[ 4:48 PM ]
"are you okay?" i ask apple, moving her chin around to see her face. she slaps my hand away.
"i'm okay!" she giggles, "you flew us!"
i smile.
"see what happens when we mix illegal with fun?" dom questions.
"the kids got a smile on her face, which we haven't seen much of since leaving the apartment and being in this boring mobile home," i reason.
"lucille's not boring!" grayson quips from the driver seat.
"you can't use her happiness to stop me from blowing up on you," dom says, shaking his head.
"deal with it," i grin and hug apple to me as dom puts the guns inside matt's duffel.
"oh yeah, no one ask matt if he's cool," he says.
i turn my head behind me, seeing matt pick himself off the floor.
"you know i was heading toward her right?" i ask.
"yeah," he answers, climbing over the three seater.
"so why go after her if i was already in motion?"
"ray, stop. we have her back."
"i just don't get why he would do that. that doesn't impress me. i'm not into that heroic shit. i can take care of her."
"soraya," dom interjects. "thanks bro. i appreciate it."
i roll my eyes.
dom passes matt the two duffels and he pushes them underneath the seat.
apple and i relocate to the bed.
i thought we were giving him a second chance ray?
i'm on the fence.
you agreed to give him a second chance.
"thanks matt for being a hero moment stealer," i tell him.
"really?" dom questions.
"you're... welcome?" he responds.
"raya, he's cool," apple says.
"he's skeptical," i tell her. "suspicious."
"i'm trying my best here," matt says.
"yeah? and i still want to read you."
"fine! here! do it!" he yells, holding his arm out to me. "if it'll get you to stop treating me like an enemy."
"no. no! ray you don't need to read him. just learn to trust someone for once," dom says.
"i'll learn to trust when i don't get weird vibes around him."
"you're so stubborn. it's annoying!" dom groans.
"that's fine with me! i don't want to be any other way!"
"hey, uh, grayson coming in to diffuse the situation. delaware's checkpoint is in like an hour or so and then we finally have the last checkpoint to get into new jersey."
i nod.
"we're going to have to figure out another hiding spot because apple is not getting into the box again," i tell dom.
what about her invisibility?
what do you mean?
she can turn invisible, but what about her making us invisible?
she's never tried it and she doesn't know how to control it.
we've got an hour to perfect it.
and matt?
i think it's time we trust him ray.
i just don't want him to fuck us over.
well stop giving him reasons to!
whatever.
"apple, you don't want to get back in the box right?" i ask.
she nods quickly.
"someone is going to have to turn us invisible," dom says.
"me? turn you? i-i-"
"we know," i nod, grabbing her hand, "which is why we're going to practice."
"but-"
"we're right here mamas," dom whispers.
"wait. what's going on?" matt speaks up.
"to make a long story short; apple turn invisible," i mock.
matt flips me off.
"she can turn...invisible? she's like you two? is alex?"
"it's just us three," i tell him.
"is that a lie?"
"no matt. this is me being straight up with you," i say. he looks at dom, who nods at him. "apple can turn invisible. that's all we know so far on what she can do. dom can force field and manipulate energy. i can move things with my mind- telekinesis. shoot orbs from my hands, and apparently read people, whatever that superpower is."
"really?"
"i flew your ass into the van? what? you think that was all an illusion?"
"i'm processing!"
"process faster! keep up! we can telepathically communicate with each other."
"i knew it!"
"congrats! want a cookie?"
"your snarky comments won't bum my joy of knowing you guys could communicate without talking," he smiles.
"yeah? your joy is irrelevant."
"soraya."
"don't soraya me."
"can you be civil for five minutes?" dom pleads.
"anyone have a timer?"
"oh my god," he sighs.
"fine. two seconds. matt you're somewhat something. oh look, two seconds are up. matt, i don't like you."
"you're such a ball of fun," he says passive aggressively.
"oh thank you. i try really hard," i smile back, placing a hand over my heart.
"keep trying. maybe you'll die in some fun freak accident."
"i would, but you'd probably die before me because some book author gives no fuck about your character."
"okay!" dom yells. "enough."
"no it's cool bro. we're just talking," matt says, scolding me.
"yeah! it's all just some fun," i say, scolding him back.
"we don't have time to be acting like five year olds! we need to figure out how we're going to evade the cops to get into delaware and apple should be the main focus right now. we've told you our powers matt, so just process that shit silently while we figure out how to not get caught by the fuuu," he trails off, "GOVERNMENT!" dom yells.
"alright jeez," i give up.
"sorry bro."
"i still don't like him," i shrug.
"n-nope," i chuckle uneasy, "still just you and dom," i tell her, trying not to get as upset with her as i want to.
"she's trying ray," dom whispers to me blinking back into my vision.
"i know," i breathe, "i know. i'm just getting nervous," i say removing my hands from theirs and wiping my clammy palms on the blanket.
"i can do it raya!" apple yells.
"i don't want to push you," i tell her, shaking my head.
"i can do it!" she insists, grabbing dom and i's hands.
she squeezes her eyes shut.
"apple wait!"
"apple hold on!" dom jumps in.
"I CAN DO IT!" she shouts and let's out a scream so loud, my heart skips a beat and my flight or fight instincts kick in.
"what's wrong?!" flies out of my mouth before the entire van and it's content inside blinks in and out of my vision.
apple stops screaming and the van and everyone disappears. outside still moves around me and i gawk at whatever the hell i'm witnessing.
"anyone else see nothing and everything at the same time?" i hear grayson's voice.
"what the fuck is happening?!" matt questions.
"apple is happening," i whisper, watching the trees blur by and the sun that's setting in the distance. i don't feel anything though, no temperature or anything of that sort, as if i'm present in this moment but also, not.
i push my hand out behind me, it stopping, a force preventing me from going any further.
"oh my god," dom says.
the entire van vanished yet we're still here, on the road, also invisible.
i'm losing my mind.
the van's decor starts to blink back, including all of us.
"holyyyy," i drag out, my eyes landing on apple and stopping myself from continuing that phrase.
"we can't do that. we drive up just to blink our way on the other side," dom says letting apple's hand go.
"yeah but she still blew all of our minds," i laugh, high-fiving her.
"what are we going to do?" dom asks.
"we're going to have to do it the old fashioned way. give me my gun," matt says.
"no," i shake my head, frowning, "you're clearly insane."
"what else are we going to do? if they call in the van, we're fucked," he says.
"matt's right. not about the old fashioned way but about them flagging the van. we've got two more checkpoints to new jersey. the easiest solution would be the bo-"
"la! la! la!" apple shouts, plugging her ears with her index fingers.
"out the window, that idea," i snort.
"what about the section on the roof?" matt suggests.
"the roof hatch?" grayson questions, "i mean, the guns could go up there, but it wouldn't hide the three of them."
"so we're back to the old school way," matt says again.
i know what he's asking of us. something that we shouldn't even be thinking about. something that i don't want to be thinking about.
i know what we have to do. i know what needs to be done to protect us and to keep us from dying in the hands of Them.
the idea itself i loathe. i want it to not be an option; for some random, good idea to present itself but i know it won't.
this is what is being presented to us and it's the route we have to take.
to protect ourselves.
apple.
"oh," dom breathes out looking at me in disbelief, "oh no! no soraya!" he objects.
"i didn't even say anything!"
"the look on your face!" he points out. "i can see the gears turning!"
"i didn't want to!" i tell him.
"but you do now!"
"for protection!"
"it's murd... no!" he demands.
i take a small breath in.
we have to do this.
"you can stay in the van," i simply state.
"no way!"
"so you agree with the plan?"
"no!"
"how else are we going to do this?" i ask.
"we can try my invisible power!" apple suggests.
"apple... sweetie-"
"we need more time with your power," dom speaks, dragging the words out of my mind and lacing them with an abrasive tone.
"but... raya tell him i can do it," she whispers, eyes growing wide with plead.
i want to help her. i want her to never feel that hurt again.
"dom, maybe she-"
"ray, c'mon."
he looks at me in a way that i know that the matter isn't mine to fight for. his mind is made up.
i swallow my spit and look at her.
"i'm sorry apple," i apologize.
her eyes water and i want to say something, anything that will make her happy or at least smile, but i come up with nothing.
she slides to the farthest side of the bed away from us.
i sigh.
"old school way? bonnie and clyde... and clyde and clyde?" matt questions.
i look at dominic.
he looks at apple and i.
"fine," he finally says.
"we have to protect our family, right?" i ask him.
he grabs my hand in his.
"yeah," he nods, "for our family."
i nod at him, signaling that i'm ready.
"apple, do you mind moving to go sit up front with grayson?" i ask her.
she doesn't answer or even bother to look at me, but she follows my orders.
matt climbs over the three seater and meets us at the bed.
"my gun?" he asks.
dom goes into one of the cabinets above us and grabs matt's gun, handing it over to him with a bit of hesitation.
"do you want one?" dom asks me.
"no. i've got my weapons right here," i say holding my hands up, a metaphorical itch creeping it's way into my palms.
if we're going to do this, then okay.
we'll do it.