Blades

14 (New)

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...

           Cherish taps the wheel rapidly as she drives down the dark road. It's already been two hours and no sign of Xamani. Cherish was extremely worried. She didn't know if the girl was dead or alive and that's what scared her most. Her intuition wasn't doing anything for her resulting in her stomach feeling like it was twisted up in horrible knots.

          "Come on. Where are you, Mani?" Her eyes swiftly ran along the sides of the road. She was using her GPS to keep herself within the perimeter of the orphanage but with no sight of the girl, she was thinking about going out farther. "I hope you're okay, girl. You're scaring me," she mumbles.

           Eight hours later...
                        4:03 A.M.

          Still, on the road, Cherish struggles to keep her eyes open as her hands loosely held the steering wheel. She really hadn't thought her plan through, but she didn't think Xamani would run away! If she would've known this she would've slept in so that she would be fully alert for this crisis. She comes to a red light and internally sighs, laying her head on the wheel. She just needed a few seconds to shut her eyes and she'd be alright.

         A sudden honk blares and she jumps, hitting her head on the roof of the car.

          "Ow!" She rubs the spot before another honk emits. "Okay, I'm going!"

           She needed some candy and coffee. Bad. A nap would be better but she didn't want to stop one second. Her eyes slowly begin to close again and her body starts to shut down. She didn't fight the urge to let the darkness consume her. A car urgently honks at her and she jerks awake, instantly being blinded by someone's headlights. "Oh, shoot!" She swerves into her lane before slamming on the brakes. Maybe she needed to reconsider that nap.

----

          A knock on her window startles her awake. The sun pierces her eyes as she becomes aware of the cop standing above her.

          She rolls down her window. "Yes, officer?" Her voice was groggy.

         "You are aware that it is illegal to sleep in your car whilst in the middle of the road, correct?"

         "In the middle of the road-What?" Cherish looks ahead. "Oh..." She was in fact still on the road though she thought she pulled over. She looks back at the officer, scratching her head.

          He raises his eyebrows. "License and registration?"

          She gives it to him with no hesitation and he walks back to his cop car. Not long after he comes back with a ticket.

           "A ticket?! Seriously sir? This was an honest mistake."

          "Sleeping in the middle of the road isn't an honest mistake. It's a crime."

          "But no one was hurt."

           "Ma'am, I'm not about to go back and forth with you. Pay the ticket off or go to court. Your choice. Have a good one."

          Cherish looks at her ticket as he speeds off. She huffs, throwing it to the floor before closing her eyes. "Okay, Cherish. It's alright. Don't get all riled up." She takes a deep breath before nodding. "It's no big deal." She opens her eyes and then starts her car. The tank is close to E. She presses the home button on her phone but the battery logo shows up. "This is just great. First, I got a ticket, my phone is dead, and I don't know where I am." She looks around before beginning down the road, hoping she'll find a gas station.