Take My Hand

I woke up, startled, to the sound of the car door shutting. The sun had just begun to rise, making the sky a lush orangey pink color. It was hard to tell what time it actually was since there was no sign of any clock or watch.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up,” Brendon apologized, as he buckled his seat belt. He placed a plain white plastic bag in the back seat of his car then started the engine.

“What’s in the bag?” I asked as I stared at it. I reached over and picked it up to see what was inside. I don’t know what he was planning, but there was allsorts of stuff in there. Wigs, shades, make-up, fake mustaches. He might have well have bought the whole fancy dress shop, it was packed. I asked, “What’s with the wigs and stuff?”

“You never know when we might need it.”

“You don’t seriously think it’s going to get that far, do you?”

“Belle, sooner or later your parents are going to find out that you’ve gone missing. Eventually, someone will realize that I’m not at my home anymore. They’ll find those dead bodies. They’ll sum it all up and they’ll try to find us. There’s a possibility that we could both go to jail. God knows what’s going to happen to us. I still can’t believe I agree on taking you with me,” Brendon replied all in one breath. He was so nervous and jumpy.

“Hey, hey. I said I wanted to come. I don’t care what happens to us as long as I’m with you. I only asked a simple question, you don’t have to panic about it,” I told him as I rubbed his shoulder gently.

“Sorry,” Brendon apologized. He went back to his usual casual and calm self; it was like a split personality. One second he’s acting like just committed a murder (which in this case is true), but then the next he can act like nothing happened at all. I have to say he’s a great actor.

After a few more moments of silence, I questioned, “Where are we going? Do you know where we are?”

“I’m not quite sure yet. Wherever the road takes us, I suppose. And no, I don’t know where we are at the moment,” He answered.

“Well, do you know what time it is?” I asked.

“No,” He sighed, getting irritable because of the questions. “Are you hungry? Do you want to stop for something?”

“I’m not hungry, but I’m thirsty. Can we stop at the next gas station?”

“Sure, I need gas anyway. I think it’s a mile away.”

Eventually we reached the empty gas station. It was a bit run down, but it’s better than nothing. I was about to get out of the car, but Brendon held me back and handed over a pair of sunglasses and a long black wig. I looked down at it.

“What do you want me to do with that?” I asked.

“Put it on,” He replied, placing them on my lap.

“Now you’re just being paranoid. No-one is going to know about us yet.”

“It’s better safe than sorry.”

I sighed heavily and put the wig and shades on, “You just like the idea of me dressing up for you.” It made him chuckle, which made me smile. I love hearing Brendon laugh; it makes me feel happy knowing that he’s happy. He placed some shades on himself and pulled up his hood. “How come you don’t have to put a wig on?”

“No-one can see my hair anyway.”

I groaned then got out of the car. “I need some money,” I informed him before I closed the door. He handed me a twenty then got out also to fill up the car. I felt like an idiot when I entered the shop and even more so like a wanted criminal. Since I was the only person part from Brendon in the gas station, I felt as if I was being watched. I cautiously walked over to the fridges to grab a drink. I picked up two Red Bulls since I wasn’t sure if Brendon wanted one or not. If not I’d just have to drink both of them. I tried walking up to the cashier as casual as possible but instead I ended up tripping over one of the shelves, luckily, not landing on the floor, but unluckily, knocked the whole shelf of magazines to the floor.

“Oh my, I am so sorry,” I gasped as quickly begun to pick up the magazines.

“It’s okay, just leave them. I’ll clear them up later,” The male cashier sighed, annoyed. I left them on the floor feeling guilty and continued to walk up to the counter with the Red Bulls. I placed them on the counter, actually, more like through it at him. Unintentionally, obviously.

“Sorry again,” I screamed at him as I watched the Red Bulls spin around a bit, shocked at how I was behaving. I gave him the money to pay for the drinks and the gas. When he gave the change back I ended up dropping it all over the floor. “Shit! Sorry,” I apologized again, picking up all the coins. “Sorry,” I apologized one last time, before escaping the building as fast as possible. That had to be one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. I handed over the spare change to Brendon as I asked, “How much money do we have anyway?”

“Stop asking questions,” Brendon said, voice raised slightly. “I’ve got everything under control!” I soon realized how ill-tempered Brendon could get easily. Who could blame him? Any person would in his situation. I decided not to argue back, so I entered the car instead. I immediately took the shades and wig off, finding it itchy and irritable.

“Hey, I got you a Red Bull, if you want one,” I informed as I pulled both of them out of the plastic bag. “You can drink them right?”

“Yeah, sure I can. I’m not a vampire at the moment,” He explained. He was right. His fangs weren’t visible at the moment, since it was now bright and early in the morning.

“Oh, good,” I smiled. I handed him one can, while I kept the other. As soon as I opened mine the sticky liquid sprayed out at me and soaked my whole face. I was silent in shock, not believing my luck. Trust me to have the dud can that I dropped on the counter. The car was completely silent, even Brendon was shocked at what I had done. I was frozen still. Sooner or later, Brendon couldn’t contain his laughter any longer so he just exploded into one big laughing fit. His laugh made me laugh, and then my laugh made him laugh again. It was like one big cycle of laughs. It was contagious. I wish things could just stay like this, but that doesn’t always happen, does it?