ON THE ROAD

Max

Turned out we made it out alive.

As soon as the sun was up, I gently -some might argue that it was more agressive than gentle- shook Hallie by her shoulder to wake her up.

"-I don't know about you, but I would much rather go before they wake up."

She smiled to me, still groggy from sleep. I wished I could've rested a little as well, but I wasn't feeling confident enough in my surroundings and I wouldn't allow anyone to kill me before I could walk down Times Square.

"-Go get ready, I'll be waiting in the car.

-I'm not leaving you, I mean... I'm not leaving you and your knife", she answered with a frown.

We hurried towards the door, trying to silently escape, before wood creaking raised the hair of my arms. Apart from being weird and drunk, he gave us no reason to be scared, but my gut screamed at me to get the fuck out of that room as fast as possible.

"-Party is over?"asked a masculine voice.

I looked aside to see Hallie's face and her eyes matched the feeling I felt in my guts.

"-Don't look back", I whispered.

And just like that, we were running out of a shitty apartment. I didn't dare looking back to see if he was following us and I grabbed Hallie's hand to go faster. The car was parked right in front of the door, ready to go in case of an emergency. I didn't know if this was one, but I sure was glad to be safe inside the automobile.

As soon as we controlled our breathing, we both nervously let out a giggle, which eventually turned into a knee slapping-tears rolling- pig groaning situation.

"-Gosh are we losers", I was finally able to let out.

"-We would've been even bigger losers dead and buried under all of those cans of beer!

-I can't disagree."

She then looked at the time on the clock and sighted. I knew her anxiety started rising, each second bringing us closer to the moment we would have to run away from either the police or the FBI looking for us. I felt bad to let her worry so much when I was planning on letting her go that night, but I knew she wouldn't let me go without a fight.

And, for this last day together, I had a promise that I wanted to fulfill.

"-Hey, Hallie, remember what I told you before we left?

-You said many things... I just remember that none of them were really nice.

-I'm not known to be "nice".

-Yeah, I've noticed."

I had no idea she could be this sassy and I couldn't say I didn't like it.

"-Well, one of the things I said was that I wanted to teach you how to live. I haven't have a good life: I've never cuddled in bed with my parents, eaten at a nice restaurant or being taken the the amusement park by a boy I liked, but I sure as hell laughed, failed, loved, danced, sang and cried like an idiot. But I have lived. I don't know what a comfort zone is and I don't want to know. I love being scared out of my head and lost out of my mind."

I looked to the side, in silence, for a second, to increase the dramatic effect.

"-Today, it's your turn."

She looked equally scared and excited, which I believes was a good thing.

"-Tell me what's on top of your bucket list.

-I don't have one...

-You're kidding, right? Everyone has a bucket list! What are some of your dreams, goals, ideas? What are some things that you wish you could do, but that you consider impossible?"