Archer Diaries

Safe Haven

Fear has a way of toying with your mind, creating the worst possible visuals in your mind's eye. It eats you up slowly until you are caught in so deep, it becomes a reality. My fears have caught up with me. My reality is a maze of horrors and screams. I can no longer see her. She's fading fast and my race seems further as I get closer. The fog is becoming too thick to see anything and I'm ashamed to say I can't continue this race anymore. Cynical laughters fill the bleak air jeering and taunting at me. I promised unflinching devotion yet here I am caught in the bliss of madness I can't seem to shake. Wait...I can see her face in the distance. It's filled with distraught and disappointment. I can't look anymore. The shame is too much to bear, I failed her miserably... Alas, here spells my doom.

******
"Open up sir!" the voice from behind the door repeated. Mason was still caught in his thoughts. How did they find him so quickly. This wasn't how he envisaged it all and that made him pissed. He'd been stripped of his chance of redemption so quickly. A loud thunder clash reverted his eyes back to the door. The voice behind yelped, "Oh fuck! Just open the door already, please. I'm not the police. I was just messing wit'ya."

What the hell! he thought as his anger rose. He had a good mind to kill the bastard right then. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Please open the door. I'm getting drenched out here. Please..." he sensed desperation in his voice so he slid out of bed and open the door slightly. He watched the young drenched dude come into view. He looked a few years older and he was completely drenched. His dark hair was matted to his forehead and waterdrops fell from his long lashes. He smiled sheepishly and raised his hand when he saw Mason. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I just need help at least until the rain stops." There was something about his face that screamed good guy so Mason, against his better judgement, opened the door wider and allowed the soaked stranger inside.

"The bathroom's over there" Mason offered and stepped further away as the guy made puddle trails to the bathroom. He went back to the bed and pulled out his bag to grab some dry clothes for him. He then knocked on the door and offered him the clothes.

After what seemed like eternity for Mason, the dude finally walked out of the bathroom in the dry clothes . "Uhm...thanks again man! And...I'm sorry about the police earlier. I thought you might the open door faster that way..." he watched the uninterested look on Mason's face and realised he was being foolish. He hadn't introduced himself yet. "I'm Antoine by the way." he had stretched out his arm. Mason looked from his face to his hand and back to his face again.

"Mason" he replied accepting his handshake.

"Glad to make your acquaintance."

"Yeah!"

"I'm guessing you're not from around here..." he stated taking a seat in the single couch across him

Feeling apprehensive, he moved further away, "How did you know that?"

Antoine chuckled softly, "You just don't look from here. Besides if you did, you wouldn't be in this motel."

"Why?"

"Oh I'm just saying... So where are you headed, if I may ask?"

"Nowhere..."

"It's fine. I understand you wouldn't want to tell..."

Mason shook his head, "No, it's not that. I really don't have anywhere to go. I left my town..."

"Oh I see! So you're a man on the road"

"Not necessarily. I'm thinking of staying in this town."

Antoine sensed Mason was running away from something, what he didn't know but he was going to help him. Not because of his kind gesture but because he reminded him of himself when he was that age. He also had demons he had been running from and he still was.
"I'm going to help you, Mason" he offered

Raising a brow, he asked "Why?"

"Let's just say, I understand you better than you think. Anyway I've been wondering how old are you..." The two men bonded for the next few hours as the rain continued to pour down heavily. Mason found out Antoine was an automobile engineer. He was one of those people who remodeled old cars and the way he spoke, Mason could tell he was an adept car lover. He lived with his Filipino mother and never knew his father except he was a Mexican motherfucker, well those were his words anyway. Eventually, they both felt exhausted and decided to finish their tales the next day. Mason handed Antoine his blanket to lay on the floor while he took the bed. By the next thunder boom, they were well into their sleep.

The next morning saw the two men on the road to the lower side of town, Mason driving his truck and Antoine on a motocycle. It took them less than half an hour to stop before an automobile shop which housed quite a number of old rusty cars. There were a few hispanic men in overalls hanging around leisurely at the entrance and chatting loudly. They stopped and turned their attention to the lanky boy walking closely behind Antoine who stopped before them and begun speaking fast in Spanish. Mason watched as one of them pointed at him causing Antoine to look back and shake his head. After their exchange he gestured for him to follow. He felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the guys outside. It got worse once they were inside. He had come to realise the men there were mostly hispanics and not to sound prejudiced, they looked a bit scary. Their stealthy gazes weren't helping either. Antoine shouted something in Spanish causing them to get back to work. Mason concluded then that Antoine was boss so that meant no one could really hurt him. That put him a bit at ease. The shop looked average. It had dirty blue walls with graffiti paintings adding a spark to the place. He did notice that though the paint job was quite unruly, the place was actually neat. Not a dust seemed out of place. In fact apart from the nauseous smell of petrol, diesel or whatever nothing was out of place.

"Hey!" He turned to see Antoine motioning for him. He shuddered and followed him to an office in the corner.

"Do you own this place?" he asked as soon as they were inside.

He chuckled in response, "I wish. It belongs to Jorge. I'm just his foreman"

"Who's Jorge?"

Just then, the door opened and in came an older man in a grey sweatshirt and khaki pants. He had jet black hair cut short, vibrant eyes on his slightly chubby face. It was obvious he was hairy from the hairs sticking out of his rolled up sleeves.

"Quien es este?" he asked skeptically. Antoine burst into a chain of Spanish losing Mason immediately. At least their exchange wasn't unpleasant so he reasoned it was all good. Jorge's face broke to a smile and hit his shoulders giving it a gentle squeeze. "So you help Antoine...huh?" he said in heavily accented English. "You do good. Thank you, chico. Muchas gracias."

Suddenly Mason felt at home, he wasn't feeling intimidated anymore."De nada" he replied in the little spanish he'd picked up making Jorge and Antoine burst into laughter.

"So you like cars?..."

********
"Maman! Je suis arrivé!" Antoine cried out once he entered the house with Mason behind. The day at the automobile had been fun, Jorge had offered to teach Mason to be a mechanic and he had picked on the basics quite well. The other guys took a liking to him and made fun of him for his size promising to make him build muscles soon enough. They'd closed shop so he'd taken him home.

"Je suis dans la cuisine!" a woman called out so they made their way to the kitchen where sweet aroma filled the air. She turned as they walked in and looked surprised as Antoine walked over to kiss her cheek.

"Maman! C'est mon ami, Mason. Il m'a aidé hier..." Mason watched as she listened to Antoine explain his situation to her. She walked towards him in a smile and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you for helping mon fils. You're welcome to stay here as long as you want."

Mason couldn't believe his luck. That he'd found a family that quickly was just unbelievable. He was so grateful that he couldn't stop the tears from rolling down his face, "Thank you very much."

Maya opened her arms and pulled him into a warm embrace. "Tout c'est bon, mon fils, tout c'est bon!"

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Pls let me know if I should provide translations...
Thanks for reading...^_^