"C'mon! We gotta get on the road!" Ben shouted from the car below my feet, as I was still on the motel balcony.
"Did we really have to leave at five in the morning?" I yawned.
"Cops are going to be swarming the city once they find the body, we gotta get out of here before they catch on,"
I grabbed my duffle bag and carried down the stairs, trying to be quiet to wake no one else up. I looked absolutely disgusting, I had no time to do my hair, and I was basically wearing the same thing from last night. I hoped Ben didn't mind that I looked like absolute shit.
"So, where are we going anyway?"
"Somewhere far, I'm thinking we pass through North Carolina, and maybe end up in Georgia for the night,"
"Jeez, that's far," I replied.
"Well, you better have brought a charger, probably going to be a eight hour drive with pit stops along the way,"
I shoved my duffle bag in the backseats of the car, and shut the back door. I started walking to the other side of the car and got seated into the passenger side of the car. He got seated next to me, and put the car in the ignition.
"So, we got enough gas to last us about three hours on the freeway, then we'll stop for gas somewhere out there," Ben said.
"Sounds good to me," I said, nervously.
Ben must have noticed I was nervous again, "Why don't we go stop for coffee before we get on the road,"
"Y-yeah, that would be great,"
Ben started backing out the car, and turned out of the parking lot onto the road.
The road and the trees looked so much different in the daylight than at night, the trees were starting to develop an orange and red tone to them. There was also a sidewalk next to the road.
Would have been good to know that last night.
I didn't even notice there was a red barn on the left side of the road last night either. It looked exactly like a farm you would see in an animated movie, or a children's book.
Julia always wanted to live in a big red barn, she wanted to wake up early and take care of the chickens and pigs. Sometimes, in the early morning, she would crawl into my room and jump on me until I woke up, and as soon as she woke me up she would shout, "Let's play barn! Let's play barn!". Of course, I would wake up and play barn with her until I had to get ready for school. She always thought she could talk to animals, and it was her dream to live in a barn one day.
I hope she is living in a big red barn up there.
"You okay?" Ben broke the silence.
"Yeah, sorry, just zoning out a bit," I replied.
"You tend to do that a lot, got anything on your mind?"
"Julia,"
"Oh, I'm sorry,"
"It's okay, It's hard to get over loss,"
"I know, and - if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here for you. Only, if you are comfortable though,"
"Thank you," I say, trying to just leave it at that. I could tell Ben knew something was up, but he didn't want to push me. I will eventually tell him about the visions I have been having, and why I zone out so much.
But for now, I am craving a good cup of coffee.
We reached the start of the city, and we quickly passed the older buildings, when we had to take a stop at the intersection where the 7-11 was last night.
I was absolutely shocked.
Half the road was blocked off with police tape, and cars were trying to squeeze through the little room there was available. Street cops were directing traffic as best as they could, but cars kept slowing down to try and see the scene. We started squeezing through the line, and I turned to my right to see the alleyway I killed that man. There were officers covering the area, and a few outside the alleyway keeping an eye out for curious pedestrians.
I couldn't see deep into the alleyway, especially with the sun just barely hovering over the shallower buildings. But I assumed the man wasn't there anymore.
I feel terrible for what I did, truly. It may not seem like I am, but I really am. I really thought he was Julia's murderer, I was sure of it.
"Hey, don't look over there," Ben said.
I snapped out of my thoughts and turned over to him, "Right,"
"Get down to, they might recognize you in the car"
I immediately sunk down into the passenger chair, hoping no one saw me in the few moments I was up.
I felt Ben turn in the intersection, and after a minute, he signaled to me that it was safe to come back up. When I sat back up in my chair, I was greeted with the view of a big yellow M, as we turned into the McDonalds drive thru.
"I'll pay for it" I said, "You paid for the motel last night, so the least I can do is pay for breakfast,"
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure,"
We pulled through the line and got to the window, and we were greeted with a feminine voice greeting us, "Good morning! Welcome to Mc'Donalds, how may I help you?"
"Just give us a moment," Ben said.
"No problem! Have you heard about the murder down the street?"
Ben and I made direct eye contact with each other, fear struck his eyes, and I assumed mine looked the exact same.
"Uh, no, what happened?" Ben played coy.
"Apparently there was a hit and run last night, there were no witnesses and the cops haven't given out any information,"
"Jeez, I hope everyone was okay," Ben replied.
"Yeah, I'm kind of on edge right now, all of us are scared we are going to be next," She replied, her voice cracking half way through her sentence.
I felt terrible, I didn't mean for any of this to happen, and especially not to scare other people.
And especially to kill someone.
"Do they know what they look like?" Ben asked.
"No clue, no details have been given out," She replied.
"Oh, alright," Ben sighed in relief, and so did I.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be scaring you, do you know what to order?"
"What do you want?" Ben whispered over to me.
"Just a coffee, cream and sugar,"
Ben turned to the window, "I'll get a 2 medium coffees, cream and sugar, and an egg sandwich,"
"Alright, Your total will be $5.20" The feminine voice said through the speakers.
Ben started to pull up to the window to pay, "That was close
"Yeah that was," I replied, feeling my heart pound faster and faster. The same feeling of guilt started to fill the bottom of my stomach.
I was scared.
"Hey, let's pay and get out of here okay?" Ben said.
"Yeah, good idea,"
He let down his window again, and handed the woman cash.
"Oh! Didn't know there were two of you!" She said,
I let out a small laugh, "Hi!"
She handed Ben back the change, "Have I seen you somewhere? You look familiar,"
Ben turned to me with eyes wide open, I assumed I had the same expression. If I wasn't already panicking, I sure was now. I didn't know what to say, because I know where she saw me from.
The goddamn news.
I couldn't say I was famous, because then she would go look me up and find the news articles about me. I couldn't say we were regulars here, because we weren't. I couldn't say I go to her high-school, because clearly I don't.
But I could just say nothing.
Right?
"I don't think you know me, I'm sorry," I stumbled out.
"Hm, well you must look like someone I know, you look so familiar,"
I chuckled awkwardly, "Weird,"
Ben broke our conversation with a quick goodbye, and drove up to the second window to grab our food. Ben made sure there was no extra conversation, neither of us wanted to risk anything.
"Thank you!" We both said in unison.
Ben rolled up the window and started to drive away. I immediately gave a huge sigh of relief. I was so close to having that woman find out who I was.
We have to be much more careful.
As if Ben could read my mind, he broke the silence, "We need to get you a disguise or something".
"Agreed"
a/n: hey everyone! I'm back!
again.
haha.
oops.
anywho thank you for reading, and next chapter will be a little different. I don't want to spoil anything, but we are going to go to the perspective of Becca and John...
spooky.
stay tuned! <3