Chapter 40 - Reboot Required

Lucy couldn't feel her hands. Not from fear—though that was certainly a cold, creeping sensation in the pit of her stomach—but because she'd been gripping the steering wheel of Cole's beat-up Civic for the last three hours without letting go. The car, a faithful but somewhat rusty companion, smelled faintly of stale coffee and faint traces of their shared adventures. She hadn't meant to drive this far, the odometer ticking steadily higher as the city lights receded into a shimmering haze. But once she got past city limits, once the dense urban sprawl gave way to open highways and rolling hills, something had shifted within her. It was as if distance could somehow untangle truth, as if the physical act of driving away could create the mental space needed to process the unimaginable.