Beyond The Broken Glass3: Finally Mended [complete]

2.) Where We End Up

I had drifted into a soft sleep until I was awakened by a sudden jolt in my belly. My stomach had dropped so fast and the only thing I needed to do was vomit. I beat against the window as it begin to fill my mouth. He brought the car to a halt just in time for me to swing the door open and empty out the rest. Afterward, my body just felt really heavy and queasy.

"Here." He said as he pushed a bottle of water into my hand. "We almost there."

That in a normal sense would have given me peace of mind and might have even relieved me. The only thing is that—I didn't know where there was. I never picked the places we ended up, however, I always seemed to enjoy one thing about them.

Rather it was quiet and peaceful, or the people were friendly or the neighbors were far from us. There was always something to like about them. Even if we didn't stay long I fell in love a little bit with each place we occupied, and every time a piece of me died when we had to leave.

"Where is there?"

"Georgia."

Hmm. He pulled over into a small gas station and leaped out from the truck. I monitored him as he crossed in front of the hood to enter the small structure, his hoodie pulled so low over his head that you probably couldn't see his face if you were in front of him or beside him.

Before me, the sky had yet to fully awaken. With orange and purple and white. It made me drowsy. I wanted nothing more than to close my eyes and go back to sleep but I couldn't. Not until he came back, not until I was absolutely sure that we were all safe.

Almost as if he could sense me wanting him, he came back to the car and opened his door. He popped the gas tank and did what he had to do. While the car filled up he sat in the driver's seat and latched onto my hand. I squeezed his hand while my head stayed pressed to the cool and wet glass.

I was getting ready to yawn when he leaned over into my space and pressed his lips to my temple. He made no effort to move, so I took my free hand and rested it on his cheek.

"We'll talk when we get to where we're going." He said as he pulled back. "I know it's a lot that needs to be said."

"Yeah," I mumbled as I followed through with my yawn. "Like where you went for those three days."

"Imma tell you everything."

Back on the road and headed to a place that wouldn't even be our forever home. I took my hand from his and felt around for my necklace. A small present he gifted me during the time we celebrated Christmas.

When I couldn't find it my heart began to drop. I promised to always have it with me. I know it's something so small and probably irrelevant to the normal person but to me it meant everything.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't find my necklace," I told him as I began searching inside of my shirt. When I realized I couldn't see much of anything I turned on the light and began to check the floor.

As I was coming back up after finding it the blue and red lights appeared.

"Fuck." He mumbled followed by an exasperated sighed. I went to reach for the light but he pushed my hand down. "Don't move. Be still—trust me."

As the officer approached his window he began to drum on the glass harder than he needed to. My heart hammered inside of me as my hairline began to feel warmer. Brandon pressed the button to let the window down and then immediately placed his hands on the steering wheel.

"Do you know how fast you were going?" The officer asked as he kept his right hand closer to his hip. I did my best to remain still but something in my spirit wasn't right. My chest tightened and My breathing got extremely heavy.

"No sir—I wasn't aware." He spoke smoothly, but the tone of his voice made it sound condescending. Sometimes it wasn't even what he said it was the tone of his voice that made it harsh.

"Well, you were over the speed limit." The officer shot back. "I could see his hand gripping the steering wheel. Probably imaging that it was this poor man's throat. Something he often did when he was getting impatient. The officer peeked around at me and then averted his eyes into the backseat where our children slept. He glanced back at Brandon and lowered his eyes.

"License and registration."

Brandon ever so slowly reached for his visor before he pulled down some papers. My eyes traveled along the side of him and that's when I noticed the grip of the gun. I pulled my eyes away and glimpsed down at my lap. The last thing I need to do is get antsy. I just needed to stay calm. But if he gets searched because this guy is an overachiever, our whole lives go down the drain.

In the backseat, one of the kids began to stir in their sleep. Mumbling and coughing and then a soft subtle whine followed. Probably a bad dream. I tried to ignore it when usually I'd be the first to check on him. But I didn't know if this officer was prone to be trigger-happy. I rather not risk it.

Once the papers were in his possession he went back to his car and disappeared from our sight.

"Why do you need that?"

"What?"

"The freaking gun! Why do you need the gun!"

"One lower yo fuckin' voice. The fuck is wrong with you," He gritted as he peeked into the rearview mirror. "And I need it to protect us."

"You said it was cool."

"No, I said it was cool for now. Until shit gets handled things will never be cool." He shook his head and then he signaled me to be quiet.

"You're free to go—Mr.Gordon."

He nodded as he took his fake papers back for his fake life and put them back in their fake place. He waited for a while for the officer to pull off first and then we proceeded on our way. The constant paranoia was the worst. This isn't how I wanted my life to end up.