Afraid, The Neighbourhood
Me, The 1975
Medicine, Daughter
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// two days before the incident //
"Listen to me, Evelyn." His hands pressed to either side of my face and his emerald eyes stared coldly back. "They've been looking for us for years, ever since I committed my first homicide--we've been ten steps ahead, but now they've caught up."
"I don't understand," I said, gripping his forearm. He dropped his hands to his sides and rushed to the bedroom.
"We need to leave," he muttered. "They're coming."
"What about the others?" I asked, referring to the rest of his gang, and followed him. "Are they here?"
He rummaged through the drawers and took a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out, shoving them into a leather black backpack, and grabbed his jacket from the floor. His back turned to me.
"They're all downstairs. Just gather things you need, quickly," he said sheepishly and yanked the luggage up. "You don't need clothes. Don't waste any time. They're on their way right now."
I breathed out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. Harry wasn't collecting any clothes besides the jacket, so I pulled out a jumper, slipped it on and grabbed my phone and its charger.
"What else do I need?" I asked, feeling weight on my chest. I felt stupid for asking such questions when he clearly was in a rush to leave the room. Or the fricken city.
"Uh, could you grab everything from the fridge and, just shove it in here-" he gestured to his bag, "-that's all. We're going to be in the car for hours, so get what's useful for a long drive."
A long drive? I thought. Fleeing from the people who were looking forward to stop our hearts from beating. Lovely.
I shoved my phone's charger in his bag and brought it along with me to the kitchen. Three bars of chocolate, two cartons of milk, a water bottle and a tiny sealed milk for coffee was in the fridge. I grabbed everything and shoved it in the bag, including the milk--because who doesn't enjoy drinking milk from those cute little cartons.
I also grabbed the complementary coffee, hot chocolate and teabags from the counter and the snacks Harry bought when we first moved in. Not everything fit in Harry's backpack--a killer with a backpack.--so I found a plastic bag and shoved everything in there.
After clearing the hotel room of everything we needed--that belonged to us--Harry and I left the room. He placed the key on the windowsill of a window in a hallway because he didn't need it and if we returned it to the receptionist they'll ask us to check out, sign stuff, waste time, et cetera.
Harry rushed me outside where the weather wasn't hot--thank God--but it wasn't cold either, just a mild breeze. He had one of the bag's straps loosely thrown over one shoulder and I had the plastic bag in my hand, our hands tightly gripping each other's. According to him, one of the boys should be here with a black van with plenty of room and comfort for a night drive.
I soon spotted the described vehicle and we rushed to it. Harry threw himself to shotgun and I slid the side door open and stepped inside. Our driver; Niall.
"You said two minutes," he roared and slammed his foot onto the pedal. The car jerked forward with an earsplitting screech, and threw me back into my seat. I groaned and put my seatbelt on.
"What?" Harry yelled back and practically melted into his seat, exhausted. Sleeping all day and night for two days at a hospital, then suddenly running back, probably. "It's not like they're right behind us!" Says the one who rushed me out of the room.
"That was at least five fucking minutes," Niall grumbled and slowed the car. "Liam left without us!"
Harry shook his head and closed his eyes. "I don't care, I knew he wouldn't wait, anyway. His life is on the line."
"Hi, Evelyn," Niall said, not making any kind of eye contact with me.
"Hi, Niall."
"So where are we going?" Harry asked, rolling his head to the side to look at his friend. "And are we running from the police or the FR?"
I snickered. "Faulty Rescuers."
Niall laughed and Harry glowered right at him. "You wont be laughing when they're holding a fucking knife to your throat," Harry hissed at him.
"Aw, he's scared," Niall moaned childishly and barked out a laugh.
"Says the one driving 20 over the limit," Harry shot back and flicked Niall's ear. Niall swatted his hands and tried to punch Harry's arm.
Niall let go of the wheel and grabbed Harry's shirt's collar with one hand and pointed at his face with the other. I let out a piercing shriek as the car moved to the right and slapped Niall's arm.
"Get the fucking wheel, you donut," I screeched and he screamed back at me, clamping his hands down on the steering wheel.
"Why is nobody but me taking this seriously?" Harry yelled and finally locked his seatbelt. "We are being chased by psychotic killers who are killing killers!"
"If so-" Niall said then stopped. "If so, if so, we know weeeeee'll be coming-"
"Stop." Harry grunted and elbowed Niall in the ribs for singing.
"Dude, they're, like, still in Brisbane or somewhere, calm down," Niall insisted.
"Brisbane? They. Stabbed. Me, you dickhead. We're not in Brisbane."
"No cursing in front of the lady, asshole," Niall said and sighed, finally concentrating on the road. "Look, now, you made me miss a green light."
"Stop being so goddamn annoying!" Harry screamed and bashed his head into his seat.
"Shut up--I forgot--," Niall said, lowering his voice, "Ashton's asleep in the back."
-
For the following hour, I borrowed Niall's headphones that he claimed he "doesn't use" because he doesn't "have any fucking time to listen to music, how said is that?". I obviously didn't have anything downloaded on my phone so I secretly took Harry's phone and used his wifi.
After listening to many hits, devoid of amusement, I felt nauseous and was quick to retrieve the bottled water from Harry's backpack. It took only two sips of water and I immediately felt refreshed, the urge to throw up minimizing to a slight throb at my stomach. Or maybe that was just hunger.
I resisted the urge to sleep, succumb to slumber, but I was already far from entertained, bored, and according to Niall this car trip might take days so I gave in.
Almost.
I was half-asleep when I suddenly felt like I was falling, for a split second. Floating. And opened my eyes to the roof of the car.
Nothing serious; just something seventy percent of the human population experience.
I shuddered and turned to the side, my back pressed flat against the backseat and my feet on the car door. I closed my eyes, after a moment of feeling the car drift to the side. And then Harry's voice, barely audible, whispering something about his turn. Niall muttering something back. And then the car stopped.
I opened my eyes just before the two boys left the car, then I heard a cough; a gagging sound, then footsteps.
I sat up and looked out of the window. Niall was doubled over; a silhouette. Harry stood beside him, one hand pressing to his torso, his wound--the exit, at least; if the knife was big enough to go straight through him--, and the other on Niall's back. I caught Niall heave a sigh and he sat on the edge of the road, his back facing me, his head in his hands. Harry stood in front of him. His lips moved and he rolled his eyes, but I couldn't hear what he was saying.
"What-" I heard a voice from behind me and turned to see a hand grip the headrest of my seat and a body pull itself up. It was the boy from the hotel; Walking Sex or whatever. "Why did we stop? Are we at a gas station?" He asked, basically to himself, and rubbed his eyes. He wore tight jeans and a grey singlet with at least two dozen holes in them.
"I'm afraid not," I said, clearing my throat, wanting to lie back down and sleep.
Ashton looked out from the back window and moaned to himself.
"Niall!" he called out loudly. "I told you Harry should have drove, you idiot."
"That's what I said," Harry called back faintly, then gripped Niall's arm and helped him stand up.
Ashton shook his head and flopped against the backseat, his arms and head dangling over my side of the car. He gave a kick from the back and threw himself forward, crumpling into the seat beside me. His tall, lanky form couldn't exactly fit on one seat with him tangled, so his hand brushed against my knee, trying to pull himself up, and I blushed.
He grunted and sat properly, yanking the seatbelt across his barrel chest. Niall and Harry returned, swapping seats, and the car moved forward again.
"Can we stop at a station," Ashton said, stretching, "and pick up pies and sausage rolls? I'm starving."
"Same," Niall nodded. "Since I just threw up my dinner."
"Ew."
"Sorry." Niall pouted and hummed to himself, looking down at his phone. "Should be a station here somewhere. Maybe turn right after this."
After a few minutes of staring out the window and at the blurry lights flying by, Harry turned into a gas station, saying he'll fill the tank while Niall, Ashton and I find some things to eat.
"Doubt they'll sell pie at this hour," I commented.
"You've never been to Australia, have you?" Ashton smirked and leapt out of the car. I stepped outside, my clothes caught in a strong wind, flapping in the air against my skin, and turned to the two boys with stern glares. "We're paying. We don't need the cops after us, too"
"I'm not stupid," Ashton sneered and strode into the minimarket. Niall rolled his eyes and muttered come on, leading me inside.
"I'll pick up some sandwiches and pastry, if the fat customers left us any, and you go get, I dunno, dip and shit," he told me. "Don't forget drinks."
"Okay." I went into the first aisle and picked out four granola bars, if the journey lasted until the morning and we needed breakfast, seven bottles of water--two for each of us, I had one in the van--, Mentos--because it's mint, and it's yum--, hummus and crackers, and Reese's.
I smiled at the frowning man behind the counter and he straightened, surprised I'm being polite, I guess, and placed everything on the counter.
"One sec," I muttered and rushed to the deli section after stealing a glance outside; Harry was just putting the pump away, ready to go.
I found Ashton and Niall staring at the hot food and donuts. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Just grab everything and let's go, I'm tired." I managed to use a calm voice so that they know I'm being serious.
"The pie isn't that fresh-" Niall begins but Ashton cuts him off.
"Well, duh, shithead; it's the middle of the night." He slid open the glass and pulled them out, one by one; four of them. "And I'm fucking hungry, I don't give jack."
"I'll get a box of donuts, too. They look yum," I said and picked out a box of four.
"What are you doing?" Niall asked, worried.
"What?" I asked. Ashton slid past to the counter. His shoulder brushed mine.
"Get the bigger box, that's not enough!"
"We'll stop at another fricken station," Harry's waiting.
"Good." He grabbed the bigger box, the box of twelve Krispy Kreme donuts. "I think this is enough."
I chuckled and placed the box on the counter. The man behind it pressed his lips together and furrowed his brows at everything on the bench, but he scanned everything, anyway.
Niall gripped a card between his forefinger and thumb and stared at the devices in front of him. "I'm also paying for station 6 outside." The man nodded. "The fuck is this-"
"You swipe it here, moron," Ashton cut in and snatched the card from Niall, sliding the flat side against a small device.
"Australians these days," Niall said, throwing his hands in the air and leaving the market.
"Get the fuck back here and help with the bags you-"
"Don't be a fat-ass and get them yourself."
I groaned loudly, turning my back to the grimace on the worker to hide my embarrassment, and grabbed half of the plastic bags holding our items and left the market, Ashton trailing behind.
"Bout time," Harry grumbled and settled in his seat behind the wheel. Niall let me sit in the passenger's seat.
After Ashton ate his meat pie, he took over driving so Harry could eat. After another half hour, Niall's quiet snores sounded. Another fifteen minutes; Harry was asleep. In five minutes, my eyes dropped, and I leaned my head against the window, my arms crossed over my chest. I closed my eyes. After two minutes, I heard a vibration but kept my eyelids closed.
"Yes?" I heard Ashton say into a phone. I didn't mean to listen, but he's right next to me. I'm sure he knows I'm awake and would pull over or something if the conversation was private.
"Yeah, I'm following your directions." It must be Zayn or something if we're following them. "They're all asleep." Oh.
His voice lowered. "I can do it now, it'll be easy."
My heart pounded. I didn't trust this kid. Something wasn't...right about him.
His voice dropped to a faint whisper. "And? I have a gun."
My eyes shot open.
"Nobody can hurt us without them being half-dead on the ground."
I stared at him, slowly sitting up. He shot me a quick smile and returned his gaze to the road, one muscular hand on the wheel.
"Then I'll run them over, I don't know Liam, shush, we'll make it. You said this place is safe, right?"
"What?" I heard faintly on the other end. It was very faint, but unless Liam's voice became as high pitched as a twelve year old girl and raspier than Harry's in the morning, that wasn't Liam.
"Call later, I'm driving," Ashton said and turned onto another road. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."
"It's alright," I shrugged. "I wont be sleeping for a while, now."
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