I lay in my motel bed, tossing and turning with little shut-eye. Perhaps this was because Maverick kept shuffling back and forth in our room, peeping out from behind our curtain at the Homeless people who dwelled outside.

He’d just finished selling a couple of them a hand-picked fifty bags. Suddenly there was a knock at our door. Maverick sprung up, composed himself and made way for the door. And I was without any possibility of falling asleep anytime soon.

Maverick yanked the door open and gave the knocker a crazed gaze that only a 3-day bender could manifest.

“What issit?” Maverick slurred.

An old woman stood by the door, her hair entirely white, her skin tired and thin, with glazed eyes she pulled out her purse, “How much for a Half?” she asked, thumbing through notes.

“Harv ounce?” Slurred Maverick, scattering around our room in search of a ziplock bag.

“Yes. A half ounce. It’s good stuff you’ve got there.” she replied, peeping into our messy motel room from the doorway.

“Yeh it is–well I don smoke ennymore buht no wans come back to complain,” Maverick admitted, as he sunk his hand into an ounce bag.

“How much of that stuff do you have there?” she asked. Curiously.

“Shiet, quite a lot. Who’s after?” Maverick asked, placing a portion of one bag into another and bringing the half-ounce over to the old woman.

“No, no, just wondering. Be safe around here. Someone might try to stand you over for it.” she answered, taking hold of the ounce.

“Not too fussed really about that. I can hold my own,” replied Maverick, hands on hips.

The older woman snickered, “Stay safe out here. Lots of crazies about.” she finished as she walked over to join her group.

Maverick stood in the doorway for a while, watching them. Then stepped back and closed the door. “That woman’s a fuckin nutter.”

I tried ignoring Maverick by pretending to be asleep, but he kept walking back and forth in our room. “She’s up to something bad. Do you reckon we left some weed in the car? They’re gonna try to steal the car bro, we gotta get outta here, they’ll take us for all we have.”

“What are you on about?” I replied, rubbing my eyes.

“Those people are here for a reason. They’re not like us. They’ve been chewed up and spat out by society bro. They’ve got nothing left, nothing stopping them from robbing the next man. C'mon, let’s go.” Maverick rattled off, packing all his things into a large black rubbish bag.

“Relax bro, we’re fine,” I replied, feeling tired.

“Nah, Nah, get up.” Maverick insisted, shoving me as I lay in my bed. “Get up, Hunter!” he ordered, yanking the blanket off of me.

“Oi!” I exclaimed.

“Get up, cunt. We gotta roll.” Maverick went on. “Pack your shit, we gotta get outta here.”

I knew we didn’t have anywhere else to go, and the chances of us finding a room this late were slim. “Where are we gonna go? We have nowhere else to go?”

Maverick scratched his face, “Nah man. Those motherfuckers are up to something. We need to bust a move. Hunter– get up!” Ordered Maverick as he tipped my mattress on one end and I fell to the floor.

“Fuck, sake, bro!” I cursed, picking myself up from the floor. “You were the one that insisted on staying in these motels. Just get some sleep.” I spat.

“I can’t man,” Maverick replied, locking his smashed eyes onto me.

The glare he gave sent chills down my spine. His cheeks were thin, his eyes sunken, dark bags forming below his eyes, and scars from previous benders where he had scratched deep holes into his skin. Now that I looked deep into his being, I could see how much of a shell he had become.

“You want to leave?” I asked.

“That’s what I just said,” replied Maverick, with a deep Burrough of frown.

“Alright. Well, I probably won’t get any sleep here anyway. But I’m driving.” I started moving to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

As I moved across the room; I passed a clock and learned that it was already 3 in the morning.

“Cunt. It’s 3 am, we might as well just stay here. Suns almost up.” I said further.

“Nah, we gotta go to the airport,” replied Maverick.

“Why?” I asked, losing patience.

“I got a plan,” replied Maverick, looking at me with the manic eyes of a lunatic.

I paused. Knew I had no choice in the matter. And continued to the bathroom for some momentary peace.

Afterwards, we hopped back into the car, but I drove. I pulled out of the Motel car park when Maverick stopped me, “Hold up, I need to talk to the boss.”

“Who’s the boss?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.

“The guy that owns this shithole.” He replied, climbing out of my vehicle. He made his way over to the Motel front desk and began talking to the night shift worker.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the frantic showing of his wallet and pointing at the register suggested that he was either trying to rob the place or get his money back. I sincerely hoped it was the second.

Eventually, the woman decided to hop on the phone to call for help, whatever that help was I wasn’t sure, but it couldn’t have been good.

Maverick quickly flung himself back into the car and yelled, “Go!Go!Go!”

I complied.

We drove through the city, around Kilbirnie and through to the Airport. I figured we were going to the airport, perhaps Maverick figured we could get a last-minute plane ticket. But I highly doubted that.

“Keep going, nah, go through the airport, yeah, there we go, yup, that’s the one.” He spoke at trigger-happy speed.

Before I knew it; we were drinking along the seafront, the area that overlooks the Cook Strait, where on a clear day you can see Picton. But in this darkness, You couldn’t see Jack.

“Alright stop here, hold up, hold up mate, stop here.” He ordered, sparking himself another dart as we stopped in a roadside park amongst the seaside darkness. He looked over at me with a sinister gaze, “Do you trust me to pull this off?” He asked me.

“Pull what off?” I asked him, but he didn't reply.

“You gotta tell me what you plan on doing, Mav. At this rate, we’re just going to end up sleeping in the car.” I added.

“We’re going across the cook strait.” He spoke, matter of factly.

“What do you mean? We still need to book the interislander. They’re booked out.” I replied.

He shook his head, “Nah man, we just need that.” He stated, pointed over to a flipped-over dingy by the beach.

I began to process his proposition, “You wanna take that thing through the inter-island channel?” I asked, hoping he would realise how stupid of an idea that was.

“Yeah man, we’ll be sweet, it’ll take a while, but do you reckon we’ll be able to do it?” He asked me, dancing around his words.

“Fuck no! No. No way will we be able to get over there, even if we don’t sink the Coast Guard will get us, or it’ll take longer than waiting a couple of days. That’s a stupid idea, man.” I replied, on the brink of twisted laughter.

“Fuck, you’re just a hater aye bro. What other option do we have?” He asked me, shaking his head and looking out the window. “If you didn’t notice those motherfuckers from up north are still after us. This is the second most populated city in the north island, they’ll look for us here. To be honest man, maybe those Motel fuckers have already tipped them off. We need to burn this car.” He finished, sucking back on his cigarette.

“I think you need to lay off the gear and relax bro. Wellington is a big place, they won’t be able to find us so easily. And I mean, to be honest, what did you do that was so bad? We repaid your debt, so it shouldn’t be such a big problem. That old boss of yours will make an extra 50 grand at least on whatever you owe him.” I argued, meeting his soulless gaze.

“It’s not about the money, it’s about the principal. The guy is a multi-millionaire, he doesn’t give a fuck about some hundred grand. What he cares about is knowing that guys like me can’t get away with fucking him over. I’ve seen what he did to a guy last year, he’s a twisted little fucker.” Maverick rattled off, sucking the life out of his dart.

“What even was all this about? You didn’t get him enough cars? That’s hardly a reason to kill someone. Why would you ever get yourself involved with these kinds of people?” I asked him.

Maverick paused and sucked on his smoke, “I don’t know man, I needed a place to crash, and I needed protection. No big deal.”

I pulled a face, “It is a big fuckin deal if your life’s been threatened over it. Who did you need protection from?” I asked him.

“Oh, no one really. Just a couple of people I ripped off that turned out to be the sons of some pretty bad people. So I needed to lay low for a bit. And now those people are after me as well. It’s almost like I can’t win.”

“By bad, do you mean gang bad?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” He replied, tossing his cigarette out his window.

I paused long and hard for a moment. I was getting pretty scared. This was my brother, and I began to fear the worst. It wasn’t just a couple of loose units he’d ripped off, but potentially a whole syndicate of organised crime. I began to picture the thought of my brother getting beaten so badly he’d be paralysed. And then I remembered that car crash he had and how he had bolts in his back that only weakened him. This was the deciding instance where I truly feared for Mav’s life.

“You’ve got a criminal record right?” I asked.

“Yeah, fuckin oath.” He replied, sniveling.

“But you can probably still get into certain countries,” I replied.

“Yeah man, Thailand. Practise my Muay Thai again.” He agreed, digging into his face.

“I feel stupid for asking this but…do you have a passport?” I asked.

“Yeah, but it expired ten years ago.” He replied, reaching for another cigarette.

“Can you chill out on the constant smoking, just relax. We’ll figure this out somehow.” I started, trying to wrack my brain for any way this could work out.

“Have you ever heard of any gangs that exist down the line?” I asked him.

“Down south?” He asked, rubbing his knees.

“Yeah, man.” I clarified.

“Shiet, maybe just biker gangs.” He replied.

“Alright. Well, maybe we should head down those ways.” I replied. “But once we get down there, what then?” I asked further.

“Fuck knows bro, probably just ride it out until I crash and burn to be honest.” He answered.

I felt my skin crawl at the closure of his words, “Ride it out until you crash? The fuck kind of outlook is that?” I spat.

“It’s just how it is, bro. Life sucks, I don’t give a fuck about anything anymore. If I’m being honest aye. Just wanna take each day as it comes.” he replied.

I felt my heart skip a beat like my soul was being crushed. I knew it was bad, but I figured after some time maybe things would come alright. But I think out of all the things that I had learned over the last couple of days, the main take away that I had right now was; some things once implemented, never change.

“You just wanna keep using?” I asked directly.

“I don’t know man, I might quit one day. But for now, it’s just what it is aye. I’m fine, everyone has a vice. You and Dad like drinking, I just like the other stuff. I’m not hurting anyone.” He replied.

“You’re a shell of yourself mate, I can barely even look at you now. I don’t know how compassionate I can be. I miss you, man, it’s like you’re gone, like you don’t exist anymore. I don’t know what to do anymore.” I unravelled.

“I didn’t ask you to do anything man, just leave me be if you want, I’ll be sweet.” He replied.

But as he said that, I felt as if he was emotionally unplugging himself from this world, and perhaps planned to physically also.

He opened his car door, made his way over to the beach, and flipped over the dinghy.

“Oi! Oi! Nah man you can’t do that.” I started, as I unbuckled and made my way towards him.

“Just leave me be bro, they aren’t after you, you’ll be all good.” He replied as he began looking around for some ores.

“You’re acting crazy bro. You need to sort yourself out.” I stated.

“I need to sort myself out?” He asked, pressing his thumb into his chest.

“Yeah,” I confirmed, standing my ground.

Maverick let out a violent growl but held his temper, and walked towards the boat shed shining a phone torch.

“Where’d you get that?” I asked him.

“Some guy at that Motel swapped it to me for a fid.” He replied, trying the lock on the shed, “It’s locked.”

“I think you just need to rest man. Nothing is gonna change over the next couple of days. Just book in the interislander on that phone.” I insisted.

Mav simply ignored me and picked up a large rock from beside the small beach dunes and smacked it hard against the lock a few times. His plan didn’t work.

“Hop in the car bro, it’s fuckin freezing.” I insisted further.

Maverick gave a few more strokes to the lock but found no luck, he then turned around and threw the rock into the crashing waves, and placed his hands on his head.

“That’s fuckin hideous.” He spat.

“Maybe it’s a sign,” I replied.

“A sign for what?” He spat.

“A sign not to paddle across the cook strait in a fuckin’ dinghy,” I replied. “How about we get a top-up from a gassy and see if there have been any cancellations? We might be able to get on the interislander later today.” I added.

Maverick cleared his throat and spat on the sand, “Yeah maybe. Maybe we should do that.”

I looked around the dimly lit street. Off among the rows of houses, I saw a MacDonald’s sign lighting up above them all.

“There’s a Maccas sign over there, maybe we could huss some free wifi,” I added.

“Yeah, alright.” Agreed Maverick, making his way up the dunes and over to the footpath. I followed after him, as the early morning rays began to climb upon the horizon.

I felt my stomach rumble something dreadful, I sure could go for a feed. “How about you shout us breakfast bro, surely you’ll have enough,” I asked him.

Maverick looked over at me, as if trying to solve a complex maths equation, “Yeah, alright.” He said, eventually.