Part Two
Dallas wandered aimlessly around the world for a very long time, found Giselle at a roadside diner on the other side of the Arizona/California border, in Ehrenburg. Giselle had been sitting one table over, and Dallas accidentally overheard her on the phone, bemoaning to a friend about how UCLA decided to pull her funding on her doctoral studies since her advanced multi-verse theories were just too fringe for the prestigious university.
Unfortunately for UCLA, Dallas had first-hand knowledge on just how right Giselle’s theories were.
Somewhere Else, In Another Time
Dallas sighs, looks out at the alien landscape in front of her.
The land below is cracked and dry, little puffs of dust bursting across the craggy desert. Dallas’ long hair whips across her face from the breeze blowing through the forest at her back, sends clumps of dark strands in her mouth and eyes.
She uncrosses her arms and pushes the mass into a loose ponytail, winces at the uncomfortable twinge in her right shoulder. Dropping her hands, she reaches across her chest with her left, digs her fingers into the skin peaking out through the tear in her sleeve and massages until it goes away.
When it does, she crosses her arms back over her chest and wraps her fingers around the harness keeping the curved blade between her shoulder blades, rocks back and forth a little on her heels.
“So this is where you ran off to.”
Her brow twitches, and she glances at her shoulder at Mathias, her narrowed eyes focusing in on the stitched black scar on his temple, the top trailing into the smattering of graying hair above his ear.
Dallas sighs, “You know I don’t run.”
Stepping up to her side, Mathias snorts, “I’ve seen you run.”
“Well you must have been hallucinating. I’d look into that if I were you. Gotta be sharp out here or you’re gonna get dead.”
He breathes out a laugh and they fall into an easy silence.
In front of them, forks of jagged lightening crack across the reddish sky and Mathias finally moves, runs a hand through his hair and sighs when Dallas purses her lips into a thin line, “You know why I’m here-“ he starts.
She scoffs, cutting off whatever he’s about to say, and Dallas swallows heavily, shifts from foot to foot before she pivots, faces him, “You know what?” She takes a breath when her voice goes squeaky. “I should stay. Leaving now would be ridiculous.”
Mathias continues staring out at the churning sea of dust below, “It’s time.”
“But no,” she shakes her head, is about to stamp her foot on the soft ground to help nail down her point. “No. You need all the help you can get out here. Sending me away now would be insanity.”
“You don’t belong here.”
Dallas throws her arms up and paces in small circles back and forth behind Mathias, but all he does is turn back to the light show on the other edge of the horizon, his hands clasped behind his back. “And you think you do?” She squeaks again. “You can’t pull this shit with me Mathias. Not after this long.”
“It’s not up to me,” the line of his shoulders is tense, and Dallas smirks, because she knows he knows she’s right. “You know that.”
She finally stops pacing and puts a hand on his arm, coaxes him to turn and face her, “I can’t go back,” she implores, her voice going raw and a little choked. “It’s been too long. I don’t know how to live in that world anymore.”
“You can and you will.”
Dallas glares, “Well maybe I don’t want to,” she snaps. “Did anyone ever think of that? Did anyone even think for a second before, once again, a decision was made without my consent? What the hell, Mathias?”
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