A Life On The Edge

On the Run

In the beginning of the year I was asked if I wanted to live forever. I said no. At the beginning of the year I had nothing and I thought I had everything. I had two friends…not many but enough to keep me from spiraling into loneliness. I had a steady job, enough money to scrape up a decent meal before bed every night and pay the rent on time. I could barely see past the next hour let alone answer the question ‘where do you see yourself in ten years.’

Of course I didn’t want to live forever, making it through today was hard enough.

I was miserable. But that was in the beginning of the year…the Riley that answered that question then is completely different from the Riley you see now.

“Riley, Riley baby wake up.” I was ripped away from my sleep.

“What?” I looked around and frowned to see where I was. It wasn’t a nightmare…this was really happening. I looked up to see Lyle’s face and body still covered in soot, I looked down at myself and frowned at Ricky’s dried blood. Lyle looked at me lovingly as he pushed the hair out of my face.

“Take a left up here.” Tina mumbled to Dylan. I looked out the window to see that it was still dark.

“Where are we going?” I croaked.

“Good morning sleeping beauty.” Tina teased. I glared at her, how the fuck could she be joking at a time like this? “We’re going to Craig’s house.”

“Who’s Craig?” Dylan as confused, I could see he was irritated and annoyed.

“An old friend of Tina and me, Riley you’ve met him.” Lyle explained. I looked at him confused.

“He was the douche bag at the wedding.” Tina said. I nodded remembering him now.

“Why are we going there?” I mumbled.

“We need somewhere to change and take showers.” Dylan explained. “Lyle looked like he just got finished cleaning a chimney and you’re covered in blood…that is not yours. If we get pulled over for whatever reason we could get into some serious trouble, plus the sun is going to come up soon.” I nodded. Lyle frowned as he rubbed his thumb across my cheek.

“It’s all over your face.” He whispered. I wanted to cry, I just couldn’t muster up the tears.

“It’s right here on the left.” Tina said. Dylan pulled up the house and shut off the car.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“3:00 in the morning.” Lyle mumbled rubbing my shoulder. He kissed the side of my forehead and helped me out of the car. My legs were sore from running so much. Lyle grabbed my hand and took a breath as we walked up to the front door together.

Tina had already barged in andwas explaining to Craig the complicated situation we were in. I walked into the living room and was blinded by the light. I scrunched up my nose at myself, in the light I could really see what they were talking about. I didn’t think the blood splatter from Ricky was as messy as it really was. Looking at myself in the light made me want to throw up all over again.