HATE (Editing)

7

Chapter song : Demons - Sam Tsui and Max Schneider cover

"She was our strength, our everything," Zac said as he rounded a corner.

We were on our way back from visiting his mother's grave. He had just knelt on the cold earth and whispered some words. He had introduced me to her as a friend. Something that had stuck to my mind till now. Did he really consider me a friend? If so, how did I look at him? A friend. No. Maybe not. He was just, a colleague?

"I'm glad you came,"

“Uh,sure...”

"I mean it. It means a lot,"

I was seated at the co-driver sit after Zac coerced me to. Originally, I had intended to sit at the back. Strange sensation... I turned my attention to a car that was behind us. Funny. I hadn't seen it before.

"What's wrong," Zac asked with a change of tone.

“Could you please speed up?”

"Can't. Speed limit,"

I turned to look at the car again. It had kept a steady distance. Not too fast, not too slow. Just, there.

“Then could you slow down?”

"Sure. More time with you I guess," he replied smartly.

I gazed at him for some time as he slowed down the car. The car behind us readjusted it's speed as well.

“They slowed down,” I said audibly. “We're being followed,”

"We?"

“It's a figure of speech. It doesn't mean anything. Just speed up,”

He smiled before speeding up to his original driving speed. The car behind did so as well.

“We need to lose them,”

Maybe it was Jack. Maybe he had found me. Maybe he had sent some of his goons after me. Two years? Of course if he was searching for me all this time, he would eventually find me. But why would he even look for me? How would he even trace me? No time to second guess.

“Drive faster,”

"I told you, I'm within..."

Not again. I didn't know how fast I did it, but in a few seconds, I had unhooked my seatbelt and was manoeuvring the car.

“Move over,”

"You aren't even sure if we're being followed, they might just be,"

We started hearing gunshots. Since it had already started getting dark, I couldn't clearly see the road.

“You're going to get us killed,” Zac breathed in my ear. His fresh mint scent enveloping me.

How was he even?

"You jumped on me. I didn't carry you here," he said as if reading my mind.

“Move over,” I shouted as I made a sharp corner. The tyres screeched at the abrupt change.

"I could if I would but I won't, cause I can't,"

Smart Alec. In front of us, an old man was petting his dog. I honked the darn horn as loud as I could but it seemed like he hadn't heard it. The dog barked trying to signal his master, but with his back turned to us, he tried calming the dog down. I looked at the pedestrian path and decided against my better judgement to make it the new road. I managed to avoid both the man and his beloved dog but ended up knocking down a garbage can. I felt my hands lose grip on the steering wheel. I was almost panicking when in a flash of a second, Zac held on to the wheel preventing the car from jerking off too much. With his other hand, he held onto me by my waist preventing me from sliding off of him as well.

"I'll drive," he said.

Not an option. With my hands firmly on the wheel, I speeded up. The car was gaining on us real quick. It had to be them. It had to be him. Jack. I felt Zac's other arm hold onto me as well. I didn't even have time to react to that. In a different place, a different scenario, I would have totally smacked the smile off of his face. Or would I? I seemed to have not forgotten how to drive, considering the fact that I was really good with motorcycles. After some minutes of a hectic chase, we came around a human roadblock. Literally. People had flocked this side of the road and i had no option but to bring the car to an abrupt halt. Before I could get the door, Zac had already pushed it open and grabbed me by the hand as we ran out and into the large crowd of people. From the corner of my eye, I saw the car stop as well and two heavily built men alighted. That was the last I saw of them before we disappeared into the line of market stalls. We kept on running towards no particular direction, until Zac stopped suddenly making me ram into him. I whined as my arse collided with the ground. Zac looked at me sheepishly as he offered a hand to help me up.

“I can get up on my own,” I replied coldly as I stood to my feet.

"Okay,..." he said awkwardly drawing his hand back.

“We've lost them,” I said dusting myself off.

"And..." he looked around. "Quite evidently, we've lost ourselves as well,"

I looked around. I wasn't familiar with this place. For two years, I was used to the same routine. House. Restaurant. Occasional trips to the mall  and shops... As boring as it seemed, I was comfortable with it.

“I'll ask around,” I said heading to a certain stall. Zac too turned to a different stall.

“Excuse me ma'am, where is this place?”

Market.

“Which is where exactly?”

Where we are standing. Market. She replied rigidly.

It seemed like we were not on the same page, but I didn't feel like pressing her further for information.

“Excuse me sir, where is this place?”

Doll face. You aren't supposed to be actually told where this black-market is. You just know.

A black market? Great. I might even just set up camp here. My eyes wandered around to look for Zac. Wait. Where was he? My heart started racing. Zac? No. I found my feet moving of their own accord. Please let him be okay. Please let him be okay. This was all my fault. We were being followed because Jack had finally found me. A nightmare I hopped wouldn't recur. Please let him be okay. Why did Zac even have to drag me out of that car? They might have caught him. Maybe they thought they could use him to get to me. My heart raced faster. But he wasn't related to me. He was just... Just... My mind stopped racing as soon as I saw Zac smiling at a man selling some second hand guns. I saw him waving in my direction as he headed towards me.

"Nothing. I got nothing," he sighed.

“Is that something to be happy about?” I snapped.

"Hey. I didn't say I was h..."

“You sure look like it,” I hissed back.

"Whoa. Calm down. We'll..."

“We'll nothing. Just stay away from me,”

I walked off letting my fear and panic get the best of me by turning into anger. I thought something had happened to him. Because of me. I was responsible for my own life. Not anyone else's. If any life was to be lost, it should be mine. No one else's. I had no idea whatsoever where I was heading to, but, I knew I had to be alone. Completely alone. I heard Zac shout my name from afar, but his voice faded between my reality and my present.

If any life was to be lost, it should be mine. No one else's.