Catching Red

Catching Red:20

I open my eyes to see the sun rays rising over the horizon. I yawn as I stretch my body. I look out and saw barren fields. I look over at Carlos.

"Where are we?" I ask him.

"We're going somewhere safe" he said.

I nod and jump as his phone rings. He look down at the caller I.D.

"Damn" he whisper.

He place the Bluetooth piece in his ear. I watch as he press a button on it. Blue light flash.

"What" he said.

"Yeah" he said.

I scrunch my eyes as I try to strain to hear who was on the other end of the call. I turn toward his knuckles as he clutch the steering wheel tighter. I lean over and place my hand on his tight knuckle. He jump and turn toward me. He place his finger on mom ring.

"I'll call you later G." he said.

He hang up and release the tight grip from the steering wheel.

"Why are you wearing her ring?" he ask me.

"I feel closer to her" I said.

"Why would you wear something that brought the saddest moments?" he ask me.

I shook my head. "They weren't always sad, there was happy times too"

He snort. "I remember more sad times than happy moments"

I sigh. "Carlos stop staying in the past and move onto now and our future"

"How can we? When we're still stuck in the past" he spat.

"Look we're fre-

"We are fucking not free Angelica! We are on the run for our lives"

I calm down my nerves. "Can't we just enjoy this moment right now Carlos?"

He sigh.

We stay quiet as he drove on and pass barren mile long fields. I look up as the sun descend. I look up to see a sign that said Welcome to Tovveyy. We pass the sign. Ten minutes later we enter a rural town. There were a minute appearances on the dirt path road. Up ahead I can see a faint red metal sign on top of a diner.

Carlos pull over and park on the edge of the diner. I exit the car as he place his gun in his jeans. I walk over to his side.

"Always be prepared and ready Angel you don't know what could happen" he said.

"Go get your gun, I'll be inside" he said.

Before I can say anything. He walk in. I open the passenger door and grab my Sauer from the glove compartment. I remove the scatter paper from it. I place my gun on safety mode. As I stretch my bra strap the image of a swing caught my attention. I look down to see the paper I drop from the compartment. I bend down and stare at the picture. My eyes widen.

The picture is of me at the park. This was taken last week. I look in the compartment to see more images of me. Why do Carlos have these? Is he the one that has been sending me those texts? Has he been following me? I jump as a vibration commence. I look in the middle section of the seats to see Carlos phone ringing. I reach over to see who it was.

I jump as knocking commence on the window. I turn around slowly as my heart races. I breathe a sigh of relief to see it was a lady. I place all he papers in the glove compartment. I adjusted my bra strap and my shirt to conceal the firearm. I exit the car.

"Are you alright dear?" she ask me.

She looks to be around in her mid-40's her hair was back with strands of brown mix. Her had eyes are a cloudy gray. Her skin was light brown.

"Yes I'm fine I was just looking for my car keys" I lied.

"Oh okay I was worried because you were in the car for an awfully long time" she said.

My eyes widen. "I didn't realize"

I turn to back to the diner to see Carlos nowhere to be seen. Where is he? I look around to see his figure anywhere. I jump as a hand latch on my shoulder. I turn around and breathe a sigh of relief at Carlos.

"Where were you?" he ask me.

"I was talking to this....." I turn around to find the lady gone.

"Anyway I bag your food it's time to go, you can eat in the car" he said.

My eyes widen. Already?

"Did you eat?" I ask him.

"Yeah I had a steak and potatoes, now come on" he said as he open the passenger door.

I enter in the car and grab my bag food. As we drove I peer in the bag. It was a burger and potatoes. I scrunch my eyes up in confusion.

"Why did you get me mashed potatoes?" I ask him.

"I was rushing and just got you that" he sigh as he rub his cheeks.

I frown. Burger and mashed potatoes did not go right to me.

I grab the container of mashed potatoes and peer at it. I saw a hint of yellow substance in it.

"What are these yellow things in the mash potatoes?" I ask him.

His eyes widen. "What yellow thing?" he quickly snatch the container out my hand. He peer at it. I wach as his Adam apple bob up and down. He looks nervous.

"Oh that's cheese" he said.

"Cheese?" I question him.

He roll his eyes. "Yeah just eat it"

"No hanks I'll just-

"Angelica! I wasted money on that you are going to eat it or do I have to force it down your throat!" he shouted.

I narrow my eyes at him. "Why are you getting so work up over potatoes Carlos?" I ask him.

"Because I didn't have any cash so I use my card" he sigh as he rub his cheeks.

I narrow my eyes at him. He's lying. He rub his cheek twice. He turn to me slowly.

"Why aren't you freaking out?" he ask me.

"Because I know you're going to protect me and you won't let anyone hurt me" that felt so bad coming out of my mouth.

He smiles. "You know I would do anything for my family"

I smile and look out at the stars as we drove on.

"You should eat to keep your strength I don't want to have to carry you or lose you too early" he said.

I nod and retrieve the burger from its wrapper. I took a bite into it.

"Great now I don't have to hear your hungry" Carlos said.

I frown. I don't remember burger having an after taste. I yawn as I felt my body shutting down. That's weird. I look at the clock on my watch. It's only 8 P.M. I blink my eyes a lot to not fall asleep. My body was shutting down. My eyes widen as I felt my arms dead.

"Carlos" I said quickly.

He smile as he turn toward me. I felt my eyes closing on their own. I felt myself quickly slipping.

"You know I would do anything for my family Sis" he said.

All I can see is darkness now.