Sunsets and Car Crashes

William

An hour later, Francesca and I were sat on the small, two seated sofa in my front room. I’d drawn the curtains to try and help Francesca relax. She kept re-iterating that ‘they’ could be anywhere. She was very paranoid but I had realised quickly that she had every reason to be. I knew more than most people did about what it felt like to feel like the world was out to get you.

Francesca was asleep, pressed up against me. I was quite happy to leave her like that; at least then she was peaceful, something that she hadn’t been all day. Even when I hadn’t realised that anything about her was out of the ordinary, she had definitely not been able to relax.

I stayed as still as I possibly could, not wanting to wake her up. Her breathing was slow, rhythmic and gentle. Occasionally her mouth would twitch into a smile, or her arms would tense as they lay, draped around my neck. She was sat on my lap, sideways on, my arms around her waist, with her head resting on my shoulder. As I observed her, she reminded me so much of a lost child – young, naive, and confused – but she was also more than that. She had a natural, unique beauty that had grown on me through the day. For a girl her age – barely legal to drink alcohol or leave college even – she was amazingly brave and strong. She hadn’t told me all of the horrors that she knew about or had witnessed, but the ghosts in her eyes and the scars that I had seen poking out from underneath her hoodie said it all. She had seen more than any person should.

I didn’t particularly understand why I was feeling so protectiveover her. As far as I was concerned, love was a lie, just another name for insanity and obsession. But, as I held her there, I could feel my heart thumping in my chest, my hands quivering and my brain consumed by her, I was beginning to doubt my own views.

Francesca stirred slightly, whimpering like a wounded animal. I moved my right hand up to stroke her hair, whispering sweet nothings into her ear. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at me for a second.

“Did I fall asleep?” she asked, her voice heavy with tiredness. I laughed and nodded. I hauled her further up on me.

“You’re cute when you’re sleepin’,” I told her, pushing her mousey hair out of her face. “I didn’ wanna disturb you.”

Her cheeks flooded with red. She buried her face into my neck, making me laugh. “I’m not cute,” she protested into my skin. Her breath was warm, but it made me shiver. Did she have any idea of the effect she was starting to have on me? If she did, then she made a good show of not letting me see.

“Did you have a nice sleep?” I asked abruptly, disturbing myself from my own thoughts. Francesca nodded.

“Some of it was, but some of it was...scary. You were in it. You took me alone to see you at one of your gigs, and all this awesome stuff happened...but then you were taken away from me and...and then I woke up.” Her voice was soft and scared. I stoked her face with the tips of two of my fingers.

“It was just a dream, Fran,” I whispered, holding her tighter to give her comfort. “Just a really nasty dream.”

“Yeah, but it felt so real. Almost as if it was...”

“Really gonna happen?” I finished for her. She replied with a single nod of her head. “Well...I amplaying a show tomorrow night. Maybe you should just come alone – it might put your mind at rest. You can come here beforehand, meet the guys, chill out...”

“You actually wantyour friends to meet me?” Francesca breathed. Her voice was exhilarated, as if I had just told her that she’d won the lottery. I smiled and nodded.

“Of course,” I replied. “They’ll love you. And you won’t have to worry about there being too many of us here and shit. There’ll just be me, Nick, his lady, Angel and Jake.”

“Nick’s lady? As in, like, a real girl?!” Her eyes were wide, like a toddler on Christmas morning. “I’ve not talked to another girl since I was eighteen! Well, except in shops and crap, but that doesn’t really count...”

It was an amazing moment. She was so excited; I could almost see the colourful soul encaged within her – something I had only seen glimpses of so far – fighting its way out, eager for a taste of freedom outside of its prison. My heart felt warmer for seeing her so happy.

“Well, if you can get over here at about...I dunno...one? We have to be at the club for three, I think, ready to set up and have sound-check and all that shit. The show starts at half seven.”

“What kinda music do you guys play?” she questioned. She was now playing with her hair, plaiting and twisting her fringe repeatedly.

“Rock,” I answered. “I’ve got a couple of the CDs lying around if you wanna take ‘em home and check ‘em out?”

“I’d like that.” She turned her face back towards me and beamed. I returned the look on my own face.

“Hang on then, lemme see if I can find ‘em.”

***

The car journey back to Francesca’s house was comfortably quiet. Francesca had begged, pleaded and given me huge puppy-dog eyes till I’d agreed to change the CD to one of my own band’s – Aiden. We were listening to Conviction– my personal favourite record that we’ve made. Francesca was sat, her knees crossed on the seat, drumming along happily.

Her house appeared at my window faster than I liked. It was a small bungalow, very European looking. It had some sort of plant growing up the front of the building. The front garden was rather plain, having only a small lawn and a lonely looking rose plant. Francesca undid here seatbelt and turned to me.

“Thanks for today, Will,” she said quietly. “I know we didn’t do much, but...I appreciate it.”

I smiled. “Don’t worry about it Fran. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Definitely.” She leaned forward slightly, but then thought the better of whatever she had planned on doing and climbed out of the car. She walked around the front and waved goodbye as she crossed the empty street. As soon as her front door closed, I sighed sadly. The car felt very empty without her.

Francesca

My house was not how I’d left it. For one, the door was already unlocked. I never left without locking the door, just in case one of the ‘customers’ decided to pop around for a visit when I was out. Rule one of being in this game – never expect work to be kept at the office.

The light in my kitchen was on. I could see a shadow lying across the plastic tiled floor. I took a deep breath, steadied my nerves and prepared to fight till the death if needs be. Rule two – it’s kill or be killed.

I walked forward cautiously. My converse squeaked against the wood flooring. Whoever it was would already know that I was there. I entered the kitchen and came face to face with my intruder.

“Hello, Fran,” he said, in a thick, New York accent. I sighed in half relief – it was Roberto, one of my boss’s henchmen. My relief was short-lived, only induced because of my recognition of the face that I saw.

“Hi, Roberto,” I replied, quietly and politely. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” I managed to keep the terror in my voice to a bare minimum – brownie points for me. Roberto smirked, as if I’d just told him a really bad joke.

“I don’ have time for chit-chat, Fran.” He had a pair of sunglasses in his hand and was twirling them between his fingers absent-mindedly. “The boss ain’t happy wit’cha.”
I gulped. “Why? What’ve I done?”

“Don’t play innocent, Fran. Ya know it’ll only get ya killed.”

I racked my brain for what it could be that had upset Ermanno. I’d done all the paperwork that he’d asked me to do yesterday, the letters he wanted printing off were for Monday morning, and I hadn’t fought off the last customer who’d tried to touch me. Roberto saw my obvious confusion.

“Lemme give ya clue,” he said, the cruel tone to his voice exaggerated as much as possible. “Where’ve ya been all day?”

I froze immediately. Will. I’d been with Will all day. For a second I felt completely unable to breathe. The room swam a little in front of my eyes.

“Who saw?” I whispered.

“Me.” There was a gloating tone to his voice. It infuriatedme. I flew at him, my hands an unorganised whirl, screaming in rage. Roberto caught me mid-flight and held me by the wrists so tightly that I was sure the circulation to my hands would be cut off. I didn’t let it cripple me and fought against him all I could. It was futile – he was pure muscle and I was not.

“You’re a fucking monster!” I shrieked. “What’s he ever done to you?! All I was doing was having a day with a fucking friend! I wasn’t doing anything wrong!”

“What does he know?” Roberto snarled, his lip curling like an animal. “What have you told him?!”

“Nothing! He only knows my name because of the fucking crash!”

Roberto threw me backwards away from him. I tripped over my own feet and collapsed in a heap on the floor. I was fighting back angry tears. If I cried, I knew Roberto would see that I was lying. And then Will would find a bullet with his name on it. Roberto bobbed down next to me and pulled my head back by the hair.

“You,” he spat, “aren’t meant to have friends. You aren’t meant to get attached. If you get attached, you won’t do your job properly.”

“I’m not attached, Roberto, I swear!” I thought he was going to rip my head off, he was pulling my hair that hard. He tightened his grip making me squawk again in pain. “Lemme go, you fucking bastard!”

He laughed slightly and moved his hand to my right, so that my head went the same way. It exposed my neck, and he drew his face in closer and took a deep breath in. I shuddered.

“Ermanno said I had to remind you what your job is, Francesca. Do you know how I’m going to do that?” His voice was thick with evil and I tried to struggle away from him.

“No, please! Roberto, I know what my job is! I won’t go near him again, I promise!”

“Promises aren’t good enough with you, Francesca. I’m going to remind ya whether ya like it or not. If ya scream, I’ll cut out your tongue, and ya know that I’ll do it.” His free hand was travelling downwards, forcing itself inside my bra. I started to cry then. I stopped struggling and Roberto laughed.

“Good girl. Now let’s see what Ermanno pays ya for.”