Parrish turns his head towards me, where I am partially reclining back in the passenger seat of the cruiser. His eyes slightly narrow as if he is preparing to ask me some kind of question that will require me to think of a good lie. "Shouldn't you be asking me questions or something?"
I remove my hand out from under my chin. I twist my head to the side until I can fully see his face under the moonlight coming through the windshield. "Yes, I do have a question. Are we going to go through a drive thru or something because I'm starving." I crack a smile when I see that Parrish is unamused. I roll my eyes, sighing. "This assignment is more of an observing thing. We don't write anything down until the whole thing is over. My teacher is weird."
"Uh huh." Parrish keeps his eyes on me, like he is trying to decide if Sheriff Stilinski screwed him over by putting a teenager in his car for the night. "And to answer your question, I normally stop for food around two am."
I glance at the red numbers lit up on the dashboard. A groan slips out of my mouth at the four numbers. "It's only ten thirty four."
"I normally get some kind of call around this time that ties me over for an hour. This is the time of the night that adults think is a good time to get drunk and try to start fights or something among those lines. Sometimes, younger kids try to be sneaky and steal something from a store or gas station." Parrish informs me of his usual night shifts.
"No offense, but it sounds kind of boring." I hold my hands up in mock surrender.
Parrish shifts in his seat, staring out of his window. He parked the cruiser in the middle of some parking lot. There is literally no other car or even person in sight. Why he would pick an empty lot is beyond me, but he is the deputy here, not me. "Well, don't expect anything too exciting tonight. Sheriff told me that he'd give me the easy calls since I've got you with me."
I fight back a yawn while covering my mouth with my hand. "Sounds like perfect napping time."
"What about your assignment?"
I wave my hand in the air. "I'll make something up." I lean back against the headrest, shutting my eyes. "Wake me up if anything exciting happens."
My eyes flash open when some kind of liquid is splashed against my face. Spazzing out, I jerk my hands towards my face, only to find them zip tied to the door. I yank on the zip ties, confused. Something clears drips down off of my face and dripping on my clothes. The strong scent of gas overwhelms my nose and I nearly gag at the potent stench.
The sound of something splashing against the car has me whipping my head around to see what is going on. My gaze lands on Parrish, who is asleep on the steering wheel, hands zip tied to the steering wheel. What the hell is going on? I tug on the zip ties, gritting my teeth in pain when the ties dig into my wrists.
"Parrish." I whisper, hoping not to earn whoever is outside of the car's attention.
The person walking around the car stops by my open window. A red gasoline can is in view when they raise it up to splash the top of the car with gas. Desperatly, I wiggle my wrists around in any attempt to free myself.
"Parrish." I whisper a little louder.
He jerks away, flinging himself backwards away from the steering wheel, still half asleep. A frown settles on his lips once he sees his hands tied to the wheel. His fingers clench and unclench as he watches the figure splash more gasoline on the car walking around us in a circle.
I can't even form a fireball to free myself without setting the whole car on fire. Without my power, I'm basically useless right now. How am I supposed to get Parrish and I out of this situation?
Parrish's gaze lands on me and he nervously swallows. "Arden?"
I shake my hand. "I just woke up and this was happening."
Parrish follows the person move around the car. "Hey! Hey! What are you doing?" The person continues to throw more gas on the car, completely covering every possible inch. "Listen! Listen to me! I'm a deputy with the Beacon Hills Sheriff's Department."
A man crouches down outside of my door to show his face. "Damn." The man doesn't look much older than twenty five. I'm full out shocked when I see him in a deputy's uniform that resembles Parrish's. "I was hoping you'd be out longer."
"Haigh?" Parrish recognizes the man outside of my window.
The man, Haigh, stands back up and throws more gas. Some lands right on me and I turn my head away to avoid getting hit in the face. Gas hits the side of my body and legs instantly soaking through my clothes.
"What the hell? What are you doing?" Parrish yells.
Haigh walks to the front of the car. "You're a good guy, Parrish, but the list says you're worth five million dollars."
Parrish yanks on the zip ties. "What? I don't know what you're talking about. Haigh, listen..." He watches as the other deputy moves closer to his side. "I mean, I barely make forty thousand a year."
Haigh stops throwing gas on us. He walks towards Parrish's window. "I only make thirty six." With no warning, he dumps the remaining gas on Parrish.
"Please, just stop!" I yell at the man outside of the car. I yank on the ties, only to have them dig into my skin. "Look, you don't have to do this. Take me instead, okay? Let Parrish go."
Haigh laughs and bends down to our level again. "You know, I wasn't expecting for you to be here. But, looks like I'll have another six million coming my way."
Six million? That's how much I'm worth on the deadpool?
"Haigh, just let Arden go. She doesn't have to be a part of this." Parrish tries to save me somehow.
Haigh shakes his head. "She definitely has to be a part of this. This is like a two for one deal."
"Look, if you're having money problems-"
Haigh tosses the empty can to the side. "You're worth five million dead, Parrish. And the girl is worth six. Sounds like you guys got the problem." He walks to my side of the car, a few feet away.
"Please- Please, don't do this!" Parrish pleads with the fellow deputy.
It was my job to make sure he stayed safe and away from any assassins. Now, I'm going to have a front row seat to him burning to death. I'll be able to withstand the fire, but Parrish won't. He'll be dead in a matter of minutes after I hear his screams of agony.
"You're just gonna stand there? You're just going to listen to a fellow deputy and a teenage girl burn to death?"
Haigh pulls out a lighter after putting headphones into his ears. Once that fire ignites, I won't have much time to burn my ties off of my hands. By the time that happens, there's a good chance that it will be too late to save Parrish.
"Haigh, wait!"
The lighter is thrown threw the air and lands on my lap. I scream as I immediately burst into flames. Beside me, I can hear Parrish scream and jerk around in his seat. The fire licks my skin, but it doesn't burn. It doesn't even hurt. I tear my wrists apart, instantly freeing myself once they melt enough.
I reach over to save Parrish somehow, but I'm suddenly dragged out of the car by my ankle. I grab onto the car, trying to keep myself inside. The fire immediately extinguishes itself as soon as I land on the ground. My clothes have burnt holes in them, but they are the least of my worries. I can still hear Parrish screaming as he burns to death.
"Parrish!" I scream. I push myself up from the ground to dive back in the car. I can still save him.
A sharp blow to the back of my head sends me crashing to the ground face first. My head meets the ground, but I'm already knocked unconscious by the time I touch the pavement.
XXXXXX
Yep. That's right. I'm going to end it right there. I was going to keep going, but I like driving you guys crazy. You're going to be wondering what is going on and you'll just have to wait until I update again.
I don't think any of you expected this to happen. Ahh. I'm so ready for the next chapter. It's going to be so good. Like, really good.
You must hate me for all of the times I leave you guys with some kind of cliffhanger, but I love it. Good luck wondering what is going on. Don't worry. I'm going to update again tomorrow.
Question: Any idea what Haigh is going to do to her in the next chapter?
So, yeah!