over."

Fane glared at him and shouted, "What are you talking about? Let's go!"

Alora and I shook our heads and laughed.

A group of kids our age walked by and rolled their eyes.

"Why are those people here?" I heard one ask.

"Don't mind them," Egan said.

"How do you guys deal with those people?" I asked.

"They're just very reserved people," Alora answered.

"You'll just see them staring. Most of the time they don't say bad things," Egan added.

"You just have to learn not to give a shit about them," Fane said.

I laughed and nodded in response.

We bought a ticket for the ride and stood in line.

"Are you sure about this?" Fane asked.

I chuckled and asked back, "Are you?"

We got called in. Egan and Alora sat behind me and Fane.

As soon as the ride started, Fane passed out.

He kept waking up to shout and then he'll faint again.

The ride ended and we had quite a hard time waking Fane up.

"That was a nice ride. Right, faint? I mean, Fane?" I joked.

Egan and Alora laughed and Fane rolled his eyes.

"I didn't get enough sleep last night," Fane defended.

I nodded. "Well, are you good now? Quite a slumber out there."

We kept picking on Fane as we wondered what we'd do next.

"Oh, you're not going to stop?" Fane threatened.

"Hey, easy there. We don't want you fainting again," I replied.

Fane chased me and I ran around.

"Amaury, look out!" Fane shouted.

I turned around and hit Kiran, making us fall over.

He looked through my eyes and I felt my whole body blushing.

"Are you okay?" Fane asked as he helped me get up.

I just nodded in response and brushed off my clothes.

"You look good in that color Mileva," Fane joked.

I glanced to my right and was shocked to see a girl covered in purple drink.

I was about to apologize, but she shrieked.

Fane chuckled and picked up the cup from the ground.

Kiran stood up and muttered to Mileva, "Let's fix you up."

Mileva rolled her eyes and they left without saying more.

A couple walked pass us and shook their heads.

"What happened?" Alora asked as Egan and her reached us.

Fane told them what happened and they all laughed.

"I feel bad," I said.

"It's okay. It's Mileva," Alora responded.

"Can we follow them to the restroom? I want to apologize," I asked.

"We'll wait for Emmie here, you guys go," Egan said.

We headed to the restroom and saw Kiran standing outside the door.

"How about I go in first? Mileva can be pretty mean," Alora suggested.

I nodded. "I'll wait here outside."

Alora walked inside and I just stood there.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you earlier. Fane and I,"-I started.

"What are you? Kids?" Kiran asked, irritably.

"I was just teasing Fane because,"-he snickered.

"You like cutting people off, don't you?" I asked.

"And you like to suddenly come around a random town and flirt," he deadpanned.

I stepped back. "Look, I'm sorry about your girlfriend, but you have no right to say bad things towards me."

I turned around and walked away.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to come out like that," he said.

I shook my head and he followed me.

"Why are you running around with Fane?" he asked.

I stopped and asked back, "What?"

Alora and Mileva came out of the restroom and walked towards us.

I looked over to Mileva. "I'm sorry about what happened earlier."

"Psh," she said while rolling her eyes.

I smiled at her and started heading off towards where we left Fane and Egan.

Alora followed to my side and whispered, "That's Emmie. Egan's sister."

"She seems kind," I noticed.

"Oh, she is. Far from what you encountered earlier," she assured me.

"Are you and Egan a thing?" I asked.

She chuckled and shrugged in response.

"Hey, you must be Amaury," Emmie greeted.

"Oh, and you should be Emmie," I greeted back.

I noticed one of the poles from the ride in front of us was shaking and its line was formed just below that.

I ran to the ride conductor and told him to stop.

He looked at me confused and shook his head.

"The ride's going to fall!" I shouted, but nobody listened.

"That's one of the newcomers. Must be seeking bad attention," A person whispered.

I sighed and went to the group, "Look at that pole. It's going to snap."

"Oh my!" Alora screamed.

"They won't listen to me," I said in frustration.

Fane shook his head and shouted, "That pole is going to snap!"

They all walked to people explaining what could happen while Mileva just kept shrieking.

No one was listening. They continued shrugging us off.

Kiran ran to the operator of the ride and I followed him.

"You're going to stop this ride now or you'll never see those people on it again," he said.

"Get off of here!" the conductor yelled.

The people are getting angry at us for they think we're just messing with them.

"These people's lives are in danger!" I called out.

Kiran suddenly grabbed the conductor's collar and said, "Test me. I'm not going to keep repeating myself."

The conductor's eyes grew and he put the ride to stop.

"Get off everybody! Hurry!" Alora cried.

As the ride emptied, we all stepped away from it.

"See? Nothing happened!" the woman on the other side shouted.

Suddenly, half of the ride collapsed.

Everyone was in shock and some people screamed.

The conductor ran to us. "These people would've been gone. I would've lost my job. They would've,"-he stopped.

"It's okay now," Emmie said to calm him down.

They were all looking at us and kept thanking each of us.

Some people even walked up to us and shook our hands. It was overwhelming.

"I kind of like this change," Fane whispered to us.

After restoring ourselves, we decided to head off and eat.

We occupied a table from one of the food stands.

"That was some intense situation," Egan said.

A family passed by and greeted us kindly. We all smiled and greeted them back.

Fane noted, "Good thing Amaury has good eyes."

We each took our seats and Kiran sat across me.

"Kiran scared the conductor. That was really hot!" Mileva shouted.

Alora rolled her eyes at her and faced me, "Which one do you want to order?"

"Just get me what you think is best. I'll just go to the restroom first," I excused.

"Are you okay to go there alone? It's in the back," she asked.

I nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm okay. I'll be back."

I went to the restroom and waited in line. It was quite long.

"That was something out there,"

I turned around to see Kiran heading towards me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm sorry about the awful things that came out of my mouth earlier. I really didn't mean any of it," he said.

"It's okay. Let's just forget about it," I suggested and he thanked me.

"Good on you for doing what you had to do," I addressed.

He chuckled while shaking his head in response and silence came after.

"Is there something going on between you and Fane?" he asked.

"Why do you keep thinking that? We just met," I replied.

He apologized and whispered, "Well, you guys seem pretty close."

"You and Mileva seem pretty close," I muttered.

"We're exes," he said.

I nodded. "When you scared the conductor, it was really hot."

"Oh, stop it. Amaury has good eyes?" he asked.

I just shook my head at him in response.

He chuckled and said, "Okay, okay. I'm sorry."

I looked at him in the eyes and he asked, "Do you plan on staying here for some time?"

"I haven't actually thought about it yet," I answered.

"How about you stay for even just, one more night, and let me take you out as an apology?" he suggested.

"You're trouble," I whispered.

He shook his head and smiled. "No, just proposing an apology."

He offered his hand and I shook it.

"An apology," I said.