Witness

We were running. Sloppily. Drunkenly. The next thing I knew, Olivia had been tackled, yelling for me to run. And I did. I kept running. My cousin’s screams faded behind me as I left her to die. Then, my face made contact with something solid.

I hit the pavement, my head bouncing on the sidewalk. Something heavy landed on my stomach and the wind was knocked out of me. I was dizzy, vision blurred in and out, and a man was standing over me, hitting me with something solid and heavy. It hurt. My sides hurt, my legs hurt, my stomach hurt, my head hurt, my face hurt, and I couldn’t make out whose screams were ringing in my ears.

The more I struggled the harder I was hit. Each time I attempted to get up, or crawl away I was beaten harder, and harder, and harder. I could hear my ribs crack, I coughed up blood, and three gunshots pierced the sky. The last thing I remember, before getting knocked out, was the silver gleam of a baseball bat raised high above my head. The blow came so swiftly, and I was out so fast, I didn’t feel any pain.

Until I woke up.

Until I woke up surrounded by white, with the most intense headache I’ve ever had. It was like my skull was about to explode. Nurses came in and sedated me. I was screaming because of the pain. Screaming because I thought I was dead. Screaming because Olivia wasn’t in sight.

Before I knew it, I was allowed to see Olivia. She had been beaten and shot. Three times. And in the midst of our recovery we were being placed in Witness Protection. We were being moved to Australia. That’s how dangerous these “Sixers” were. New last names, new identities, new country. We wouldn’t even be able to drive over there. But this dramatic change was for our own good, it was for our protection.

And now here I stand, in the middle of a sea of glass in our new apartment in some off the map, small beach town. I guess we were only hours from Sydney, but still.

Olivia looked up at me from her spot on the floor, “You need to sleep, Ren, we are safe here. Take your pills, please, and get some rest.”

Tears filled my eyes, “I’m scared.”

“Take the pills, you’ll feel better after some sleep, I promise.”

I tip-toed around the glass and went into our bathroom. Opening up the medicine cabinet behind the mirror, I grabbed my anxiety pills and took two. Then followed them with some Benadryl to help me sleep. Olivia guided me to my bedroom and laid me down on the unmade bed.

For only being cousin’s we were extremely close. We’d practically grown up together because we were the same age. We went to the same elementary school, summer camps, middle school, and high school. Planned to attend the same college after taking a year off. We were there for each other when our parents had been in a car wreck. All of them dead. Hit by a drunk driver. Our grandparents took us in during our last year in high school, and for that year we lived like sisters. Sad sisters.

And now I don’t know what they were told, I don’t know if we’ll ever see them again. But I’m thankful I have Olivia here.

“Libby, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I just left you.”

“Ren, I’ve told you a million times that you have nothing to feel guilty over.”

“I wish I had been the one to get shot. I wish you had gotten away.”

“Ren—“

“I wish we had never went out that night.”

“I know Ren.”

I rambled off more things, each sentence losing its coherency. Eventually I knew Libby was just nodding because she couldn’t understand me anymore. I fell asleep and dreamt of darkness.

I woke up to the apartment smelling like the ocean. Our balcony was open and a breeze was wafting around the place. The shattered glass had been swept. Olivia was in the kitchen making macaroni and cheese.

“Smells good.”

“I don’t know who, but I suspect the little old lady two floors down, left us these ‘biscuits’ outside of our door.” Libby held up a dark brown package and an orangeish package.

“What on Earth are Tim Tams?” I asked her, taking the dark brown one.

“These ones are caramel, those are dark chocolate. I assume they are a type of cookie.”

“Libby, they look delicious.”

I ripped open the dark brown package and took out the cookie, biscuit, whatever it’s called and bit into it. Immediately my mouth flooded with the bitterness of dark chocolate and the sweetness of the cookie bit. It was silky smooth and crunchy all at once, the flavor coating my mouth and melting on my tongue.

“Libby, try this!” I exclaimed and shoved one into her hand.

She bit into it and I knew she wasn’t tasting what I was.

“Yuck, I hope the caramel ones taste better than that.” She ripped open the other package and tried one of those instead.

“How is it?”

“Mmmm, now this is a biscuit.” It’s sweet and crunchy with ooey gooey caramel.

“Well, I’m sure I’ll try some later, but for now those can be yours and I’ll just eat the dark chocolate ones.” I laughed and finished off the tim tam Libby didn’t like.

Once the macaroni and cheese was finished, Libby grabbed two forks and took the giant pot of it and went out onto the balcony. I grabbed two glasses of chocolate milk and joined her outside. We sat down and started eating while watching another “famous” sunset the town was heaps proud of. It was pretty, gorgeous even, but my favorite part was when the sun disappeared on the horizon completely. While Libby and I watched the night sky become illuminated with stars, our grandparents were waking up to the sun shining upon them in greeting. I hoped the sun said hello for us too.