By Chance

ch 8

"It's getting dark." Gabriel says. "I know that." I say not meaning to sound so irritated. "What do we do?" I ask. He looks in the review mirror. "We lead him to your house and we definitely can't go back to the warehouse." He says crossing off options. "We can't lead him to my house. We could stop at a park. It's bright enough for people to see us and far away enough for him not to know where we live." He continues. "Ok." I say.

We pull into the parking lot of a park that u don't reconize. Pinic tables are scattered all over the grassy area. A small pavillion sits in the center. The black truck drives on behind us slowing down a little then pulling back onto the highway. "Where are we?" I ask. "No clue." He says. "Well that's reassuring." I mubble. "I can hear you." He says. "That's the point." I say. He shrugs. I lean my back against the seat and sigh.

"Do you want to get out and walk around since we're here?" He asks. "Yeah sure." I say opening my door. He gets out and walks beside on the sidewalk that lines the park. "How did it take you a year to realize I exist?" I ask. "I don't know, I was just talking with friends when they brought up the fact that Bethany had a sister." He says. "And you came right over to see if I knew anything. Wow, you must really care about her." I say. "Yeah, I'm only child so she's like the sister I never had." He says. "Yeah, it'd be fun to have someone that close to hangout with. Bethany was at parties all the time and my parents are rarely home. It's gets lonely." I say. Then shut myself up. I didn't mean to say that. He looks over at me. "Well we could hang out if you want to I mean it's not like I have anything to do, but I'm kind of boring-" "Are you kidding," I say cutting him off. "Today was the most eventful day I've had since Bethany left." I say. He laughs. I look at the bright orange sky as the sun sets on the water.

"Come on let's go it's get dark we need to drop you off." He says. I nod and follow him back to the car. We get on to the interstate back to my county. "We do you live?" I ask just out of curiosity. "A couple blocks away from you." He says. I nod looking out the window. I close my eyes. I'm almost asleep when a horn bares in my ear. I look behind us. A semi truck is blowing his horn at us. "What the heck." Gabriel says. "What did you do?" I say. "Nothing absolutely nothing. He's picking speed, and he's about to hit us. Okyou might want hold onto something." He says. He pulls into the median. The car jerks me in different directions. The semi wizes past us. Nearly clipping the side of the car. "Good grief." I say prying my hands from the dashboard. "You okay?" He asks. I nod. Cars speed past us without any gaps. "We're going to have a great time getting back onto the road." He says. I nod again. We sit in the median for ten minutes before a break in traffic comes. Gabriel speed back on to the road with few hesitations. I try to fall back asleep but I can't.

When we finally reach my house it's 9:00. "I want to go back to the factory." I say as we pull up my driveway. "No." He says. "I want to see if we missed anything." I say. "No, we'll figure out what to do tomorrow." He says stubbornly. "Fine." I sigh. I get out of the car. "Bye." I say. "Bye." He says.

He pulls out of the drive way only when I shut the front door behind me.