A Dead End

Skyla jumped at Alex's exclamation.

"You do? How? Where are we?" Skyla flung the questions at Alex without waiting for an answer. "The map says ..." Skyla paused as she looked down at her iPad. She magnified the dot on the map. "It is Talbotton."

Alex didn't react to the name. His eyes darted back and forth, taking in the scene around him more earnestly now. "There will be a jailhouse coming up on the left," he stated.

Skyla looked out her window. They veered to the left and two abandoned gas stations stood as a portal to Talbotton, one on the left and one on the right. Both were boarded up. They drove a short distance more, and there was some sort of business on the right side. It looked closed, and there was no sign to greet visitors. Then, on the left side, there appeared a one-room building with bars on the windows. The words etched into the stone above the entrance were Detention Center. The door stood open, but neither Skyla nor Alex dared to look inside. The car crept on. They passed a few more closed businesses and a structure that looked like a small school. There was a dirt road on their right, leading through an eerie overgrowth of shrubs and trees. She held her breath as they passed through the rest of the tired town. Skyla wanted nothing to do with this part of the country. She suspected that a Jeep with New York plates would be pulled over for just about anything. Thank goodness he has a Southern accent.

"Hill Street!" Alex shouted, causing Skyla to jump again and gasp with fright. "This street is ... I mean ... I know it. I think." He wasn't making any sense to Skyla. "No. Hill Circle. That's right," Alex corrected himself as the sign came into view.

Alex stopped and backed the car up. He turned onto the narrow road without explaining. He leaned forward with his chest pressed to the steering wheel.

Skyla thought there was no way she would be able to blend in here. She looked around at the houses on the street. How on earth is this place in the same country as New York City and Boston?

Alex noticed. "This is nothing, Skyla Jane. You need to get a feel for this part of the South. You need to remember that this is the part of the country that many of us come from. Look around. You see that guy in overalls?" Skyla nodded. "That is his pickup truck over there on that front lawn. You see the pig in the back?" She nodded again. "That is his pet for sure."

It was a relief to see some form of life. Skyla saw some kids running around in front of another home. Dirt covered them from head to toe. It looked nice, though. It reminded her of a Lassie rerun.

She turned toward Alex to say, "I like it."

He did not say anything.

They were on the way out of the circular block and onto the main road when he pointed to another street. It led to a gloomy block off the circle, with a canopy of tangled trees. Dirt was being blown up from the road so that dust was hanging in the air and dancing through the tall skinny trees. Skyla could see only trees and a handful of shanties. She looked down at the iPad. This was not on the map.

Alex pointed and said, "I think I lived down that street once."

"Really? So turn down. Let's go look."

"No. I wouldn't know for sure," he said.

"Well, let's drive down anyway. It will be fun."

"No, it wouldn't," he argued, but the car still crawled toward the street.

Skyla dropped the subject. She wondered what was waiting for her when they got to New Orleans. What is this Lucy going to be like? Maybe I won't even meet her. That would be strange-driving all this way and not even visiting your own sister. Skyla started to fidget in her seat.

"Let's take a look then!" Alex snapped.

Alex sped the car up and made a right. They started down the quiet road. Skyla had the feeling that Alex knew what she was thinking. It wasn't the first time this had occurred to her. There were other times when he'd answered my silent thoughts.

"I just figured, 'Why not take a look?' " he said, answering another non-utterance.

Skyla turned to stare at Alex. Alex just shook his head. She decided to let it go for now.

The car slowed, and they crept down the block. There hadn't been a street sign, just a large tree marking the entrance to the street. Alex followed the curve to the right and went farther down the shady lane. The car rolled by shack after shack, passing about six or seven homes. They were about to come to a dead end.

It was not a true dead end, though. The block did go on, but the road turned from dirt to gravel. The forest became thick and grew over the gravel road. It was so dark that Skyla could see only a couple of feet ahead. It reminded her of when characters come to the entrance of an enchanted forest in fairy tales.

"Should we go in?" the handsome prince asks.

"We must!" the peasant girl insists.

Then they are never heard from again.

Alex brought the car to a stop and said, "You see right there?" He nodded in the direction of a faded white house that looked more like a trailer with no wheels. "I think I lived in there once ... once a long time ago. I remember that I wasn't allowed to go in the woods because of the swamp back there. I think there might have been alligators or something." Skyla must have looked quite horrified, because he laughed and said, "Don't worry. I could be wrong anyway."

"Well, when did you live here?" Skyla asked.

"I would have probably lived here from the time I was 8 or 9 until I was about 15. I don't have too many memories of my childhood, so it's hard to say if this is really the place."

"You really can't remember things? You lived here with your parents and your sister?"

"Yes. Well, my dad would have been here early on. He took off when we were little."

"Did you have any other family that lived here?"

"Don't know. Can't remember much of it. Seems like another lifetime ago. Or maybe it seems like it was someone else's life."

The Jeep sat in front of the white house. Skyla and Alex stared at the home for a long time. The car was parked right out front, still on the dirt road, but only a few feet from where it turned into gravel.

"Would you like to go take a look around?" Skyla asked. "Should we knock on the door or something?"

"No. No."

"But, maybe the people who live there remember you. Maybe they remember your parents."

"Exactly," he said.

Alex put the car in "drive" and made a U-turn. He drove fast back onto the main road. They followed the signs for I-85. The road turned into four lanes, and stores lined either side. This street was busier, and other cars flew by them. Alex picked up the speed some more. He exhaled a sigh. Skyla placed her hand on his. They drove in silence.

Skyla had shut the audio book off when they entered Talbotton, and she would not restart it now. Alex looked as if he needed some quiet time to think things over.

Alabama welcomed Alex and Skyla via a large sign. They started to see other road signs directing the way to Montgomery. Skyla Jane Judge began to feel the relief of nearing a real city.

Surely, Montgomery will be significantly more thriving than the places we most recently passed through. Perhaps civilization will calm my nerves. There will be lots of historic landmarks, too!

Skyla began to Google about possible tour sites.

Alex and Skyla decided to pull off I-85 and stay at the Bumble Bee Inn. It was a bed-and-breakfast that was supposed to be only a short walking distance from historic downtown Montgomery. Skyla thought it would be a nice change from the generic Hilton hotels where they had stayed in D.C. and Savannah. She thought it would be quite romantic. She could do with a bit of kissing and hugging. Maybe this quaint spot would put Alex in a gentler way. She wasn't unhappy about the last two stops, but a change might shift his now-sullen mood.

She could tell that the outside of the inn had been freshly painted sometime before the summer. It looked a bit banged up and weathered now, though. The inn was set up more like a one-floor motel, with the room doors on the outside of the building. Alex dropped the bags and went into the office. When he had made the arrangements and collected the key, he picked up his bag and rolled Skyla's two doors down to No. 3. Skyla's bag made a racket as it bumped over the cracks in the sidewalk, while Alex's overnight duffle bounced on his shoulder like a limp animal awaiting its final resting place. She took the key from inside his front pocket and unlocked the door. The warped wood caused it to stick, so she gave it a little kick. The door squeaked open. Skyla took a step in.

Skyla was hit in the face with the smell of mildew. After a few seconds, she could smell the scent of ammonia coming from the bathroom in the back of the unit. At least it had been cleaned. She stepped farther in, making a mental note to roll down the comforters and making a private pledge not to walk barefoot. Okay! It is one night, right? She tried to be brave. If she were going to be a wanderer, she would have to lower her travel standards. She made another mental note to avoid the remote control. She had read that somewhere.

"Well, we are here then," Alex said.

He put the bags down, kicked the door shut, and walked straight toward her. She tried to put her hand up to stop his momentum, but she was too slow. He overtook her.

Alex picked Skyla up and pressed her back into the wall. He leaned into her and kissed her hard. He pushed his knee underneath Skyla to hold her up and freed his arms. He grabbed her face as he kissed her hard. She fought to catch her breath. He trailed kisses down her throat and sucked on her neck, behind her left ear. She cried out and he pushed his knee upward.

Skyla wrapped her arms around Alex and tried to get to his neck. She wanted to kiss him, too, but he was relentlessly kissing her neck and blowing in her ear.

"Oh, Alex!" Skyla finally screamed out.

Alex carried her to the bed and threw her down. Skyla bounced on her back. She tore off her clothing, and Alex tore off his. He pressed down onto Skyla and called out her name.

They spent the late afternoon in bed.

Montgomery came and went. Skyla didn't much care for the less-than-bustling city. It seemed ... lonely, as if it were a city that all the neighboring towns had forgotten about.

Alex had gone to the lobby last night to inquire about the area. The woman behind the counter had told him that the historic downtown was not for visitors. He was warned against going there day or night. He and Skyla had discussed it at length and, in the end, opted to stay in. The two were quickly on the road the next morning.

Alex stopped to get gas about five minutes after leaving the inn. A boy no older than 14, with dirty overalls and matching face, stood up from where he'd been squatting on an overturned paint can. He was eager to help them. A surly mechanic sat in front of a broken-down pickup. Skyla began to wave, thinking he was doing the same. As he wiped his forehead, she let her hand drop to her side, pretending she had just moved a lock of hair away from her eyes.

Skyla fingered the newspaper on her lap, noticing the front-page article. It was the International Day of the Disappeared. According to the writer, it was a day created to remember people who had gone missing and had been held in horrible places. Skyla looked up as the mechanic mopped his head again with his filthy rag. He glared at the intruders, not willing to exert enough energy to acknowledge them with a nod or a wave.

They drove on, heading for their final destination. Skyla tried to remember why it was that she'd wanted to go to New Orleans. Why was it she'd felt the need to get out of New York? Why New Orleans? She would just have to trust that there was some reason for this journey.