A Broken Soul (UNEDITED)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

“Wake up, guys,” a soft, gentle voice whispered. I made the mistake last time of not waking up immediately and it almost got us killed. I wouldn’t let that happen again.

            I frantically sat up, alert as ever. My eyes flashed open to see Bae gently nudging both me and Braedon awake. His eyes widened a little as he saw me sitting up quickly, looking around for danger. A smile spread on his face.

            “It’s okay, Des. We’re safe,” he murmured quietly. My tense muscles relaxed a bit and I lay back against the seat of the car slowly.

            “We’re here. Do you guys wanna check out the new place?” he asked, his eyes glowing with excitement. I heard Braedon mumble from the backseat as I smoothed my hair a bit, waking up.

            “New place?” I intended to ask, but it came out as some sort of groggy mumble. Bae still understood it, though, and he nodded eagerly. Braedon sat up and let out a yawn.

            “How long have we been asleep?” Braedon asked, sounding worse than I did.

            “Over twenty-four hours at least,” Bae replied indifferently. Both Braedon and I froze.

            “Twenty-four hours? You’ve been driving for that long?” I asked him, totally blown away. It felt like I was only asleep for a few minutes, not even an hour. Had Bae ever taken a break to sleep as well?

            “I stopped every once in a while and took a small nap, but other than that, yeah. We’re in California now.” He spoke with a hint of pride in his tired voice. My eyes widened anymore, if that was possible.

            “California? We’ve gone from South Carolina to California?” Braedon asked, completely mystified. Bae nodded his head once again triumphantly.

            “I even switched cars once, just in case they were tracing the old one. This one’s faster, too,” Bae told us with the hint of a satisfied grin pulling on the edges of his mouth. I looked around the inside of the car, not realizing that he had, in fact, switched cars out.

            “Seems like you’ve taken care of things,” Braedon admitted with approval.

            “Oh, just wait. There’s more.” Baes eyes told me that he had done something great, which made me excited.

            “What else could there be?” I asked, pulling myself into a better sitting position. Bae glanced at me with a smile, then back at Braedon.

            “I’ve rented us an apartment. Come check it out!” Bae exclaimed happily. I smiled and climbed out of the car, not sure if I could believe it. Bae had really outdone himself. Normally it would be Braedon that took care of this kind of stuff.

            Braedon and I followed Bae up a set of stairs and down short hallway until he stopped us outside of our new house. The bright sun shined down at us, mirroring our ecstatic emotions. He pulled out the room key and easily unlocked the door, gently pushing it open.

            I was the first to walk inside, followed by Braedon, then Bae. The living room area was on the right and the large kitchen area was on the left. The living room was empty, which I expected, but the kitchen counter was filled with bags of groceries.

            “Bae… you didn’t!” I practically ran towards the kitchen, not sure if I was just imagining the dozens of grocery bags. They were all filled with delicious foods and basic necessities.