No Way Out

Running from the Law

The next day, Shay woke up with a gnawing sense of dread, the kind that seeps into your bones and refuses to leave. She had made a colossal mistake, and not the kind of mistake you can shrug off with an "oops." No, this was the type that could derail her life permanently. She should've listened to that voice in her head that told her Keisha's plan was reckless. Instead, she'd been caught in the aftermath of what was probably the dumbest car "borrowing" scheme in history.

Sitting at her kitchen table, Shay stared blankly at her phone, the screen glowing with a text from Trey. It was short, ominous, and hit her like a punch to the gut.

Trey: We got a problem.

Shay's stomach sank. She didn't need details to know exactly what kind of problem they were dealing with. The Civic they'd "borrowed" last night? Yeah, turns out it wasn't Trey's ex-girlfriend's car after all. Nope. It belonged to someone way worse. The kind of person whose name carried weight in the streets—someone who didn't call the cops because they were the law in their part of the city.

Her heart raced as she stared at the message, dread pooling in her chest. Shay didn't know what to do next. Keisha had dragged her into this mess, but now they were both standing at the edge of something dangerous—something with no easy way out.

Before Shay could even respond to Trey, her phone buzzed again. This time, it was Keisha.

Keisha: Girl, I heard about the car. We gotta move.

Shay blinked at the screen. Move? Move where? She wasn't about to go on the run. That wasn't her. But the way Keisha was talking made it sound like they were about to dive headfirst into a situation way out of their depth. She quickly typed back:

Shay: What did you hear? Whose car was it?

The three little dots appeared, showing Keisha was typing. Shay's heart pounded, waiting for the response. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, a feeling that whatever Keisha was about to say wasn't going to make anything better.

Keisha: Not Trey's ex. The car belongs to Rico.

Shay's eyes widened, her entire body going cold. Rico. Not just any street-level thug—Rico. The same Rico who ran half the city's underworld, the one people didn't mess with unless they had a death wish. The same guy who was rumored to have made people disappear for a lot less than stealing his car. Suddenly, the Civic wasn't just a beat-up vehicle; it was a bomb waiting to go off in their faces.

Her hands shook as she texted back, her thoughts spiraling.

Shay: What the hell do we do?

Keisha responded almost immediately, but the answer was about as comforting as a slap in the face.

Keisha: We gotta run.

When Shay finally met up with Keisha later that day, her nerves were shot. Her mind had been racing since she'd found out whose car they'd stolen, and every possible outcome ended in disaster. But Keisha? She was calm. Too calm for someone who had just dragged them into the crosshairs of one of the most dangerous men in the city.

Keisha tossed a backpack into Shay's arms the second she walked through the door. "You ready to move?" she asked, like they were about to go on a road trip instead of fleeing from a crime lord.

Shay stared at the bag, her voice edged with panic. "Move where, Keisha? What are we even doing? We're not exactly cut out for this life! You understand we stole a car from Rico, right? Rico! We're not talking about your little hood schemes anymore."

Keisha raised an eyebrow, unfazed. "I know exactly who we stole from, Shay. But sitting here panicking isn't gonna help us. We need to stay ahead of him."

Shay threw her hands up, pacing the room. "Stay ahead of him? Rico runs this city! There is no staying ahead! We're not in some movie where we can just disappear for a few days and everything will blow over. We messed up big."

Keisha crossed her arms, looking more irritated than worried. "You think I don't know that? I get it. This is bad. But I've got a plan."

Shay shot her a look, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Oh, great. Another plan. Your last one got us into this mess."

Keisha rolled her eyes. "I'll admit, I might've miscalculated. But this time, I've thought it through. We lay low for a couple of days, stash the car somewhere no one will find it, and let Trey handle Rico. It's his problem now."

Shay's jaw dropped. "Wait, so now you're just throwing Trey under the bus? What happened to loyalty?"

Keisha shrugged, her voice as cold as the fear gnawing at Shay's insides. "Loyalty doesn't matter if we're dead, Shay. This is about survival."

Later that night, Shay found herself sitting in the stolen Civic, parked in a shadowy corner of an abandoned lot on the outskirts of the city. The air was heavy with tension, the kind that clung to your skin and made it hard to breathe. Everything had escalated so quickly, from tutoring sessions and side hustles to running from a man who could end them with a snap of his fingers.

Keisha was sitting in the passenger seat, scrolling through her phone like they weren't in the middle of a crisis. Shay, on the other hand, was gripping the steering wheel so tight her knuckles had turned white.

"We'll ditch the car here," Keisha said, her voice casual, like they were just dropping off groceries. "Trey'll handle it, and we'll be fine."

Shay stared out into the darkness, her voice tight with fear. "Keisha... what if Rico finds out it was us?"

Keisha paused for a moment, then looked over, her expression unusually serious. "Then we run. Simple as that."

"Simple?" Shay shook her head, her voice rising. "Keisha, nothing about this is simple! We crossed a man who doesn't forgive. We can't just disappear."

For the first time, Keisha seemed to waver. She let out a long sigh, sinking into the seat. "Yeah, I know. I messed up. But what else are we gonna do? We don't have a choice now. We leave the car, stay out of sight, and hope Trey can smooth things over."

Shay nodded, though deep down, she knew that wouldn't be enough. Rico wasn't the kind of guy you "hoped" to avoid. He was the kind of guy you prayed didn't know your name. As they stepped out of the car and prepared to leave it behind, Shay's heart raced with the knowledge that this wasn't the end. It was only the beginning of something much worse.

They weren't just running from a stolen car anymore. They were running from Rico. And she had a sinking feeling there was nowhere far enough to hide.