Justify His Murder

Arguing and Cardio

   "Are we lost?" Reed was feeling a bit snappy. I didn't blame him. We did just leave his car on the side of the road during the Purge with an intense flesh wound. But Sienna was trying to cheer everyone up. She kept talking about cool things we could do together next week.

   "Isn't everyone a bit lost?" Sienna piped up. Before Reed could fire back with something, I put up a hand. We all stopped. We'd been walking for a while. The sky was dark and heavily dotted with clouds.

   "Look, we're almost there. We just need to take a deep breath." I held up the GPS on my phone. We were only about 15 minutes away now. We took a couple of seconds before we continued. We were sticking to the wall of buildings, trying not to be seen by anyone.

    So far, there was a lot of tragedy left around the city. We had seen people hanging from cars, people being chased, and heard screams cut short by gunshots. I'd probably have nightmares about tonight for years to come, but I couldn't help my growing anticipation. We were close. I recognized these streets. The bent STOP sign and the corner store with burnt out lights were so familiar. I expected to see him any minute now.

    I wondered if he still looked the exact same. It had been 5 years, but how much could he really have changed? And anyway it didn't matter. I'd recognize those dark eyes in a crowd. His tattoos were seared into my memory. I stumbled over something and Sienna grabbed my arm to stop me from following.

   "Oh gosh." Reed covered his mouth as he looked down. Confused, I followed his gaze. I had tripped over a limb. Just a limb. Not attached to anything or anybody. It was just...stranded. Sienna pulled me farther away from it, her eyes stuck in the spot. Maybe it was the look of fear on Reed's face or the way Sienna was holding on to my arm tighter than that blood pressure band they put you in at the doctor's. Or maybe it was the mutilated limb that we were trying to flee from. But whatever it was didn't change the fact that I broke.

    "I'm really sorry, guys." I didn't even realize I was crying until the tears burned my cheeks. We stopped again.

    "Hey, it's okay." Sienna wiped my face with her fingers. Reed's scowl softened.

    "No, hey. I'm complaining to create conflict. Keep us on our toes." He patted my back.

    I shook my head and kept rambling, "No....this is all my fault. We'd be home right now watching movies or something, but here we are."

    Sienna pulled me into her chest. I buried my face in her shoulder. She smelled like summer, but not in that annoying humid way. She smelled more like strawberries and late night drives. Her arms wrapped around me tight and I kept crying because wow. I'd spent years focusing on how unfair life was. And here I was. In the arms of a girl I loved while the best friend anyone could ever have patted my head softly. I mean, it could have been in a more perfect setting. Somewhere not so close to a dumpster that was suspiciously overflowing with large bags of questionable nature. But in the moment, it was perfect.

    Sienna took a deep breath and held me at an arm's length, staring right into my eyes, "Morgan. We've come this far. If you want to turn back, that's okay. But if you want to finish this, let's finish this."

   Wiping my face, I nodded. She was right. We'd walked for what must've been hours now and we were only a couple of minutes away. I had to finish this. We can't have lived through all of this for nothing.

   "Let's go." I said. This time we walked closer together, holding onto each other. Reed was in a better mood. Sienna was humming the Powerpuff Girls theme song. I was focused on keeping an eye out for him. We ducked into an alleyway when we heard an engine approaching. Our last run-in with a vehicle was not great and we weren't looking forward to that again. I peeked around a trashcan to see motorcycles roaring past. Splashes of red decorated their sides. It took me a minute to realize it probably wasn't paint.

  The motorcycles were loud, probably purposefully made louder by those riding them. The riders had light up masks that illuminated some area in front of them. My heart climbed up my chest as I realized they were slowing down. Why were they stopping? What did they want? Had they seen us? Questions swirled around silently. The three of us shared worried glances. The motorcycles came to what sounded like a complete stop somewhere out of sight. I thought about trying to see more, but decided it definitely wasn't worth the risk of giving our hiding spot away.

   We breathed as quietly as humanly possible and listened to a hushed conversation. It sounded like the motorcycle gang was breaking up for the night. Something about it going to be light soon, so it was best to stop now. They were dropping off one of the gang here. It took about 10 more minutes before we heard the roar of motorcycles start again. They quickly died down, speeding away.

   And I felt something. Now, I never really believed in a higher power or some entity that was watching over us all. But, what I felt that night was inexplicable. My chest was on fire, working like a metal detector or something. I closed my eyes and thought. What are the odds that a Purger just happened to stop here, near this man's house? What are the odds that there are two criminals living side by side?

   I heard whispers trailing after me and realized I had already started walking. Sienna and Reed chased after me, but I pressed on. I was so close. I had to know. I had to see.

   Coming out of the alleyway, I saw someone heading into the house. My chest's flame let out. Because there in the middle of a city of stupid people who did stupid things tonight, I spotted a streak of honey hair. I saw him. And I was so close now. I guess my sense of direction felt bad for me today. I knew exactly where to go.