Run

Chapter Five

"Hey," I look up from my bags to see Alex sitting cross-legged on the bed, "I'm sorry if I seemed insensitive last night. I know things are hard for you, it isn't fair of me to judge how you spend your time, especially since I got you mixed up in all this and am taking so much of your time from you."

I nod, "How long are we going to be doing this, I mean, once we're in a place we don't know we'll be safe. Right?"

He puts his head in his hands, "I wish it were that simple, we may never stop running. Once we've been somewhere long enough we'll adjust. He'll find us. Until I can find a way to stop him..."

I saw the tears he was fighting, I could see how tightly he held his hair as he squeezed his eyes shut. Taking a deep breath he relaxed and marched towards me.

"I'm so sorry I did this to you, but I will make it right," He gripped my shoulders, determination burned in his eyes, courage holding him tall, "I promise I will not stop until you get your life back. I will make it up to you and get you home safe. You don't deserve to deal with this, it's not your responsibility... And I promise as soon as I can, you can go home and forget all about it. I will end this!"

I stand stunned, I know Alex was a good guy with a bad image but as far as I know no one has ever seen so much emotion from him. He has always been this blocked off guy, nice, but no one ever gets more than a glare or smirk and unless he makes out with you, no one gets this close to him.

I want to ask him if he's alright, but I feel like he will break down if I do. I nod and he lets me go. I'm still frozen as he walks away from me.

"I'll... I'll wait outside," he mutters, keeping his head down. I watch him walk out with his stuff and I try to gather myself.

When the door closes I turn back to my bag and the disorganized mess inside, I quickly shove the rest of my stuff back inside and close the bag. I almost collapse down the stairs chasing after him.

"All set?" He throws his helmet on and shaves his spare into my stomach.

I grunt against the force and nod.

Once I have the helmet on and our stuff is secure, he catches me off guard by gunning it out the parking lot. The G-force just about makes my stomach do cartwheels and I clutch Alex's jacket even tighter. I start panicking when he doesn't slow down. I see us near a busy intersection. He isn't stopping. Why isn't he stopping?

"Alex?" He keeps going, we keep getting closer and closer, "Alex! Alex look out!"

I shake him violently and I put my head down, suddenly I feel him hit the brakes. We stop inches before entering traffic.

I feel my breath stuck in my chest and hot, sticky tears spill out of my eyes. When our light turns green Alex drives slowly into another parking lot.

He jumps off the bike and rips of his helmet, "Jules? Jules are you hurt?" He gently helps me take off the helmet, "Please say something."

I can't look at him, I can't breathe, tears fall onto the asphalt as I remain paralyzed with fear. He gets down in front of me and looks me over, begging me to say something. I let myself fall into his arms and cry. I feel myself shake against his strong chest.

He holds me close as I dig my nails into his jacket and bury my face in his neck.

"Why would you do that?" I sob as I try and crawl away from him, he won't let me go so I curl up into a ball, "You could have gotten us killed."

"I don't know what happened, last thing I remember we were getting on the bike, I'm sorry," he finally lets me go and I scoot across the rough ground until my back hits the bike, "I swear I don't know what happened. I would never do that on purpose, are you sure you aren't hurt?"

"I feel like I can't breathe, you could have killed us," I start to hyperventilate, "Oh my god, I could have died," I start crying again.

"Jules, please," he tries to reach out to me, "I'm not going to let that happen, you aren't going to die. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. It must have been... Him."

I look up at him and I try and stop making that god awful hiccuping sound, "How could he do that?"

"He can have control over me, he and I made a deal. I told you, I'm still in my element here, we're not safe here, that's why I didn't want to stop for the night originally. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let this happen."

"Alex I just want to go home. Please, I didn't do anything," I feel my throat get tight, "I didn't mean to mess up your deal, why does he want me? Why can't I go home?"

"He sees you as leverage is my guess, and I don't want to take any chances," Alex looks down and bites his lip, "I'm not a bad guy you know? Around school, I get in fights defending others, the kids who need defending. He knows that, at this point if I sent you home he would probably hurt you knowing I wouldn't be able to live with it. I'm sorry?"

I don't know what to say, knowing he truly cares about my well-being... It's all becoming too crazy for my brain to handle. I can live with crazy, supernatural beings coming after me, but a boy caring about me on top of that... I have to be in the Twilight Zone.

"Can we at least get off the bike? I don't know if I can handle getting back on it," I wipe away the tears as he nods.

"We only have a few more blocks to the bus station, can you handle if we ride just to there?"

"Yeah, let's just get it over with."

Hesitantly we climb back on his bike and ride the six or seven blocks to the station.

I watch our bags while he gets us our tickets. His bike has to stay here so he and I will be on foot after we get off the bus. He says we'll have to change locations at least every week, to be safe.

I feel numb. I can't think straight, if I think at all I think of my mom and how worried she must be, I think of how any day now we could get killed, I think and I cry. I'm sick of crying.

Alex keeps looking back at me, clearly worried. He's tried to cheer me up promising that we'll stop at some art supply stores and book stores and while that all sounds great... I can't care. Caring hurts too much.

Climbing onto the bus, our bags are put in with everyone else's. On the ride we only have our backpacks, and it's a nine hour drive. Alex decided we should cross the state line now, rest on the trip.

I curl up in my seat and pull my bag onto my lap.

Alex taps on my shoulder.

"Hey, I saw this on one of the news stands by the ticket booth. I thought it might help, and I know your colored pencils are in there, I saw you move them," he hands me one of those adult coloring books, flipping through it I see black and white drawings of flowers and landscapes.

I look at him and try to smile, "Thanks," I pull out my pencils and let my mind go to a different place as I give my world color again.

Next thing I know I'm waking up. I don't even remember falling asleep, I see Alex watching all the different people on the bus, my pencils and coloring book in his lap.

I sit up and I feel a jacket slide off of me, his jacket.

"Alex?" he looks over at me, "What time is it."

"I have no clue, we got on around three," He looks out my window, "It has to be around seven o'clock now. You've been asleep for a few hours."

"Have you slept?" I sit up straight and rub my neck.

"Nah, I've been watching out your window, we're finally in Missouri," he gets close and whispers in my ear, "I've also been people watching and these guys behind us were seriously whack, you missed a show."

He smiles, I smile back. He's got such a sweet smile.

He looks out my window again, "Hey look!"

He points to the sky and I see a shooting star fly by.

"We have to make a wish," he closes his eyes for a few seconds, "What'd you wish for?"

I look over at him, "Something special."

He smirks, "I wished for a motel with two beds," I can't help but laugh at him.

I watch out the window, all the while thinking, "I wish tonight would never end."