Alex

She said, Kansas.

I said, home away from home, where are you headed?

She asked, here.

I said, I started laughing, that nervous kind of laugh you get when you don't have a handle on things that struck me as funny, but I was also horrified, where are you headed from?

She inquired, Ohio.

I said, I waited with bated breath, oh, this is but a bit to go still.

She said, a pulley.

Her response did not fit this time.

She shifted nervously in her stance and glanced back and forth.

at me a few times.

I looked at her, waiting slowly.

She put both of her hands on the edges of the tenter, grasping it tightly.

Her face looked sunken, and after, eyes grew wide, and she whispered, leaning forward.

Tutu, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.

I didn't know my feet could move so fast, but I bolted out of the building faster than I could say there's no place like home.

I could have been imagining it

but I swear I heard a faint aching as I was running to my car.

I don't remember seeing any people as I was sprinting.

Either I got in a car remembering that I was forced to stop for gas as I was almost on empty.

I sped to the next stage that pulled up to the pump and ran inside.