𝐒𝐲𝐧 ┃𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

30. 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑠ℎ & 𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑛

May 7, 2023

Syn

"Are we almost there?" Queen asked me again for the third time in the past fifteen minutes. I rolled my eyes, glancing at her through the rearview mirror before looking back at the dark road.

"We would've been there if we had taken the jet like I insisted," I said.

"Yeah," she whispered. "But his poor baby ears." She followed that with some other intelligible words and earned a giggle from Saint who was sitting in his car seat behind me.

"He's going to experience it at some point," I reminded her.

"But not today, Satan," she said, holding up a finger to me. She burst into laughter at my expression through the mirror and I shook my head. "What? I've always wanted to say that and it's ironic because...you know, you're the devil now and—"

"I got it," I said. "How many of those candies have you eaten back there?"

"Mind your business," she said, sticking another piece of candy in her mouth as she squinted at me.

I chuckled, shaking my head as I turned on the music and focused on driving again. Since Queen had insisted on driving, we'd have to do it for four and a half hours to reach our destination. A trip that could've been forty-five minutes was extended because of "Saint's ears".

I personally wasn't a fan of planes or any machine in the sky, but would I deal with it for an hour to skip driving for five hours?

Fuck yeah.

My phone rang from the cup holder beside me and I glanced at it, already knowing who it was. Stella, for the tenth damn time since I had left my place. After I told Queen to pack, I went back to the condo to get a few of my things. Stella was still partying as per usual, and I would've joined under different situations, but I just wanted to leave and be with my son and Queen. Even if it was just for one week.

When I tried to pack my things, she pestered me with every single reason in the book why I should stay, and now she wouldn't stop calling me. I declined the call, setting the phone down before relaxing into the seat.

I was thankful for the almost empty roads as I drove. I didn't have the patience to deal with New York traffic, but luckily for us, it was three a.m...I could hear Saint and Queen occasionally yawning as the time passed, but I was fully awake. Not of my own volition of course, but I couldn't sleep when that shit was in my system. It was a good thing and a bad thing.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?" Queen asked, a yawn leaving her mouth at the end.

"I'm sure," I reassured her. "Go to sleep. I'll wake you up when we're there."

"Are you sure?" She asked sincerely. "You won't be lonely?"

"I'll be fine. Sleep."

She rested back, doing as I said and I smiled inwardly before turning up the music. After hours of driving, I could feel my head begin to throb as signs started to blur. I could feel the jitters start to surface and I tried my best to hold them back, but it was useless. My body was going towards a steep decline and there was nothing I could do about it.

Air. You need air.

I rolled down the window beside me, taking deep breaths as the cool air hitting my skin only seemed to snatch the air from my lungs. I closed my eyes momentarily, trying to get a grip over myself, but when I heard the honking of a train in front of me, I immediately hit the breaks.

My body lurched forward as I looked at the passing train in shock and noticed just how close we were. Three more feet forward, and we would've been pummeled. My entire life was in the car with me and they would've just...