Chapter Text
“I wish I was going with you…” Tyler’s eyes glaze over and drift same as his words do, the first crack in the otherwise perfect boy next door he posed as. “At least one of us will get out of this hell hole town.”
Wednesday’s own slightly flicker in response, uneased by the vulnerability not only in his words but in the weight his look holds once it comes back to meet her own. There’s nothing left for her to say, or at least that’s the better excuse than he stumped her, leaving her with nothing to say. A first for her.
She only lingers as she struggles to find and press the button to hang up, but does so as swiftly as she can to avoid that look strong enough to tether her to him through a computer screen.
She tries not to think of the part he plays in her great liberation from her family and the schools expectations of her she has no intention of fulfilling as she goes over her plan time and time again to ensure her flawless escape, taking note of the stories she’d heard of fester’s own from various prisons and institutions. Tyler was just her getaway car. Nothing more.
His words still creep back in her mind every time she gets to that part of the plan, and for a girl who prides herself on seeing everything and everyone so clearly he already had a way of leaving her wondering and wanting more. She was sure she had him figured out, a boy like that had always seemed the easiest to read, a clean cut paper doll playing the part of barista for the painstakingly hackneyed town they lived in. And from what she’d seen he played his part to perfection, and for someone in a position as coveted as that in the monotony of small town life it should be a part he’d play willingly. Yet he wanted out just as bad as she did, enough so to help a stranger with no benefit of his own. In his own words, he couldn’t be bought, another remark that slithers its way into, wrapping and constricting around her mind.
She’d never deny the right to be proven right, yet his reassurance that she was right to get out of there left her both satisfied and insatiable. Of course she was right, but why, how could he possibly know that?
How much of a hell hole was this place if a boy like Tyler Galpin wanted out?
There was a reason Wednesday avoided connection, and even more so the debt that comes with it. A favor from a friend was never just that, not with the questions of who she was using her laptop to call, and of course she has to tell her what transpired in said conversation. Those were precious minutes away from Enid’s gossip blog, so Wednesday must have some good gossip to make up for it.
The secret to tell the best lies was to keep it as close to the truth as possible, just skirt around the details. Of course, Wednesday has trained herself to lie seamlessly no matter what, one of her first birthday gifts she ever asked for was a lie detector to do just that. She had become a master at it before she hit double digits. But no extravagant lie was needed for the likes of her roommate who would at her worst share her story to people Wednesday would thankfully never see again.
She expected Enid’s incessant squeals to start again once she told her she’d made plans to meet with and attend the harvest festival with Tyler Galpin, preparing herself to reject any advances of helping her get ready for the event and an inevitable ‘makeover’. Instead, any animated excitement Enid had drifted away, her already white face grew into a near translucent pale. In turn, Wednesday’s own delight rose at the sight of shock and fear on the others face from such simple words.
“Like…a date?” Enid whispered out, horrified at the words.
“No, nothing like a date. A favor, like what you just did for me, which I hope after tonight is something I will no longer be needing from anyone. All this meaningless back and forth because of it is exhausting, especially when it causes such inane questions.”
“Okay, good…I think. I’m all for romance if it was one or making new friends, even with some normie’s, but Tyler’s the sheriff’s son and the last thing you need to get involved in. I have a few Nevermore people I would love to set you up with though…” Enid begins to ramble on listing names, but Wednesday had stopped listening to her droning a little after her warning. Sure she hated cops as much as any other outcast would, but she doubted that was truly enough for Enid to dissuade her from what seemed to be the kind of guy Enid would be all over.
Her getaway car became more intriguing the more mysterious he became, which seemed to happen by the minute.
Color Wednesday Addams curious.
“You sure you can trust that normie?” Another warning against him causes another stir that rouses and rumbles deep in her gut. She watches his lithe body argue with his father, his finger points right at her as he most likely got the same warnings she did. Her excitement at the thought boils and bubbles in her stomach beginning to make her sick, wanting to retch out the foreign feelings from her body to be put to rest already.
Their plan is dissuaded by her principal and his peers, but they make it. Paths crossing and connecting as the fireworks lift off above them, the rare reflection of color on her face as he looked down at her with awe as it went from red to green to blue. A goofy grin on his face as he can’t believe they made it, opening his car door for her and looking over his shoulder one last time for his father before they pull away at the perfect time to go unseen.
His gift to her sat on her lap gently shaking as the car sped down the street as far away from Jericho as it could before either of them were caught. The pages enclosed between the thin folder shifted inside threatening to spill the hidden truth she was desperate to know, but now was hardly the time. It was a thirty-minute drive from Jericho to the nearest train station and they were on a time crunch, which was shorter considering the time they lost in their attempt to distract the many enemies the duo had somehow acquired in the two conversations they had, including his own father's curfew. His speed would help with that, something Tyler clearly didn’t do often as Wednesday watched his grip loosen and tighten over and over with nerves on the steering wheel and his wide eyes obsessively checking the mirror to ensure no one was behind them.
Wednesday on the otherhand was serene, if they had made it this far she was sure they would make it all the way, or at least she would. He probably wouldn’t make it back home in time for his fathers strict curfew, but by then Tyler Galpin would go back to what he had always been to her: a stranger, so that was hardly her problem to worry about. Instead, her mind began to race with all the places she could go, her plan not particularly going past the getting to the train station. She’d figure it out once she was there as she always did, buy a ticket with as much as half the money she had could get her and find a pawn shop to make more with the trinkets and jewelry her mother had snuck into her luggage she never planned on wearing anyway. At least her mother could finally do her some good on her journey of self-actualization.
“If you relax the ride will go a lot faster, then you won’t have anything to worry about at all. You’re the cause of your own problem.” It was only half true, but his own anxiety began to annoy her as it took up the entirety of his truck.
“Sorry, I’ve just never done something like this before. Well, I guess I did one time, and I got caught immediately so my confidence in myself is kind of lacking when it comes to criminal activity.” He tries to force himself to relax, deep breaths in and out as he got closer to the Jericho town border he had only left so few times, most with his fathers careful eye on him.
“What did you do?” Her curiosity grows in hopes this will inevitably satiate it when it comes to the otherwise insignificant normie by her side.
One hand stays on the steering wheel, the other tries to rest in a position to make himself the most comfortable, briefly peering over at those petrifying wide eyes of hers with hesitation, eyes back to the road as he forces it out. “I…my friends and I attacked and destroyed a Nevermore kids mural last year at outreach day. What we did is pretty much the opposite of what the whole events about and I went a little too far. I feel horrible about it, of course, and I’ve been doing my time for it.”
Her hands remain crossed in front of her maintaining her fathers file on her lap, but her head faces him, full attention on his tale and eyes peer fixed onto him even as he never looks back. It earns him just the smallest bit of respect from her, she didn’t think he’d have it in him to commit even the lowest level of terror. “You know you could have just answered the question simple as that, no need for the fluff of defending yourself against what you did. Especially when it’s to a complete stranger. You share a lot.”
“I just didn’t want you to think I’m some jerk who doesn’t at least realize they did a horrible thing. And most people don’t respond well to just admitting to harassment and vandalism without immediate remorse.”
“And you pegged me as ‘most people’?” Her eyebrow only raises a twinge to tease with her question, partially hidden behind her bangs.
He doesn’t even see it but laughs, smiling again as he drives with ease on the empty roads. “Definitely not, no one could. So you don’t judge me for it?”
What an interesting, desperate question is all she can think while her gaze remained on him. “I don’t particularly care to spend my time being judgemental, especially with strangers. If I did I would be have no time considering most people do deserve it. So why do you care so much about a stranger judging you?”
“We’re strangers?” There’s a sad, questioning wilt to his voice.
“Well we’ve only just met and you’re about to drop me off at a train station where we will not meet again. What else would you call that?” And looking at the map they should be there soon, their time together running out.
“I guess you’re right.” His voice drifts with disappointment, he half leans against his window as his driving only slightly slows to preserve their little time together before they become strangers once again, and they’re so close now there’s no need to worry about his father or Principal Weems following close behind. “So where are you going to go?”
“That’s for me to know.” Her tone is as short as her sentence, attempting to shut the whole conversation down.
He doesn’t even have to see her to see right through her, one huffing laugh under his breath and a smile on his face. “You don’t know do you?”
“I will figure it out when I get there. That’s the easy part, it was the getting there I had to worry about.” Now it’s her turn to defend herself.
“Well how far are you trying to get? What are you looking for?” His voice is an easy display of his personality, melodic as each letter is a rhythm his mouth dances to.
“To get away.” Her monotone voice gives him no favors in return.
Tyler scoffs at the already obvious. “Yeah, me too. That’s real easy to say though, but the doing it’s pretty hard.”
“Believe me, I can take care of myself.”
“Oh I believe it, but I don’t want to see a blurry photo of you robbing a bank in a few weeks. Here, let me see what cash I have on me. I’ll help cover your ticket and hopefully some dinner or something. Save what you can now.” He reaches his arm out over her, so she presses her body against her chair as she cowers away from him, his eyes on the road as his hand's fumble to open the glove compartment, finally doing so and grabs the wallet inside.
“I don’t need your money, or any other favors from you past this, it’s already more than I feel comfortable asking for.” She had to use a laptop to call him for this, hadn’t she compromised herself enough already?
“Considering you offered me only twenty dollars as a bribe earlier with forty being the sweeter pot, I think you’ll need all the help you can get financially starting out. And I want to help you, it’ll give me hope to live vicariously through you, that you’re off somewhere far better partially on my dime. It’ll help me get through my boring shifts.” They finally reach the train station as he finishes his diatribe. He pulls into a parking spot ahead reaching a stop, her long sought after destination here.
“I refuse to accept anything more from you than this ride, especially when you yourself refused any payment for it already. I will not be indebted to you any further.”
“It’s not a debt, it’s a gift.” He insists with a grin.
“That can already be said for this.” She lifts her father's file he stole for her. “And for the free ride, so why so many gifts for someone you don’t know?”
“I’ve already told you,” Now with the car in park he can properly focus on her, turning his whole body in his seat to face her, to take in as much of her as he can in what should be their final moments. “I wish I could get out of there too, so I might as well help the one of us that can as much as I can.”
“If you say you want to leave so much then why don’t you do it already? Come with me.”
He’s taken aback by her forwardness, or even just the idea of actually going through with his word, pressing himself further against his door window as he does so. “I can’t…just leave.”
“Why not? What’s keeping you somewhere you so desperately want to leave?” She pushed.
“My dad would blow his lid, say I’m missing and have every cop and ranger come after me. Not to mention we’re only in high school, I didn’t even bring most of my cash or any clothes. I wouldn’t even have anywhere to go, to stay. That’s what I meant about this being the hard part.” He talks himself in circles for any excuse not to.
“You’re overthinking it. You have your car, your wallet, that’s a better start than most teenage runaways. I don’t care if you do either way, but you’ve got your out so take it while you can or stop complaining about how much you wish you could. Those are the options.” Wednesday never understood the hesitation, the overthinking of ones every decision. She thought through her actions plenty, but she also had a certainty in herself that she knew whatever conclusion she came to must be the correct one. He seemed to doubted every word he had to say.
She continues to shock him, which is ever evident on his face with each word she speaks. It was normal for kids like him to talk a big game without taking action, and he hardly expected a Nevermore kid of all people to actually encourage him to break that. Hell, he didn’t expect a Nevermore kid to do anything with his life, but she’d only been in it about a day and was already the highlight of it so far.
He’s stuck in his silence, facing her but his eyes are elsewhere, eyelids flutter as his mind runs through every possibility and every thought captivated by her. She on the other hand never looks away, her eyes only grow wider as they bore into him like a judge waiting for the jurys answer. Finally his body shifts, his mind coming back to his body, his crocodile colored eyes meet her own pools of black. “Do you still want a ride?”
Tyler counts that as the first time he’s ever seen Wednesday Addams smile, even if it’s only the slightest twitch of the ends of her mouth curling upward for a second, but the part he notices the most is how it reaches her eyes.
“I can’t say no to that.” She moves her body away from him and back faces towards the windshield, listening to the click of his seatbelt and the car turning on once more, his lights glow bright as the car came back to life to shine goodbye to what was meant to be her escape for a far superior option. He pulls out of their spot and away from the train station, down the gloomy and grim road ahead of them into the great unknown.
Wednesday’s excitement from earlier bubbles anew, her arms holding the file wrap around her stomach pressing the papers against herself.
It’s only once they pass the sign that they’re no longer in Burlington she sneaks a peek at what seems to be her new partner, trying to hide her gaze that’s caught immediately by his own. Sat upright with both hands on the wheel, she hadn’t even realized how much she had scrunched down in her own seat until he looked down at her with an eerily warm smile.
She never actually expected him to take her bait, she was sure his cowardice would reign supreme and the last she’d see of him would be his silhouette in his car waving goodbye as she walked towards her train. now they’re side by side, and will be for quite some time. Alone.
Wednesday doesn’t do well with close company, especially not one of the rare variety that continues to leave her enticed even with each of her own attempts to avoid so. He was the worst of them already, and now he was her Clyde.
Still, she couldn’t look away, even as he did long ago back to the road ahead of them.
They’d driven for as long as Tyler’s adrenaline on the thrill of the run and his gas could take them, which was a few hours and successfully far away from Jericho, ensuring them a moments peace that they had enough distance between the two.
Wednesday couldn’t believe she’d not only stomached being trapped in a car with anyone other than her family for so long much less not even dislike it as much as she thought. Tyler couldn’t believe he was doing any of this, or that he got to spend this much time with Wednesday. They hadn’t even spoken much, most of it being on Tyler’s side with little to no response from Wednesday, but even with that it left him hopeful to not be doing this alone like he’d always felt he’d been.
“Okay, this is the first of what will be many gas station breaks, I’ll get this going and meet you inside for snacks and bathroom break?” Tyler and Wednesday are both surprised by his attitude of the whole affair, that he was still going along with it not only anxiety free but also seemed to be enjoying himself.
She gave him a curt nod, in her hands her bag with the file she still hadn’t looked at and her cash inside. Wednesday grimaces once the bright fluorescent lights of the gas station shone down on her. She kept her head down away from it, searching through the highly processed junk food that each threatened to make her sicker than the next. She did grab some of Pugsley’s favorite snacks she’d grown to tolerate after years of stealing and torturing him with by eating them before he ever got the chance to. They at least offered a small variety of pre-packaged sandwiches, which looked hardly appetizing yet still the most edible food in the place.
The ring of the open door breaks the silence in the small room, and Wednesday looks over her shoulder to her chauffeur that makes his way over to her. “Good choices.” He raises his eyebrow at the items cradled in her hands, he reaches over both to grab his own turkey sandwich and to move closer to her to whisper his next words. "Sure you don’t want to get more? We’ve still got a long drive ahead of us, better not to make so many stops for anything until we’re even further away”.
She wants to bite back but she knows, and hates to admit, he’s right. Even with no destination in mind Tyler had already mentioned his fathers watchful eye along with curfew, and he was sure to come search for them most likely with the help of Principal Weems once she realized Wednesday was missing as well. They had to get going, and make sure there was as little digital print of them in any gas station securities as possible. She grabs one more sandwich ready to make a beeline for the checkout. “This will suffice until we can get more, get anything else you need quickly. We should get back on the road immediately.”
He throws his hands up in a teasing surrender, taking his sandwiches and hastily finds the rest of his snacks and drinks. He has far more than Wednesday, and extras of most in case she begrudgingly admits to wanting any.
She rushes her way back to the passenger seat and patiently waits for him to follow. He tosses his variety of food and drink snacks in the back seat, taking out the pump and returns to his rightful place in the front of his car, shooting her another weak smile that he knows won’t be reciprocated.
She only begins to relax once they’re on the road again and the gas station is a blip far behind them, back to the misty black road with no light ahead, and no one behind. She hadn’t even realized she’d become so tense, let his words and anxiety bleed into her so easily.
“What was that about? I’ve never seen you move so fast.” His words come out with a laugh, his attempt to lighten the mood though it only leads to her agitation.
“You’ve never seen me much at all, so it’s hard to gauge an opinion on my agility and speed when most of our time knowing each other has been spent sitting in a car.” She snips back defensively at him, eyes straight ahead refusing to acknowledge him any further.
“Come on, I didn’t mean anything by it. You just seemed to want to get out of there pretty suddenly. Was something up?” His voice has an actual twinge of concern that’d always been clear to see, almost making Wednesday feel bad for her minor outburst against him.
“No, just…you were right. We shouldn’t make many or any stops this early on, especially since they’ll be able to find us easily once they get our names and photos out there if we’re stopping at every gas station making sure every security camera on the way sees our faces.”
He can feel himself bloom with pride inside hearing Wednesday say he was right, something he already knew was rare and high praise coming from her, but she was right about everything else too. His dad would be on this instantly, and just as she said that would probably be one of his first steps. “You’re right too, not so many stops then. Good thing I got double the snacks. I hope you like beef jerky.” He turns to her and raises his eyebrows, head tilting towards the back and the myriad of snacks he bought that made her eyes slightly widen.
“I think I’ll stick to mine.” She tilts her own head in return towards her feet where her small bag of her few snacks and sandwiches rest.
“Whatever you say.” He takes a deep breath and shrugs. “But if you change your mind take any of mine, you don’t even need to ask.”
He was the most generous person she’d met, it terrified her. Who gave so willingly so much? There had to be ulterior motives, or he was simply pathetically desperate, either option slightly unsettling to her.
“So what kind of music do you like? I have a few cd’s somewhere in here, but I’ve always got my phone and can play whatever you’d like.” He continues his attempt at conversation once more as he had many times throughout the beginning of their road trip, hoping to wear her down.
“We don’t have to listen to music.” She enjoyed it as she wrote her novel, even dancing on the rare occasion the song was worthy of it and she had a decent enough partner, but most music was elevator music to her and most peoples sad attempt to fill the empty space and quiet they can’t stand.
“If we’re going to be on the road as long as I think we are, we need music. I won’t judge and I’m open to most. I also need it to help me stay awake since I don’t have much riveting conversation to help with that.” He earns an eye roll with that last remark, though the look on his face makes her think that was what he had been hoping for.
“I hardly think we’ll have similar taste nor that you’d enjoy mine. It’s on a range from classical music to the death grunge band my uncle had with his prison gang.” She says with the same straight tone and face as always, but it always has the slightest up tilt at the mention of her family. She hasn’t mentioned them often but he remembers a footnote about an uncle once before, and he remembers her lighting up as much as Wednesday Addams could the same way then.
He didn’t even know her familial relationships yet and he already envied it, wishing even one name in his lineage could spark pride or joy instead of the pain and shame he called mom and dad.
“The death grunge actually might be exactly what I need to keep me from drifting off eventually, so put it on. Here, play whatever you want.” He pulls his phone out, opening it to his music and hands it over to her. She’d never used many phones before, and he could only see out of the corner of his eyes and the brief peeks he could sneak of her befuddled face as she struggled to use the app before his car belatedly erupts with music.
It’s a deafening screech in his ear and he instantly reaches for the volume knob, turning it down as it blares through and shakes the whole car on the brink of bursting his eardrum. Wednesday smiles, a real smile as she watches his reaction.
“That’s exactly what Uncle Fester was going for.” He’d never seen her look so content, and it made him just the same to know he was the reason for it.
She falls asleep to her favorite lullaby of her Uncle Fester’s harmonies, her body slumped against the door of Tyler’s car, resting in what looks to be an uncomfortably rigid position that’s exactly perfect for her slumber.
They have to go fast, especially at night while the roads are empty and there’s no one to stop them, but he slows only a little once he realizes so as to not disrupt her. He craves sleep himself, eyes heavy but the sight of her beside him is motivation enough to keep going.
He does the math in his head as she rests of how much cash he has left and how much he has on his card. Anything he charges to it his dad can track, but they’ll need to use it soon if they actually do want somewhere to sleep or something better to eat than a gas station sandwich. The next place he finds he can draw as much cash from it as he can, then he’ll drive faster than he ever has away from there.
He never would’ve had the spine to do anything close to this, much less keep it going and begin to make plans for it, but how could he say no to her request? The idea of pleasing her, being the person who does this for and with her, it alights a flame in him that keeps him driving well into the night.
It’s eerily close to that same flame and hunger he’s running away from, but this one already feels far more satisfying compared to the insatiability he had in Jericho.
He only hoped the further they drove away the further he was from that hunger, even as he began to feel it grow and growl within him, not from his own stomach but from -
Wednesday awakens, jolting him out of the spiral of his thoughts and back to the flame beside him, light entering the car before he was consumed. It can only do so much against his fatigue from driving for so long so many hours straight though.
“Look who’s back with the living, I thought you were dead there for awhile. You sure looked it.” He only meant it as a joke, one she would clearly get, unaware his unintentional flirtation helped bring life back to her face faster than usual.
“If only, though I had an almost as delectable dream that you’d fallen asleep at the wheel and drove us off the road down a cliff, leaving our bodies a mangled bloody mess.” It sounds horrific to him, but the slight elation in her voice as she describes it continues to teach him how to catch up to Addams-speak.
“Your wish is my command, since I probably will fall asleep soon. Not even Uncle Fester’s helping keep me awake, and that’s a pretty bad sign.” But the fact that he was already so comfortable with using Uncle Fester was not.
She looked around them, even darker now than it was when she had fallen asleep not long ago, and still not another car or even house was in sight. Just miles and miles of grassy fields surround them. “We can’t for long but we should pull over, give you some time to rest. I’d offer to drive but I don’t have my license yet. I’ll keep watch and wake you up once we need to go.”
“You don’t have your license? Remind me to teach you to drive when we get the chance.” He wanted to be able to push through for her, keep driving for infinity until she said when, but he was only human (or half at least) and would begin to fall apart running on such little sleep. And if she said to rest, how could he deny her? “Okay, yeah I should nap for at least an hour. I’ll just lay out in the back seat you can…do whatever you want. You probably wouldn’t listen to me anyway nor should you.”
“I’ll take a short walk while you sleep, just around the car still keeping watch. But I could stretch my legs and use some fresh air.” She’d never spent so long stuck in one place, one position, not since she’d trapped herself in her family's iron maiden one year for Christmas.
“You know, that sounds great. I should probably join you, safety in numbers and all that.” He jumps at the idea in spite of himself and his bodies cries.
She gives him that knowing glare, words not needed but she insists upon anyway. “Isn’t the whole point of this break for you to be sleeping?”
“I'll be quick, just stretch my legs then I’ll fall asleep so much easier. I swear it.” He gave her that same charm she’d briefly seen him give to customers at the Weathervane, the same one he probably gave at school and with his fathers friends, the golden boy of Jericho.
“Fine, but you must sleep soon after. We don’t have much time.”
“I think we’ve covered plenty of ground, and no one is still around.”
“We don’t have time to waste on this conversation, let's go.” She gets out of the car, enjoying the stretch in her limbs with each step she takes, inhaling the cold air that runs a delicious shiver up her spine. He follows behind, hands stuffed into his pockets for warmth as he slightly hunches into himself for comfort, the inverse of her. He follows from behind wherever she goes, away from the road and towards the long field of grass that surrounds them on both sides, but she’s not looking in front of her but up at the sky.
He follows her gaze, stunned at the stars and moon, the brightest he's ever seen them so far away from any of humanity's stains.
“Come on.” She calls after him from where shes stopped only slightly ahead, waiting for him to catch up and stand beside her. Once he does she crouches down, her body lies fully on the grassy floor with her arms to her sides, looking up at the waning moon above them.
He follows suit, his body finds immediate comfort in lying down, especially so close to her. Their hands side by side, warmth radiates off his to tantalize her cold one, but the two never touch. Instead, they stare up at the painting in the sky. “I’m assuming you know constellations.”
“Of course I do, but why the assumption?”
“Because in the short time I’ve known you you’ve proven yourself to be quite the evil genius, but mainly a genius.” He was a fast learner, his mission to find all the little ways to make her tick. “So point some out to me.”
“See that star, the one far more luminous than its peers. That’s Sirius, the brightest star in the whole night sky. It’s part of canis major, see the other stars around it and how they connect?” Her hand lifts above them as the only element obstructing their line of vision to the wide expanse of stars dancing around the moon watching over them. Her finger played as the painter's brush, connecting the dots and putting the image together for him as he sees it clearly for the first time. “Orion comes before it see, and the milky way passes through. The constellations also called laelaps, a dog of the gods that’s said to be able to catch any prey the gods ask of it. But then there’s canis minor near it, the fox that could not be caught. So they chase after each other ceaselessly in the stars, Zeus cursed them there as they had conflicting fates, destined for neither to win their hunt.”
He’d never had a mythology phase of his own, but hearing the tale of the stars that shine back at him hit and dug deep into his open wound. He can feel and hear the blood pumping and pouring out from it in his ear the same way he can hear the dog star bark above him, a member of his own race calling him to keep chasing the fox. “Wow, that’s beautiful…and impressive.” The constellation or her? “I love hearing you talk about it”
It was a sweet moment, too much so, vexing Wednesday as her body recoils and rouses at all the possibilities this could lead to, alarmed by how easily the ideas came to her mind and frightened by how much she wanted them to become a reality. Instead, she does what she does best, deflect. “What do you mean you served your time for what you did last year to that outcast?”
Wednesday had always been described as feline, and like the cat her curiosity was insatiable.
It was his turn to tense, the moment lulls him to sleep as it already felt akin to a dream before that question snapped him back to reality. “I was sent away to a boot camp. Dad made sure not to cut me any breaks, and this wasn’t even the worst Xavier could’ve done for what I did. He’s a lot better than I am. So I went away to that all summer which surprisingly helped. And now I’m in, or was in, court ordered therapy which surprisingly is not helping as much.”
Nothing about him was as it seems, he hardly seemed the vandal or boot camp type, and something about those identities hiding behind his idyllic mask of tender smiles and kind eyes made her feel all the more carnivorous towards him. She wanted a bite out of him, a hole in his life cut out perfectly for her.
She’d been a master at puzzles as a child, it was one of her favorite activities before her mind developed past such simple pastimes. She then moved onto puzzle boxes, which proved more challenging but captivating. Still no puzzle could ever truly keep her attention, she constantly sought out another to feed her gluttonous appetite.
Tyler Galpin left her absolutely starved, making her want to put together the pieces of him and find the secret hidden in the images rubble. It already was such a pretty picture to toy with.
“I’m in court ordered therapy too, we probably were sent to the same therapist. I doubt there’s many in Jericho.”
“Kinbott? Yeah, she’s sweet, and sure it’s her job to pry but she doesn’t do a very good job of it. I’m just so fucking tired of rehashing the same shit to people who could never understand.” It’s the first time she hears him curse, the word comes out rough and from his throat and filled with rage, almost as if they didn’t come out of him at all.
“Was what you did truly so bad?” It seemed nothing more than a measly prank, the exact kind you would expect from an immature normie boy, hardly anything to illicit such delicious fury that made her mouth water.
“It’s…not just that we talk about.” In a flash he draws cold for the first time since they’d met, every part of him puts up a visible layer of protection against her relentless questioning.
“What else do you talk about?” It had to be intentional, he must know the way he draws her in.
“You ask a lot of questions for someone who says they don’t care about anything or anyone.” He turns his head to her, finding that she had already been watching him, but somehow he’s the one that feels caught as he meets her gaze.
Her look isn’t the usual desolate void, or her prying glare, but tender…and ravenous.“If we’re going to be spending this much time together it’s natural for me to want some information.”
“So then you’ll answer my questions about you?” He continues his defensive flirtation.
He’d caught her in her own trap, and she wished it caused her loathing instead of love. “Maybe, but for now you need to sleep.”
“Seriously? You can interrogate me but the second I try to ask you one question my sleep is of the utmost importance?” He tries to smile with what little energy he has, proving her right once again.
“It always was, that’s what this whole situation was about before we got distracted. Now go to sleep, you have even less time to nap because of our break so take advantage of the time you do have.”
“Fine.” He huffs under his breath and crosses his arms across his chest for warmth, but sleep finds him easily in any circumstance with how much he’s been staving it off.
He looks peaceful wrapped in the unmowed tall grass that acted as a blanket around him, a snow white or sleeping beauty in his slumber. She’s vigilant as the look out while he rests, as she never looks away from him, still lying beside him with her eyes watching his pious face and his chest rise and fall with gentle breathes.
Her inner hand shudders and reaches out, feeling for the warmth of his hand that just moments ago was by her side.
She woke him up a little before sunrise, giving him plenty of rest for what would be another day of driving, but still enough time in the shade of night's final moments for a comfortable getaway.
Wednesday had always related to many aspects of the vampire lifestyle, the aversion to sunlight being the most prominent one, but what was once more of an annoyance now began to strike fear in her as it brought the realities of the new day and the consequences that came with it.
Not to mention it’s a lot easier to identify someone in broad daylight.
Her eyes once hesitant to meet his own now can’t look away, her intense gaze bore deep into him at all times, taking in each piece of the puzzle she’s still trying to put together. And what a pretty puzzle he was. Such an unsuspecting face, the way all the most dangerous entities in nature were always the most beautiful.
“So what’s the plan for the day?” He’s still somewhat groggy from his rest, but watches ahead as the sky begins to turn from navy into a light blue as dawn approaches with the blinding sun and twinges of yellow that peeks out to set them both aflame.
“We should steer clear of most people and places, most will just be hearing about us being missing if our estimations for your father's reactions are correct. This is the most crucial time to stay undercover if we want to stay on the road. We have to find the oldest, grimiest, cheapest gas station in the middle of nowhere if we need any stops.”
“Still no ideas as to where we’re going? I can’t keep driving forever.”
“We just need to fly under the radar and get through today then we won’t need to drive as long, we’ll be able to make more stops and figure out a more concrete plan. But if you’re going to continue to ask you might as well try and come up with some solutions to the problem yourself.”
“I don’t really have any connections outside of Jericho.”
“I don’t really have any connections outside of my family, and that defeats the purpose of this whole vacation.”
“Vacation? I thought it was an escape?” So did she. “Speaking of your family, I noticed you still haven’t looked in your father's file. Did I make a mistake in giving it to you?”
“Hardly so, I hate to admit it’s one of many things I now seem to be indebted to you for, which I despise. There hasn’t been a right moment to open it, I haven’t had much privacy as of late.”
“Well I’ll be looking at the road so I won’t peek if you do look, and I’ll mind my business on it from here on out. Unless you do want to talk about it, or need help looking through it. Can’t be easy with the potential information inside there.”
“It’s not hard, murder charges in my family are hardly rare and if anything to not have one would make you the black sheep of the Addams. In fact, when your father first mentioned it I felt pride in the accusations, but I can’t imagine why my father would’ve done this and not told us about it. It would’ve made such a good bed time story too.” She sighs at the thought. “I already know whatever is in this file will only be the Pandora’s box to bigger questions I’m not in a state to find the answers to, which is guaranteed to drive me insane. In that case maybe I should open it, that would be quite an exciting way to go through a road trip.”
“I can help in answering any Jericho related questions, or my phone to help research anything. I don’t mean to push but I guess I’m a little curious myself. I’ve never seen my father react like that before and anything that gets him that mad I’m bound to love.” His eyes lingered away and towards her as his words trailed on, mooning at her like the deity had to them just hours before.
“What else has your father mentioned about my family?” She turns her body towards him slightly as she asks.
“Not much, the first I’d ever heard about them was when you were there. He didn’t really want to answer any of my questions about it after, no surprise there, which is why I took the file for you. He just kept telling me over and over again to stay away from you, that your family was bad people and you would be too. That I didn’t need another bad influence in my life.” He laughs at the last part, knowing they had both just proved his father right.
She knew his father disapproved of her but hearing about it brought another stirring inside her, elation at the anguish of everyone knowing and warning them both against each other. They were right, and he still chose to follow her.
“He was right about me.” She reiterates, a last chance if he wants to drop her off and turn around with his tail between his legs.
“I know.” He gives her that unnerving warm smile again, and the foreign warmth spreads within her as she sees it, a chill threatening to run down her spine from how cool his heat was. “Well I can keep running on the fumes I have for a few more hours but we’ll have to stop for a few minutes so I can eat. We can open the file together if you want? See if either of us get the answer to any family mysteries inside.”
Her eyes flicker down to take him all in, if she’d already gone this far there was little question of trust being an issue, and if there was she’d be quite the hypocrite for already going this far with him. “Fine, I could use one of my sandwiches soon anyway. Not sure how much we’ll truly find inside this though, looks like there’s only a few flimsy pages inside.”
Whatever had happened many people must’ve gone out of their way to cover it up, why else would neither of them have heard about something so crucial in Jericho and yet the file isn’t even filled?
"Sounds great. So, back to Uncle Fester’s music or are we in the mood for something else? If you want some real good torture I can play something off of my own playlists” His taste ranges on the opposite of hers, the type of elevator music she hates but his boot camp said would help soothe him to drown out the voice that screams inside him for freedom, and in all honesty it did.
They might have had more in common musically had they met the year before, her Uncle’s music not too much of a surprise to him compared to what he listened to through his own crisis. Filled with bitterness at everything and everyone around him but especially himself, his music reflected that as well, and to hear something with that same level of hatred that resides suppressed, buried within him was a weight off his chest.
But seeing her horrified reaction to his strummy guitar pop music might be better, and he was ever curious to see what could gain a reaction from the ever stoic Wednesday Addams.
“Play whatever you’d like, you are driving after all. I can only ask so much of you, but I get full veto rights on any song that must be skipped. And it turns off when I say.”
“You’re right, you can only ask so much.” He teases and mocks, his hand turns the volume to a low hum as music bounces between the walls of the car. It wasn’t as aggravatingly painful as Enid’s music, but it wasn’t nails on a chalkboard like she’d hoped either. It was a lot like him, or what he had seemed to be when they first met. Simple, safe, everything he still was yet it didn’t seem to fit him anymore. Not to Wednesday at least.
But the two let it hum between them, a comfortable silence as the sun rose before them, a golden light that blinded the Addams who had never cared to see a sunrise before.
She looked forward to the night, she dreaded each new morning and the garish light of the sun that took away all the fun that lied in the shadows. But watching it with him, that golden haze against his skin, his curls a halo above his head Wednesday wanted nothing more than to rip off, watch his face contort in shock with that pretty spotlike still shining right on him as she defiled the devout.
He was made for this light, and she could hear her own breath grow heavy into a quiet pant as she pictured what he’d look like with it as the black of her fingernails, her hairs, her eyes tore him apart.
The image was pure ecstasy, so much so she had to stop herself from allowing it to go any further and tempt her to actually make it a reality. She turns her head away from him and peers out her window instead, watching the view pass by in a blur as she tries to regulate her breathing and distract herself from her thoughts, the corner of her window being tinged with fog with each breath she takes.
“You okay over there?” Wednesday was austere both in attitude and physicality, it comes so naturally to her even her most hardened movements seem to glide with ease, but Tyler had never seen her without her posture wooden straight, much less curled into a corner.
“Yes, I just” She starts, taking a moment she usually never has to to think of her excuse, her vision followed by his voice still rattling her “am a little car sick. I’ll be fine soon so no bother, don’t mind me.”
His attention on her during an episode like this, one she never had before, was the last thing she needed as she grappled with what and why she was thinking such heavenly hellish perversions about him. Their proximity to each other became all the more prelevant to her as she realized they would continue to be stuck in this compromising position for who knows how long. There would be no privacy for her, no moment for Wednesday Addams apart from Tyler Galpin either a seat or merely a few feet away from her. This was something that should cause disgust to toil low inside her stomach, but the only disgust was at herself for the thrilling sensation it caused instead.
“We can pull over a little sooner to eat if you need, that might be the cause of it. When did you last eat?” A little after they had stopped to get the food she’d eaten her first sandwich, but that was hours ago and breakfast was coming upon them soon.
“Okay, maybe that will help.” Even if she’s hungering for something else, it’s better to sink her teeth into food instead of him.
He drives for a little while longer, still trying to get as much space between them and their long forgotten home as they can, hoping the further away they are the less they’ll be recognized. But he can feel his own hunger begin to grow as well, and he recalls a sign for a trucker stop a few miles ahead. Bathrooms, benches, and plenty of trees surround them for privacy. It’s the perfect place to manage to slip away for their morning stop before a days worth of running over again.
He grabs their bag of snacks with Wednesday now being the one that trails behind him following his path. He takes them to the furthest bench away from the rest, even if they’re all empty, still early enough before any families decide to pass through and any truckers present would prefer to mind their business just as much as these two.
It’s a old wooden bench and table, probably once had a deep brown shade or even painted a dark burgundy, but now it had been bleached by the sun and years of water damage leaving it an ash grey splintered and cracked throughout. A setting as romantic as this is the last thing Wednesday needs right now.
Even with two sides of seats on either side of the table the two sit next to each other, unwrapping their measly sandwiches at their sad attempt at a picnic. She brought the file out with them as they said they would, finally opening its pages for the first time for them both to see.
He’d never seen her father, or anyone from her family before. Her father’s mugshot at the same age Tyler was now being the first glimpse he got into her family other than the brief comments she’d sneak in.
Wednesday had always been compared to her mother but she always thought she looked more like her father, the photo of him only proves so and she couldn’t control the timid smile on her face looking back at his. A bloody nose, hair more disheveled than he’d usually allow, and that same grin she’d known her whole life pointed back at her.
It made her wonder why she ran away again, until her eyes catch notice of the bright red HOMICIDE stamp on the page, the reminder of her family's secrets creep up as her hostility did.
“You were right, there’s not much. I can hardly even read the handwriting.” Tyler points out, his fingers run against the blue ink on the old page tinted a yellow brown with time. He mouths the words he can make out without speaking them, but he still comes up short.
It does tell her the name of the victim, along with a short page on him with his image too just like her father's. Garrett Gates, a normie killed at a Nevermore school dance. One answer, one more question.
“He killed Garrett Gates?” Tyler cries out as he reads behind her, just as interested in the case as she is until he realizes he already held most of the answers, and they were why he had left with her to begin with.
“You know who that is?”
“His family was one of the founding ones of Jericho, one of the richest and oldest. Then in one fell swoop the last generation of the family all end up dying. Now there’s no more Crackstone or Gates legacy to be found.” He chokes the words out, wanting to flip the file shut and tear it apart, wanting the eyes of the Gates boy that resembles his sister to stop peering into his own calling him back home to her.
“And my father may have murdered him…how impressive.” She’d have plenty of questions for her father if they’re ever to reunite, but plenty of admiration to match.
“Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to talk about this while we’re eating.” The taste of the meat in his sandwich began to taste like something else entirely with murder on his mind, and even the idea of helping Wednesday isn’t enough to tame his memories that threaten to spill out.
Usually she’d push, persist now that they’d opened Pandora’s box they must play with all the demons inside, but the distant look in Tyler’s eyes and his once golden skin turning as pale as her own frightens her that she’d already pushed hard enough. She closes the file, pulling it to her side and away from him, replacing it with her sandwich she’d set aside. “Of course, we should eat and use the bathroom before we’re back on the road.”
They eat in silence, no longer a comfortable one but somehow even more tight and tense outside than in the confines of his car. He hates himself for his role in the destruction of it, the hindrance of their otherwise good conversation and the progress they’d made. But there would be no progress at all for him if he lost control, if she found out…
“I’m going to save the rest for later, not very hungry anymore.” He puts his half eaten sandwich alongside hers in their bag, his keys jangle against each other noisily as he shakes them anxiously in his hands and he tosses the food in the back seat. “I’ll be quick, meet you back here.”
They’re back on the road in minutes, the tension still present but dissipates as the drive goes on, but enough to continue to cause Wednesday significant discomfort the longer it went on.
“I’m sorry if I offended you earlier, I forget how squeamish other people can be.” She tries to salve at the situation, to return him to the rather annoying version that urges upon conversation with her than this silent shell.
“No, it’s fine. I offered after all, didn’t realize how sensitive I’d get.” He hates to lie to her, but he’d gotten enough practice it came so easily. “How are you after reading that about your dad?”
“Curious. I say a lot about my family but this just doesn’t seem like him.”
“It’s always pretty hard to find out just how much of a disappointment your father is.” He scoffs at the thought of his own, no idea the implications behind his statement nor the reaction it would bring.
“My father is no disappointment, if anything I only feel a further sense of pride if my father did do as it said. I have no shame in who my family is, especially him, I just don’t understand. And I hate feeling ignorant.” They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, and that seems to be true as the thought of her father leaves her yearning to hear his laugh even if it is just through her crystal ball. Apparently it only took another to insult her family to remind her how much she did begrudgingly love them.
Tyler hardly expected the tangent she went on, or the twinge of anger in her tone that gave more emotion than most of her words did. In all honesty, he thought their distrust of their families would be a bonding point between the two, but the difference in experiences was making itself clear as he could never imagine defending his own father with such fervor. “I’m jealous, I wish I could say the same about my own family. So why are you running away from them?”
“I’m not running away from them, I’m running away from Nevermore and everything everyone wants and expects me to be.” She sighs, having tried to explain this to so many people many times before and no one seemed to understand, instead reiterating she is nothing more than acting out like a regular whiny teenager. “And what’s so twisted about your family that leads you to feel envy for mine, after all we just read a police report about my father.”
“And what is that?” He starts, and releases his own sigh at the question of his family. “You’ve met my dad, does he seem like the kind of guy you’d want to live with? Nothing so twisted so much as…nothing at all. He’s hardly around and when he is I wish he wasn’t. He doesn’t want to talk and if he does it’s to berate me, and after the stunt I pulled last year it’s only been so much worse. I’m a prisoner in my own house half the time.”
“To follow in their footsteps, continue their grand legacy at Nevermore and fall in love, resign myself to a trite existence as a wife.” She says each word mockingly as if the idea of it was highly insulting. Wednesday had never been fond of law enforcement, and his father seemed the perfect example as to why. Funny, she’d rather have a murderer for a father than a man who puts them away. “What about your mother?”
“Well that doesn’t sound so bad, not all of it at least…” He trails looking over to her, one last moment of gentle cadence in his voice that had already taken a different drawl than usual at the topic of his father, but with the mention of his mother it’s a complete turn around. Along with his voice his mannerisms transform, his jaw clenches and tightens his whole face together as his breath grows heavy and hollow, those divine eyes metamorphize a dozen times. “She’s not around anymore. That’s part of the problem, part of what he refuses to talk about, part of everything.”
So this is what he had hidden, she could see it in the way he caged up, the way he transformed. Wednesday never knew her own family could be so well adjusted, nor how much not having that truly did affect someone otherwise perfect as Tyler Galpin. She’d never known the loss of a parent, and watching him she didn’t want to. “Well good thing we’re gone now, far away from him.”
That’s all he needs to relax, for the shackles around his limbs and mind to unlock and the weight on his chest to lift allowing him to breathe with ease. She’d already done better at understanding him, seeing him in relation to his family and soothing him for it than Dr. Kinbott had in their sessions for the past few months. But what stuck out the most that continues to ring through his head like a song as he drives, keeping that idiot smile stuck on his face was the we. Wednesday Addams had accepted him as her partner in crime, what they did they did together.