Nightmares

I close my eyes and I lean back into the leather seats of my brothers old Honda Accord. I try and block out the images flashing through my head; metal clashing with metal, red and blue lights flashing, and blood. So much blood. I hug my arms to my body as a wave of nausea crashes over me. It's been 5 months yet I'm still having flashbacks and waking up sweating and panting from nightmares.

"You ok Cass?" Andrew asks from the driver seat, nervously glancing my way.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I lie. I seem to be doing that a lot lately.

"Look, we're only 100 miles from Wells." My brother says gesturing to a sign on the side of the road. I look outside at the desert which is Nevada; brown tan ground, rocks, and a blue sky. Yup that's pretty much it. My brother and I are both from Austin, Nevada and after what happened in that small town, we'd thought it'd be best to move somewhere where no one knew us, where they wouldn't give us nervous glances or constantly give us gifts or money. We didn't seek their pity, we just wanted to be normal.

"Crap." Andrew mutters as the car gradually slows down to a halt.

"What's wrong-" I look over to see the gas meter glaring at me, silently declaring that the tank is empty.

"Crap." My brother repeats pushing on the gas pedal and smacking the steering wheel.

Looking out the window, I see a town in the distance with some buildings and houses.

"Look, we can walk to that town over there and see if they have a gas station." Andrew nods getting up out of the car and walking over to the trunk, I trail behind him.

"We have to carry our stuff, but it looks like it's only 2 miles or so." I sling my backpack over my shoulder and start walking alongside the road with Andrew behind me.

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Walking into the town, I notice it's very similar to Austin, if only a little bit bigger. There are small family owned dinners lining the brown dirt road that has a total of 5 cars driving down it. I also can't help but notice how people are looking at us and whispering to each other, I can only imagine what they'd be saying.

"They look a little young to be wandering on their own, don't they?"

"I bet they ran away from home."

"Maybe they're juvey kids."

"All I know is I'm not letting my kids near them."

It's always so refreshing to know how nice and nonjudgmental people are now days. Slowly Andrew reaches down and grabs my hand whispering in my ear.

"Ignore them, they're not worth it." It scares me a little that Andrew can tell what I'm thinking so easily,. he says that I'm easy to read even though I've spent so long trying not to be. Eventually, an auto repair shop with a gas station came into view, Andrew still holding my hand, we approach the shop. When we arrive, an old man greets us giving us a small toothy smile that crinkles his nose and he runs a hand through his sweaty gray hair.

"Welcome to Dave's auto repair and gas, I'm Dave how can I help you folks." I'm about to reply when Andrew jumps in.

"Our car broke down a couple miles out of town, and we were wondering how much a gallon of gas would cost for us to carry back and drive over here to fill it."

"Well, that depends what gas you need."

"Just regular, please."

"Hm well, that should amount to $3 for a gallon, I believe, and about $47 for a full tank."