Run

Chapter Three

Waitresses fly by us in the small diner we stopped at. Cold and quiet this early in the morning, I sit shivering in the booth as I wait for Alex to come back from the ATM a block over.

"One All American Burger extra ketchup with a side of fries," A tiny brunette started setting down plates, "And an All Day Every Day breakfast plate of waffles, bacon, sunny side up eggs, and hash browns. Would you like more lemonade or root beer?"

For the most part I wasn't listening, so I just nod at her with a smile. As she walks off I hear the diner door open and see Alex stride over to me with a relieved smile. Seeing him makes me relax, I can see him and I know he's okay and that he's still protecting me.

"Hey," he sits and pulls his food closer, "So, we got a good amount of money, should last us at least a few days, if we need more I can get more but let's try and be careful."

I nod as he starts eating, I want to talk, I want to ask the million questions running through my mind; I feel in my gut the instinct to leave it alone, so I slowly start eating to fill the time. I hadn't eaten since before ten o'clock when I got to work. The food was warm, sweet, fresh; I've gotten so used to eating whatever I could it never hit me that it was usually cold, or a few days old.

"Are you really going to eat all of that?" Alex stares at me, a little taken aback, and I realize just how much I've eaten compared to him.

"Oh, I haven't eaten since before I went to work, I'm sorry," I feel my ears heat up as I look down.

He reaches his hand across the table and gently holds my wrist, "Things are really bad for you, aren't they?"

I nod, "My mom got ditched by my father and he saddled us with all of his gambling debts when he ran off with some hooker. My mom is in school to be a nurse so now we have his debts, bills, and her school. She works two jobs, I have one, and we're barely staying afloat."

I feel him staring at me, the tension squeezing my chest making my heart beat so fast and hard it hurts my teeth. I desperately want to change the subject, to forget we talked about this.

"I'm sorry you have to go through all that," he mutters gently intertwining our fingers, "You deserve better than that, and your dad? Well, it's his loss, he doesn't get to see what a great person you are."

I fought back the smile as he pulled his hand back to keep eating. 

"So, how'd you get tangled up in all this?" I blurted causing him to freeze, "You said you would explain."

"There was something I wanted, next thing I know I had received an email saying someone could help. I met with him, made a deal, and here we are," He looked away and into the kitchen, "that's all there is to it."

I pursed my lips and put my hands in my lap, "You said he's not as powerful as everyone thinks, what did you mean?"

He bit onto his tongue, I could see him thinking as he furrowed his brow, "It's weird, I'm not sure how to explain it. He's not like God, he isn't all knowing, he only knows about and controls the people in hell, the people he makes deals with or wants to make deals with, and people relevant to them like family," he looked me up and down, "And of course, people who get in his way. He only can get to you when you're vulnerable, somewhere you feel comfortable, hence why we're leaving. once he agrees to a deal it instantly goes into effect, and it stays in effect unless someone backs out."

"So what do we do?"

"Well, we're not really out of my element yet, we can stop for the night if needed but I'd prefer we get to Springfield first. He's not very smart, he could go after my family but I guess he chooses not to, I've talked to people who made deals with him, even when they piss him off he wouldn't hurt family."

"How are we going to get by, yeah you got some cash, but how much? And what do we do if we need more?"

"My grandparents took care of me, they came from money but my dad got mixed up with some shady people and the money my parents had got taken in a bad investment. My nan and gramps helped my parents, paid off the house, gave us some money until we were able to catch up and get by on what we made. It was good, but they noticed my parents stopped really taking an interest in me and I wasn't getting dinner, or lunch, because my parents were always working so they made me a bank account and put money in it every month until they died. Nan didn't tell me until after gramps died, about a week before she did. She gave me the account information, I looked and found over $180,000, they had been putting more than three thousand dollars in there a month for five years. I only use it when I need to, I got my bike when I turned sixteen so I could get to school, I get food, pay for my gas, I work on summers so I don't feel like a lump on a log and put the money back into the account. So needless to say, my grandparents are funding this little venture with a small bit of help from me."

"How long ago did you lose them?"

His eyes turned dark and he leaned back into his seat.

"Alex?"

He forced a smile, "I'm sorry," he shook his head and pulled out his wallet, "I was ten, so it was almost eight years ago," he pushed a picture of an old couple and a young boy in front of me, "My grandfather had lung cancer, and about a week after he died my grandmother had what we thought was a heart attack, after she died her doctor explained it as broken heart syndrome. Losing gramps, it just, it put too much strain on her heart."

I looked down at the picture, you could see the love the three had for each other, even now with how Alex clung to the picture, pressing his hand on it against the table until his fingers turned white. I gently asked to see it and he hesitantly placed it in my hand.

"They met when they were both 14," he smiled a sweet, innocent smile as he talked, "He brought a bouquet of roses on their first day in high school. He and her got married a year after graduating and then went to college together, my grandfather started his own company and then sold it, adding to the family fortune. They had my mom and the rest is history."

His grandmother sat tall with a young Alex in her lap, her deep, emerald, green eyes much like Alex's, her hair only starting to fade from it's deep chocolate to milky white. Alex clings to her as she wraps her arms around him and her husband who in turn looks just as proud as he held Alex's hand in his own strong but wrinkled fingers. His strong jaw tipped upward and his graying hair making his pale, olive skin stand out. It's become clear how much of their genetics was passed down and given to Alex. I see them in his eyes, their strength and generosity, the way he carries himself, he keeps his deep, black hair much like his grandfather. The compassion his grandmother carried can be seen in his smile. The joy he felt with them, and the grief he experienced when they were gone was very evident.

"At least you got to have the time you did, my mom's parents have never spoken to me, they disowned her when she had me. They didn't approve of my dad, and he," I feel a lump forming in my throat, "he left before I had the chance to meet his family, my mother never met them either. He gambled, drank, and that was it. When he was home he only came to my mom for one thing, and he never really spoke to me, he didn't mean to have me."

He took his plate and pushed it close to me, slowly he got up and got on my side of the booth, he smiled at me as he dipped a fry into ketchup.

"You have your mom, I had my grandparents," he takes a bite as he wraps his arm around me, "Now right now, we have to get through this and make them proud, ok?"

I smiled from ear to ear and hugged him. I could feel the deep breathe of his laughter against my neck before we relax and carry on.

Talking.

Laughing.

Trusting in each other.