Justify His Murder

Breaking and Exiting

   The car was quiet for a while. We were all trying to process what was going on around us. We had seen too much already and we were only entering the second hour. Would we be able to handle an entire night out here? A glance in the rear-view mirror revealed Sienna holding on tightly to her handgun and squeezing her eyes closed. I felt guilty.

  It was my fault we were out here. And the worst part was, I still didn't want to go home yet. I was determined to finish what I started. What does that say about me?

  "Alright, do you have an address he'll be at?" Reed cleared his throat. I took his phone and started typing in my best guess.

  "I don't know if now's the right time to ask, but...what are we going to do there?" Sienna opened her eyes. Reed and I met each other's gaze. He raised his eyebrows a bit and looked back at the road, maneuvering around an abandoned car. I set his phone back up after I put in the address and fell against the back of my seat.

   "I have to deal with something." I said quietly.

   Reed, ever the hero, shifted the conversation, "You know, this could be so much worse. At least we're all together. Three musketeers, really."

   Sienna smiled a little, but she still held on to the handgun with her knuckles turning white. I looked behind us just to see if we were being followed again. The GPS estimated we'd arrive in 40 minutes. 40 minutes there, 40 minutes back. We just needed to survive. The sky was getting darker with every passing minute which worried me. It'd be harder to see our surroundings. 

 We kept chattering about things that weren't really important, just anything to take our minds off of the situation. But we all fell silent when we heard something in the distance drawing closer. Sienna and I looked at each other before we both turned to look at the stretch of road we had already passed.

 "Guys."  Reed whispered. We looked to see where he was looking. Coming straight towards us was a truck with the headlights turned off. It showed no signs of stopping as it plowed on at a startling speed.

 "Reed, you need to reverse." I put a hand on his arm, not yelling this time because we had already established that made him panic worse.

 "Okay..okay.." He took deep breaths and we started reversing. But of course that would've been too easy. Fate decided to hand us a big one today. Sienna let out a loud gasp. Another truck started coming towards us from the rear. And we were trapped on this narrow street.

  "We need to get off the road!" Sienna broke the no yelling code.

  "How am I supposed to do that?!" Reed had reached full panic mode.

  "Reed, you're supposed to be the smartest one in this car!" She cried out. I was stuck in shock. How the heck were we supposed to get out of this? If we abandoned the car, it wouldn't be long before bullets started following us. We might as well have targets stapled to our backs.

  "Oh, Mischief my love. I'm sorry." Reed sounded like he was going to start sobbing as he swerved on to the sidewalk. The side of the car screeched as it scraped the sides of storefronts. Sienna rolled over to the other side of the backseat, behind me, obviously worried the window would break. Reed kept going until we heard a sound that I can only describe as shattering.

   I turned and only saw a glimpse of the scene quickly retreating. The trucks obviously hadn't stopped. The front of the truck I could see looked like an accordion, all wrinkled up with glass dusting the top. Luckily, I didn't get to see more. Reed went back on the street and kept driving, increasing in speed. It's obvious he was getting really tired of driving on these streets tonight.

  "Mischief." He stroked the dashboard lovingly, "It's alright, we'll get you fixed. It's not that bad."

  Sienna and I shared a look as he kept muttering sweet nothings to his automobile lover. She reached forward and took my hand that I had rested on the center console. I felt my face grow hot as she played with the bracelets hanging on my wrist before arranging them neatly again. What a long, strange night this was.

  Well, all intimacy was quickly cut short. Our brief sense of calm shook. Mischief seemed to think her injuries were too much to bear as she slowed.

  "Um...guys." Reed's voice shook as he pulled to the side of the road. Eventually Mischief completely halted. She refused to go on, even when Reed chanted "you can do it" over and over and over again.

  "Reed, I think she's gone." Sienna opened the door and got out. Reed grumbled as he also got out. I followed, dreading what was coming next. We all stared, open-mouthed, as we examined the gashes on Mischief's side. It looked like a lot more than a little scrape. Dents, chipped paint, large abrasions were met by Reed's jumble of incoherent words.

  Sienna grabbed the bag out of the backseat and her sweater which she had draped over a seat, "Looks like we're walking."

  Reed sighed, wiping his eyes, and grabbed his phone from the car. I grabbed my jacket. Sienna and I watched uncomfortably as Reed ceremoniously made sure the doors were locked.

  "We're going back for her after this is all over." He frowned. We nodded as we started walking. The night was about to get longer.