Practice makes more than perfect, if perfect is only as well as humans can do.
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I left Will a note and was gone.
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The walk to the closest village wasn't too long, considering my situation. Will's house out in the fields made the walk longer than necessary, since I had to traverse the dusty dirt roads and avoid the occasional escaped cow or horse, though for a few minutes I was accompanied by a little brown-furred kelpie puppy with black spot eyebrows and bright blue eyes who quickly returned to his barking mother before I could think of a name for him. I decided on Kelsey afterwards. Good enough name for a puppy if I ever got one. Eventually the untraveled dirt roads became bitumen lined with yellowed grass and burned trees, and every now and then I had to dodge an overly eager car that was almost flying off the side of the road. It made me wonder what they were in such a rush for, that they went that fast. Pregnant partner? Important time-relevant business deal? Whatever the case, the incidents became more prevalent as I approached Andante. Thankfully though, the speed limit lowered and ensured my safety a little as I entered the town's limits.
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Andante had a car rental, and it was as shoddy and run down as the town that it resided in. For all the benefits of living in Theme, the quality of the country towns was not one of them. The shop was painted blue, it appeared, and the flakes lay untouched by wind in the dirt beside the walls they'd abandoned. The windows were clear but cracked slightly in places, and the sign hung askew from above the dark wooden door, one screw visible on top of the door frame. As I stepped inside, the interior was surprisingly well kept and clean, and the attendant sat bored at the desk along the far wall. There were shelves of car add-ons and stickers for windows and bumpers, plus cup holders and a small vending machine for canned drinks.
'Welcome to Andante Car Rental, how can I help you?' Her customer voice was overly enthusiastic, too honeyed to be real, and I could hear her boredom and dissatisfaction, but I put on a smile and approached the desk. I hoped that she wouldn't be able to hear my nervousness and interpret it as dangerous.
'Hi, I would like to rent a small car for the day, if you have one,' I replied, trying my best to be polite and friendly. Never hurts to be polite to a person in a customer service job. She looked at a clipboard that lay on the desk beside the computer monitor, which appeared to contain a register of the cars they offered. She perused it for a minute, and looked back up at me.
'We have a Citroën for fifty a day, does that suit your needs?'
I checked my wallet quickly, finding just enough in small notes and a veritable trove of coins. 'That would be fantastic, thank you.'
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For a small rental car, the Citroën had a clean interior, other than the suspicious dark stain on the left back seat, and the missing handle on the same side, so I was hopeful that the day's worth of driving required to reach Classical's border wouldn't be difficult. The drive was boring and uneventful and that was nice. It was all just green and yellow fields and trees, thick bushes and weeds, and a few colourful roadside flowers. I only recognised the daisies, but it cheered me enough to make the hours pass without worry. I let myself analyse the phone call I'd received so recently. I assumed it was from Mariachi, because who else was likely to threaten me? My only curiosity was how I had 'interfered', as they'd claimed. I'd been out of action for weeks, due to my arm's current state, and that too had been caused by Mariachans. All I'd interfered with was my own consciousness the one time I passed out, and perhaps my own recovery time. It didn't take me long to just stop trying to understand.
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I knew Classical's border was close enough, but it was far too early in the trip for me to begin encountering bumps and buckling in the bitumen. The neutral space between us wasn't cared for since both governments declared the other was responsible for the upkeep, but I had thought I was still a couple of hours away. The Citroën managed to push its way past the roadblocks, but it wasn't long before the twisting and buckling of the road became so treacherous that I stopped the car. A large crater, from what I could see ahead, sat like a dam in the road. I stepped out of the car to inspect it, and as I did I noticed the scenery had changed. I hadn't noticed the gradual lack of trees, and the appearance of seared stumps lying uprooted in the churned dirt. Flowers lay scattered with petals ripped apart, and grass was mixed with soil. The large craters could be seen around me, and I peered into the one ahead with a rock in my stomach, dragging me down. It contained exactly what I had expected, and exactly what I had never wanted to see again.