I could feel the darkness engulf me and I fell into an endless spiral of unknown identity of myself. What was I? What did I do wrong? Did I go too overboard? What would my mum think if police went knocking at her door in the middle of the night once they discovered the body? My mother. She had no idea what I just go myself into. Her son, who topped every grade at school, bullied by bigger ones, had just killed someone with a fruit knife. No. I wasn't going to just let go of my future and let it happen. But I had to, I had no choice, choosing to go with Leah. I felt this special bond with Leah, which rolled in inevitably.

I awakened in a car, which my brain immediately registered as moving. "Wait, what, where are we? Where is he?" my voice was raspy as the sleep doused my in dreams.

"He?" Leah's voice was muffled, chewing something. I blinked and sucked in the surroundings. Leah knew what I was talking about and I was too tired to bicker. I gave her a cold stare as I was sitting next to the driver's seat. In her hand was another snack bar and her other hand grasped the steering wheel. It was dawn, everything was stained red, especially the sky.

"Oh, left him to rot in that apartment," she replied casually. My heart skipped a beat as a jitter clambered up my spine.

"Oh, god," I sat up, hearing some joints crack with exhaustion.

"Just joking. Take a joke, man," she laughed.

"So is he really dead?" I braced myself for the truth.

"Not really-"The car we were in was actually different to Leah's. Unless-

"Did you nick this car off the car park?" I hollered.

"Uh, yeah, well, duh." She took another huge bite of her snack bar which was also the last bite and scrunched the wrapper up. Her hands went up to the rear mirror and twisted it to the left, to a certain angle.

The car was ritzier than Leah's previous one. It had a sky roof and a pristine-colored seats and nothing else. It was as if the car was first-hand.

"How did you?"

"Well, I had a tiny thing that I got from the storage called a hatchet and well, see for yourself, the door on your side, it is severely dented," Leah sighed.

"OK… Let's get back to our normal topic," Uh oh, "Is the man dead or not? Tell me!"

"There was a second motel manager in the lobby and I just handed the case over. I said he almost committed suicide. Lucky that the second manager is a newbie, he had no idea that his partner in managing the motel wouldn't commit suicide," Leah snickered.

Something that weighed like an elephant which was set in my heart floated away. I wasn't a killer. I didn't just stab or kill someone. I could face my mother with pride. Something behind my eyes must have sparkled because Leah, who was observing my reactions all along, said, "You look genuinely relieved. I wouldn't blame you if you are relieved. Everyone is."

"Now where are we heading?"

"Uh… Perth. I am going south now and I might find a part-time job there and you could too, if you want. We are dropouts," Leah said grimly, without even a trace of regret. The way she said 'regret made me tingle with fear of getting back into reality and being propelled to face my future and work. I had just dumped my teacher's entire hard work of coaching me and now I resulted as a dropout. I sighed with apprehension. I had no choice now that I had chosen.

"Leah, have you ever thought that this journey might be tougher than the life you are going to have if you hadn't escaped?" I asked. Leah shook her head.

"Trust me, Jav, it'd be just as planned."

"Firstly, how would you know? Secondly, wait, you have planned it? Thirdly, if you failed is there a Plan B or-"

"Shut up. If I said it'd be fine, it'd be fine." The car she just nicked was pretty stuffy, despite the grand features. I heard a few taps as I closed my eyes and dozed. It came from the roof of the car. The sky roof was helpful as I inhaled and looked up to see crystal clear tiny ices falling on the window. Leah was unperturbed by it and kept her normal speed, which was 110 kilometers per hour as I looked at the speed meter.

The din that the impact of the ice with the window made was enough to keep me awake. "Slow down, Leah," I moaned, annoyed by the gruesome atmosphere. Leah just continued. My eyes were shut and my forearm was laying on my forehead, which was starting to weigh.

"Leah? Slow down the-" I opened my eyelids, which had appeared to have weighed a hundred pounds, to see Leah, frothing up blood, which was trailing down to her neck. Her hands were trembling and her eyeballs had flipped backwards. I struggled up and felt my stomach gurgle with disgust. The car was driving straight forward itself and it was a one-way road and an incoming car could collide with us if I got caught off-guard. The look of Leah's limp body was intimidating me. There wasn't even one hospital around the vicinity and Leah could die on the spot.

"Calm down," I told myself but my actions disobeyed me. It hit me hard as my body became numb and cold at the same time and neither could I breathe. Hypothermia. Leah had stopped convulsing and was blinking, licking her lips to suck the blood up.

Her hands were raised up to her chest as she wheezed, coughed and choked. I held her other hand and held her shoulder, which apparently didn't help.