Accomplice

5

I could tell that Logan was on edge, I could barely see him in the rearview mirror; he was pushed so far up by the door that it was like he thought he could just absorb through it. I felt like that was maybe a good idea, Abbey was speeding down the highway so fast I was afraid the wheels would fall off. Maybe she got mad when I was sarcastically telling Logan that she threatened me. Maybe her plan was to kill me via 90 mile-per-hour car collision. She didn't seem to notice her passengers silently screaming for help. She suddenly looked at me, as if she heard me, her eyes wide. After looking at me for a second, she shot a quick glance at Logan.

"What?" She asked, confusion fogging her serpent green eyes. She made sure to keep a watch on the road in front of her, though her speed didn't decrease from terrifying. I opened my mouth to say an excuse, probably an insult to her driving, when Logan did it for me.

"You're trying to kill us," He squeaked, voice trembling. "When you threatened Grey I didn't think that included me!" Abbey gritted her teeth, looking at her rearview mirror and noticeably slowing down. I sighed a breath of relief, ungluing myself from my seat a little.

"If you are so terrified of my driving," she said in a low growl. "Then why did you even get in?" She seemed to have genuine confusion about this. Logan moved a little we could see each other better. He seemed to regain a small bit of his dignity back, but only a small bit. His eyes were wide behind his askew glasses and his arms were shaking a bit. He looked terrible, and I probably looked the same.

"Because I trust Grey." He said finally, after mulling it over for some time. Abbey's head snapped towards me, causing me to jump in surprise. She didn't look mean or mad, just a little agitated.

"And you?" She asked me, sounding much older and more mature than I felt. My head was still rattling from the explosion. "Why are you here?" I managed to sit up a little, looking out the window at the busy street. What was I doing there? I could have just waited for the ambulances to arrive and drone about how lucky I was to be alive, and go home. Maybe that was the reason.

"I don't know." I confessed, but I had waited so long after the question was asked that it more filled the car than answered her.

I didn't know where we were going. I had known for a while where we were but soon that, too, left me. After a few hours, Logan and I began to get a little more relaxed that she wasn't going to pull anything sudden on us. Logan said he had a headache and then fell asleep, which made me nervous; he might have had a concussion, but he probably just was stressed out. I leaned my head on the window, my body facing Abbey. While I was not scared Abbey would attack me, I was still cautious in case she did.

"It wasn't a threat." Her voice was careful, both of her volume and her words. She looked over at my stunned expression.

"No?" I questioned, a slight wisp of humor in my tone. Although I let myself relax around her, I was still wary about her true intentions. Seeing her in my dreams made me feel like I knew her, but I logically knew that she could be damn dangerous. Thinking about my dreams forced a fog of questions to haze over me. Before, I didn't really give my dreams much thought until the last one. My arm seared in remembrance, the illusion coming back to me like a tsunami. My stomach twisted as the fall I had to make was thought of, dubbing that dream as the weirdest one I ever had.

"No." Abbey's solemn voice shook me back to the present, the stinging remained for a second after the weightlessness left, leaving me to glare at it as if it were a disobedient child. I looked back at Abbey, and she took that as a que to explain. "It was more of a warning," she bit her lip, "well, it was supposed to be," guilt taking up her face for a second.

"Wha-" I stopped myself. Feeling like I only had the ability to have one question answered truthfully, I thought over my options first. I swallowed, painfully aware of the loud gulping noise. She looked over at that, and seemed to notice my inner conflict.

"The explosion wasn't an accident." She said, her voice clear and grim. Chills ran up my spine. "And I think that's all I should say." I didn't know how to respond, so I just looked out the window and tried to figure out where we were. We rode in silence for another fifteen or so minutes before I got bored of watching trees zoom past.

"How much did you steal?" The question slipped past before I could think about it. She seemed taken aback for a second, then slumped into her chair, like she had been expecting it. She reached into the back, grabbing a bag I had yet to notice. It was a purple backpack, and it looked like it was dragged behind a car for fourteen miles. The seams were hand-stitched back together and it was so dirty that I thought for a second that it was a brown backpack. The backpack fell into my lap, making me grimace. Either Abbey didn't hear or didn't care, as she ignored my protests.

"Open it." She ordered, and I followed. As I unzipped the bag, I thought about its contents. It was way too full to be just cash, but what else would she had grabbed? Did she prepare to jump into a random car and run away? Would we actually have enough to hide away for a while? All these thoughts disappeared when I looked in the bag.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," I said, my hopes of being sustained vanished. "But there's no money in here." I looked up, preparing for Abbey to swerve off the road in shock. But she only nodded slowly, not turning to look at me.

"I didn't steal money," She leaned forward slightly, staring at the lowering sun like she could stop it from ending the day. I didn't say anything, thinking she would elaborate on her own. She seemed to refuse to address me.

"What did you steal?" Impatience filled my voice, cursing myself for even thinking for a moment that we could actually do it. I didn't even know that it was. She slouched back in her seat, looking defeated and tired; aging her ten years. I realized that I didn't know her, that she was a stranger that I decided to trust. I could tell that she was hoping that I would forget about it. She knew that I couldn't just fall into a brief amnesia, but she still eyed me warily.

"Tampons," she muttered, gritting her teeth together in anger. "Like, five packs." I didn't know what to say. I was frozen in my spot, staring blankly at her. I slowly began to look through her bag thoroughly. Underneath three sets of neatly folded clothes hid three blue boxes. "I shouldn't have grabbed those last two," she sighed, her tone sad. "I got greedy." I unzipped the front, seeing the two boxes in question. I closed it, placing the dirty backpack on the floor.

"Why did you run?" I asked, my quiet serious tone catching Abbey's attention. She didn't look at me. "They couldn't have arrested you for this," I gestured helplessly to the backpack, "You could have easily made up an excuse, and even then, they would just give you a stern talking to." I rambled, angrily crossing my arms.

"I couldn't risk that." Her voice was suddenly loud and impatient.