Under His Protection

Mateo

After about 12 minutes he glances at me for a second and opens his mouth as if to say something but he doesn't. I can tell he wants to say something but god knows he won't. It was a typical guy thing. My mind wandered and I started to think about why I was even in the car with him when maybe an hour ago I watched him kill 2 people. Everything in my gut and head was telling me to jump out the car. That's exactly what I did, tucking and rolling as I hit the ground. I crawl my way to the ditch and lay as flat as I can in the tall grass.

"Sweetheart! I highly suggest you get your cute little ass back in the fucking car right now!" He shouts angrily into the darkness.

The car door slams and I see a flashlight turned on. I know I can't out run him but I also know I can't stay in this ditch forever. I hear his foot hit a rock near by and I know I'm screwed.

"Look love, we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way and I really don't want to do this the hard way," he says calmly from what sounds like only a few feet away.

The flashlight passes over me for a second before it's turned off and I'm being thrown over his shoulder.

"Told you we could..." he starts and within seconds I'm being slammed to the ground. Everything goes fuzzy.

"Get to the car right now, princess," he yells.

This time I do as I'm told and rush to the car. I get in and slam the door shut locking it. I quickly and frantically look around to see if I can find anything to help him. I scream in frustration by not being able to find anything. I hear gunshots and think the worst. My heart drops and I start to panic a little bit.

After a few moments the car door swings open and he slides into the car. I look at him and can see he's bleeding a bit.

"What the hell was that about!" I snap at him.

He turns himself towards me and says, "Look I know we got off on the wrong foot but you need to trust me. I know I haven't explained anything yet and there really isn't much time for that right now but I swear all of the stuff I've done has been in the best intentions for you. So please just tell me you trust me so I don't feel like a god damn ass."

"I trust you. I know I shouldn't but something in my gut is telling me to trust you," I reply looking him in the eye.

He sighs with relief and puts the key in the ignition. He pulls back onto the road and we speed away. Away from the people who just attacked us and away from where I'm pretty sure he just killed more people. We continue on and silence and the steady hum of the car lulls me to sleep.

I feel strong arms wrap around me and I'm lightly woken up. My eyes flutter open and see him looking down at me. My eyes are too heavy for me to keep them open and I'm too tired to even complain about him carrying me. After a short while I'm set lightly on a bed.

"You seem really tired. You've had a rough night and I'm sorry you're birthday turned out so shity. Sleep tight sweetheart. I'll explain everything in the morning. Oh and by the way my name is Mateo," he whispers softly in my ear.

His name.

Mateo.

Played over and over in my head while I slept.