Wolf Sprite
SEVENTEEN: Road Trip

POV - Lillia

A few weeks earlier…

I didn’t realise how quickly Mum had planned for us to leave Urban Wolves. She asked me to check the storage compartment under her bed, and I walked over and opened it. I replace a few flattened boxes and look around at her when I see them. She smiles at me and nods. I pull them out and start folding them into their box shapes.

We don’t have many things; I fill one box with books and four boxes with clothes. Mum tells me to leave our kitchen items, but I can’t leave my recipe books behind and pack them. I pack my school reports and artwork that Mum collected over the years and fill a box with shoes. We wait for it to get dark, and then I put the boxes in Mum’s car.

“Going somewhere?” Ralph, one of the omegas, asks me as he heads for the toilet block.

“Yeah, I’m just taking some things to the tip,” I lie. Ralph nods and walks away, and I continue to put our boxes in the car.

“We should pack our pillows and a couple of blankets as well,” Mum says, getting up from her spot and grabbing our pillows off her bed.

“I can do it,” I say, taking the pillows off her and putting them on the backseat. I walk back into our caravan, now seeing Mum trying to lift her bench seat up to get to the compartment underneath.

“Just help?” Mum pleads, holding the mat and lid up. I walk over, and Mum points to a metal box on the floor. It’s dusty and looks like it has been a while since it has been touched, but I pick it up anyway.

“What is in it?” I ask. Mum drops the seat lid and snatches the box off me.

“Just some money I’ve been saving. Go put a couple of blankets in the car,” she says. I nod, looking at her but doing what she asks.

We wait till the night is in its full glory before we quietly venture to the car and drive away from the pack grounds. Mum drives first and tells me to get some sleep, telling me we’ll swap places when I wake. I nod at her suggestion, move the passenger seat back as far as it can go, and fall into a light sleep.

I’m meant to wake up early and help in the kitchens, getting the ovens on and ready for baking the bread, and checking that the bread left overnight has risen, so I wake up before dawn. Mum is still driving and wishes me a good morning when I wake.

“Where are we?” I ask her.

“We’re four hours away from Matraville. I want to swap cars just in case before we start heading where we need to go,” Mum smiles. She has energy at the moment.

“I also stopped off at a service station for some snacks to save money,” Mum says, pointing to a plastic bag on the floor. I thank her and go through the bag, pulling out a muesli bar and a water bottle.

Mum drives for another half an hour, pulling out in front of a used car dealership. She parks in front of the building and tells me to stay behind while she goes inside. I wait, and about half an hour later, she walks out with a man who helps her move our boxes to a smaller, older-looking vehicle.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” the man says, shaking mums’ hands. She thanks him back and hands me the keys so I can drive.

“We’ve been heading south,” Mum says, pulling out a map from her bag, “but I want you to head east, okay? I’ll tell you where to go after I wake from my sleep,” Mum says, leaning her seat back so she can get comfortable.

“Okay then,” I mumble, starting the car and putting it into drive. I pull out of the car lot, whisper goodbye to our old car, and flick the indicator to the left before I take off down the street.

I drive, heading east as best as possible, stopping along the way only for petrol or using the toilet. I get bored, and at one stage, I play eenie meenie miny mo when deciding which direction to take. Mum just said to go east, and as long as I head in that direction, I hope she doesn’t care where we are.

Eight hours. Mum’s been asleep for eight hours; all I’ve done is drive. I pulled into a petrol station about half an hour ago, so at least I have some idea of where I am, but I still have no idea where we’re going, and I’m tired.

I hear Mum stirring next to me, and I smile. There’s only so much radio one can listen to, and I’m craving the sound of a real voice.

“Wakey wakey, mum,” I grin, happy that she’s awake. Mum yawns, and I can’t help myself and yawn as well.

“Where are we?” she asks me.

“About half an hour out of Eggerton,” I say.

“Eggerton, Eggerton,” Mum repeats, trying to recall it. She smiles.

“We’ve made some good progress. We just got out of the state,” Mum says.

“Yay,” I reply sarcastically.

“Pull over, and I’ll drive for a bit,” Mum offers. Gratefully I do, pulling over and swapping spots with her.

We continue this process for the next three days, swapping places and taking turns driving. We are constantly moving, only stopping for petrol or using the toilets. I’m sure the car reeks from our lack of showering.

I wake up the following day and yawn. Mum’s been driving a lot at night, so I’m surprised when I wake to see our car parked in a parking lot outside a lake. I turn and look at Mum, who sleeps in her seat. Quietly I open the car door and get out, walking over to the lake’s edge. It’s pre-dawn, and I hear the birds begin to wake; the lake is calm, with barely a ripple from the slight breeze.

I stand there and admire the view, taking it all in. Growing up in the city, I’ve never seen such beauty. The air smells cleaner, it’s quieter, and it’s peaceful. Mum and I never went on vacation; she always had to work. The pack house had holiday activities for us pups, but most of the time, I spent in the caravan reading or watching daytime television.

“Pretty, isn’t it, Bubba?” Mum asks. I rest my head on her shoulder. Coming out this way feels like a good idea. She doesn’t seem as sick. The clean air suits her.

“It sure is. Is this like where you came from?” I ask.

“Sort of. We have a beautiful stream you can swim in with a waterfall, and the prettiest blue flowers grow there,” Mum says.

“It sounds wonderful.”

“It was. Shall we go to a diner, get something to eat?”

I laugh at Mum’s statement.

“I would do anything for a real shower at the moment, Mum. I feel like dog poo.”

“Yuck.”

“Dried-up dog poo,” I smile.

“Oh, you’re so gross.”

“Dried-up dog poo that someone accidentally stood in,” I add, grinning as I follow her to the car.

“One hundred percent gross,” Mum says, making me laugh.

I must have fallen asleep in the car again, the sun was now fully up, and my mum was driving and singing to the radio.

“How many times have they played that song?” I ask.

“Four times in the last two hours,” Mum grins. I chuckle. The more out of the city we’ve been travelling, the happier she seems.

“What time is it?” I ask, squinting at the clock on the dashboard. This car is much older than the one we initially left in, so I’m still determining its reliability.

“Eleven, Bubba. I thought I’d treat us to a motel room, and we can get some real food to eat for once,” Mum says, smiling.

“How much longer?” I then ask her.

“Well, Morningside is just over forty kilometres away, so at this speed, just under an hour, maybe?” I nod, slinking down in my seat and looking out the window.

It takes just over forty minutes to drive into Morningside, and Mum pulls into the first motel we come across. She parks out the front and returns with a key, driving further into the complex to park the car.

“That’s our room,” she smiles, pointing to room forty-two directly in front of us. I help her pull a box of clothes from the back, and we head into the room. The room is pretty basic. It has two double beds on a wall, a tiny kitchenette and large wall television. At the other end of the room is a door, which I guess is the bathroom.

“I’ll shower first and then go into the town and buy some groceries while you shower, okay?” Mum asks. I nod, grabbing the remote for the TV. I hear Mum turn the shower on as I flick through the choices on the television. They have Netflix! Yes! I flick through the options on Netflix and replace an old Spanish. At least I think it’s a Spanish television show called ‘Who Killed Sara?’ it’s really cool, and the actor who plays young Rodolfo is sexy-hot. He’s probably like one hundred by now. Still hot, but.

The first episode hardly begins when Mum walks into the room, smelling clean and fresh.

“I’m going to get some groceries,” Mum smiles, leaning over and kissing my cheek.

“Okay. Can you get some chocolate?” I ask. Mum laughs before walking out of the room. I put the TV on pause and entered the bathroom. Closing the door, I quickly stripped and walked into the shower cubicle, turning on the water and letting its warmth envelope me.

I use the motel’s body wash, shampoo and conditioner, which are bolted to the wall, showing how cheap our room is. I don’t mind, though; at least I’m clean. I then dress in fresh clothes and leave the bathroom, continuing to watch my Spanish television show.

Mum returns three episodes later with fresh bread, margarine, cheese, lettuce, sliced ham, and tomatoes. My mouth practically waters as I help her prepare the sandwiches to eat.

“I could eat these all day,” I smile as half the loaf has gone. Mum smiles and agrees with me.

~

Edited with Grammarly