Magical Me

Ch. 8 - Goodbye

With her eyes closed tightly against the intrusive rays of the sun Birgit heard a gasp and a disgusting wet noise. Then there was a loud crashing on the van's floor; unreasonably her mind drifted and wondered how many dents the back of this van had.

She heard a growl and terrified for her life, Birgit curled into a ball against the wall. She kept her eyes shut, convinced she was going to be murdered too. If she were to die she just wanted it to happen and not be able to see it coming.

To her right there was a slamming against the van wall, she felt the vibrations of the movement in her back. The slam came again. And again. She began weeping then. Everything was futile, there was no point to her life. She was constantly making bad decisions, and once she'd started making good decesions bad thing happened.

"How could - " The woman's voice said dripping with disgust and loathing. Whatever she was going to say Birgit would never know because she didn't get a chance to get further. There was another wet noise and then a sound like somone popping a spit bubble. There was another slam against the van wall and then a dull vibration through the floor.

This is it, she thought, beginning to rock slowly. It calmed her a bit, but still she knew this was the moment she was going to die. Everything was over now and there wasn't anything she could do about it. She waited for the death blow to come, and waited.

A warm hand rested on her knee and she felt her stomach drop. Lovely, this person's going to fuck with me too. The stranger's other hand, wet and sticky, grasped Birgit's. "Birgit." A coaxing, insistant voice came.

Her eyes snapped open, she knew that voice. "Hunter." She said in a mixture of realization, confusion, and overwhelming gratitude. It took only a few seconds for Birgit's eyes to adjust to the light and she saw Hunter's face inches from her own. His concerned expression was half hidden behind smears of blood.

His fingers trailed along the cut on her chest lightly, but still it was painful. "You didn't fight back?" His voice was barely a whisper and was almost accusing.

"I did," She protested, then added with guilt, "Until I gave up."

There was a moment of silence where neither of them could speak and Birgit found she couldn't meet Hunter's gaze. Breaking the silence, Hunter rose to his feet and pulled Birgit up with him. "Come on, let's get you somewhere safe."

Standing, Birgit saw the gore that was no longer blocked by Hunter's body. The familiar face Karao lay on the ground just before her. He had been gutted like a pig, and to her right lay the woman. She lay face down on the floor of the van, folded over her knees in an awkward ball. There was a pool of blood below her and the back of her head looked bloody and misshaped. Also on the floor by her feet was the sliced fabric of her underwear. A shiver of equal parts shame and disgust ran down her spine. "Okay." She said, keeping a firm grip on his hand.

Hunter jumped out of the truck and in an awkward motion Birgit climbed down after him. There was a bike parked on the other side of the road, the bike Hunter'd saved up for for ages. She wanted to ask about it but didn't know how to phrase her question, so she just got on the bike behind Hunter. He didn't have any helmets with him and as they road off and out of town Birgit felt very exposed and couldn't help but think about how it had been at least two years since she'd gotten on the back of Hunter's bike and how she missed the firmness of his back pressed against her chest.

She shook her head to rid it of the stupid thoughts. "Don't worry, it's not far away." He said.

Mute, she nodded. After another two minutes she said in a voice that shook with the terror she still felt, "Thank you. For...well, that." It was Hunter's turn to nod mutely.

The journey was short, they'd headed in the direction of cottage country. Pulling in to a driveway so small she hadn't even noticed a gap amongst the trees. At the end of the drive was a tiny one story cottage with no beach view, all that was in sight for miles was the green of pinery. And parked outside the cottage was a cop car.

Birgit got off the motorcycle and peered at the car. Out of the cottage came the two 'officers' she'd seen that morning. Confused she turned to Hunter. "Where are we?"

"Welcome to the safe house." He said and instead of turning off the enging like she'd expected him to he drove in a small circle turning around.

"Where are you going?" She asked a hint of panic building up in her voice. Did he know these fake cops? Why was he leaving her with them.

"You told me you never wanted to see  me again, didn't you?" Giving her no time to answer he began driving back out the lane. When she called his name he paused for a moment and grabbed something out of a pocket in his jacket. He tossed it at Birgit. "For your feet, and knees..." He looked torn, he looked like he wanted to stay.

For half a second she believed he would stay, then he said, "Bye." With that desolate, and heart breaking response, he began driving again and left Birgit staring down the empty driveway after him wondering if he'd ever give her a chance to talk to him.