Freedom

SHOOT

I rubbed a hand over my leg, covered in bruises and scrapes. My other hand was firmly grabbing the wheel, and I sighed.

Finally free.

My eighteenth birthday was coming up soon, and I decided to run by the gas station and buy myself a treat or something, just to congratulate myself on finally escaping my awful excuse for parents.

I looked around me, taking in my surroundings. I was stuck in stop and go traffic, and my gas was running empty. It wouldn't be long before I ran out completely.

The scene wasn't too pretty either. The town was lined with high-risk buildings and shadowed alleyways, with colorful graffiti all over the place. The sky was hazy, as many gangs and other menacing-looking people smoking and probably swearing like sailors. They all had piercings and tattoos, giving off an even scarier vibe.

As much as I didn't want to, I turned on my next left to pull into the gas station. I decided I would drive somewhere else to get my gift, and just get my gas here.

I pulled up next to one station. It was covered in ads and more graffiti, making the actual thing I needed to see barely visible. I hopped out of my car and opened the little door to my gas tank for a refill. I took the gun-looking thing and stuck it inside, pressing various buttons.

I constantly looked around me, just to be sure nothing suspicious was coming after me. I had the strange feeling that I was being watched.

I thought about how I would break it to my parents; moving out and all. Now that I was officially eighteen, I had finally accumulated the money to go to college and move out. To get away from the wretched people.

I was rather excited to see the expressions on their faces, and how they would react to such news. Would they care? Would they hate me forever? Would they feel bad? But... would I care how they felt? I thought.

I smirked.

Suddenly, I felt a cool, hard metal pressed against my head, and a presence standing next to me. "Move and your dead," he remarked. I stood very still, not ready to die just yet.

I heard another man behind him. He opened my car door, and I heard him taking everything out. My smirk dropped to a frown. My college money was in there....

"Aha!" The second man exclaimed. He must've found my college money. I trembled in my place. He chuckled.

"Hey! That's mine!" I shouted, almost moving and throttling the men. The first male pressed the gun harder to my head, which made me stop in my place. They did have the advantage here. "My college money..." I whispered to myself.

"HELP!" I called out.

"I swear, you talk one more time and I'm gonna shoot ya," he said, frustrated.

I mentally crossed my fingers, hoping desperately that some kind of masked superhero would come to save me. I'd never been in this situation before, and I'll admit... I was frightened out of my mind. I already had enough going on at home, goshdangit.

"Wow, there's a lotta cash in here, dude," the second man said, going through my college money stash. I felt helpless... I couldn't do anything to save my own butt. "Hey..." the second guy sounded uneasy about something. I almost turned to look at him, but then I remembered the dangerous weapon glued to my head.

"What? What's going on?"

"There's someone here... I'm getting a bad feeling..."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Alright, you guys. Hand the money and the girl over to me," I heard a new voice say. He got closer with each word, and soon enough he was right behind me. I felt his breath on my neck, warm and soothing. I particularly didn't like the feeling of breathing on my neck, but... The sensation comforted me.

"Lay a finger on us and we'll shoot!" The man holding the gun shrieked. I flinched at the thought. God, please don't let him lay a finger on these men...

I felt the man raise his hands up. "Okay, you got me, just don't shoot."

I suddenly got an idea. Although, the idea required that I could trust in the stranger behind me, and confidence in myself that I could pull it off.

My plan was that if the man could distract him, I could pull away and knee him in the gut, while the new guy and I drove away in my car. I was holding the key in my hands.

"But, you do realize that you have a stain on your shirt, right?" He said. I smirked. It was like he read my mind, and already knew what to do to get us out of there.

The man frowned. He looked down at his shirt, and temporarily lowered his gun. Taking my opportunity, I skillfully twisted around and kicked him in an unpleasant place(especially to be kicked in), and turned to the other and did the same, then adding a solid punch to the face. I unhooked the gas pump and paid for the gas, and ran to my car while they were distracted.

I swung open the door and stuck in the keys, turning them to start the car. I motioned for the man to get into the passenger seat while he still could. He obliged, but decided to take his sweet time in doing so. "Oh, come on..." I murmured to myself. "Hurry it up!" I yelled to him.

I noticed the man had grabbed my money stash. I sighed in relief.

He sat in the car and pulled on the seat belt, inserting it with a click. He smiled, and I drove off as fast as I could.

I gripped the wheel until my knuckles turned white. Adrenaline was shooting through my veins, and my breathing and heart beat had rocketed within the last couple minutes.

I internally screamed as I realized the traffic was still horrible. I locked the car doors, just to be sure, sat back in my chair, lessened my tight hold on the wheel, and took in a long, skaky breath.

"I'm impressed," the man said after a moment of silence. I looked towards him. "You handled it well."

"Thanks..." I replied. I thought inside my head that if he had been in my shoes, he would have realized it was quite the opposite. "Thanks for helping me back there."

"Yeah," he said. "Anyway, thanks to that incident, I don't believe I've introduced myself. My name's Nathan. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," I said. I tried to keep the conversation to a minimum. "I'm Lillith, but you can call me Lilly."

"Hello, Lilly," he said with a smirk. I realized he was one of the player boys that just wanted girlfriends and attention. I grunted.

He leaned back in his chair. I gave him a once over, as I had barely even seen him, save the last minute or two. He had sharp and defined cheekbones, and a chiseled chin. His eyes were deep blue, that seemed to put you into a trance if you looked into them for too long. His skin was a good mix of both pale and tan.

His hair seemed to be dyed black. He wore a black beanie to cover his hair, while a swoop of it covered one eye. He tapped his fingers on the door. He had a happy look on his face, seeming content and satisfied with himself.

"You know, I did save your life, didn't I?" He asked. I smiled and nodded. "Why don't you do something for me to even it out."

He was right, I did owe him at least something for helping in saving me. If anything, I owed him my life.

I figured a nice lunch would be nice, and then we could go our separate ways, forgetting the traumatic experience that brought us together.

Too cheesy?

Yeah. Too cheesy.

"Alright. I'll drive you to some restaurant and we'll get something to eat. How's that?" I replied.

"Sounds great," Nathan replied with a smirk.