Lucas chased his friend out the door. The man, upon noticing the two boys, retreated back into his silver car and started the engine. Rob ran after him, a long string of profanity trailing out of his mouth. Lucas followed, frustrated that his legs did not have the lengthy stride of his best friend's.
“Rob!” Lucas screamed. He pushed himself to go faster, anything to catch up to his friend before it was too late. He couldn't think straight, but he didn't want to, not with the fear of death just around the corner.
Tires squealed as the man sped up for a getaway. Lucas saw the flash of the gunmetal from the window. It was the gun that had ruined the windshield; knowing that, Lucas could only imagine how it could ruin human flesh.
“Rob! Let him go! He has a gun; he can shoot you!” He hollered, before finally reaching his friend and pulling him down to the ground. Another gunshot pieced the air. Lucas felt the bullet ricochet off the asphalt only a half of a foot away.
“Let me go.” Rob protested, but there was a hitch in his voice. His face was hot with fury as he struggled against Lucas. Lucas wrestled until he pinned his friend.
“Either let him get away, or die.” Lucas muttered. Rob shoved his friend away, but didn’t make any other attempt to pursue the criminal. The silver car raced out of the parking lot, and flew down the road at an incredible speed. Lucas thanked God that no one had been on the road, but also prayed that a cop pulled over the man for a speeding ticket. The two boys watched it vanish from sight before Lucas released his hold
“Shit,” Rob growled, “I didn’t even get the license plate number.”
“Neither did I,” Lucas admitted and looked away. As much as he concentrated, he could only recall a three and a six and that did no good. He felt stupid for not thinking to check it in the first place.
Rob had clutched his head in his hands, unknowingly mirroring Lucas with the gesture
“Who would shoot a guy’s windshield?” Rob exclaimed in disgust, “Who would shoot my windshield? What did I do? I don’t even know the man!” Rob ranted bitterly. Lucas could only stare at the vein that threatened to burst in the boy’s neck. He had not seen his friend this upset in a long time.
“Come on man; let’s call the police or something. Let them figure it out.” Lucas said. He had to be the calm one, despite the swell of mixed emotions he felt. He tried to help his friend to his feet but Rob refused and stood up on his own. They simultaneously looked at the broken windshield on Rob's cruiser.
“My phone’s in the car.” Rob mumbled. He brushed some dust off of his arms.
“Least you don’t have to worry about all the hassle of unlocking the car to open the door- now that there’s a nice little hole.” Lucas commented dully. Rob shot him a withering glance.
“Screw you, Luke. This is not the time.” He sneered. Lucas shrugged; he hadn’t even meant the comment as a joke, just a snide remark. The whole incident had unsettled him, for a variety of reasons:
Why use a gun, when a crowbar or something could do the same work?
Why not stay in the car to do the job, instead of getting out then getting back in it for a getaway?
Why do it in the daytime? It was five-thirty in the summer; there was still plenty of sunlight. The man had not even worn a mask to hide his face- it was as if the act was spontaneous and not planned out at all. Lucas could not push away the thought that something had been done wrong, like the man had made a mistake in his crime, or didn’t have the time to complete it to satisfaction.
Lucas looked at his own truck, parked right next to the ruined glass of his friend’s car. If it was a spontaneous act, it would have been just as easy to shoot his truck. Lucas was lucky in that sense. He felt guilty over the relief that it was Rob’s car that was shot, instead of his own.
Lucas suddenly remembered seeing the man drop a small object into the car through the hole. What was it? Lucas turned to his friend, only to find Rob already staring back with widened eyes.
“Luke?”
Rob was lingering in the frame of his open car door. His usually tanned face had turned an unnatural shade of white. Rob clutched his phone tightly with one hand, and in the other he held a wad of paper. He wordlessly shoved the paper into Lucas’s hand.
Lucas stared into his friend’s freshly terrified eyes. He smoothed out the paper and gave it a hard look. The words on it were cut from a magazine cover, and Lucas almost laughed at the absurdity of it; but then he read it.
Value life, Flynn? Consider this your warning.
Seven words with no clear explanation as to who or why. Lucas looked back up at his silent friend.
“Lucas Flynn… Do you know what’s going on?” Rob asked. His tone was an odd mixture of worry and suspicion. Lucas could only shake his head.
“I called the police! They should be here soon. Are you alright?” Antonio asked from the entrance of the diner. He jogged out of the restaurant to approach his friends. Matt and a few staff members came outside as well. They kept their distance from the boys and talked hurriedly about the incident. Matt walked away from the crowd and pulled out his cell phone. He looked red in the face, but also a little green, leaving for a truly ugly shade of skin.
“We’re not dead.” Came Rob's reply to Antonio's question. Lucas looked down at the note, desperately trying to understand its message.
Consider this your warning?
Warning?
For what?
“Are you not telling me something, Luke? What is this?” Rob demanded. Lucas couldn’t bring himself to say anything. He was just in shock. Someone, he didn’t even know who that someone was, wanted to warn him, but must have mistaken Rob’s car for Lucas’s. But why? What was the warning for?
“I… don’t know, Rob.” Lucas didn’t know how he was supposed to avoid further trouble when he couldn’t even understand what he had done wrong in the first place. He slowly folded the note and held it out for his friend to grab, “Maybe we should just give it to the police.”
Rob stared at the note with disdain, making no attempt to reach out and take it. Lucas thrust it again in his friend’s direction.
“I don’t think we should, man. I mean that guy, if he finds out about this, he might come back.” Rob admitted uncomfortably.
“That’s exactly why we should give it to the police!” Lucas erupted. He flung his arms up, “I could get killed!”
A weighty silence followed the last word. Lucas, breathing heavily, looked from Rob’s face to Antonio’s. Rob avoided Lucas’s eyes, but Antonio just looked confused, for he had missed out on the majority of the conversation.
“What’s going on?” He asked weakly. Lucas practically threw the note at his friend, who scrambled to grasp it mid-air. With some hesitation, Antonio unfolded the threat letter. He stared at it for a longer period of time than it would have taken to read it.
“What do you think Tony? Should Luke give it to the police?” Rob asked quietly. He still avoided Lucas’s eyes, but met Antonio’s with trepidation. Antonio folded the note and held it out for someone to grab. When no one took it back, Antonio spoke.
“I mean, police are supposed to take care of this stuff, right?” He said. Lucas nodded and shot a look at Rob, but then Antonio continued, “However, I think it might raise some questions about you, Luke. They’ll probably want to know more about your side to this, who your enemies are, why someone would want to threaten you, etcetera.”
“I have nothing to hide.” Lucas insisted.
“Except a recent vandalism.” Rob piped in. He finally looked at Lucas, who closed his eyes and groaned. Lucas realized that if he gave the police the note, then he would probably have to come clean about the vandalism too. That could mean probation and a fine, plus his parents would have to find out; Lucas didn’t know which was worse. The fine would come from his own money, but that was a deserved punishment. Probation wasn’t ideal either, but he could get over it.
Lucas then thought about his mother, who was always so proud of him. He always wanted to be the strong one for her in her illness, the perfect child. Her fading memory only increased his desire to make her happy; that way, what few things she could remember about him would be good things, not bad. Lucas didn’t want her to remember him as a vandal, because what if that became the last thing she remembered before she forgot him entirely?
Rob frowned at the indecision in Lucas’s eyes, “I’ll take the blame, for you. It’s my fault that you spray painted the wall in the first place. It was my idea.”
“If you need an alibi, say you were at my place.” Antonio added with a nod. Lucas halved a smile, but shook his head.
“No matter what you decide, we’ve got your back.” Rob promised with an attempt at a smile. Antonio clasped his hand on Lucas’s shoulder in agreement.
“I know, but I won’t let you guys take the blame for me.” Lucas said. As if on cue, a police car wailed into the parking lot. In a split decision, Lucas shoved the note in his back pocket and took a deep breath. It was one of those moments where he knew he was making a grave mistake, but decided to go through with it anyways.
****I'm sorry for such a late posting, it wont happen again! I had no Internet for a week which made posting kind of impossible...
but anyways, make sure to give me input Via the comments or even message me. I know the past couple of chapters might have been a little slow, but I'm really hoping that it will pick up soon, thank you for reading all the way to here :)
-Briana