In A Perfect World | Novella

Chapter Six

"What's wrong?" He asked as I shook the camera vigorously.

"Stupid thing got jammed," I tell him, gritting my teeth as I tried to unstuck the shutter button. Not that I needed it anymore since I've taken the photos that I needed.

"Here, let me," he offered his hand and I didn't hesitate to give him the damn thing. Frustrated by my own attempts at fixing things.

While he deals with that I looked around, noticing how it's getting dark. How the barren trees from the distance are starting to disappear into the night. The way the warmer breeze dropped some degrees and the dust and sand that was once in the air are starting to settle too. The skies are turning into a darker shade of blue than a bright flash - followed by some mechanical printing.

"Um," I raised a brow at James who stood with a mischievous grin as he handed me back my camera.

"Fixed it," he said, scrunching up his nose for a split second. Well, at least I can say he's got a pretty obvious tell.

"I think we should get going, you know before we get eaten by coyotes or something," Yeah and also, just in general, it is terrifying to be in the dark here in the canyons. This is how people die in movies.

"So do you just like sunsets that much?" He asked as we slid back into our seats and he restarted the car.

"I just like pretty things really, anything that catches the eye. I like to keep them in pictures."

"Hey, me too!" He said so enthusiastically that it made me giggle.

He starts backing up but as he did, the car shakes down and a very disturbing crackling noise rumbles beneath us. I turned to him with my brows furrowed, confused and frankly, scared. I find him staring back at me although his stare looks more like he just figured something out.

"Tell me we didn't just run over some poor fox or something cause I already have a plot in hell and I don't want to go deeper in it." I'm trying to make light of the situation.

"I don't think we could have ran over anything -" he said swiftly getting out of the car while he walked around it. I just observed, my heart pounding. The kind people have when they know they've done something wrong and now their mother found out but she's not exactly being straight about it. Now he stood by my window, sighing in disdain. " - Not with a flat tire."

I stiffen. Maybe it's the nerves, maybe it's the cold but I laughed. "You're fucking with me right?"

He stepped back, opening the door for me and I followed his gaze. Okay so, he isn't fucking with me. That tire is deflated and definitely isn't going anywhere.

"You've got a spare tire right? I mean you should, a car like this seems to be the kind that would have one," I fumble for any solution and he only runs a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, yeah I got one,"

"Thank God," I sighed.

Right about then he should've gotten to work right? Popped his trunk, took out his tools and his tire and got down and busy. Instead he only stood staring at me.

"W-what? If you can't change a tire I can I-"

"Yeah I got a spare tire." He walked to the back of the car but stopped next to the other tire, tapping his foot softly on the rubber. "It's right here,"

"Great,"

***

"Here, take this - are you okay?" He hands me a flashlight and I take it without question. But when I turn it on, its light can barely even touch a critter if it was coming at us. We are literally on a ridge separated by a few steel railing from falling to our deaths in the dark in the middle of nowhere.