Life In the Pain (Punk Luke Hemmings)

Chapter 11

I barely sleep overnight. It probably didn't help that I didn't get home from the beach until 3:30 AM. Not sleeping isn't new for me; I haven't had a good night's sleep in several years.

The roads are slick from the rain on the way to school this morning. Part of me wishes I could just slide off of the road and wreck into a tree, save a lot of people trouble. This world would be better without me. I know for sure that I would be better without this world.

When I get to school, Ashton, Michael and Calum are all at my locker. They all laugh at something that Ashton says and it gives me a sad feeling. I miss laughing, I long to be happy. I haven't had a real laugh since Aleisha left. She was the only sense of happiness that I have had in a long time, and she took that all away from me.

"Hey!" Ashton exclaims as I join their circle.

"You wanna come practice tonight? We were thinking about trying one of our own songs," Michael says excitedly. 

"I can't, I already have plans," I respond.

"Oh...Okay," He says with disappoint now plastered on his face. 

"With Zach?" Ashton asks.

"I mean, does it matter?" I say back sternly. 

"He's just not a good guy, Luke..." Calum trails off.

"Yeah, well neither am I." I grab my books and slam my locker door shut before heading to my first class, alone. 

I manage to get through the day without talking to anyone. Zach texts me after I realize that he was not in class. He lets me know that he stayed home today and tells me to come over after school gets out. I sit with the guys at lunch but I let them have their own conversations without joining in. They might be angry with how I acted this morning, but at this point I could care less.

School goes by quickly for once and I am already on my way to Zach's house. I blare my music all the way there and get some stares as I come up next to cars at stop lights; this only makes me turn the music up louder.

When I arrive at his house, I have to knock on the door twice before he finally answers it. His parents are gone again for the night so we have the house to ourselves to get ready for the night. He leads me to his room where he has everything we need. We smoke and hang out, listening to music and talking as we wait for the night to arrive. As it finally starts to get late, I change into black sweats and a black hoodie that I brought from my house and he does the same. He grabs both ski masks and the small black bag that he took last time. As he bends over to pick it up, I notice the black gun hidden in the waistband of his pants. It doesn't bother me as much as the first time I saw it. 

He drives us a little further away than last time, taking roads that I am not familiar with. It takes us about twenty minutes to arrive at one lonely gas station. I have no idea where we are, surrounded by nothing by trees and the road in front of us leading into darkness. There is only one street light and it is hanging high above the small building. 

"Perfect," Zach says with a smile as he pulls into the empty parking lot. Luckily there is not a car in sight besides the one parked on the side of the building which is most likely the worker's. He parks the car and we both pull the masks over our faces once again. "Ready?" He asks quietly. I nod and we both slip out of the car, making as little noise as possible.

I follow him as he faintly runs across the lot and up to the door. We both pin ourselves against the brick wall and he scopes out the inside. When he nods and points towards the door, we both burst inside. This time, Zach already has the gun out and pointed towards the worker behind the counter. He is a younger gentleman, probably in his early thirties. He throws his hands up in fear, just as the woman did before. Zach yells at him, ordering him to slowly open the cash register and hand us all of the cash inside. 

Once Zach gives him the okay to move, he gradually bends down towards the drawer. His next action takes us both by surprise. He quickly leans down the other direction and grabs something. When he quickly jumps further away from the computer and holds up a bat, we are alarmed. All in a blur and before I have any time to think about anything, a loud bang stuns me. I grab my ears as they both ring loudly and groan in anguish. I look up to find Zach still holding the gun straight out. He is stiff with fear, eyes wide. I look back to where the guy was previously standing, only to find no one. 

"Grab the fucking money," Zach says quietly. I glance over at him, but he doesn't move his eyes away. "HURRY!" This time he yells, startling me. 

I do exactly as he says and run over to the counter. When I get behind it, I almost scream at the sight in front of me. The man is now lying on the ground, clenching his right shoulder. I notice a pool of blood from underneath him, only growing by the second. He glances up at me, shaking with fear.

"Help me," he whispers to me. 

I breathe heavily and quickly, paralyzed in a daze.

"LUKE!" Zach yells from a few feet away.

I hurriedly turn back to the register and open it with the key. Zach throws me the black bag and I stuff all of the cash inside. I try to ignore the man lying next to me, but it is difficult as I can see the quantity of blood increasing in my periphery. I finally slam the drawer shut and run out from behind the counter. I am out of breath, but I sprint out the doors and towards the car with Zach following closely behind me. As soon as we get into the car, he manages to pull away and speed off, leaving the building far in the distance. 

"Holy shit," he says, out of breath at this point as well. 

"I can't believe you shot that guy," I say after a few moments of silence.

"Me either," he says with wide eyes.

"You think he's okay?" I ask.

"Who gives a fuck? We got what we wanted," he responds with a laugh.

I don't say anything. I try not to think about the wounded human that we left there to possibly die, but the vision of him helplessly lying there doesn't escape me mind. What the hell did we just do? What am I getting myself into? The answer to that is unclear, but there is one thing I know for sure. 

I'm not getting out of this anytime soon, if ever.