Rose
Abel is pacing, mumbling to himself. I wonder if the officer is bleeding out from the bullet I put in his stomach. I tried to aim where there were no vital organs, but you can never tell with these things.
“He isn’t dead but that could change if we don’t do anything,” I say, finally coming to my senses.
Abel stops his pacing and looks at the officer. I try not to smile as he pinches his lips between his fingers because he’s just so handsome, but I fail.
And when Abel looks at me, I worry he’ll find my smile odd. This isn’t the time to smile and yet when he’s around, I can’t help it.
“I have no idea what the fuck we’re gonna do,” he whispers, lifting his hands before slapping them against his thighs.
Does he think I’m not capable of grasping the situation in its entirety? “We have to get rid of the patrol car. Afterward, call the emergency number and tell them there’s an injured officer at this location. I don’t know if he called this car in, so we’ll need a new means of transportation.” My brain is trying to sort out all the pieces in front of me and it’s like my genius has finally returned.
Abel doesn’t answer me about any of it. Instead, he whispers, “I hope to fucking God he doesn’t have a dash-cam.”
He heads toward the driver’s side of the cruiser and when he sticks his head inside, I nearly pray.
But religion and faith are for people who need something to blame when things go sour, as are destiny and fate.
“I don’t see any cameras,” he announces before sticking his head back in the vehicle. “But we need to move quickly before anyone driving by gets curious.”
Though, if there are such forces, they’re smiling down on us now.
I grab the gun and stand, waiting for Abel to join me so we can figure out what we’re going to do next. I’m putting the gun in my waistband when Abel approaches me.
“He probably called it in and gave them your license plate number. And he’ll remember your face,” he says as soon as he joins me, and I pause my securing of the weapon.
I glance past Abel at the officer on the ground.
I don’t kill people who don’t deserve it. But I will kill someone who threatens my freedom. My freedom with Abel.
I step around Abel and approach the man who happens to look like he’s sleeping. He has no idea what’s going on. If only he could remain in that blissfully unaware state.
But he won’t. He’ll wake up and he won’t stop until I’m back at Silverwing. In my anxiousness, I am a fortune teller.
I tilt my head and close one eye before lifting the gun and flicking the safety switch.
A squeeze of the trigger and now we don’t need to be afraid anymore.
I hear coughing behind me followed by spitting. I’m not afraid to do whatever I have to do to keep us together.
Don’t you see what I do for us?
I want to ask Abel if he sees how much I love him. I want him to know, without a shadow of a doubt that this death was for us. I pulled the trigger with our love in my heart. I would kill anyone that threatens our future together. Anyone who hurts him. I’d kill anyone.
I’m tucking the gun in my waistband again when I look at Abel.
And it’s like I’m right back at the beginning. I couldn’t read him then. And I can’t read him now, no matter how hard I try.