Into the Night

Stupidity

"Okay could you please repeat that again?"

Officer Greene's brows collected in a confused furrow. A few stray hairs escaped where they should have ended. They were loosely organized, but it was obvious he put an effort into beating back the rapid growth. Unfortunately, his hair grew faster than his vanity could ever hope to flare.

"Which part?"

"All of the parts."

"Seriously?"

Ash sat back with receptive eyes. Anticipation warmed his skin and butterflies swarmed in his stomach. He hated to be reminded of a time he scorned and worshipped and blindly followed another person. Still, hearing the passenger talk made him ache for a snap of his pale fingers. He didn't have to persuade him to do anything. He wanted to be commanded.

"You spoke really fast and I'm not sure if I heard-"

"Shhh," the passenger shushed.

"Please listen, I'm not going to say it a third time." He cleared his throat and his audience of one awaited his words with a tail wagging and ears perked. The nerves in the listener burned away as his lips moved.

The passenger was going to ask him for a favor, to ask him to do his dirty deed , to order him. He awaited it all, to tell him to jump, to heel, to attack. Anything. And as much as he'd loath to admit it, he'd do it. He'd ask how high, at what time, and who he wanted to be torn to shreds. His chest ached with how much he wanted to hear the next words that left his familiar lips.

"I'm not asking you for the world, just a bit of public subterfuge. They know what happened on that road and no matter what I say or do, they will believe what they heard before. Stupidity is a soft bed to sleep in. This isn't my first encounter with it. So I was thinking that..."

Sella sat behind the grate, but he could still smell him. He his own signature scent of sweat, cinnamon, and juniper. Behind all of it was a panic, a desire for isolation. His plan wasn't crafted from necessity. It was a way to push everyone away before they could get close. That type of behavior didn't stem from the recent accident. It was hard wired. The accident merely reinforced it. Ash could see what he was doing and he couldn't. That was his state of normalcy. When you live on a train wreck, it's hard to distinguish what can be fixed.

"It's not that complex. You're going to walk out the car, open the door for me, then take the handcuffs off me. Like I'm some sort of criminal or something so their stupid tongues have even more to wag at."

"But that doesn't make sense. In this situation, would I be your parole office ? Because in that situation I wouldn't have handcuffed you. You're not a criminal in that scenario. If I have you handcuffed that means you're a danger to yourself or others or you might try to escape custody. Which would mean that you're too dangerous to be taken to a school filled with teenagers. Having you handcuffed makes absolutely no sense."

Sella sighed in frustration. It brought a nervous smile to the officer's face. Irritation looked better on him than anxiety. They switched roles. It was Ash's turn to be afraid of what might happen in that vehicle.