The Color Line

Motel Nightmare

Pain courses throughout my body as soon as Alex's strong arms slam me against the cold pavement.

A sharp object, I assume a knife, flies past our heads and Alex scrambles to help me up. I try to run towards the car again, but he grabs me by my waist, stopping me.

"Harmony stop!" Alex screams in my ear. "I'm not letting you get yourself killed. Stay here." He strides over to the car and walks in the middle of the crowd without being noticed.

I hear Alex yelling, and that's when I see that his father is the leader of this angry mob. He turns around and his eyes are now fixed on me. They dart back and forth from me to Alex before he pushes Alex to the ground while slashing him across the cheek with a knife.

"Alex!" I'm running again, trying to hold back tears. A woman, in her fifties it looks like, opens the car door, grabbing Eve by her hair.

I'm completely sober now as my tears stop and my vision goes red. I push past the crowd, grabbing the lady by the back of her shirt, and slamming her to the ground as hard as I can. Eve lands on top of her and I quickly pick her up and climb into the car.My mom and Jessie are both out cold and all I can do is panic.

All of a sudden, I hear three loud gunshots that make me jump and cause Eve to start crying again.
Alex is standing in front of the crowd with a shotgun in his hand. "Everyone needs to step away from the car," he lowers the gun. "Now!"

The crowd, including Alex's father, scurries away from the car. Some walk straight home, while others stay until Alex literally has to threaten them to leave.

After everyone is gone, Alex rushes over to the car and glances over at Jessie and my mother.

"Are they okay?"

"I don't know. Eve said they got hit in the head. I don't see any blood and they're both still breathing."

He nods. "Okay. I'll go get my car. I'm not letting you stay here tonight." Before I can ask him where we're supposed to go, he jogs down the street and disappears into the night.

After what seems like hours later, Alex pulls up in a black Honda. He picks up my mother and Jessie, one at a time and places them in the back seat. Eve sits in between them, holding my mother's hand, while I position myself in the passenger seat next to Alex.

I have no idea where we're going and the drive seems to last forever. Alex's face is still dripping with blood from where his father hit him. It's not as bad as it was an hour ago, but it still needs to be bandaged or something.

Minutes later, we pull up to a nice motel with flashing lights on the outside.

"How are we going to stay here? We don't have any money."

"I have money," he says, pulling a credit card out of his pocket. "Don't worry. I don't mind spending money. I just want you to be safe." I nod and watch him get out of the car and walk into the lobby.

A couple minutes later, he gets back into the car, hands me the room key and helps my mother, who is now slightly conscious, up the stairs. Jessie is able to walk on his own, but he says he has a headache.

I'm the last to get to the room, and I see my mother fast asleep on the bed with Eve next to her. Jessie takes his place on the bed, with Eve in the center and is asleep in seconds.

"Come on," Alex says, grabbing my hand and leading me out of the room. "I got a separate room for us since these rooms only have one bed." I nod and follow him into the room directly beside the one we were just in.

I climb into the king sized bed and snuggle under the blankets. Alex does the same so that we're face to face.

"This whole thing is my fault," I say after a couple minutes of silence. "If I wouldn't have gotten drunk and passed out, they wouldn't have had to come find me and we wouldn't be in this mess."