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When we begin to move, I realize that Marcus has pulled out of the apartment parking lot and is driving in the wrong direction. He’s going the complete opposite way, and now that I know he isn’t going into town, I have absolutely no idea what I’ve gotten myself into.
In another universe, laying in the bed of his truck, looking up at the sky as light leaks past the horizon and give way to night, would’ve been a divinely relaxing experience. But in this one, where the drive never seems to end, taking me deeper into the unknown as the cold air causes me to shiver uncontrollably, all I feel is deep regret.
The truck doesn’t stop for at least another hour before I feel it start to slow down. Just judging from my limited perspective from the back, I can see that the sky is much darker out here than it is in the city. We must be out in the country somewhere, maybe out by the sand dunes.
If I wanted to make a run for it, there’d be nowhere to go. I just have to wait.
Marcus and Abram get out of the truck, and I hear one of them cock a gun. Knowing what my brother did for work was always such a cool, edgy mystery for me as a kid, but now that I’m a grown woman, I feel a knot form in my stomach. Someone is going to die tonight, and I have no idea what they’ve done to deserve it.
When I start to hear their footsteps fade, I peek out over the walls of the truck bed to see that we’re out by a man-made lake. I’ve been here once or twice with friends for bonfires in the summer, but I’ve never really seen anyone else out here.
Now that I think of it, it really is the perfect place for an execution. I’m pretty sure the closest house is three miles away.
I see Marcus and Abram walking towards a large man in a business suit who is holding another man down on his knees. The other man has a black hood over his head, and even from a distance in the dark, I can see that he’s shaking to near convulsions from fear. The sight makes my mouth dry and my stomach hurt. Even if he’s a terrible person, he’s experiencing terror like no other. I can’t imagine what he’s thinking right now.
“You sure this is the guy?” Abram asks the man in the suit, gesturing to the man on the ground with his gun.
“Yeah, we’re sure. We thought we had him before until one of his guys gave him up,” the man in the suit replies casually.
Abram nods slightly and pauses for a moment before he tears the hood off the man.
The man whimpers but says nothing.
“Twenty thousand dollars of fake shit. You almost got me on murder charges after all those ODs, Charlie,” Abram growls.
“I didn’t know it was fake. Please, I’m just the runner. I don’t know shit,” Charlie pleads, faltering and placing his hands on the ground for leverage.
“Doesn’t matter to me. If you’re going to fuck me like that, I’m going to fuck you too. And I’m not letting you hide under a hood either,” Abram replies.
Charlie begins to sob. “I swear to god, man. You need to go after Jin. He’s the one who soldmethe shit. I don’t deserve to be here.”
I duck back down into the bed of the truck. Hearing Charlie’s pleads for mercy has my whole body twisting inside out. I know that it isn’t my place, and Marcus would be furious if he knew I was here to even hear this, but I want it all to stop. I regret coming here more than I’ve ever regretted anything in my life.
“You said it was Jin?” Abram asks, softening in a deceptive manner.
After a brief pause of complete, deafening silence, three loud gunshots crack through the atmosphere.
I jump at the noise, and my eyes fill with tears as I realize that while Charlie’s pain might be over, his life is as well. And he might not have even deserved it.
Abram is amonster.
Just as I’m beginning to come to terms with the horror I just witnessed, I realize that I’m lying next to a rolled-up carpet. Even at eighteen, I’m street smart enough to know what that means.
They’re going to use the carpet to dispose of the body, which means if I stay here any longer, I’m going to get caught.
But I can’t just jump out of the truck and flee the scene. It’s dark, my phone is only at twenty percent battery, and I have no idea where to run. I don’t even know how we got here.
The sorrow I feel for Charlie is quickly displaced by dread as I hear footsteps approaching the back of the truck.
Abram might kill me too.
Would Marcus let him do that? Would he even have a choice?
My mind is racing at a million miles an hour for a solution as I hear Marcus opening the back of the truck, but I already know it’s too late. All I wanted to do was hitch a ride to a party, and now I’m caught up in a homicide.
“What the fuck?!” Abram’s deep voice vibrates through my bones as he draws his gun on me.
I’m certain he doesn’t know who I am, and that’s going to cost me dearly.
