A/N: So sorry for the long hiatus from this story. Hopefully I will be able to update this a bit more frequently now. Also, I realize that this story may be a bit confusing at this point because it is a mystery fic, so feel free to ask any questions. I would be happy to answer anything that won't give the story away!
They had been traveling for days, no clue as to where they were going or when they'd arrive there. All they knew was that they didn't have much to sustain themselves on anymore. Their supply of food had been depleted in the first three days on the road, much of their clothing was now worn, and their money could only last for so long. The idea that they could continue running was looking less and less like a possibility.
"We're going to have to stop sometime, Gwen," Drew said. "None of us have taken a proper shower since we left. We'll need a hotel or something."
"Why can't we just find another truck stop with a shower?" she suggested. "It won't be the same one since we're in... where the hell are we now?"
"Still in the middle of nowhere," he snapped, "and without a bloody map we'll continue to drive in circles. We're probably still in bloody Iowa."
She rolled her eyes, glancing out the window. They rolled past a sign that said, Welcome to Missouri. "Not in Iowa!" she taunted.
"Terrific," he muttered under his breath. "We have been in this car almost nonstop for four days and we managed to move over a whole state."
Gwen glared. "Stop sulking," she hissed. "It's not like we have anywhere to be, you know. And we have not been in the car nonstop... and if you had any idea how to drive, we'd be on the other side of the country by now."
"No, we wouldn't. We're bloody headed south."
"Oh, you know what I mean!"
"I know you're insulting me!"
"Not you. Just your driving."
Wordlessly, Drew pulled over to the side of the road and unbuckled his seat belt.
"Where are you going?"
"Your turn to drive now, since you're so much better than I am." He got out of the driver's side and walked to her door, yanking it open and tugging on her arm. "Get out. I need to rest."
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Hey, Mummy," Jeremy said, interrupting them.
But they didn't notice that their son was talking.
Instead, they kept arguing, and the little boy in the back seat of the car grew more and more frustrated by the second. He hated when his parents fought. He hated when they got so angry with each other that they couldn't focus on anything else going on around them. He hated when he was ignored, especially when he needed something really important. Jeremy was only a child, after all – only ten-years-old – and sometimes he needed attention. More than that, sometimes his little sister needed attention, and that was even more frustrating to him. He could feel his irritation turning into irrational anger, and then...
And then it happened.
The driver's side front window shattered.
In a flash, Drew wrapped his arms around his wife's head protectively, ducking their heads beneath his folded arms, noticing pridefully that his son had done the same for Jill in the back of the car. After several moments, Gwen turned to her kids, her face paled.
"Are you okay?" she asked, her hand over her heart, her breath shallow. "What happened?" The second question was aimed more towards her husband than her children.
"Hell if I know," Drew answered, his voice sounding equally as ragged.
There were a few moments of near-silence, only the sounds of heavy breathing could be heard throughout the car.
"I think I did it," Jeremy said, his voice small and distant.
Both of the adults whipped their heads around at once, staring perplexedly at their son. "You what?" they asked in unison.
"How could you have possibly broken the window like that, and from back there?" Drew said, his voice a mixture of frustration and confusion.
"Because I wanted it to happen!" Jeremy hissed. "Because I was calling you, and you and Mummy weren't listening!"
"Love, your daddy and I..." Gwen began.
"No, Mummy. You weren't listening! And I was so angry that I made it happen."
"But... that's not possible." Drew insisted.
"I did it with my mind. I wouldn't lie to you!"
Gwen and Drew stared at each other for a long minute, a knowing look passing between them. It was becoming more and more obvious that they weren't the normal family that they had always thought they were. They were a family of weird people who could read minds and see the past and destroy windows. And they were fallen – whatever that meant. Something was going on, and somehow they both knew that everything strange that had happened was related. From their missing memories all the way down to the crazy radish lady. It was all because they were different.
But what did it all mean?
Drew exhaled sharply, his eyes on his son. "Well," he said, his expression relatively calm as he raised an eyebrow, "can you put the window back together?"
...
After over an hour of Jeremy concentrating on repairing the window and failing, somehow managing to pass by a mechanic who had an affiliation with a shop called Repair That Glass, only to find that the window was going to cost a small fortune, and then grudgingly entering a convenience store to purchase duct tape to cover the empty space where the window should have been, the family of four continued on their way through the state of Missouri, still with no destination in mind.
Drew was looking more and more irritated by the moment. Every time Gwen spoke up about anything, he would either snap at her or give her some other sort of short reply. He was obviously still irritated about the window – and rightfully so, Gwen thought – but his attitude was bringing down the morale of the entire car. They were doing this to save themselves, and they needed to be in it together.
"You were right. Why don't we stay at a motel tonight?" she suggested. "We've been sleeping in this car for days, and I think a real night's rest could be good for us."
"We can't afford it," Drew hissed under his breath. "I should never have suggested it in the first place."
"I know that, Drew," she hissed back, "but it's not as though we've got other bills to pay anymore. And we're going to need to find a way to make some money while we're on the road regardless."
"You could always sell yourself."
"It's a possibility," she retorted with a of her eyes. "It's not like we've been able to..."
"Shhh, Gwen," he answered, trying to hold back a laugh – his first real laugh in days. "We can find a place to sleep for tonight. I think it'll be worth the money."
After driving through several miles of country, they finally reached a suburb of Kansas City. There was a smallish town that they encountered, several hotels and motels lining the streets with a few restaurants intermingled between them. Their home in Iowa was nearly thirty miles from any sort of activity, and so Gwen was thrilled to be around anything like this.
"Look! Clothes!" she exclaimed as she peered out the window longingly.
"No," Drew said, not unkindly. He laughed. "It's either clothes or a motel. You pick. And remember the little people in the back seat."
"Do I have to?" she answered wryly. "Motel, obviously. I just... wish we had the money to really enjoy places like this."
He reached across the front seat and touched her hand, lacing his fingers through hers in an uncharacteristically loving gesture. "One day we will have the money, love. And when we do, we'll go to New York City or we'll go to Los Angeles, not some place like this. This is small town. You deserve better than that."
She smiled at him sadly, wondering for a moment how the taciturn man sitting beside her could change moods so rapidly, could go from hot to cold and back again in a matter of seconds. She loved him with everything she had, but he was just so frustrating, and it was hard to be in an open, honest relationship with a man who wanted everything important to be kept to himself. That just wasn't something she could live with. Discussion and honesty kept her sane.
Gwen sighed deeply. "You know, sometimes I really do wonder if you care about me, Drew. You're so... so abrasive, aren't you? And I don't know if it's me you're upset with, or if that's just who you are." She paused, looking down at their interlocked fingers. "But then you look at me sometimes like I'm... like you've never seen me before. And I feel like I'm everything." Her lips brushed across his knuckles. "I just wish that I understood you better."
Drew remained quiet, not looking at his wife, only staring out at the road before him. They drove nearly five more miles, the air between them thick with tension. Gwen had such a big heart, he knew, and it was so easy to see what she was feeling. It hardly took any effort to break her – he had done so, intentionally even, on so many occasions that he was ashamed to even think about it – and everything she felt always showed so clearly all over her face. Every one of her freckles told a story, every one of her premature wrinkles and grey hairs personified the immense stress that he had caused her. In the ten minutes that passed, he felt something that he could honestly say he had never felt before when it came to her.
Guilt.
"I'll try to do better by you," he said, his voice so quiet – the words coming out barely above a whisper. Drew didn't even know if she could hear him.
"So will I," Gwen returned. "I love you."
Nothing more was said. The subject was dropped. Both Gwen and Drew allowed the tense moment to pass. The problem had been addressed, and dwelling on it any longer would help nobody.
"Why don't we stop here?" Gwen asked, pointing somewhat randomly towards a small hotel with a parking lot that was less than half full.
Drew did not respond, but he did pull into the lot, parking in the closest spot to the main entrance he could find. He reached into his pocket and took out his wallet and then his identification and credit card. "Go check us in then?"
Gwen smiled at him and kissed him briefly on the cheek before stepping out of the car, glancing around at the hotel speculatively. It was nice enough, she supposed, although it was not quite as aesthetically pleasing as the others they had passed through in the bigger cities; there was no beautiful landscaping or high quality building structure. But something about it was appealing, and the fact that it was slightly lesser quality meant, at the very least, that they may be able to afford to stay the night. Any bed was better than where they had been sleeping. She had a good feeling about it.
The lobby was rather small and simple. The front desk was situated immediately to her right as soon as she entered the building, and there was a small breakfast room on her left. On the floor there was a large welcome mat with the words, "America's Best Value Inn St. Joseph, MO," which was useful since she had not been entirely certain as to where they actually were. Everything about the hotel seemed modest, but it was clean enough, and she was certain that it would suit their needs just fine. They just needed a bed and a shower, after all.
The man working at the desk looked up as she approached, and Gwen had to do a double take. Something about him was intensely familiar. He had shaggy red hair and freckles all over his face, and in his cheekbones and in the shape of his nose and lips, she saw something especially startling.
He looked like Jill.
And not just in a coincidental way, either. In the way he smiled. In the way his eyes lit up with mischief.
"May I help you?" he asked, his English accent as thick as hers.
This can't be a coincidence, she thought. Her voice was caught in her throat, so she swallowed hard. "We... we need a room with two double beds. Do you have anything?"
He nodded. "We have a two-bedded room for fifty-nine dollars."
"Perfect," Gwen said, her heart still pounding in her chest. "My husband is out in the car with the children. Here's his driver's license and credit card. I'll... I'll be right back."
The man looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes as she rushed out the door and to the car as though a bear were chasing her. Drew's door opened as she approached, and with a mix of fright and excitement and urgency she exclaimed, "There's... there's someone else here! He looks like me. I think he's family!"
His eyes widened. "How can you be so sure?"
"Come in! Come look at him! You'll see it too! Get the kids, we've got a room!"
And she ran back into the hotel without waiting, noticing only with a brief turn of her head as she re-opened the door that her family was, indeed, emerging from the car.
"All right, great, he's coming," Gwen began as she lifted her head to look at the man who she was certain was her brother... possibly her cousin or uncle. Something. He was something to her. "Do you need me to... sign... some... thing..."
Her eyes grew wide as she glanced back at the desk clerk.
She was clearly seeing double.