Page 8 of Phoenix
My heart hurts for her because she must have done the exact same thing to the asshole who took her from her family when she was only eleven, and now, here she is again.
“Jess,” I sigh, “I was sent to kill you,” I repeat as before, causing her already pale complexion to turn even more deathly white. Her cries become that much more intense, so I grab her hand, which trembles against mine. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to.”
“Wh-who? W-why?” she sobs with shaky, uncontrollable breaths.
“I don’t know yet,” I reply, withdrawing my hand through guilt if nothing else. I don’t even know who ordered me to take her life; I can’t imagine how monstrous that makes me look. “I was hired by a third party without any explanation. I will tell you everything I know, I promise, but I need to get us going so we can be somewhere safe by nightfall. Do you understand?”
“I don’t understand any of this,” she sighs, closing her eyes and submitting in defeat, “and I don’t trust you. I don’t trust anyone.”
“I know, I wouldn’t trust me either.” I laugh a little to lighten the mood, though, as expected, she doesn’t respond in any way. “Apart from my baby sister, I make it a rule not to trust anyone else either. But right now, I’m the best you have; you feel me?”
“Do I have any choice?”
She opens her eyes a little and I see that exhaustion again, that all-consuming tiredness that’s ripping the fight from her. So, I decide to make it easy on her when I shake my head, effectively making the choice for her.
_____
Phoenix
“Hey,” I utter this first word in what must be hours. Nothing comes from her, so I nudge her naked shoulder that has fallen out of her baggy cardigan. It’s the type your grandmother knits with severely bad eyesight and misjudged spatial awareness, meaning it’s both ugly and enormous. My attempts to wake her up remain unanswered as she continues to snore gently against the seatbelt that I had forced around her. “Hey, Jess, wake up!”
Nothing! If it wasn’t for her muffled snoring, I’d lean in and check to see if she was still breathing; she can clearly sleep through anything. If memory serves, however, it was a loud bang that had woken her in the middle of the night, so I brace my hand above the dash only to bring it down with an almighty thump.
“Hey, Jess!” She wakes with wide eyes and a sharp intake of breath, no doubt with the memory of yours truly flooding through her brain in a matter of seconds.
“You can’t sleep anymore,” I tell her firmly, like I’m a mother stopping her exhausted toddler from dropping off during the day. She sneers before rubbing her eyes for what I’m sure is longer than is necessary.
“I get car sick,” she informs me bluntly.
“Yeah, well, I’m not staying up with you all night,” I reply while avoiding her penetrating stare. After all, it wasn’t exactly painful to stay up with her last night, given what we did. “Apologies if I sound like your mother but you won’t sleep tonight if you sleep all day.”
“Once upon a time I slept for twenty hours a day, Warren,” she says curtly and with added bite when she says my name. “My mother wasn’t there then, and she isn’t here now.”
It’s ok, sweetheart, I’m a little bitter too.
“Ok, but don’t expect me to stay up with you, and don’t be surprised if I cuff you to the bed,” I say with a smirk, only to instantly regret it. “I mean, I can’t risk you making a run for it.”
“Fine, are we finished?” She eyes me with contempt, but I kind of like her feisty attitude. After all, it reminds me of the low-life scum I am.
“If you want,” I tell her with a shrug of my shoulder, keeping my eyes dead ahead on the empty roads. She nods, turns over, and returns to her state of unconsciousness. It must be the only place she truly feels at peace.
Chapter 4
Niamh (Jessie), 11
“Niamh, what do we do? Niamh, fuck!”
Tammy panics beside me while our abductor fills up the car with gas. He’d flashed his gun at us just before he got out of the car, warning us that he would need to punish us if we tried anything ‘funny’. I can’t answer her though, I’m too scared to voice anything, and my mind is a scramble of mismatched thoughts all fighting to be heard first. “Niamh, for God’s sake, say something!”
I watch silently as the man who took us slides back into the driver’s seat and shoots us with a friendly grin. Tammy quickly returns to her seat, and we look back at him with stunned expressions.
“There’re my girls,” he says, then breathes out happily as he studies each one of us. “I got you both some candy, here you go.” We both tentatively reach out for the sugary treats, trying our best not to make any sudden movements that might piss him off. “Well, go on, eat!”
Tammy eats some of hers, whereas I stare at the rather unappetizing bar of chocolate. I feel so sick, the mere thought of eating is enough to make me empty my stomach onto his leather seats. However, I feel his eyes on me, the smile on his face beginning to slip into a frown, so I take the tiniest nibble. It’s enough to placate him and he soon turns back toward the windscreen and switches on the engine. With fear spreading through every part of me, I watch as he pulls away from all the normal people at the station, carrying us further away from familiarity and safety.
He drives for what feels like hours, all the while Tammy and I hold hands in silence on the back seat. The car ride is smooth…too smooth. My car sickness is building up to the point whereby I won’t be able to hold it in any longer.
“Mister? Sir?” Tammy breaks the silence with her pleading words.