???
JOHN
My eyes open and bright light fills my vision. It takes a few moments to adjust. I realize I am lying on my back. I rub my eyes and notice that I’m lying on the hard floors of my school gym.
“Wh-what? How the hell did I even…” I begin to say as I’m cut off by a searing pain from the back of my head. I reach up to feel it and my hand comes down a dark red. I blink a few times and then notice that there is actually more blood...it’s down the front of my shirt. It’s all over me—I’m lying in a puddle of blood. What the hell?
The sudden feeling of emptiness catches up to me—nobody is around. I stand and run into the locker room—half looking for any sign of life and half looking for a mirror to see if I look as bad as I feel. I manage to find one in Mr. Underwood’s office—a mirror, I mean. I don’t see any visible wounds on me. My head isn’t the source of this blood, the wound looks like it did the morning after—only a slight bump. That does suggest that I am covered in someone…or something else’s blood.
My stomach sinks and I run back out into the gym; a horrid scent pierces the air. I don’t know why I hadn’t smelled it before, but I do now. Only one word can describe it so perfectly, death. I walk to the middle of the cold room; a small detail pops out at me, like I should have noticed it all along. Behind one of the bleachers I can see...something poking out. It is Mr. Underwood’s mangled body. I’d throw up if anything were in me to start with.
It looks like it was attacked by a feral animal. His jacket has been shredded to pieces and there are cuts and incisions all over the front of his bare chest. The largest of such has emptied the contents of his abdomen onto the floor. Then I notice there is a bullet hole right through his forehead. Somewhat fresh blood drips onto the ground from it. I back away slowly, almost tripping over myself as I do. His cold brown eyes are wide open and his hair just slightly thinning.
I can’t stand looking at him anymore. I need to get out of here and find someone to explain this to me. My walking has lumbered to a dazed shuffle to the other side of the gym. My consciousness threatens to slip away, but I’m not going to let it. Not this time. I need to stay conscious. I reach the doors and push myself against them for support. I see small blood tracks on the tiles on the ground. I follow the tracks for what seems like hours. In reality it’s probably only for a few moments, but considering my mental state at the moment it could have easily been such.
I reach a fork in the hallway leading off to two different sections of the school. I still haven’t seen a single soul since I’d woken up. The bloody path starts thinning as I follow it and the path ever so harder to follow. I take a left at the fork and reach the math wing of the school. I pass by Ms. Edwards’ room on my right. I reach another branching path at the end of the hall, to the right it branches off into the cafeteria. The blood leads directly into the cafeteria and the trail I’ve been following is nothing more than a few drops here and there at this point. It leads outside and once again I have to lean against the door to get it open. The trail disappears completely out on the pavement.
Damn it. I feel a headache pounding at the back of my head again. I take a seat against the side of the school building and put my head in my hands. I sit there and close my eyes. How did it come to this? What have I done to deserve this? There’s a familiar weight in my pocket and snag out my phone. I notice there is some blood on it too, but not much. I power it on, praying for it to have any semblance of a charge left. It does. I swipe as fast as I can to enter in Sarah’s number. In my haste I accidentally enter the wrong number and some phone sex line answers.
I am in such a rush I didn’t really notice until the person on the other line responded like, “I can be this Sarah girl if you want, darling.” I end the call as fast as possible and try again one more time. This time the phone rings for a couple of seconds and then a familiar voice answers.
“H-Hello?”
“Sarah, thank god you picked up. Listen, I-”
“John?! Is that really you?”
“Y-Yeah, why wouldn’t it be me?”
“Are you all right?” She asks.
“I don’t know...I’m here at the school,” I say. My voice is hoarse and I can bet she can tell.
“Do you know what happened?”
“I just woke up in the school gym not knowing nothing about anything. If you can tell me if you know anything it would be appreciated.”
“Gym? That’s not…John, listen, are you still at the school?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes, don’t move, alright?”
“Okay, I’m outside the cafeteria if you know where that is,” I say, slowly.
“Yeah, I got it. I’ll be there shortly.”
“Thanks.”
She hangs up. I don’t put my phone down until a couple of minutes later. I called looking for answers, but only received more questions. Suddenly, my eyes feel very heavy. I can’t…not yet. I cannot control it. My eyes fall and sleep consumes me. Immediately I’m woken up by a harsh scream. My eyes open quickly to see Sarah standing over me almost as pale as a ghost.
“Oh my god what the hell happened?!”
“Wh-What?” I say, still quite dazed.
“You’re covered in blood!”
I try to stand, “I’m…fine. It isn’t mine. I think.”
“You…think? How could you not be sure?”
My head begins to pound once more. Another shape walks up and my vision focuses. I see it is Iris. She turns a similar shade of pale when she sees me.
“What the hell happened?” She asks.
I can feel my heart pounding all the way up to my throat. “I…I woke up covered in blood. Then I found the Mr. Underwood mauled in the corner of the gym,” I explain.
“You…what?” Iris asks.
“I don’t know what is going on,” I say. “I just woke up here.”
“Can you start from the beginning?” Sarah asks.
“The last thing I remember was going to sleep yesterday and then dreaming about that guy, Micah.”
“Forget that, you’ve been missing for two weeks!” Iris calls back. “They thought you ran away or something.”
“I’ve been what now?”
“Today is March 14th, John. Nobody has seen you since the 26th,”
“No…that isn’t possible. Today is Monday.”
Sarah and Iris look at me in confusion. The bursts of light seem brighter today.
“No, today is Wednesday, March 14th,” Iris says.
My head pounds like a bass drum and I can barely find the strength to stand. I look down to my phone and the date is as plain as the sky. March 14th, 2029. I drop my phone and it bounces off of the pavement below, making a sort of clang. I freeze up instantly and stare straight at the ground. “Wh…no…that can’t…how…”
“John, please look at me,” Sarah says.
My mouth runs dry and all I taste is blood. I look up at them, no doubt with some sort of crazy look in my eyes. “What happened? What is happening to me?”
“John, are you okay? I can leave you need more time to take this in,” Sarah says.
“No, please don’t leave…as much as this is all to take in, I don’t want to do it alone.” She walks over to me and kneels beside me. Then she does something I don’t expect. She hugs me, cradling my head in her neck. I don’t even realize that I start crying. I let out the troubles of my day in one shallow inaudible groan. “We’re going to find out what happened to you, okay?”
“We are?” Iris asks.
Sarah gives her a look, then looks back to me. “Yes, we are.”
I close my eyes and slowly nod my head. “I appreciate it. You don’t know how much this means that at least someone else is here.”
“Let’s start by going and getting you changed and washed up. I trust you can manage that part alone?” Sarah asks.
“He better be able to,” Iris says, rolling her eyes.
I wipe my eyes and stand up. We walk to her car which is parked just behind the corner of the building. It’s a small 2027 Prius and by small I mean small.
“Wait a moment, you can drive?” I say, wiping my eyes once more.
“Yeah, I moved from Colorado. You can get your license there when you’re sixteen. It’s been like that since Avery came in.” I take a seat in the back and nearly have to bend my head over to even fit in the stupid thing. “Oh come on. You don’t have to exaggerate. I know it is small, but it was the only thing my mom would let me get.”
“I don’t know, I was thinking of doing the same kind of thing when I first saw it,” Iris says, letting out a small chuckle.
“Seems like if I stay here too long I’ll start growing shorter,” I say, wiping my face again.
"Alright alright, the both of you can quit it. Just because you went missing doesn’t give you free reigns for jokes on my height...although it’s nice to hear you haven't lost your sense of humor in the time you were gone," Sarah says.
I nod back at her, trying to keep a smile up.
“I’m just glad you guys got to me before Harde showed up. I don’t know how that would have turned out,” I say.
“I still don’t understand most of it,” Iris said. “How does something like this even happen? You just woke up in a completely different place?” Iris asks.
“I don’t remember much of what happened. The last thing I do remember is was being so...so tired after I met you in the park on Sunday, Sarah. Ever since Friday it’s like I get pulled back into deep sleeps. It was like, what, ten in the morning by the time we split up? It was more than just being tired—and it happened just before you guys showed up, too. I felt like I was being pulled under.”
“It is weird you’d fall asleep after that short of a time,” Sarah said. “When I was at my house I was sleeping...I heard these shouts, or screams or something. I could see bits and pieces, but it looked like a bunch of people in my room, the rest of it was just a bunch of colors and shapes. I think I was trying to break whatever was over me.”
“It sounds like you think you were kidnapped or something. I mean, if you are telling the truth,” Iris says.
“What?” I ask.
“I’m just saying…there’s an equal chance that you aren’t telling the truth, so how do we know that it isn’t that case?” She asks.
“Iris, I believe him.”
“Yeah, well, people believe all kinds of things. It doesn’t necessarily make them true.”
Sarah puts the keys into the ignition and fires up the small car.
“I didn’t kill anybody,” I say.
“I never said you did. I’m just saying that I don’t know if you’re telling the truth. It’s a very far-fetched story.”
“Where would I have gone?”
“I don’t know. I’m not the person who went missing. You don’t exactly make it easy to follow along.”
“Iris, stop. This isn’t the place or time. Someone has died for goodness’ sake.”
“Maybe that makes it the perfect time to talk about this. Don’t you think we should call somebody?”
“Who, exactly?” Sarah asks, backing up out of the lot.
That question hangs in the air. The police are busy on the east coast with Avery’s nonsense, and our district officer would ensure I got the death sentence without any question asked. It’d be an open and shut case. The car pulls out of the parking lot and onto the street.
“Well...maybe he should be called.” Iris says.
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“I don’t know, whatever you want it to mean, I guess. One possibility is that we just picked you up and you’re telling the truth about this.”
“Uh huh…?”
“And another possibility is that we are transporting a killer away from the crime scene, thereby becoming accessories to the crime,” Iris says.
“But I didn’t…you aren’t…” I say.
“It’s just a possibility.”
“But you still got in the car. If you’d really believed me to be a killer, why would you have done that?”
Iris stops for a minute. “You don’t strike me as a killer. Weird, definitely so, but you don’t sound like someone who’d kill...not consciously.”
“What…?” Sarah asks.
“Your parents, I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors surrounding them and yourself?” Iris asks.
I don’t answer, but my lack of an answer seems to be an answer in of itself.
“So, they’re true.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Iris,” Sarah says.
“Do you usually listen to rumors?” I ask.
Iris winces at the question. “I...”
“Okay! that’s enough.” Sarah interjects. “Both of you need to stop.
“I’m just saying, it’s completely possible that he snapped and-”
“Iris. No more.”
Iris puts up a hand to argue, but then drops it.
“We need a change of subject…where around here do you live, John? I’m going to need some directions to your place,”
We turn the corner onto the Boulevard.
“It’s over on Quarry Crossing, you’ve quite a ways to go,” I reply.
“Quarry...that’s like, forty minutes away,” Iris says.
“Yeah,” I reply.
“And since you don’t drive…?” Sarah asks.
“I walk.”
“You’ve really clammed up, huh?” Iris asks.
I look to her, the headache from before is coming back. “When have you ever known me to be the talkative type? I mean, honestly?” I ask.
“Please, the both of you. Please just stop. It isn’t helping anything. And Iris, please don’t start anything else,” Sarah says.
“Okay, okay,” she says.
The next few minutes are filled with complete silence. I’m silently glad for the momentary relief. I’ve shown too much. They probably think I’m like some stray dog they’ve picked up on the side of the street.
“Hey, do you need a ride for school?” Sarah says quietly. “I could come and pick you up if you like?” She asks.
“No, it’s fine. You don’t have to do that,” I say, blinking.
"Do you want me to-"
"No, it's fine."
"John, it's seriously no-"
"Sarah, it's fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine.”
"You can't shut everything out of your life, John." Sarah returns her focus to the road and it remains quiet.
"Take the next right up here." I mention.
Sarah nods her head and turns up the road. Familiar houses fill my vision, we're not far now.
"It's going to be one final right after the shop there," I say.
Once we turn onto my road I can see my house come into view. Sarah begins to slow down and she comes to a complete stop along the side of the road.
"I'll just wait out here, okay?" Iris says.
“I’ll come with you…” Sarah says.
I nod my head and open up the door. She follows—the car still on behind us as we approach my front door. I would wonder why Sarah is coming in with me, but maybe I should just silently thank her that I don’t have to face my father alone. Maybe it’s selfish then to hope that she come in.
I stop when I see the front door is wide open. Sarah stops behind me and she looks at me, confused.
“Stay back, I think something is wrong,” I whisper back.
I slip inside the door. Sarah is following right behind me and I notice that all of the lights in the living room have been turned off. I walk towards the staircase near the back of the room and begin walking up towards my room. I throw open my door and almost double over from the intense smell that is thrown in my face as soon as I do. It isn't just the smell, but the sight as well.
Lying on the ground and across my bed are the dead bodies of my parents. Their blood has dried to my bed sheets and the floor below, but it is absolutely everywhere. Their bodies had been mutilated just as Mr. Underwood’s have and they both have a bullet hole straight through their temple. My eyes are darting back from my mother to my father and I can't help but hyperventilate. My legs feel like jelly and I have to hold the door behind me for support. Sarah makes it up the stairs and sees my parents over my shoulder.
“Oh god…” She says. I take a step back, my eyes growing wide. I can feel my heart beating out of my chest. Sarah’s voice sounds like it’s coming through heavy static when she speaks, “John...John, are you okay?” I nearly fall over and look back into the bedroom. My throat is running dry, I can’t find my voice. Sarah closes the door and turns my head towards her. “Listen, John. I can’t possibly imagine what kind of pain you’re feeling right now, but I’m here for you. You aren’t alone in this, okay? Let’s go back out to the car, we can go to someone for help,” she says.
I feel like I’m in some sort of dream, like none of this is real. Yeah, that’s it. I’m just dreaming and I’m just really lucid right now. I’d like to think that, but there’s this pervading feeling that that isn’t the truth, the feeling that I’m awake for the long run here. I turn back towards her nod slowly and silently. I turn around and nearly trip on the way down the stairs, but I catch myself. I swallow hard and make it to the bottom of the steps.
“John, can you speak to me? I don’t like this silence…” Sarah says.
“I...I don’t know what to say.”
“Listen, John. I’m here for you and so is Iris. We’re both here for you. This is awful…but you don’t have to go through this alone.”
I open the front door and step outside. I turn my head and give her a weak smile. We walk back to the car and I step inside, resting my head on my arm as I do.
“You didn’t change…” Iris says.
“Uh, yeah...there’s been a...change of plans,” Sarah says.
She pulls out into the street and I close my eyes. I float around in my thoughts for a few minutes, dissecting everything that has just happened. Just then I hear a bit of whispers from the front.
“What the hell happened to him?” Iris asks quietly.
“His parents…”
“What? Are they actually that bad?”
“They’re dead, Iris.”
“What? Where are we going now?”
“We’re going to the police. Someone needs to find out what happened. I’m going to see if I can get him somewhere to stay for the night. If they can’t then I’ll bring him to my place.”
“Are you sure that’s the best thing to do? How can you not see what happened?”
“I feel awful, he has gone through so much,” Sarah says, hushed.
“Sarah, I’m not sure you understand what I’m saying. Do you know what this means? You need to stop the car,” Iris says, worried.
“What?”
“He did it. I mean, his parents are dead! He obviously tweaked out…” Iris says.
“Iris, you can’t really be-”
“Sarah, stop the car,” Iris says, louder this time.
“Iris-”
“Sarah, stop the c-”
My eyes flip open and I see the car careening off of the side of the street. I see that Iris grabbed the wheel to try and manually stop the vehicle. I bolt upright and look around. The car is flying off of the side of the street right into the woods.
“Iris! Let go of the wheel!” I say.
“I need to get out of this damn car!”
“Iris calm down!” Sarah says. We hurtle past two trees and Sarah jerks the wheel away from Iris and looks back out of the front window. I do the same and see we’re headed off of a cliff. I try to yell, but it is too late, the front end of the Prius nosedives down and we drop like stones.
There is a heavy smell of rubber and gasoline when I wake. I open my eyes and see that I’m lying on the floor of the back seat of the small Prius. I push myself up and look to the front seat. Sarah and Iris are out cold, bruises line their faces and arms.
I have to get them to safety.
I reach for the handle to the car door and I push on it. It stays put the first time, but on the second bout I shove it open and it screeches horribly as it does. I crawl out of the car and land on the cold ground.
I try to get to my feet, but it’s much more difficult than I’d originally thought. I make it to a kneeling position and when I try to switch my weight over to my left leg I hear a snap. I scream as I fall back down. I grab the handle to the open car door for support. I pull myself to the side of the car seat and look back in.
“Sarah! Iris! Are you awake? Please wake up!” I yell. There isn’t any response. The car buckles slightly as a small noise sounds. I think this car may blow. My body is running completely on adrenaline now. I hop onto my right leg, using the car door for support and I hop over to the passenger door. I grab for the handle, but it is locked. I think for a second, my leg getting sore, I then realize I have no other choice, it’s too far to hobble back and unlock the door. I take my elbow and smash it through the window. Pain sears through my arm as glass shards puncture it through my shirt.
I grit my teeth and use my other arm to reach in and unlock the door. I pull on the handle once more and the door opens. I fall to my knees again and look at Sarah and Iris. I can see Iris’s chest rising and falling slowly, because her head is propped to the side, but I can’t tell if Sarah is breathing or not, since she is resting against the steering wheel.
“Leave them! Save yourself!”
What? Who said that? I look around me, in every direction. There isn’t a single person to be found.
“Leave them to die! Rot in the metal and fabric!”
“Wh-Who is saying that?” I call out. There isn’t any answer. I can’t leave them. Why would I? I need to save them.
“Save them? They’re going to turn on you. You can’t get rid of the seed of doubt once it’s been planted in someone’s heart.”
I shake my head and unbuckle Iris from her seat. I start by standing up on my right foot. I pick her up in my arms and wince when my left foot hits the ground. I carry her away from the car. I make it about thirty feet from the car and I lie her down against a nearby tree. I limp back towards the car, my strength fading. Now I can see that there is smoke rising out of the hood of the car. Its black color suggests that something bad is going to happen real soon.
I hop around the front of the car—holding my breath as to not inhale any of the toxic fumes. I reach the driver’s side and open the door. Fortunately, it isn’t locked. I throw open the door and unbuckle Sarah as fast as I can. I catch her body from falling to the side and breathe a sigh of relief when I see that she is indeed breathing. She’s bleeding from a blow to her temple, but I think she should be fine.
I pick her up in my arms and my knees begin to buckle. I breathe once heavily and continue on. My leg is absolutely killing me, but my main thought is getting Sarah to safety. I make it to the tree where I set down Iris. Looking back at the car it’s about thirty feet away from us. I put Sarah down beside Iris and collapse to the ground, my legs no longer able to handle my weight. I’m facing the smoking car and then in another instant I see the car erupt into various oranges and reds.
My ears ring and the sound of the explosion precedes all else.
“You should have left them in there.”
N-No. I did the right thing, I saved them.
“They’re going to turn on you, you’re going to be locked up for being the freak you are.”
I take a breath of brief respite. “J-John…?” I turn my head to see Sarah waking up.
I look to her and give her a thumbs up. “It’s...okay. You’re safe. We’re all safe.”
“We were in a car crash.” I nod my head. “And...you saved us?” she asks. I nod again.
“T-Thank you so much,” she says, a tear escaping her eyes.
“It’s...it’s no problem.”
Sarah looks at Iris. “I’m sorry for what she said, I know you heard…”
“Don’t worry about it. I would have thought the same thing if I were in her shoes,” I say.
Iris opens her eyes. They dart around, looking at our new surroundings. “Wh-What happened?”
“You freaked out and we crashed. John pulled us out while we were out,” Sarah says.
“Why would he-”
Iris looks over at the burning heap of metal that used to be a 2027 Prius. A look of realization dawns on her face. “Oh...my god. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what—”
“It’s fine…” I say.
“No, I...oh jeez I’m sorry.”
I look to her and then down to the ground. Sarah stands up. “Okay, that’s good, I don’t think I broke anything,” she says, inspecting her body. Iris stands to her feet as well, but has a little bit of difficulty.
“I’m aching all over and I think my ankle is sprained, but I think that’s the worst for me,” she says.
I stay on the ground. “I’m pretty sure my left leg is either fractured or broken, so I don’t think I’m moving anywhere anytime soon.”
“You got us out of that car with a broken leg?” Iris asks in shock.
“Don’t think too highly of it. It was just the adrenaline kicking in,” I say, pulling myself to my kneeling position.
“Here, let me help you,” Sarah says, grabbing a hold of one side of me.
“Oh, yeah, me too! I can’t let this go unpaid,” Iris says. They both bring me up to my feet and I stay off of my left leg.
“They know too much. You need to end this now!”
We begin walking slowly around. To our right is the cliff that we’d fallen from. It’s about sixty feet up from where we are now and meets the ground at a near ninety degree angle. We move forward and then I hear the sirens in the distance.
“It’s too late now! They’re out for you!”
We continue on and we find an incline in the landscape. We take it slow up the incline, both of the others making sure that I don’t fall and cause any more damage to myself. We’re about halfway up the hill and the voice continues on.
“You’re walking right into your imprisonment! Kill them now!”
I don’t have to listen to you, you’re just a voice inside my head. You don’t even exist.
“I exist enough to know a traitor when I see one, and I see two.”
My breathing begins to speed up, but I am not going to let this voice conquer me. We continue our pace up the hill. We reach the top and I can tell that Iris and Sarah are both exhausted from lugging me up all the way.
“Let’s just take a rest by the side of the road, maybe we can hitchhike,” I say.
They both nod. We all sit down and recuperate. Just then, I hear the sirens from before coming ever closer. “Is...is this it?” Iris asks.
“You don’t have to worry, we haven’t done anything wrong. There’s just been a crash,” Sarah says.
“You guys need to hide,” I say.
“What?” Iris asks.
“What if they know? What if they’ve been following us this whole time? They’d get you guys on account of being accessories,” I say.
“How would you think they know?” Sarah asks.
“I don’t know! I don’t want to take that chance though.”
“I’m not leaving you here to get yourself arrested,” Sarah says.
“I’m not either, dude. We’re in this together, like it or not,” Iris says.
“You really changed sides on the flick of a switch,” Sarah looks at her.
“I’m not fond of owing people anything, so you can think of this as me paying you off, alright?”
I chuckle. “I guess we just hope for the best, then.”
“Indeed,” Iris says.
“We’re here for you,” Sarah says.
The sirens increase in volume and frequency and then I see a car bend around the nearby gate and sure enough it’s a police car.
“Calm down, John. I can see you tensing up from all the way over here,” Iris says.
I look towards her and then back at myself and I can see my hands are gripped tight.
“I mean, how are they even going to connect it to you?”
“My parents…” I say, remembering.
“T-They could be two totally different accidents…” Sarah says.
“Whoever did this made sure it was no accident. I’m not sure the police will think of them as separate if they know about my parents,” I say.
“That’s putting a lot of faith that they do know,” Iris remarks.
The police car approaches and begins to slow to a halt. It comes to a complete stop and I’m left lying on my side, staring in hopeful anticipation as the car door opens. A man steps out of the car and steps hard onto the gravel below. His figure is familiar and then I see his long brown hair, albeit it is a bit trimmed since I’d last seen it. Detective Ace Harde. This could only mean one thing if he was sent here alone. He opens his coat up and grabs out a dated looking walkie-talkie from the pocket.
He presses the button and speaks into the receiver, forcing clarity. “Yeah, I’m on the scene sir, over,” he finally looks over to us, but it’s only for a second. He listens close to the voice that responds back, but it’s too distorted by static for me to understand.
“Yeah, I’ll take him in, over,” he says. My heart stops.
“You had your chance to save yourself. Now you pay the consequences.”
Detective Harde puts the walkie-talkie back into his coat pocket and then walks slowly over to us. We sit there in silenced horror as he approaches ever closer. I don’t think any of us have any strength left in us to move or even react to him. He completes his stride and looks down at us all, shaking his head.
“You aren’t making my job any easier,” he says.
“Wh-What does that mean?” Sarah asks.
The cop grabs my collar and yanks me to my feet.
"John Baker, you have the right to remain silent..."
Detective Harde drones on about the Miranda rights, but the feeling behind them seems hollow.
“On what charges, officer?” Sarah calls out, standing up slowly.
Harde looks over slowly, but with a look of boredom in his eye. “I’m sure I don’t even have to tell you, miss.”
I'm not even fully listening. I feel like I'm lost in some dream world, but then I realize that this is all really happening. Detective Harde practically carries me to the police car and he nearly throws me into the back seat. I can hear Sarah and Iris yelling, but he pays them no mind. I’m left sitting in the backseat of the police car, my arm resting on the door handle on the other side of the car and I watch as Detective Harde shuts the door and hops into the front seat.
He throws the car into ignition and drives off, leaving Sarah and Iris behind.
“I’d advise you to buckle up, it might be a bumpy ride. Of course, you could choose not to listen to me and deal with it,” Detective Harde says.
“And you’re just going to leave them back there?” I ask.
“Certainly, my orders are to arrest you, nothing more, nothing less.”
“What kind of officer of the law are you?” I ask.
“I’m the officer that follows the rules that are given to him.”
The car seems to bounce along the gravel as we travel down and sitting on the seat the way I am is getting a little uncomfortable. I sit up and put on my seat belt, but I make sure to grunt as I do it to show that I’m doing it for me, not because he told me to. He makes no response, so either he didn’t hear, or didn’t care to hear. My eyes suddenly feel heavy. I can’t keep a hold of consciousness and isn't long until I pass out again.