The Read And Weep Bundle: Anonymous, Perfectly Hopeless, Run (47 page)

“Kendall,” Mason said, happy to see me. He was sitting, and as I took all of him I noticed his face. The grizzly looking man had worked Mason over good. His face looked awful. I held back the anger I had for these men for roughing Mason up.

Mason held it together too. He dropped his gaze back down to his feet. My heart ached for him and what he probably felt like. I noticed his hands were tied.

“What kind of people are you?” I blurted. The giant ogre moved across the room toward me, his body looming over me. He lifted my chin, surveying my eyes, every detail of me he took in.

“I am a man of my word,” he said, “a man of my word.”

I didn’t move a single muscle. His dirty hand held my face in place. The realization of what we had survived finally hit me.

“Mason understands. Now I want both of you to go. And not speak a single word of any of this. The job is done and Payton will be none the wiser.” He released me and untied Mason’s hands helping him to his feet. He rubbed his wrist, standing next to me. Mark opened the door offering us a way out.

“You kids take care. Stay away from that nut job. See where she got you already?” he asked, looking at Mason. Mason nodded. I was confused and shocked, but somehow I managed to get down the steps. Mason pulled me toward the gates and then through them.

I no longer heard the vicious dogs as we made our way out of the gate.

Silence loomed as we headed back into town, neither one of us speaking about what happened.

I squeezed Mason’s hand tightly as we moved passed the crowds of people on the sidewalk. Their expressions were filled with shock as they caught sight of Mason’s wounds. Some of them even pulled out their cell phones. We didn’t care we just wanted to get back to our hotel.

Mason opened the door for me, gritting his teeth in pain as I passed him.

“So what now?” I asked as he hit the elevator button.

It was nearing morning. I
lay in bed staring at the ceiling. The only sound was Mason’s light breathing next to my head. I locked my hands together underneath the covers afraid to make a noise, afraid to breathe.

I knew Mason would have yelled at me if he knew I hadn’t slept at all, but I was
too stressed to sleep. My stomach hurt so bad it was hard to fight the urge to throw up.

We hadn’t said a thing to Wanda or Payton since we came back. We were waiting for what I wasn’t sure. I just knew it was all a big game. There was a couple knocks here and there in two days. Mason ignored them, falling back asleep each time. And I was too stressed out to answer them myself.

Mason never answered me when I asked him what we were going to do. He was in denial that his mom would have him beaten up. The bruises and cuts on his face showed a different story.

We were just about out of money, which meant soon we were going to be out of a place to stay. I closed my eyes, begging sleep to take over; my heart was in my throat. I squeezed my stomach as a rush of nausea rushed over me again.

The bathroom door came open with a thud, it hit the wall and let out a squeal of pain. Mason towered over me as I hugged the toilet bowl.

“You’re always letting your nerves get the best of you,” he said from above. He stroked my hair, his fingers soothing me with every light caress they made down the back of my head.

I closed my eyes enjoying his touch.

“What are we going to do, Mason?” I asked, waiting for anything to come out of me, so this sick feeling could just go away. The sad dark place I always went to when reality consumed me wasn’t a place I wanted to be anymore.

“What do you want me to do, Kendall? Say anything and I’ll do it,” Mason said. He pushed my hair off my neck, his lips grazing my cheek. I sighed, holding tight to the side of his head.

“I really don’t know. I just wish things could be simpler,” I said.

Silence fell over the room again.

I wasn’t certain of much. I didn’t know if we even had a small chance of making it out alive. There really was no out. There was no hope for normal. Maybe we needed to just give up on hope. Hope brought us back to the same place over and over again.

There was a knock on the door. Mason jumped up, my arms pricked with a thousand goose bumps. I wasn’t stupid; whoever was on the other side wasn’t happy.

There was no more time to be sick. Even if I wanted to puke it had to wait. I collected our things quickly being very careful not to make any noise.  He pressed himself against the door and peered through the peephole. I snagged the last thing off the floor—his favorite t-shirt, and was ready.

Mason looked at me. I knew the look all too well. He was worried. And that wasn’t something that happened often.

“Now what?” I asked, afraid to ask if it were the police.

“We got to hope they give up and leave. And then we sneak out,” he said in a whisper.

“What about the money Roger gave me?” I asked, that was enough money to buy us more time in Virginia. But from the shake of Mason’s head I knew he wasn’t going to use it.

“That’s the only money we have in case of an emergency. If we are out of money so are they. You don’t think they will figure out we been holding out on them?” He raised an eyebrow. Of course he was right.

“What about the window?” I asked, my mind shifting back to escape. I felt like a caged dog. My heart was racing again and my mouth felt like it was filled with cotton.

“We will kill ourselves, Kendall. Don’t be silly,” he said looking out the peephole again.

“What about Wanda?” I squeaked. She
was all I ever knew, my dysfunctional form of security. And in times like these I was willing to let her kill something if it gave me freedom.

“What do you think Wanda is going to do for us?” Mason asked almost yelling at me.

I bit my lip. I had no answer to give. For all I knew she might have sent people to our room to scare us even further.

Minutes later all was silent and my heart was slowing back down to a slower rhythm. Mason threw on his shirt and shoes. I held tight to our backpack as he slowly unlocked the door. A crazy scenario went off in my mind. I wondered how hard my face would hit the carpet when I was slammed down like a criminal.

I felt worse every inch the door opened. It felt as if our freedom was slipping away little by little. He motioned me to hurry up and we slipped into the hallway.

I held tight to Mason as we slipped undetected through the hallway. Nobody was around.

“If it were cops they would have just came in right?” I asked. My mind wasn’t willing to calm down, it was doing the opposite and freaking me out.

“Exactly, the cops could get a key from the staff to get inside if they wanted to. It was probably housekeeping or something,” Mason said low. Mason nodded politely at the passing couple. His shoulder collided with another guy that was rounding the corner that was around our age. I concentrated on my feet, afraid a simple bump in the hallway was enough to ruin our escape.

“Should we?” I asked, hoping he knew what I meant.

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” he mumbled nervously under his breath. He tugged me faster so we could squeeze into the elevator before it shut and left us out in the hallway. We stumbled inside, the woman waiting for her stop looked startled to see us at the last minute. She studied Mason’s battered face, pulling her arms closer to her body; she hugged her wrist, one finger draped across her silver watch, probably hoping we didn’t mug her. Stealing was the last thing on our minds—if only she knew that.

I wanted to say something, but I knew better. My heart thudded in my chest making everything seem surreal that it was even happening. The elevator doors parted, blinding my vision momentarily as we entered the lobby.

“Come on,” Mason said, yanking me across the sleek marble floor. I finally could focus my eyes and they landed right on Aunt Wanda and Payton. Payton dropped the magazine she was reading as soon as she caught sight of us trying to make our escape. But Mason kept moving right out the revolving doors.

As we hit the fresh air reality kicked me in the stomach.

“If we leave them its final, it’s done. You know as well as I do,” I said, trying to get Mason to stop walking.

“I don’t care about them. We need to save ourselves,” he said, his feet moving still.

I pulled back just as Wanda snatched me by the arm, her claws sinking into my flesh.

“You’re free to do what you want, but Kendall stays,” she said, her lips making a perfect line. Her eyes filled with silent venom, threatening Mason. This was the moment I was waiting for. For Wanda to stop me and decide my next step in life like she always had for years.

“I’ll give you two options, Wanda,” Mason said standing tall and unmoved by her glare. He held onto my hand not backing down. He didn’t care about the people passing by either who seemed confused.

“Mason, you have no options to give me,” Wanda tossed back still calm.

“Either you get the fuck away from us!” Mason said, raising his voice to levels Wanda wasn’t used to in public. Bystanders immediately zoned in on our confrontation. My heart sunk at the realization that everyone was looking at us now. This was what I didn’t want.

“Or I go back and tell the hotel staff the whole story. The truth. And we all can go to jail,” he said, even this didn’t bring his words to a whisper. He didn’t care who heard. He just wanted to get us away from Wanda. His words echoed in my ears over and over, my cheeks grew warm. Reality was leaving me and I realized there was nothing I could do about it, but wait.

I managed to look at Wanda. Her face was beat red. Her eyes were nearly popping from the sockets. Her grip loo
sened as she stumbled for words, something to say to stay the alpha dog.

“Don’t go back to Joy-Ann,” she said, she kept her gaze locked on mine and did something I never thought she would do—she let me go.

“Why would I do that?” I asked softly, tears forming in my eyes. This felt like goodbye, like Aunt Wanda had been conquered.

“If you want to be stupid fine, but don’t go back there. Get out of here,” she said, and she turned on her heels. She was gone. I watched her grow smaller and smaller as she walked away from me.

I was ready to run to her. My one person I counted on my whole life practically. Even if she did nothing but ruin my life. She was my somebody, my blood.

“Come on, Kendall!” Mason yelled at me. I swatted at him annoyed he was still yelling at me and I started running. We turned down the first alley we saw and finally stopped to catch our breath.

The sun still hadn’t rose. Mason and I were on a never ending road full of dust. The only thing after all the miles we walked was the gas station we finally came across. We used five bucks to feed the two of us, splitting a beef jerky and buying two slurpees to quench our thirst. It was by far the worst meal ever when you hadn’t eaten anything reasonable in such a long time.

We didn’t know where we were going. Mason did what every man did—he pretended he did. If I hadn’t known him all my life I would have believed he knew what he was doing.

“So here’s my idea,” Mason said, watching a shiny black car pull into the gas station we were standing outside of. He slung our backpack over his shoulder finishing up his drink.

“What’s that, Mason?” I said, pretending I wanted to know rather then what I really wanted, and that was a bed to sleep in. I was still in denial we had walked for hours on end going nowhere. My feet hurt and Wanda was gone—for good.

“Remember my friend I told you about? The one who lives in Jersey?” Mason asked me. “Jay Archer?”

I nodded knowing all about Jay Archer. He was a friend only because of Payton. Jay Archer was older then Mason. And from everything I had heard about him he wasn’t a good person. He did nothing legally. He stole cars for a living. Mason had got in quite a bit of trouble throughout his life because of Jay Archer. And when I heard Mason recounts some really bad times in his life, Jay’s name usually was attached to each and every one of them.

“I know we would have a place to stay. As long as we needed, and it would help us figure out our next plan.” He stared at me, waiting for me to accept his next idea. The first one hadn’t panned out so well so far. I didn’t have much more hope left in me. I sighed, backing away from him only to be nearly run over by a red crotch rocket as it flew into the parking lot of the gas station. Mason grabbed my arm, staring at the driver rather irritated.

“What are you doing?” I asked, he threw a hand in the air blowing me off and headed into the gas station, leaving me alone in the parking lot. I crossed my arms aggravated and waited. I took a seat on the ground, resting my back against the light pole

I wasn’t feeling to confident Mason could get us where we needed to go. At least with Aunt Wanda we always have transportation. Wanda wouldn’t be caught dead hiking across America.

“Kendall!” Mason said, running from the gas station a huge grin pinned to his face. He shook a set of keys at me. I nearly choked on my slurpee standing up.

“Are you joking?” I exclaimed.

“Come on,” Mas
on said heading over to the red crotch rocket. I hesitated at first. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to risk road rash, but I pushed past that and slung my leg over anyways. Mason plunked the helmet down on my head. It made me feel a little better about the grand theft auto we were committing. At least I was being safe. He walked the bike slowly around to the back of the gas station before he started it up. And we were off.

I held on tight,
resting against him as we put more and more distance between us and Virginia.

I felt free on that bike. I didn’t have to worry about anything, all I had to do was hold on tight. I wondered how he got the keys from the man. Was it as bad as I thought it was? Was it the reason when he came out there was blood on his hands?

How long was it going to take before I regretted everything so much that I couldn’t handle it anymore? I wondered that too. Did my Aunt Wanda ever get to that place, where she couldn’t even look at herself in the mirror because she was so full of regrets?

No matter how bad people were I was sure they all had a conscience somewhere deep down on the inside.

Mason stopped the bike on the side of the road as it took its last breath. He dropped the bike on its side barely checking that I was off it before he let it go. He was angry. His body rigid, his muscles tense. He ran a hand through his hair frustrated and stared up at the sky. Like the answer was going to drop from the heavens.

“You almost broke my leg, stupid ass,” I griped, dropping the helmet to the ground beside the bike. I was sure the bike was dead. The smoke was a good indication. And we never stopped for gas. It just proved he did something terrible.

“Did you kill that man, Mason?” I asked, crossing my arms. I barely could see him until passing cars provided a couple seconds of light.

“Kendall don’t worry about what got us here. Just be glad we are hours away,” he said. I swallowed. I caught a glimpse of his pathetic expression hidden behind anger.

“Where are we?”

“The outskirts of Delaware. Now what to do to get to Jersey,” he said. I sighed knowing what that meant. I was our ticket to obtaining a ride. Men would rather pick up a cute girl than a young guy. Mason move back getting out of view and plopped down in the ditch to stay out of sight.

I dropped the backpack on the ground and tied my shirt in a knot at my waist. I did my best to fluff my hair. It was all I could do and it would have to work. I stuck out my thumb.

“You know, sometimes I wish I was a girl,” Mason said from behind me.

“Shut up, Mason. That doesn’t make any sense at all,” I told him silently pleading with the traffic. I just wanted anybody to stop and put me out of my misery.

“Kendall since when do you talk to me like that?” He asked hurt.

“Since you have me on the side of the road, begging for a ride,” I said, grabbing our backpack as a red jeep came to a screeching halt.

“Kendall,” Mason called after me.

“I should use my brain for once and leave you here,” I told him. I approached the passenger side window a big smile on my face.

“Hi there, thanks so much for stopping,” I said sweetly.

The man was about thirty. He looked me over, a big smile on his face. He nodded his head not saying a word.

“Does this mean I could hitch a ride with you, handsome?” I asked breaking his stare.

“Of course. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. Where would you like to go, darling?”

I looked him over, taking the moment to think about his life, trying to figure out what we possibly could be ruining. I doubted he had kids or even a girlfriend. His eyes were antsy as if he didn’t get laid all that often. And judging by the bad haircut he didn’t care to much about his physical appearance. Odds were he was alone in life, so the guilt slowly started to subside.

“Oh, I’ll let you know,” I said with a wink. He melted instantly and unlocked my door.

“Hop on in,” he told me.

“Just a sec,” I said holding one finger up as I backed up right into Mason. He scurried like a ninja to the back of the jeep and in one quick flash was inside. The man shrieked, startled by Mason’s surprise attack.

I dug my nails into my wrist. I didn’t like being so close to fear and violence.

“Please don’t hurt me.” The man begged his hands in the air. Mason got him into the back seat.

“Come on,” he yelled at me. “If I had any brains to stand up for myself I might leave you here for treating me like shit a few minutes ago,” Mason yelled at me.

I scoffed, knowing full well he never would have the gonads to leave me on the side of the road. I climbed in shooting a quick look at the backseat at our panic stricken
passenger.

People express their fear in various ways. Some shut down and just freak out. Those are the ones who usually found themselves in bad situations.

And then you had the ones who refused to believe what was happening. They were the ones who did the sensible things and saved themselves.

“What’s your name?” Mason asked as he drove the jeep down the lonely highway. The light from the dashboard illuminated his face and made him look intimidating.

“Leonard,” the man answered flatly. It had been a few hours and I could tell he was ready to be put out of his misery. Mason had said nothing to him the whole drive. That alone was torture.

“Are you married?” Mason asked, releasing one hand from the steering wheel.

“No, I’m not,” Leonard answered.

“Kids?” Mason pressed.

I stared at Mason, annoyed he was making things harder for this guy. And I was even more annoyed that Leonard was being honest.

“No,” he said.

“Hey, Leonard, little word of advice, when two crazed kids hijack your car lie your ass off,” Mason told him, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Uh, what?”

I looked back at the man. He was sweating like crazy.

“It’s always better to make people feel for you, rather than feel nothing. No one would want to hurt a man who had a family,” I explained.

“Oh god…are you really going to kill me?” he asked starting to panic.

Mason sighed, gripping the steering wheel. He was as much a killer as I was.

“We just need a way to Jersey. I ain’t planning on killing you. What do we look like?” he asked looking back at Leonard. “I would however appreciate if you kept this to yourself though. Ok, Lenny?”

“Absolutely, it never happened,” he said.

That’s all it took to take the fear out of the car ride—Mason’s kind words.