Under Illusion: Day 7

Word Count: 42,051

Summary of Events:

On arriving in Charleston, Trace followed the instructions he'd been given before he left Spokane, which required him to stop at a certain truck stop and unhitch his trailer, which was picked up by another truck which looked virtually identical to his for loading. Dallis went sightseeing around Charleston with Trace, and at a bathroom stop along the way she checked the local news to see if there was anything she could use as a way to cancel her nonexistent dinner plans, which she succeeded in finding, and so instructed Ratko to call Trace's phone sometime in the next hour. She and Trace then went to a local beach, as Trace wanted to see the Atlantic Ocean, seeing as he'd seen the Pacific already…

Excerpt of the Day:

Despite the crashing of the ocean’s waves behind them, Trace found the sound of his cellphone to be jarringly loud when it suddenly started ringing, preventing him from pressing his lips softly onto Journey’s cheek on his way to hopefully making contact with her lips, if she was willing.

Nonetheless, he pulled out his cellphone and looked. He didn’t recognise the number that was calling.

“Oh, I know that number,” Journey said.

Trace let her take his cellphone and answer the call, releasing her reluctantly. She walked down the beach toward the lighthouse with his phone against her ear.

Having licked all the way down to the cone and packed his ice cream in as deeply as possible with his tongue, Trace started eating away at the cone while licking his ice cream until he’d consumed it all, he then took up his shoes in one hand and Journey’s in the other before starting after her as she talked and continued eating at her ice cream, which was at the cone as well.

The sound of the ocean, and probably also the wind, prevented Trace from being able to hear any of Journey’s conversation, which continued all the way until they found a rather broad walkway that headed back to where all the buildings were, but closer to the lighthouse than they’d come onto the beach, by which time Journey had also finished her ice cream.

She’d glanced over her shoulder once, early in the call, and had looked slightly worried. When she finished the call, she turned to Trace with a distraught expression.

“What’s the matter?” Trace asked.

“There’s been an accident,” Journey replied. “Just here in Charleston, on the Interstate, with multiple vehicles, and some of my family were in it.”

“Is it a bad accident?” Trace asked.

“Yes,” Journey replied, nodding. “My uncle who called doesn’t know what the status of my family in the accident is, but he said he’d keep me updated, and that we won’t meet for dinner tonight.”

“Do you want me to get you to the hospital they’re at or some other family member’s house or something?” Trace asked.

“No,” Journey replied, wiping at the tears glistening in her eyes. “Thank you.”

“But why wouldn’t you want to be close to your family if something bad’s happened to them?” Trace asked.

“I don’t really want to leave you, if I don’t have to,” Journey replied, her glassy blue eyes looking almost pleading. “I really like you, and even spending another night with you would be nice.”

Trace had to admit that he was surprised, on one hand, yet, on the other hand, he was grateful that Journey didn’t want to part from him, especially considering the way she’d been responding to his touch on the beach.

“I can take my shoes,” Journey said.

Once she’d gotten a secure hold on them, Trace let them go and followed her up off the beach toward the lighthouse.