The water and stones under the horizon 2/2

Beth smiled. “All the way”.

The car ran smoothly, and the road was clear and summer was in its late days and weeks. Green farmland and open space greeted the wandering eyes across the plane under the horizon without any end imaginable. “It could not be more different from home, right?”. Beth put her hand gently onto his neck and let the tips of her fingernails dance on Erich’s skin. It normally calmed him down. “There is more space to live, you’re right. No more dusty bedrooms in the cities of ash. We will have a land for us to live on”. Erich nodded again and then swallowed. “And your uncle? Will he just let us be or do we have to … pay him back?”. Beth quickly moved her hand back and stared out the window. Erich noticed that she did not want to look at him. She always did when she lied to him but never when she had something hard and honest to say. At this moment, he would have rather liked getting lied to. “He will send us a message once we are in Boston. He has family there”. Again, Erich just nodded and did not say anything. The smell of blood reappeared deep within his nostrils and he grabbed the steering wheel a bit tighter. “You know, all the golden skyscrapers in his city cast a long shadow”, Beth explained. “Maybe the money at the Wall Street is fine but all the money in the rest of the city is sure red as blood… But it’s still the only money we have”. Her voice got more tense and a slight tremble emerged in it. Erich exhaled, letting a heavy breath slowly escape through his nose to wash out the smell that still lingered within. Then he let go of the wheel with his right hand and reached for Beths thigh. She had lost weight, he noticed. Not really weight she could afford to lose much of. After a moment of hesitation, she laid her hand onto his scarred one. Feeling the little hills and ravines on his skin that the war had given to him. She never called them scars anyway. She barely saw them anymore. Erich’s eyes were still focused on the road ahead while his mind wandered back to the salty air of the ocean they came across and the water and the stones under the horizon which greeted them into their new life in America. “We will be fine”, Erich said finally, pushing away the memories of acts he had committed to be here now.