St Jimmy

Chapter 14- Good Riddance

With our bags all messily shoved back in Liberty’s van, we contemplated everything. Everything to do with Colt, it was all so...so...stupid. Why did we have to leave our lives behind because of one incident that could be resolved if people just sat down and talked? Liberty sped down the freeway back to Berkeley, the whole way we spoke in panicky tones.

“Why does Jimmy want to stay?” I asked, still confused.

“He wants to sort out everything, and keep everyone safe. They only want Jimmy finished, so if he hands himself over, they won’t hurt anyone else.”

“It’s all so stupid, we shouldn’t run!”

“We can all start over,” she shrugged.

“I suppose but, this is our life, we have a right to stay,” I sighed.

We arrived outside Jimmy’s apartment at 9:30. There was no one there. I ran around the outside of the dirty building.

“Jimmy!” I yelled. There was no reply but Danny and Roxy appeared from a nearby alley way. Danny was holding his nose which was pouring with blood.

“Jett!” Roxy ran up to me and gave me a huge hug.

“What’s happening?”

“Jimmy’s taken the rest of the gang to the outskirts of 5th,” she sighed. Danny approached us still holding his nose.

“Danny, you alright?” Liberty asked.

“No, the fucker won’t stop bleeding,” he coughed.

“We’re just going down to 5th now,” Roxy sighed.

“Hey, jump in the van, we’ll go with you,” Liberty opened the van door.

We all jumped in and Liberty sped down to 5th avenue. We saw a large crowd gathered at the end. Lib braked sharply and as soon as she stopped we all jumped out of the van. I ran straight into the crowd, searching frantically for Jimmy. The brisk air blew my hair back softly. A strong stench of sweat filled the streets. You could tell that everyone was nervous, it was in the atmosphere. I couldn’t find Jimmy anywhere; I began to panic even more.

“Jimmy!” I kept calling out. Liberty was right behind me the whole time. I stopped to ask a guy called Harley. “Have you seen Jimmy?”

“He’s up the front,” he pointed to the front of the crowd.

“Thanks,” I nodded, I was getting breathless. I ran to the front of the crowd, faces turned as I ran past them. They were shocked to see me considering that I wasn’t supposed to be there. I found Jimmy at the front. I punched him hard on the arm and he turned round to face me. He wore his black jeans, a grey shirt and black converse. He was shocked and angry to see me. He opened his mouth to say something, but I didn’t give him the chance, I slapped him in the face. He jumped back and rubbed his cheek. He grabbed me by the shoulders.

“What the fuck are you doing here?!” he yelled.

“I can’t believe you lied to me like this!”

“I had to, to keep you safe!”

“I don’t care!” I cried. Tears streamed down my cheeks. “I can’t take this.”

He took me into his arms and I cried against his chest. He sat me down on the bench at the front of the crowd that I guessed that he was going to stand on later. He took my hands as we sat together. “What is going on?”

“We’re leaving, well you are all leaving, I’ll stay here,” he stared me in the eye.

“You can’t stay behind, you can’t,” I sobbed.

“I have to, it’ll keep everyone safe,” he explained.

“Let me stay with you!”

“I can’t, he’ll kill you!”

“No...just...just...come with us, I need you!”

“I owe this guy money, and 16 months banged up, I can’t give those things to him!”

“Just run with us!” I pleaded.

“No! You don’t understand, you just don’t! For God’s sake, you don’t get it!!!” his face turned angry. I was scared of him like this. I flinched backwards and he saw the sight he hated most, the sight of me afraid of him. He moved closer to me. I bent my head down and cried, trying not to make it obvious to everyone else. My fringe fell in front of my eye. He put it behind my ear again and bent down underneath me to kiss me. I kissed him back pathetically. I was so upset, I couldn’t deal with anything.

“C’mon,” he muttered, his lips still attached to mine. I ran my hand through his thick hair, kissing him back. I had missed him; I was going to miss him. I couldn’t cope with the fact that he’d lied to me so bad. I broke off and stared him in the eye. I stroked the side of his face.

“I can’t do this,” I shook my head, my hand still on his face. I let him go; it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I stood up and left. I left the crowd behind.