Remember the Past

Chapter 18

  When we finally arrive at the dinner, I have to squint to see as my eyes adjust from the dark of the night to the lights of the dinner. As we enter the dinner, I stand staggered behind Colin. I can hardly see over his shoulder.

A waitress with a blonde curly ponytail welcomes us with a smile. She stands behind the counter, but the smile she gives Colin ruffles me the wrong way.

We sit in a booth by the window facing the gas station. Our food comes quickly, but Colin tells me that that's how fast food usually works. When our waitress brings us our food, her long curly hair lies on her shoulders, no longer in a ponytail. "Can I get you anything else right now?" She asks Colin.

"That's all, thanks." He politely replies. He doesn't flirt back, but he's so cool with it. Either he's oblivious to it, which I doubt, or he's used to it.

I push up the sleeves on my baggy sweatshirt to keep them out of my food. I grab my burgr with two hands. I see the waitresses gaze flicker to me in my peripheral vision. I can't see her expression, but her demeanor has changed.

When she briskly walks back to the counter, I realize why. My tattoo is showing. Colin gives me a concerned look. He must have picked up on the waitress' realization about who we are.

We eat our dinner silently and quickly. I see the waitress pick up a phone. As she talks, her face looks fear-stricken and she watches us closely.

Colin taps my shoulder and whispers under his breath, "we gotta go."

I nod and we both walk out a secondary door that is labeled as an emergency exit. An alarm sounds and we break into sprint out of the dinner. We turn the corner to the side of the building where a handful of cars are parked.

Colin flicks a small tool out of his pocket and tells me to get to the passenger door of one of the cars. It is sky blue, not that the color really matter, but I have become more observant since I have been exposed to more diversity. It makes my burning desire to draw things like the sunrise over the lake that much greater.

In less than a minute Colin is in the car. How? I don't dare ask him at this time. He unlocks my door and I obediently get in. It's pitch black. It's so dark that I can't see what he's doing. I hear him scrambling something under the steering wheel and I see sparks fly a few times before the car turns on.

As we pull out of the parking lot, a line of black suburban vehicles arrive. When one of them turns past us, I get a glance on what's inside. I suck in my breath when I see armed men.