The crooning voice of Dean Martin penetrates the silence that was previously engulfing the entirety of this car ride. On the recording, I couldn't help but notice the slight static that seemed to only exist in short bursts. It didn't alter things too much, but it was certainly something that irritated me. Greatly. What was likely an error made during the process of remastering the tracks, or the poor condition of the speakers. Something to that effect. Either way, it was irking, to say the least. Then, unforgettable opening of That's Amore kicks in, and I forget all about my qualms. In fact, I could go as far to say that I forgot everything. The only thing I could focus on, was grabbing Jessie, getting out of the car, and dancing with her on the sidewalk.

This, is about the time I remember that we're going 70 mph down Interstate 5, Portland bound. Jumping out of the car with my fiance sounds a lot less appealing once that revelation sets in. I lean back in my seat, resting a hand on Jess' thigh. She jumps a bit, turning to face me with the same, half shocked, half deer in the headlights glare that's become the norm as of late. Realizing that I'm not going to kill her or whatever she thinks is happening, she relaxes once more and lets me lay my hand where I had intended.

"I take it you two haven't been properly acquainted, have you?" Like a panoramic photo, my head slowly turns, from Jessie to the man in the front seat, ski mask laid across his lap. Also maskless, driving the car, was the man whom Jessie found in the doorway. I open my mouth to say something further, but get cut off by Oscar, one of the two people my inquiry was subtly addressed to.

"No, I don't believe we have," he replies, stroking a patch of stubble with his thumb and forefinger. "Matter of fact, I don't think I even caught her name!" Why he feels the need to emphasize every statement he makes is beyond me. I'll just chalk it up to a disorder I like to call Revolutionary Syndrome: that of course being the constant urge to say something impactful and full of meaning, wanting every single word out their mouth to be recorded in the annals of history. No matter the fact that most of what they say is utterly ridiculous and mundane. I've never said I understood them, but the exceptions to the mundane drivel hooked both of us into the cause, so if he wants to act like a bigshot despite doing absolutely nothing yet, I guess that's his right.

Jessie looks up from my hand, where her attention was focused since I laid it down upon hearing his voice. With widened eyes and an open jaw, she stutters out some sort of greeting.

"Um, hi. I'm Jessie, and you are...?"

"Oscar Lee, hun." He turns around in his seat, scanning the two of us. "So Anna, this is your girl?"

"Did you figure that one out all on your own?" Wow, that was unusually sardonic of me. I crack a smile, trying to get across that I was joking around, when in reality I was doing no such thing. Seriously; did he really need to ask that? Probably shouldn't dwell on it, lest I reignite my urge to throw somebody out of this car...

"Settle down, you two," the driver states with a flat, uninterested tone. Even in the purest form of apathy, his voice retained a gruff assertiveness to it that made Jess once again flinch. Then again, a lot of things can do that these days. Keeping the smile, I lean into Jessie, my head resting on her shoulder, and close my eyes. This journey couldn't end soon enough, this much I swear.

***

"Anna? Anna, wake up," her airy, oddly soothing voice said, accompanied by shaking me from side to side accomplishes the task of opening my eyes. The car was no longer in motion, and as I sat back up, I could see we were now in some garage. I look back at Jessie, who smiles at me. "We're here." Something about her unusually cheery demeanor rubbed me the wrong way, but at the same time, it was a welcome diversion from the snark laden motor mouth that Kea normally presented. In fact, unless she appeared while I was blissfully unaware in a state far beyond reality, I haven't heard Kea's presence at all today.

Maybe she did actually take her medicine. And since I just pointed that out, she'll be coming out at any time now, right?

"For Christ's sake, stop monologuing so we can get both our asses into the house!"

There she was! As bright as the bloody sun, like always. Wait a second...

"Monologuing? Where'd you come to that conclusion?"

"That look in your eye, you were definitely doing some hardcore self narration. So, what topic was it on? Did you use any words longer than three syllables to describe a wall yet?" The genuine smile that Jessie gave me before Kea took over comes across more as a callous grin by now. She opens the door and steps out of the car, motioning impatiently for me to follow.

"Come on, we don't want the Hipster rebellion to post pictures of our decapitated heads on Instagram!"

"Shut up," I mutter, sluggishly following her motions out of the car. Once I'm outside, she slams the door shut and walks toward the door leading into what I presumed to be the rest of the house.

"Surely that can't be the best you got. Why not use some of that extensive vocabulary on me?"

"Because you wouldn't understand a word of it," I shoot back, smirking myself as her triumphant, gloating face sunk momentarily.

"You're right, I'm not a pretentious twenty something trying to be the next Salinger."

"Salinger was so overrated!" Well, The Catcher in the Rye is overrated, at the very least.

"Spoken like a true hipster herself. Tell me; why didn't you join up with these holier than thou pricks sooner?"

"Because I don't think any small drink size should ever be called tall."

"Really now? Keep it up, and I might start liking you, Anna Nyman." Finally, she reaches the door and pushes it open. Laughing, she stands to the side and motions for me to go in first.

"Aw, do you really mean that?"

"Nope." She walks into the room just as I reach the door, it now rapidly closing and hitting my shoulder. Shaking my head, I step into the house, the white walls adding to a feeling of monotony that I assume will cloud this meeting.

And since I said that, something out of the ordinary will happen. No? Okay, fine. I keep on walking, down the hall, stopping where Kea stood, resting against the corner of the wall.

"Well? Come on, our Pumpkin Spice lattes are probably getting cold."

She flashes a look of fake concern. "Too bad I have no fucking idea where we're going."

"It isn't that hard."

She rolls her eyes and motions for me to take the lead, which I do without hesitation. I turn left, and walk down the seemingly identical hallway until finally, we make it to the main room. A single door, in the corner of the room was the only thing on my mind. Quickly surveying the room, nothing seems out of the ordinary, until I cross over into the room itself.

The air around me grows thin, and from out of nowhere - literally, nowhere came a gust of wind, followed by the sudden materialization of a man right before my very eyes. I tremble, every muscle in my body tense. Without warning, the mystery man speaks, eyes darting from Kea back to me:

"Hello?"

I lean backward, then fall forward, right into the awaiting clutches of the man. Before everything goes black, I hear Kea say something to him.

"Jesus Nova, care to be any more spontaneous?"