Abel
Rose still sleeps when I can’t. But I can’t find it in me to wake her up just because insomnia is kicking my ass.
I turn on the TV and flip to the nearest news channel.
And then my world is flipped upside down.
Rose’s face is on the screen, with a number to call. Though the television is muted, when her mother’s face pops up, I know we’re fucked. I turn the volume up just a little.
They’ve traced the car back to her mother. They found the cop car. They’re even pinning what they’ve dubbed “The Halloween Shoot-Out” on her. The reporter continues to urge anyone who might have information to call the hotline number. And not only does she say it, but it is scrolling along the bottom of the screen. Before she’s finished, I’ve memorized the fucking number without even attempting to.
The reporter never mentions my name.
Suddenly, I’m a flurry of activity, picking things up and throwing them into the bags we’d just taken them out of.
“Why are you packing?” Rose’s groggy voice cuts through my internal chaos.
I stop and stare at her with wide eyes. “We need to get the hell out of here.” I gesture toward the TV.
“There’s no need?—”
“No. No! I’m done listening to you right now. I know a thing or two about surviving and if we keep doing whatever the fuck you want, we’ll end up walking right back into Silverwing.” I drop the clothes in my hands and take the few steps separating us.
Her face is in my hands and I look at her, not blinking. When I press my lips to hers, hard, she opens her mouth to my coaxing but I pull away before it can turn into anything more.
“I fucking love you,” I tell her. “I have nothing but that. It’s the most valuable thing I’ll ever have. All I can do is tell you that I’m yours. I’m fucking yours and it’s gonna be just you and me for a while. Sometimes you’ll have to listen to me because we’re partners. You’re my equal.” I grin, not minding how crazy all of this sounds. “Hell, most days you’re the fucking boss and I’m just here to do whatever it is you want. But sometimes you need to listen to me. You got me?”
She nods and I’m not sure what comes next, where we’ll go next. But I’m ready to go wherever she does.
“You curse so much. I know you’re smart but nobody else would.” Her words sting, and she smiles. “Let them underestimate you.”
She gets in the shower as I finish packing.
I’m placing everything by the door when I hear a knock. I hesitate because what the fuck? Who would be coming to see us?
“Who is it?” I ask, attempting to deepen my voice. I’d let Rose bring the gun in, not wanting to touch that shit again after last night and now I have no idea where she put it.
“It’s the manager.”
I open the door a crack and meet a pair of stern brown eyes.
“Sir, open the door.”
“What for? We’ve paid, same as everyone else, for some privacy.”
“Yeah, well, we were tipped off that there may be a suspect wanted for murder in the area, so we’re taking a look.”
I squint a little in response.
She places her hand on the door. “You either let me in, or the police will be called.”
I sigh as I open it, praying Rose stays quiet and inside the bathroom.
“You the only one in here?”
I nod as she eyes our things.
“Looks like you’re all packed and ready to go.”
“At a moment’s notice, not that it’s any of your concern. We done here?”
The manager looks around once more with a nod before heading toward the door.
And just as we’re almost in the clear, Rose steps out of the bathroom in a towel.
The woman takes one look at her and her eyes look like they’re about to pop out of her damn head.
I slam our door shut and before I can think, I’m yanking the motel manager to me and holding my hand over her mouth. Rose jumps over the bed and reaches in my jacket for my knife. And before I can talk her into or out of anything, she’s stabbing the woman over and over, so many times that her blood is now covering Rose’s towel.
I call her name, but she doesn’t stop.
And so I make a dumb as shit decision and hold my hand up.
Hot pain shoots up my arm all the way to my goddamn elbow and straight to my shoulder as the knife slices into my palm. Only when I grunt does Rose stop thrashing and really fucking look at me.
Blood is already dripping down to the floor, making these little splatters that I can’t stop staring at. But I manage to look her in the eye somehow and she’s staring at me strangely, her lips parted a little, eyes wide as fuck.
She grabs my injured hand, not giving a shit about all the blood. “No,” she whispers before yelling, “No!”
She’s about to hit the floor but I toss the dead woman aside and grab her. There’s so much fucking blood. It’s everywhere.
“I never wanted to hurt you,” she sobs.
“I know, baby.” I rock her in my arms for a moment before trying to lift her but she’s inconsolable.
And then I hear it.
The sound of our end.
Sirens wail in the distance as I try to pick Rose up to carry her. But she’s clawing at me, jerking her body away from me, moaning words that I can’t understand as tears fill my eyes.
“Rose, they’re going to fucking kill us.”
She drops to the floor, determined to stay in this room.
The sirens make it so hard to hear her words but by the third time, I know what she’s telling me.
“You have to kill me.”
I shake my head, one quick jerk to get her to shut the fuck up so I can think.
I can’t think when she says that shit.
Like I can live in this fucking world without her?
“,” she shouts before grabbing my head between her hands. “You take that gun and you blow my brains out or I’ll do it myself.”
“No,” I say before pulling away from her. “Bring me the fucking gun, Rose.” I hold my hand out.
But she scoots away, putting space between us like I won’t just grab her again.
And I do, yanking her against me and breathing hard. “Stop it! Stop it!” I grind out as she fights me. “Trust me! For God’s sake can you just try to trust me? I can fix this. I can make this go away!”
She shakes her head and runs into the closet. I’m trying to pull it open but she’s fighting so hard.
And I know. She had to have put the gun in there.
“Rose,” I scream. “Rose, baby. Don’t do this!”
I hear footsteps outside the door. My knees almost buckle at the sound of them. I finally get the door open and Rose has the gun in her hand, aimed at the ceiling, tears running down her beautiful face.
“Say goodbye,” she says.
A small smile touches her lips for a moment as I rush toward her.
But she brings the gun to her temple just as the sound of the door being knocked from its hinges makes me jump.
I look away from her for just a moment as they rush in, guns up and shields protecting them from us. The bullets aren’t for these fuckers. Not when she plans on putting one in her brain. I’m turning to see her when I hear it.
Bang .
But I can’t look because I’m already being dragged out of the room.
I jerk awake, my chest heaving from the adrenaline running through me.
It felt so fucking real.
Am I going insane? Has my mind finally broken to the point where I’m living a dream as if it’s reality?
Rose sleeps beside me like she doesn’t have a care in the world.
But I can’t anymore, still sitting in bed trying to catch my breath. I’m tasked with making sure she’s safe and I can feel the walls closing in around us. I just pray we’re out of here in time.
It took some maneuvering last night when she fell asleep, but I have a plan now. If it goes off without a hitch, no one will ever find us.
And if they do, they won’t be able to touch us. I made sure of it.
There’s a knock at the door, earlier than I was prepared for, but I jump out of bed, ready to change our lives.
When I glance back at Rose before heading to the door, she’s adjusted, her fist under her hand with her pretty lips puffed out.
I pull the door open and am surprised by my reaction. Warm familiarity. Nothing really surprises me anymore.
Except Rose.
“Long time, no see,” that familiar, annoying ass voice says. He pushes his glasses up his nose, glancing behind him before stepping over the threshold and into our room.
“Doc,” I greet him with a tilt of my chin.
“I’m glad you called,” he starts, setting the bag he carried down on the nearby table. He looks around the room, taking everything in before his gaze lands on Rose. “I figured you couldn’t sustain anymore, as is.”
At the sound of his words, disappointment squeezes my chest a little. I’m supposed to take care of her and I couldn’t. So I had to call the one person Rose fears to help us.
Because whether she’ll acknowledge it or not, she’s terrified of the power this man has. Scared enough to want to kill herself to avoid Silverwing ever again.
“Do you have everything?” I ask, turning my back to him to grab a t-shirt and sweats. “We need to get going soon.”
“?” I hear her sweet voice call out and I turn back in time to catch her eyes roving the room, half-asleep, before landing on Dr. Brown.
And before I can utter a word, she hops out of bed in my t-shirt and underwear, her hands held out.
“Why is he here, ? Why did you do this?!” She’s frantic and I want to explain but Doc speaks first.
“You’re coming with me,” he answers, looking between us. “You both are.”
She rushes over to the closet door and my brain clicks, putting the pieces of this scene together as I run over to stop her.
But she’s got the upper hand, the gun now in her hold.
“Rose,” I try to say, reaching for the gun but she jerks away, aiming it at me for a moment. “You don’t understand. Put the fucking gun down!”
“How could you?” She yells, her chin trembling as she regards me. “I’ll kill us all before I go with him.”
“Rose—” Dr. Brown begins but she aims the gun at him now.
“He has passports for us! We’re going with him because we can’t risk driving through the border with either of your parents’ cars,” I rush out, moving forward to yank the gun from her hold. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner but you’re not the easiest to reason with sometimes.”
I gesture toward the gun in my opposite hand before turning the safety back on.
At least she didn’t shoot first.
As if Dr. Brown has the same thought, he looks at her with a slight tilt of his head, but remaining right where he is.
“Do you remember what you finally shared with, Rose? Right before you left us?”
His words are quiet and she sits on the bed with a huff, her anger always making her tired once the feeling fades.
“I told you about my mother,” she murmurs her response, fatigue back in her voice. “I told you what she did to me. How I ended up at Silverwing.”
I’m witnessing something here but I choose to gather our things, shoving them into bags because I know we’re running out of time.
“I may be more similar to you than you think,” he tells her and I look back in time to see him sitting on the bed now. “Because once I knew you were gone, I couldn’t bear to see your two lives ruined when I knew you both were there due to unfair circumstances anyway.”
I toss clean clothes over to Rose, determined to get us moving, even as they both sit there like we have all the time in the fucking world.
?Que carajo!
He’s supposed to help me, not get us all caught.
“So I have passports with new identities, medication for to keep his hallucinations?—”
Rose’s gaze flicks my way and I close my eyes before pinching the bridge of my nose. Because she and I hadn’t discussed my ailments and now I feel like a pendejo. The rest of his words fade as she stares at me, her bottom lip poking out in her disappointment.
“We need to go,” I interrupt him, gathering our bags, determined to exist in a reality where my nightmare doesn’t come true.
It can’t.
Rose enters the restroom, taking her clothes with her and I’m left with Joe Brown. Fucking snitch.
“She didn’t know,” he says and I shake my head, not wanting to engage. After the crazy ass dream I had, I don’t need any heavy conversations, any therapy bullshit.
I just need to get us out of here.
“Where’s your car?” I grab our bags, holding them up until he tells me it’s the black one right outside. Before he can say anything else, I walk out.