Roadtrip RP (after highschool)

[behindTHEmask]

Leaning against the side of his SUV, he smiled as he saw the two together.
Maybe this was how you start to save the world.
You take two people--two complete strangers, and you take them away from death, and to somewhere they can rebuild.
You help them realize they need each other, even if they won't admit it.
Or maybe Matt was just crazy.
Maybe he just needed to wipe off that smile.
Maybe it was just time to go.
Yes, he told Carolyn he'd stay for awhile, but it didn't look as though he was needed here.
The two of them could take care of eachother.
Turning off the side of the SUV, he opened the door.
Maybe it was time to move on again.

[Sparks]

She felt ridiculous, standing there in front of John, combating her tears like she had a choice.
"I don't know what to say," she tried to say, but she only sort of choked it out, a pathetic string of words that she had never meant to set loose.
He told her, "Don't bother."
She shook her head.
He watched her.
"Ever since this started..." and she realized she couldn't find the words.
They stood like that for a moment, and she finally looked up into his eyes.
They were on her, and strangely enough, not nonchalant anymore. Their emotionless grey-brown was more brown than grey now, and soft with some memory that Carolyn wasn't sure she should ask about.
"If I knew that this was how things were going to end up..."
He quieted her. "It's beyond that, now."
"They found something to die for, didn't they."
It wasn't so much a question as a statement.
"No, but it doesn't matter anymore." He was watching her with a question beginning in his eyes, but Carolyn didn't want to push it, because she knew that it would come in its own time and all they could do now was wait. Wait for the future to bring what it would.
She took a step, gesturing that they should go.
Because that was what had to happen.
Sooner or later.
John followed for the step, but instead of letting her go, he put a hand on her shoulder and suddenly they were facing each other again.
"Don't we..."
And he kissed her.
And she didn't pull away.
(soft lips scented breath words on the tip of his tongue waiting for time to break like shattered panels of glass in a Ford Escort or station wagon waiting like the sun on the egde of morning and hanging like a sentence ready but never spoken)
And in time they were walking towards the parking lot all over again.
Carolyn could see Matt climbing into his car, and something ran through her that she couldn't name, not even if she recognized it.
She hoped that they might catch a rift where enough time pooled, so they could say a proper good-bye.

[behindTHEmask]

Resting his hands on the steerwheel, he stared ahead. His breathing slowly decresed as a small motion picture played through his head.
"Forever doesn't really last."
"Yeah, I know. But we will last forever. Me and you, against the world, in a car."
"Don't forget about the hot chicks."
"Yeah, them too."
"Just don't keep your hopes up."
Jake was right about forever.
It never lasts.
Sighing, he licked his upper lip.
He should probably get that checked out, it may just be a tick.
He didn't notice the rest of Carolyn's and John's scene, but that was probably for the better.
Sometimes the moments get carried away.

[Sparks]

They were ten metres away from the parking lot when John stopped her.
"I'm going to go-"
"No," he said, watching Matt holding onto the steering wheel, lost in thought.
Carolyn looked over at him, unsure of what was going on.
"Do you think he's going to leave?" she asked.
John shrugged, and slid his hands into his pockets. "I don't think we should stop him."
Carolyn secretly agreed, even though there was a part of her that wanted to do something to bottle the moment.
"I hopw he knows he saved us," she acknowledged.
John smiled with one side of his face, and in his words there was a streak of a humour that Carolyn would never have placed in him. "Yeah. But when you're out to save the world, a couple kids isn't possibly enough."
And she realized at that moment that Matt was a kid that she wouldn't be able to understand.
It was the same way that Lauren never quite understood her. It was the same way that she never met anyone of her own mind-state.
Matt had a consciousness that bore generations of family and traits and thoughts that she couldn't guess at, not ever.
A consciousness that bore the same eyes as a friend she'd never forget, and a drummer that would have gone down in history.
Beside her John said, "I think we should go wait."
Carolyn was lost for a minute, but then she got it.
She had always found it hard to tear herself aay from scenes like this, because she knew she would never get it back.
"Craig...yeah, of course." She nodded, looking over at Matt one more time.
She had a feeling that John'd been right.
Matt probably was out to save the world.
If so, then the two of them were just the beginning.

[behindTHEmask]

He dropped his hands, looking down at the drumsticks hanging around his neck.
He didn't deserve these. He got enough out of Cameron. Cameron was forever installed inside him.
There'd be more things he could have.
He was family.
He had his blood.
Sliding out of the car, he shut his door. His eyes were focused on Carolyn and John.
A smile walked across his lips as his feet carried him to them.
"I thought I'd say good-bye," he said with a slight shrug. Reaching his hands behind his neck, he took off the necklace.
"Plus I think you two deserve this." Dangling from his fingers were the golden sticks.
"I bet Cam would of liked one of you to wear it. I just got lucky with it, but I think one of you would appreciate it more."
Matt smiled, looking at the ground. "I mean, he's my family. I'm going up to his place anyways. So, take it."
Rambler. It ran in his genes.

[Sparks]

Carolyn eyed the necklace with a deep feeling swelling somewhere inside her chest, and she couldn't stop it, and the idea that she wasn't in control of her very own body scared her, so she tried counting by sevens in her head, but it didn't go away.
She looked up at Matt and shook her head, not sure if she was going to be able to come up with the right words.
"I can't take this away from you," she said.
John watched her as she talked. The pressure was bubbling like a boiling IV in the back of her throat.
"It meant good luck to him." Carolyn took a breath and pressed Matt's fingers closed over the gold. "If I trusted anyone with it, it'd be you."
And she let her fingers hold his down for a minute, watching his eyes to make sure he understood what she was saying.

[behindTHEmask]

"That's why I want you to have it. I know what it meant to him, and I can tell what he means to you. I've got stuff of Cameron's. I've got his first pair of drumsticks, the first song he wrote. I got video's, pictures. I've got his blood in mine. I have a bed waiting for me at his house."
Matt shook his head softly. "If anyone deserves a piece of Cameron, a piece like this, it's you."
He blinked, letting the ocean shine through his eyes. For once, from all the time he left home, they were clear. They could be read.
Hopeless. Lost. Confused.
It's the typical teenage tragedy written through his eyes.
Suicide layed their once. Cutting, it subsided behind them.
He blinked again, putting the barrier back up.
"Please, Carolyn. Take it. Maybe it will bring you hope or closure, or maybe it will just be that one thing that helps you hold on through everything. I know it was for me, but you two, you and John, you've made me realize that it's not the necklace that is making me want to make a difference--save the world. I just need it. That's my closure, and the both of you were the first too people to begin the ending."
Matt shook his head again, maybe he wasn't making sense.
"I lost Cameron and Jake. I rescued you and John. I lost my parents along time ago, and I'm going to restore the bond I've had with Cam's folks. It's just a cycle."
A smile grew on his thin lips.
"I guess it's just time for rebirth."

[Sparks]

Carolyn saw Matt's eyes clear for a second.
It was a fraction of a second, but she saw it, and in the clearing, there was more Cameron than she had witnessed yet that day.
And only in retrospect would she ever realize just how long that day had seemed.
She understood the whole concept of the rebirth.
She could see the chain and the drumsticks, and she could see Cameron's memory in it, and it all weighed heavily on her.
But somehow, she wasn't sure what to do.
"I don't know," she said hesitantly. "If you honestly won't take it, I'm not going to refuse and be difficult, or anything."
She didn't have a choice, that's what the situation was.
So she pulled her hand off Matt's and picked up the gold between her fingers.
She knew what she was holding, and didn't believe it.
Sometimes gold is worth less than we think.
Silence pressed in for a moment, and she could feel herself reversing in an awkward way that she couldn't describe.
"Is there any chance we're ever going to see you again?" she asked, and realized a bit too late that her voice was barely audible.

[behindTHEmask]

"Maybe." Matt said shrugging. He really didn't know--didn't think so. That chance would be one in a million.
But then again, the odds were always good on his part.
"I'll be at Cam's house for awhile. Don't know how long."
He looked at the ground.
He felt different without the necklace.
He felt in one piece.
Maybe it was that the necklace held his past--his memories.
Burdens were lifted off his shoulders, passed on to be remembered by another.
He was giving himself and Cameron to Carolyn.
"Maybe you could stop by sometime." He shrugged, knowing she wouldn't.
"He's got great folks."
He was running out of words.
He didn't know what to say at the moment.
A part of him didn't want to go. He was brought to these people by Cameron.
"Coincidence" wasn't the right word, but it was what he was thinking.
It wasn't by accident that Carolyn knew Cameron. That she was close to him.
That she actually knew who he was.
Cameron played a part in the events that happened on this day.
He was there through everything.
He was sitting on the hood of Matt's SUV, watching them in aw.
Or at least this is what Matt believed.
But by now, Matt believed almost anything.

[Sparks]

She knew that they'd have to break it off before the conversation got awkward.
"I don't know how to say thanks enough. I know we kind of already went over that, but there aren't words, you know? Sometimes there aren't."
With some people, there never are.
She clutched the necklace tightly.
This was really something else.
"You should probably be on your way though, if you want to make it there before dark. I don't want to keep you standing here, and I don't think you should go driving at night again until you're rested."
Because the darkness would swallow him and it would swallow him whole.
She found a small smile, and she stepped over to him and hugged him.
And she stepped back, almost surprised to find herself trembling.
"Drive safe."
Beside her, John added, "Send his parents my best wishes. I should have dropped by after the fact, but I never could make myself do it."

[behindTHEmask]

"A lot of people couldn't do it. I'm family and I haven't been there in two years."
A small smile fell on his lips as she hugged him.
"If you ever need a place to crash, they'll have open arms."
He was in a way hinting if they didn't want to go home.
If the wanted reconsiliation.
The Adam's was the place to go.
Cameron still lived there.
Cameron will always live there.
That's where everyone went to say their good bye's and start over.
"You guys better check on Craig."
Shrugging softly, his hands fell into his pockets.
This was their good bye.
This was their ending.

[Sparks]

"Yeah, Craig's parents should be here soon," John said. "And as much as I'd rather...not..."
Carolyn watched him.
"We've got to go ask about Lauren, Jake and"
His eyes sharpened for a split second.
"Cody. And their families'll be here too, I bet..."
And it was obvious that he was wondering if he was going to be around this place long enough to witness the funerals, and formalities of the sort.
Carolyn wasn't ready to predict how it would turn out.
"Thanks. Safe journey, Matt."
With a sideways smile, she opened the door to his car.
"Don't run anyone down."

[behindTHEmask]

"I will."
A smile again formed on his lips, but this time, it expressed that he knew what it felt like to face the music.
To watch the parents of friends fall apart.
To want to fall apart yourself, but don't have the strength.
He blinked.
The clouds disappeared again, spreading his remorse to Carolyn.
Slipping on a pair of sunglasses, he hid his shame.
"Don't let that place swallow you whole. If you need to get out of it," he paused taking out his keys, "run to where you know it's safe."
He winked behind the shades as he slipped in the car.
"Guess this would be our last goodbye."

[Sparks]

Carolyn knew that safety was an illusion.
What you had to do was evaluate the situation and see if it was worth the risk.
John and she stepped back as Matt slid on his shades and dropped into the driver's seat.
They stood off to the side, in an empty parking space, while the last minute of the terrific coincidence fell apart.
It was scattered across the asphalt and Carolyn couldn't help imagining the impending rainwater washing it away, except that something would have to remain, because something always does.
That's how they solve murders and other crimes.
There's never much left, but there's always something.
Her shoulders felt unnaturally heavy, even with the sun warming her back. If the world had been empty, she would have laid down on the pavement, and she would have gone to sleep, and slept away everything that happened.
The clear sky above and the mid-afternoon sun, they said to her that the day would not last forever.
That came as less of a relief than she'd admit. A mediocre present is easier to deal with than potential pain, or potential disappointment.
She could feel the light in her eyes, from the sun. And she knew they were see-through.
John's expression was more straight than anything, but the waiting is never something that shows up on such even features. It never shows up on anyone.
Carolyn felt safe as she stood there in the afternoon sun, watching, knowing that this squinting, sunglasses-covered face was the last she'd probably ever see of Matt.
There was something going through her head, but it wasn't a fully formed thought, and she wasn't ready for fully formed thoughts, anyhow.
Their shadows stretched across the parking lot like long, narrow spills of oil.
Carolyn knew that the world did need heroes, regardless of what people said.

[behindTHEmask]

Matt closed the door, resting his hands on the wheel.
Ten and two, just like they always taught you.
Always keep both hands on the wheel.
Always look straight ahead.
Maybe drivers education gave him a small portion on how to live life.
The boy wasn't ready to say good-bye, but he had no reason to stay.
He was expected somewhere, but maybe, just maybe, Carolyn and John weren't saved yet.
Where were they headed after this?
Did they have money?
Would they survive?
It's none of your business, Matt. Don't pry.
His fingertips met the palm of his hand as his grip tightened.
It's time to say farewell.
It's time to move on.