Ben shook me awake before the sun came up. I yawned, stretched my aching joints, and changed my clothes. My movements were too slow for Ben, and he began to pull my arms through the sleeves of my shirt. Before I had a chance to brush my hair, he threw the duffel bag over his shoulder. I wore it in a ponytail, but the short end kept pulling away from the elastic.
He had me sitting in the car and it was dark outside and these stupid sunglasses made me feel like I was floating in a black hole.
When Ben got in the car, he turned on his classic rock radio station and pulled out onto the street. We were all silent except for Ben who hummed along. I leaned my head against the window.
Light crawled into my dark abyss. I looked up and Ben pulled into the gas station. The lights on it were bright enough for me to really see. "Stay in the car and rest," Ben said. "It only takes a minute."
I nodded and crossed my arms over my chest. I settled into my seat and watched Ben walk into the gas station. I reached forward and changed his radio stations until I found the news station. The two presenters were talking about a severe thunderstorm that was expected to occur within days.
"Change the topic." The female host said. "Have you heard any new details about Benjamin and Diana's story?"
"No." said the male host. "Have they finally figured out where they are? Are they?"
"No, not yet. Remember that other victim they found tied to the bed? Colin? The police just announced that an autopsy on his body revealed that his eyes had been replaced by cat's eyes."
My breath caught in my throat. They now know about the experiments. If I took off my sunglasses, there would be no excuse for using them as contact lenses.
I squinted and saw Ben was still in the gas station. He leaned against the counter and talked to the woman. Work behind the counter. She kept giggling and tossing a lock of blonde hair over her shoulder.
I turned around and saw a truck pulling into the gas station. A man with a beer belly and a thick beard climbed out of the truck. He inserted his credit card into the machine and refueled the truck. I looked back and saw Ben still talking to the girl behind the counter.
My hands shook as I reached for the handle. I slowly opened the car door. I didn't want to go too fast and draw Ben's attention, but I also didn't want to go too slow and miss my chance.
As I walked toward the man, I kept my eyes on Ben. If Ben wanted to know why I was out, I would lie and tell him I needed to go to the bathroom. I took a few steps back and the man looked up at me. His bushy eyebrows knitted together and his eyes darted up and down at me. I looked back and Ben hadn't noticed me getting out of the car yet.
"Please," I said. My voice is low. I knew there was a glass door between Ben and me, but paranoia took over my mind. "Please, you need to help me."
I looked back at Ben. He got off the counter but was still talking to the girl.
"What's wrong?" the man said.
"I need you to call the police," I said, without taking my eyes off Ben. "I'm Diana."
"The kidnapped girl?" he asked.
Ben turned his head to the side. When he saw me getting out of the car, his smile disappeared. He left the woman during the conversation. I started walking forward so I could keep my fake story alive. As Ben rushed out of the station, the door burst open. "What are you doing, Emily?" Ben threw me another fake name.
"I just need to go to the bathroom," I said. "I didn't go to the bathroom before we left the hotel."
"Are you talking to him?"
"No I didn't! I promise I just
Had to go to the bathroom. "
Ben grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. His fingers dug into the soft flesh of my arms. I gritted my teeth to prevent myself from screaming in pain.
"Let her go!" the man said. "There's never an excuse to catch a girl like that." "Don't tell me what the fuck to do," Ben snapped.
"Let her go," the man said.
Ben's jaw tensed. He narrowed his eyes and let go of my arm. He reached into the pocket of his leather jacket. I saw a flash of metal as Ben ejected the blade from his pocket knife. Men see this too.
He reached for Ben, but Ben jumped away. Ben's arms stretched out. The man tried to move away, but Ben plunged the blade deep into the man's neck. The man's cry was rustling and his throat was filled with blood. He fell to the side. Ben's knife hilt was pulled from his neck.
I ran towards the man. I knelt down. The man's face was pale. His hands covered the wound. I covered his hand with mine. Blood flowed from between his fingers and covered mine. I held his hand to stop the bleeding. He made a sound that sounded like an underwater cry for help.
That’s it, I thought.
Ben had just murdered a man in public. There may be security footage of his brutality. I looked back and saw the girl holding her phone to her ear. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She knelt behind the counter when she saw me looking at her. She must have thought I was going to break in there and eliminate any witnesses.
The sunglasses slipped off my nose. I shook my head and let them fly away. A warm liquid seeped into the denim of my jeans. I looked down and found myself kneeling in a pool of this man's blood.
A hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me up. "Come on, Dee," he said. "We have to go."
"He needs help!" I screamed as I struggled to free myself from his grasp.
"Look at him!" Ben shouted. "He is dead."
I turned to look at the man. His big belly no longer rises and falls with his breathing.
Ben jerked me forward. He opened the door of the man's truck and pushed me inside. He followed me and I slid to the side. Before I could buckle up, he put the key in the ignition and led us out of the gas station. I was thrown off as Ben took multiple sharp turns. My fingers weren't even up before Ben bolted down a series of country roads, and I had time to fumble with trembling hands to put on my seatbelt. We flew over every bump. I put my hand on the window to brace for every bump.
"Why did you do that?" he asked.
"Me?" I turned to face him. "You were the one who just killed someone!"
Ben slammed on the brakes and I was thrown forward onto the dashboard. He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me against the passenger side door. His teeth were clenched. My heart was pounding in my chest. His fingers dug into my shoulders, giving me a strange sense of comfort. If his hands were on me, then they weren't reaching for the gun.
"I had to do it. You made me do it," he said. "If you didn't talk to him, he wouldn't have died."
"I didn't talk to him!"
"Stop lying to me, Diana. I love you, but I don't know why you left me. Don't you love me?"
"Of course I know," I lied.
"Really? Because you screwed everything up. We were almost in Muskoka and you screwed up."
As he spoke, I slid my hand along the side of the door. My fingers found the doorknob. I gasped as I opened the door and leaned back. Pain shot up from my neck as I fell onto the gravel. I hurriedly ran into the tall grass on the roadside. The lights on the truck were the only thing I could see.
Ben jumped out of the truck. He pulled his gun from his waistband. I was buried between the grass and the darkness. I curled up into a ball. Rocks from the gravel slipped into my shirt and tore my skin. "Diana, why are you like this?" he asked. "Tell me what's wrong. I don't want it to come to this."
I looked around at the empty, uncultivated meadows. I have nowhere to run. I ran fast, but I couldn't outrun the bullets. I took a shaky breath as I tried to kneel. I kept my back arched so I was still underneath the grass. Ben walked across the grass. He was coming towards me with his gun pointed right at me.
I didn't come this far just to be killed. I raised my hands in front of me as I slowly stood up from the ground. Ben stopped when he saw me standing up. His gun was still pointed at me. His jaw was clenched and his chest heaved.
I took a step toward him and held out my hands. He didn't move as I approached. I hoped he would drop the gun when I got closer.
He didn't.
As I reached for the barrel, I bit my lip and pushed the gun away. I thought I would have to fight the resistance, but he told me to move the gun. Now that it's away from me, the pressure in my chest has eased slightly. I stood up on my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around his neck. My fingers dug into his hair.
"I'm sorry," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "I'm very sorry for my actions. You know I've been missing my family, I really miss them."
Be
Taking a deep breath, the tension in my body disappeared. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against mine.
"Maybe we can go find them when this all calms down, okay?" he said. I nodded.
"I love you," I said.
I leaned forward and kissed him. His arms were around my waist, but the heavy weight of the gun still pressed against my back.
We stood alone in the field, but I knew the police would find us at any moment. I had to keep him in one place as long as possible so they could find us. I deepened the kiss and his arms tightened around me. We stayed like that for more than a minute. When he starts to relax into the kiss, I curl my fingers tighter into his hair, pulling him back. Pulling us apart, I tried to lean back for another kiss. Ben turned his head to the side, preventing me from touching his lips.
"Dee, we have to go," he said.
"Come on," I said. "I love you so much."
Ben smiled and pushed me away.
"Let's love you again and leave!" he said.
He stuffed the gun back into the waistband of his jeans. He wrapped his fingers around mine and turned around so we could walk back to the truck. The road was still dark and there were no signs of alarm near us. I knew I had to stop him further.
We started walking towards the truck. I tried to slow down and buy more time, but Ben held me back. I let out a scream as I fell to the ground. My action shocked Ben and he let go of my hand. I grabbed my ankles and let out another fake cry. Ben squatted down next to me, sitting on his heels.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I must have tripped over a rock," I said. "My ankle was really hurt."
Ben ran his hands over my ankles. I hissed in mock pain, squirming under his touch.
"It's not broken," he said. "Maybe it's just a sprain."
"It hurts so much," I said. "I don't think I can walk."
Ben ran his fingers through his hair and looked around. He must also have wondered how close the police were.
"We have to go," he said, wrapping his arms around me. He tried to pull me up from the ground, but I writhed in his hands, yelling and trying to stop him. He grunted as he managed to lift me off the ground.
"We have to go," he said, wrapping his arms around me. He tried to pull me up from the ground, but I writhed in his hands, yelling and trying to stop him. He grunted as he managed to lift me off the ground. He carried me toward the truck. He put me in the passenger seat. He kissed me on the cheek and crawled to the other side.
We drove away in the dark. Only our headlights illuminated the road. The flashing blue and red lights that signaled distress were nowhere to be seen.
