Dark Rider

“Oh,” Kassie said softly as she looked at Rider sadly, she didn’t mean to do anything to rise the percentage that showed how their chances stood against a furious evil spirit and a good turned bad bounty hunter. “Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad,” he sighed in annoyance as he took a left and went down the straight highway. “I’m just really disappointed, I guess in myself because I should have told you. I’m just annoyed that, you could have been killed and I was off stealing a piece of junk to help us. If I came back, it would have been for nothing, everything would have been for nothing. And I’m not ready to let you or A.J. die and if so, it won’t be for nothing, I won’t let that happen. You two are both to damn good to die for that son of a—“

“Rider,” Kassie said softly as she raised her hand and slid it on top of his, the one that gripped the steering wheel so tightly it was beginning to crack. “I’m sorry, it was an accident. Let’s just pretend it never happened, okay?”

“Let’s just forget it,” A.J. murmured under his breath as Rider grunted towards Kassie, she looked ready to start crying from his lack of understanding, she feared she had put them into an even more dangerous situation than before and he showed no sympathy, just anger and frustration. “There isn’t any reason to upset Kassie like this, I brought her outside, if you want to blame someone, aim your blame at me. Not her, okay?”

“I wasn’t aiming any blame towards her, Alexander. I’m pissed in general because—because of everything that’s happening or happened. Just forget it, please,” Rider punched the steering wheel in frustration and glanced out his window to keep from blowing up, not blowing up in rage to hurt either A.J., Kassie or himself but to blow up and cry himself sick. He felt the pain of tears simply pricking his eyes, daring to let tears of anguish run down his face. But he wouldn’t allow it. He didn’t feel weak; he didn’t want to feel weak, never. He had no problem in showing emotion, he had learned long ago that letting his feelings dwell inside would only end in issues such as repressed anger which would sooner or later come rushing out hurting himself mentally and physically but for now, he felt like he couldn’t show anything, he needed to be the man, he needed to be the brave.

“I—“ A.J. went to counter something towards Rider but Kassie’s hand being placed on his knee forced his attention to her, she shook her head softly as if asking him physically not to say anything, Rider needed his space to cope with the whole situation. She knew everything rode on his shoulders, he was the one person in charge in keeping her and A.J. alive and she knew from experience that having that kind of responsibility was hard to carry, she knew that it would either break his back and make him fold forward or build him up stronger so he could pull through a better person, a stronger person. But she also knew that both ways the road to the future from the present was a harsh one and she didn’t want him to have to walk it alone.

Time seemed to have stepped up the notch in speed for it seemed like minutes when they finally arrived at their destination, Wyoming, Kassie wasn’t sure which city because she had never personally visited the state. She just knew that half way through the silent ride that Rider had spoken his first and last words of the remaining time which happened to be We’re going to Wyoming, not Colorado. I have an idea. And then he had left it at that, not even trying to start up any conversation, A.J. hadn’t even moved the whole time either and it left Kassie in a awkward position seated in between the two, moving restlessly before she decided she had had enough and turned on the radio. And now that they had made it to the marked X on the map Kassie felt the weight of stress lift off her shoulder, mainly it was because she was able to run from the truck into the convenience store by herself instead of being followed like a runaway two year old. She was studying the wide variety of chips after her bathroom break when she felt someone walk up behind her and sigh heavily, turning around and raised her eyebrows at the body standing slumped in a defeated stance. “I’m sorry.”

“Excuse me?” she questioned as her eyebrows dropped to furrow in a crease above her eyes. She had seen no reason for Rider to apologize, she was the one that should have repeatedly apologized but she hadn’t, fearing she would start crying or that he would bite her head off and spit it out of the open window. So needless to say she kept her mouth closed and her eyes on the road. “Why are you apologizing?”

“I shouldn’t have acted like I did to you, I realize now that I overreacted. Neither you or A.J. deserved for me to shout at you and treat you like a scolded child, your both adults, well you are—I shouldn’t have done that, I should have explained first and apologized for my forgetfulness, it wasn’t your fault,” he explained as he bowed his head and held his hands in his pockets. “Do you forgive me?”

“You got scolded by Lucy and Christ didn’t you?” Kassie asked accusingly as she placed her hands on her hips, staring at Rider like he had just claimed he was Vin Diesel or something.

“Why would you say that?” he asked just as accusingly as he stepped forward once and stared down at Kassie, his eyebrows raised instead of laying low on his forehead. When Kassie never faltered her accusing yet confused stare, his surprised expression slowly melted off his face leaving the traces of a frown on his lips. “Okay maybe I got a little message in the sky by Christ, that doesn’t mean he made me apologize.”

“Yes it does,” she argued as she leaned up on the tip of her toes to stare closely into Rider’s eyes, she blinked once and leaned in until there was little but none spaces between them. “What did he say? That you overreacted? That you jumped the gun? That you acted like a little jerk and like a protective boyfriend who took it too far?”

“Everything but that last one,” he agreed but never looked away from her, he slowly leaned and smiled. “But I like that last one, Kass. Someone’s been thinking about me—“

“Yelling and then flirting, what are you? Bipolar or a girl trapped in a guy’s body?” A.J. leaned in, pushing the two apart and then leaned down to pick up a small bag of Doritos from the shelf. “When you get done being insane with my cousin, let’s go before the clerk finds out we’re stealing gas and Doritos, okay?”

“Sometimes I hate him, he’s a nice boy but he—“Rider sneered and gestured to choking the air, he let the air escape his lungs as a heavy sigh flew from his mouth and he slumped forward closing his eyes. “Let’s go, he’s right.”

“About the bipolar thing or the Doritos and gas thing?” Kassie questioned as she forced herself to turn and pick up a bag of Cheetos and place it under her arm before she picked up another bag of cool ranch Doritos, a different variety from the nacho cheese flavored ones that A.J. had scampered from the store holding.

“I was thinking Doritos and gas thing,” Rider sighed as he picked up half a dozen different brands and flavors, he glanced at Kassie and nodded his head to the door, she nodded and walked out holding the bags out to the clerk to show she wasn’t stealing. Though that didn’t cover Rider, who was indeed going to steal, he preferred to call it borrowing but she called it like it was, stealing because who would want a bunch of eaten and ingested bags of Doritos, Cheetos and Funions back? No one she knew of at least, so it couldn’t be borrowing. She sat herself in the middle seat and leaned over, cranking up the engine for Rider to make the escape easier, while Rider and Kassie had first went inside the store, A.J. had filled the tank with all the gas it could hold and he now sat in his seat munching on Doritos and dip with a Code Red Mountain Dew sitting with an open lid in his lap.

“That doesn’t seem healthy,” Kassie murmured as she glanced away from A.J. who had turned to smile cheekily to her, seeing as she was staring like a deer lost in the headlights of a car, she opened up her bag of Cheetos and looked towards the store, seeing that Rider was running from the opened door, where the clerk was chasing after him. Rider was slowed by the large amount of food that he held in his arms, but he was much faster than the clerk so when he jumped in the truck and sped from the parking lot, the clerk had barely made it across the pavement to the gas pump. “Nice getaway.”

“Thank you,” he cast a sideways glance holding a large amount of pride towards Kassie as he swerved through the traffic so he could make it somewhere safe before he was caught or chased by the cops. Thing was, in necessary times he would use his gift and get them out of their sticky situation but only in extreme emergencies so he wanted to avoid getting caught. “Pass the cool ranch would ya? I’m starving over here.”

“Us too,” Kassie agreed as she opened up the blue bag and sat it in Rider’s lap as he slowed his speed and began to drive like a normal law abiding citizen from Wyoming, he could pretend but he knew that from the looks of it from the outside that they weren’t even from earth, partially true he’d admit. “A.J. hasn’t come out of that bag since he got in the truck, I think I should check and see if he’s breathing but I fear if I get to close I might get bit and die of rabies.”

“Love you too,” A.J. rolled his eyes at his cousin’s sarcastic tease but thought nothing more of it, he was to busy doing as she said, he had his head stuck in the bag trying to lick the crumbs from the bottom.

“Don’t bother the boy, he’s growing, he needs all the junk food he can get his hands on,” Rider chuckled as he dug out a couple chips from his bag and stuffed them into his mouth, Kassie watched with amusement as she to ate her chips but less like cavemen and more like a civilized person, one chip at a time. She felt no rush, she had said it once before and she stuck to it, if she were to die it wouldn’t be from eating so fast that she choked and croaked. “By the way, I’m a growing boy also. Though I have stopped everything that humans do, I still pretend that I’m growing so I can consume more than the average man, its more fun that way. Its no fun being an angel with everlasting life and having to stay boring, life was meant to be exciting, so I can have a well put imagination and a great appetite while I’m here, don’t you think?”

“What, did the food bring your mood up along with your energy?” Kassie questioned as she grabbed up another bag of nacho cheese Doritos and handed them to the whining A.J. who held his hands out expectantly, wanting more like a child.

“I feel better now, you have a way of making me relax,” he admitted and then shrugged his shoulders casually, as if he had no clue why. “I like it, I hate feeling stressed. It really bums me out.”

“What do we do now?” Kassie questioned after a good few minutes, she glanced over at A.J. for a minute to make sure he wasn’t choking on the nauseating smelling Doritos; she then turned back to Rider when she seen A.J. alive and shoving chips away like it was his last meal and raised her eyebrows. “Or do you not know?”

“Honestly,” Rider said loudly as he picked out a couple more chips from his nearly empty bag, Kassie figured this is what you get when you starve men and then lead them into a convenience store full of food. She set herself up for the letdown, which consisted of smelly, unhealthy but unbelievably addictive treats. “I figured that I’d just drive, you guys would come up with the ideas. I’m too tired to let my brain work.”

“But we slept in Utah,” Kassie argued because she herself felt fine, she felt slightly weak but she wasn’t exhausted because she had slept a good eight hours or so she believed.

“I’m mentally tired, Kassie. There are differences, mentally and physically are two different ball games. Physically, I could fight a bear because I’m not tired in the least little way but my mind, it feels—so lost right now,” he rolled his eyes and sighed again, he was getting rather good at the whole dramatic heaving part by now. “Aren’t you?”

“I would guess so,” Kassie shrugged her shoulders limply as she popped a small clip into her mouth unconsciously. “I can’t tell though, it’s been awhile since I’ve ate so I feel weak all over. Maybe you should sleep for awhile, let me drive for a bit?”

“You don’t know where you’re going though, Kassie,” Rider excused as he looked over at her doubtfully.