Being behind the wheel is most definitely up there on my list of things I hate doing, but with my aunt having a demanding job which leaves no flexibility, I had no choice but to drive my cousin to school. There was no way on Earth I was going to let him take the school bus knowing good and well it was full of delinquents who'd cloud his innocent suburban mind. The kid didn't even receive his first piece of technology until his 13th birthday, which was only two weeks ago mind you, and that just so happened to be a handed down Sony Xperia. "It does the job", Aunt Tina would state bluntly whenever I argued the case on behalf of Elijah that he'd be bullied at school. There was no changing her mind after it had been made up though, as Aunt T was a very traditional woman and every action she took was practical. It makes utmost sense as to why she chooses to work as a nurse.
"Eliiii..." I cooed. "Finally the big 1-3, hey? How does teenagehood feel?"
"Humm, I wouldn't know. I'm barely 15 days into it." He sighed in his faint Southern accent. Looks like he inherited his candidness from his mom. I glanced up at the rear-view mirror and took a good look at him for the first time in quite a while, realizing that although his personality was reminiscent of Aunt T's, he looked nothing like her. While she had hazel cat eyes which slanted upwards, he had big brown eyes, abundant in youth. His melanin wasn't half as rich as hers, leaning more towards a light complexion but still caramel nonetheless. Aunt Tina had a prominent African American nose which contrasted against Elijah's flat, upturned button nose. What took me by surprise was his light brown hair and the light sprinkling of freckles across the mid-part of his heart shaped face which I had to squint to make out under his thick, rectangular, red-rimmed glasses. Definitely Caucasian features that he didn't take from Aunt T at all. Elijah's entire frame was delicate and frail, from the tip of his wispy hair down to his small toes which stuck out from his slides, and it was at that moment I felt blessed to have such a beautiful family. "JAZZ!" Elijah yelled abruptly, pointing at the road and curling into a ball in his seat. I immediately snapped out of my thoughts and looked ahead, seeing the soon-to-be roadkill if I didn't swerve out the way NOW. My hands started to tremble and my stomach dropped as all the strength in my arms seemed to diminish. Plan B. Put on the brakes and hope for the best.
Skrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt.
I shut my eyes tightly as I felt my entire body jolt forward, as did Elijah judging by the loud thud echoing in the car. One eye peaked open, looking at the rear-view mirror once again and noticing that he stayed in the exact same ball he pulled himself into before I braked. I shook my head and finally realized that the sound wasn't Elijah bumping into something.
Shit.
I killed it.
Pulling off the seat-belt and lurching out of my car, I trembled towards the innocent animal as it stayed in the same position, whimpering up at me. "Wait, so I didn't kill it?", I made yet another silent prayer to the Lord above and pulled the frail little thing into my arms, feeling it nuzzle into my neck and place it's small paws on my shoulder blades. It was a stray, I could just tell by the way it instantly trusted me; it hadn't felt love or human touch in a long time and I was it's new security. As I strolled back towards my car and gently dropped the brown Dachshund puppy in my seat, it struck me. If that thud wasn't Elijah, or the puppy, then what was it?
"Are you fucking serious." A voice boomed behind me as I heard two doors close softly.
"Dangggggg," Another voice remarked. "How much do you wanna bet that the driver's a girl?" He added with a hint of amusement. No. I'm not having that. Not in my books.
"Stay here, Eli." I pulled my head out of the car, closed the door softly so as to not scare the animal, and straightened my clothes, ready to give them a piece of my mind. Turning on my heel, I got a look at the duo for the first time, but before I had time to absorb what I saw, one of them was standing right in front of me.
