Imprisoned

chapter 8

The next 48 hours were hell.

We ran out the back Door straight for the woods, I had John and Kisha's son in my arms and his pounds were starting to become to much for me to handle. We had made it nearly a mile when Dwayne slammed to a stop in front of me.
"What's wrong?!" I questioned before coming to the relization that we had reached the edge of a cliff.
"FUCK." I sat the boy down and started pacing, it wouldn't be long before the police found out that we had made it out alive, and then they would come looking for us.

That's when I heard another gunshot.
"I spot them, move! Move! Move!"

We were surrounded.

I peaked over the edge of the cliff, staring down at the 100 foot drop before the water below. My heart was racing as I replayed Johns final words in my mind;
"I promised." I whispered before grabbing onto Dwayne tightly and backing off of the cliff. We were dropping 10 feet through the air per second, it wasn't enough time, there was so much more I wanted to tell him.

I did manage to say one thing in the half a second i had left with Dwayne, "I love you, too."

The Arctic waters crashed against my body, pulling me under the waves. My skin was stinging as I struggled to get to the surface, I was carrying both mine and Dwayne's weight, and my legs were beginning to feel numb from the shocking temperature of the November stream. But somehow I managed to pull myself up, as I gasped for air
"Dwayne!" I shook him trying to get a response "Dwayne!"
Still nothing. "Oh my god please Dwayne, wakeup."

I began to tremble at the thought of losing him, wondering how long it would be before they found me once I didn't have Dwayne's help. Just when I started to panic Dwayne woke up in a coughing storm "Are you okay?" I asked concerned, "Yeah, I'll be fine." Dwayne managed to squeeze out between coughs "We need to get out of here before we get sick, Marie." I pointed towards a narrow pathway beside the water and headed toward it.

I felt so weak as I struggled to lift myself up onto the rocks, Dwayne was right behind me attempting to help, but ultimately failing. Once I was finally on land I rolled over on my back, struggling to breath, as tears began to roll down my cheeks.

...

After resting for a few minutes Dwayne and I walked the rest of the way until we reached solid land; barely speaking to each other, but exchanging tired expressions often. I found myself asleep with my head on Dwayne's chest laying behind a dumpster in McDonald's parking lot about 3 miles down the road. How romantic.

It wasn't but a few hours before Dwayne and I were back on the road in a stolen Honda from a quick trip parking lot a couple blocks down. We didn't communicate much for the first few hours of the drive until a news announcement broke the silence

"Johnathan Richards, 38, was killed by police in a hostage situation gone wrong late last night. Marie and Dwayne were in Richards residents when the police arrived, after hearing reports of a crashed chevy truck matching the description of the one that Dwayne and Marie had been seen leaving the gas station in; the authorities had reason to believe that the Richards family was in danger. Johnathan's wife and kids were later located unharmed just a couple miles away from their house. The authorities also managed to get a lead on a man matching Armando Perez's description in Michigan, there is no further information on that at the moment. Authorities would like to put out a reminder that all the escaped convicts are considered highly dangerous, and likely armed. If you have any information on any of the 5 escaped convicts please notify police. We'll keep you posted."

I stared at Dwayne as his cheeks blushed to bright red and his eyes started to tear up, "DAMN IT! I never wanted this, Marie!" His screaming was giving me a headache, but I tried to ignore it "They have leads on Armando, how long till they find us, huh? I don't know about you but I don't wanna go back to prison!" His voice had rose and he was becoming inraged "I just want out of this!"

I spent a long time trying to figure out what exactly that meant, out of this, out of what? We're already out of prison, what else could he want out of, "What does that even mean?" My words hung in the air for a long time, I waited hours until I finally got my response "We're almost there." He mumbled, as I looked up in awe nonbelieving of where he was taking me. "Just one more thing, he said pulling into a gas station across the road, and going inside.

DWAYNE'S POV:
As I walked into the gas station I was shaking tremendously "G-Gas on pump 3." I stammered out handing the clerk a 20. Everybody was staring at me and they all new, but I hadn't done anything wrong yet, if I was going back to prison, there was gonna be a better cause this time. I leaped over the counter, the clerk trying to outsmart me by drawing out his gun, he aimed it right at me, his finger on the trigger showing no signs of turning back, he pulled it.

MARIES POV:
We're the hell was Dwayne at? He was taking far to long to pay for gas, and I was starting to get anxcious. Had they recognized him? Ofcoarse they had, by now every person in the world has seen Dwayne and my face more than once. "Bang!" Shots had been fired.

DWAYNE'S POV:
It jammed. Unsure of what to do I grabbed the gun and pointed it at the old man behind the register, then at all the witnesses, as one went to pounce on me, but I dodged him, throwing him to the floor. My aim switched to him, cellphone in hand, 911 on the screen, "I hope you understand, that- that I have to do this, that I'm not the monster they portray me as, that - that I made a promise." I pulled the trigger, shooting the boy in the left leg, so he couldnt attack me again. There was only one other person in the store, a little girl, no older than 5 crying underneath a table"You'll be fine, kid, I won't hurt you." I said, remembering all the news reports that said differently, "Hit call." I yelled to the boy I had shot.

MARIES POV:
Dwayne came running out the door, gun in hand, as my heart dropped, he couldn't actually kill somebody, could he? "We have to go, NOW." He got in the car and zoomed into none other than the airport parking lot. As we walked up to the counter we tried to look as casual as possible "Two tickets please." Dwayne ordered
"Where to?"
"Wherevers leaving right now." Dwayne responded sounding a bit suspicious and looking over his shoulder every few seconds "I got Michigan at 3:15, and Mexico at 3:25." The lady announced, as I looked at the wall clock to see it was already 3:10.

"We'll take Michigan." Dwayne said as he anxiously fiddled with his thumbs. Why Michigan ? It didn't make sense, I thought we wanted to cross the boarder.

I handed the lady the money and took the tickets as we quickly boarded the plain that was to leave in just 5 minutes.

Small talk was exchanged between us once we were on the plain. I was rather terrified of planes, but tried to act natural.
"I hate airplanes." Dwayne mumbled under his breath
"Me too. I feel like I'm gonna be sick." I replied, gripping tightly to Dwayne's hand as we lifted off the ground.

It was 4 hours until we got off the plane that landed in Michigan. My legs were stiff and my ears were popping as I made my way towards the exit of the airport. I had made it past the first door and was almost to the second when a voice from the past called out, "Don't even think about walking out that door Ms.Wate."