Chapter 3
SM owns everything….I just own this plot.
After hanging up the phone with Tia Amun my eyes dart around the room and the messes we've made since we woke up. There are movies scattered all along the bed and piles of clothes dotting the floor. The trash can next to the bed is full with trash from Halley's trip to McDonalds.
Thinking about picking up and re packing my bag makes me anxious. After talking to Tia I'm panicking a bit. Her voice went an octave or two higher when I mentioned my sister taking notes from movies so she could feel useful and when the question came about how she got these movies it slipped out. She was willing to help us and I just have to have faith that she will get to us first right? The way she panicked made me panic a bit about the movies. So I look at my little sister and watch her as she flips through frames and previews to get to the new movie she just put into the bolted down dvd player.
"Halley?"
She hums at me like she is questioning what I could possibly want since this movie is on the approved list. I call her name again before she stops on the main menu and turns her honey brown eyes to look at me.
"When you went to block buster you didn't use the card that we have did you?"
She rolls her eyes at me before she smirks and I know she has some sort of sassy comeback.
"Don't worry Belle, I paid in cash. The scary mob men won't find us in Hicksville. Were safe in the land of corn."
I know that she thinks she's being funny, but I am serious and the mockery and little giggle do not have me laughing. Not to mention that I think Nebraska is the land of corn….Iowa is wheat…I think? Shaking my head a bit I stare at her in earnest before I ask her again.
"I think the land of corn is Nebraska, and I'm glad you paid in cash, but I was asking if you used the blockbuster card in my name. The one we used to use back in Chicago?"
I see the recognition in her eyes that she fucked up as she scrambles off the bed shaking her head back and forth and her eyes take on that glassy 'I'm about to cry' way and she scampers onto my bed while grabbing at my arm and talking a mile a minute. She had the same look that she wore when I had to tell her dad died and she was asleep two feet from him when it happened.
"Oh god, oh god what have I done? I didn't even think when I handed her my card. I was busy looking at the stupid poster for some movie coming out next week. You don't think they would look something like that up do you? I mean it's such a stupid small thing. It's not like I used my debit card or credit card or anything!"
By now she is frantically stuffing her dirty clothes into her open bag and rushing to her makeup and blow dryer to scoop them up next. Before I can answer her she has the bag packed and is running out of the bathroom with my smelly dirty clothes and shoving them into my bag. I want to cringe because I could see it coming. She's about to slam into the dresser if she doesn't move a bit to the left and them 'BAM' she slams her body into the dresser corner just as I knew she would. She has her luggage in her arms and can't see over the top bag. I know she must have hurt something because she drops the bags she is carrying and she's doing what looks like the pee-pee dance as she rubs her hip chanting 'owe that's going to leave a mark'. Halley bends down and with the hand that isn't rubbing her hip she starts to drag the bag she just dropped.
"What are you doing? Why are you just sitting there? We need to leave Belle! We have to get out of here before they kill us!"
My little sister looks at me imploringly and the lower halves of her eyes fill with tears. Her long dark hair is pulled into some messy type of pony tail braid and the loose ends are falling out. Her pale skin is flushed and her forehead and cheeks are a bright red. Her purple shirt and short combo are wrinkled and she has a small dot of ketchup on her shirt between her boobs. Shaking my head to clear it I face her head on and give her the news that will break her heart.
"We can't Ally. We have to stay here."
She looks at me like I've just lost my mind and is itching to have me committed into the closets insane asylum.
"Are you high? Of course we have to leave! We need to get as far from here as we can! I know I screwed up, but we'll start over again. We can leave now and drive as far as we can. I'll even drive half way. We'll go to Canada or Mexico. Yeah Mexico, they will never find us there! I like tacos and it's cheap too."
Halley is still mumbling about beaches, margaritas, churros and cabana boys, not drinking the water and I have to shake her arm to get her attention. I know she had to have heard me talking to Tia Amun when I was on the phone. Does she think that I was just toying around about working with the F.B.I? I look at her earnestly and repeat the same words trying to get her to believe me.
"We have to stay here Ally; Tia Amun is coming to help hide us. We need to work with the F.B.I. It's the only way we can survive."
Tossing her hands in the air as she drops the bag she has on her shoulder she shakes her head at me as she puts her hands on her hips.
"The only way, the only way she says! What can they do for us? Do you know how many of their witnesses have gone missing or ended up dead?"
I shake my head no, because she reads the paper and watches the news, I've never had time. I know that all of their witnesses have gone missing or have been found dead, but I don't exactly keep track.
"Dozens Belle. Aaron Marcus always finds them and makes them disappear. There is a reason why he's the top dog and they call him Aro. He always hits the target and never gets caught. Maybe if you would watch the news once and a while you would know that the F.B.I. you're putting so much stock into has also lost evidence and people who were supposed to testify against him. He's still walking around so…."
I knew what she was implying. He could find us and make us disappear, but hadn't I already come to terms with that? My brow furrows as everything she just said ran through my mind. It was true Aaron was still walking around. He was free enough to torture and kill my boss less than twenty four hours ago. I didn't want that to happen to my sister or me.
But what was the alternative, trying to make it to Mexico? We would never make it on the meager funds that we have now. Then once we get there what happens? People escape from there to America for more money, what could Mexico do for us? I knew deep in my heart that we had no choice but to trust the F.B.I. and we had to trust that Tia Amun would keep us safe.
"We would never make it to Mexico on the money we have now and I'm not sure if we should be driving around with bullet holes in my car."
She seemed to be thinking hard and in one moment her eyes lit up like the fourth of July. Swaying slightly like she just figured out all of our problems she bounced lowly in place.
"Ok so not Mexico then. Las Vegas! It's a shorter distance and I could get a job as a show girl. Oh…Oh and you could find a job in a bakery and do what you went to school for! Vegas is always looking for showgirls and I'm sure you could make suggestive cakes if it paid enough. We could be so happy there. We could get a nice place right off the strip with a yard and we could get a pet."
It sounded nice in theory, but a pipe dream was all it was. Kind of like my dream of having my own bakery. We would not have enough money to even make it to Vegas, let alone be able to afford a place with a yard. I also couldn't picture my baby sister as a show girl. She has only ever studied modern, jazz, tap and ballet. Her small stature (5'4) and pixy like features would only hinder her in Las Vegas. She would end up as a stripper and I won't have that!
"That's a great plan Ally, but you do know that Las Vegas was founded by the mob and I'm sure that Aro still has a hand in there somewhere? It's almost the same distance as Mexico so we wouldn't be able to get much more than a crappy motel room. Oh and the job prospect sounds great, but again they could find us because of our names and social security numbers. We would need new names, socials, backgrounds and frankly we wouldn't know where to look to get them let alone how were going to afford them. Those kinds of things cost a fortune. We only have about six thousand. I know that, that sounds like a lot, but it's already going fast. I didn't have time to take out the T-bills that gram left us. I'm sorry Halley. It did sound like a great plan. But with the guys were up against we don't really have a choice, we have to trust the F.B.I."
I didn't want to insult her knowing that if I mentioned the stripper comment it would end in a fight. I'm thinking of her while I say all of this too. If it was just me I could do it on my own. I could live in a crappy motel, eat macaroni with cut up hot dogs and would work in a bakery making cakes of women's busts and men's packages. But I won't have Halley live like that. She deserves better! Her shoulders sagged and she slumped to the edge of her bed and covered her face as it crumpled and the tears that once filled her eyelids spilled over and her body was wracked with sobs. I move over next to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulder squeezing her to me in comfort. As she turns her body and buries her face in my shirt her sobs increase. So I gently stroke her hair down her back and start talking in a soothing tone.
"Don't worry Halley. Tia will help us. We just have to have faith that she will protect us better than the other people. We don't really have a choice. We either do the right thing, like daddy and mama would have wanted us to do. Or we try and run and wait for him to catch our slip ups and kill us. Neither of us knows what we're doing here Ally. Without the F.B.I. we're sitting ducks anywhere we go and you know that. Tia can do things for us that we can't. She can get us new names, a house with a yard and new jobs. It's true that we won't be Annabelle and Halley Brandon anymore but we will always be them in our hearts."
She nods her head in my chest and sniffles a bit before she pulls back and I gently wipe away her tears from her cheeks.
"Now no more tears ok? When we get settled I'll even let you pick out our new pet…..maybe a puppy or a kitty?"
A smile springs to her face as she heard the word puppy. I know she doesn't really like cats so maybe we can find a puppy that will cheer her up; if they can get us a house that is. Halley looks at my shirt and grimaces before looking at her own clothes.
"Wow I must look like a hot mess! So I'm going to go change my clothes and wash my face. Did Tia say when they were going to be here?"
I went to my bag a picked out a new tank while I listened to Halley talk. Our blinds were closed so I quickly changed my shirt throwing the dirty one back into my bag.
"She said she would be here soon, but she didn't say when exactly."
"Cool!"
I went to the windows and peeked between the blinds and saw that more cars were parked in the parking lot. I could hear a few kids splashing away in the pool that we passed when looking for our room this morning. A man with a big belly was drinking a beer and carrying a six pack of beer was walking around. The sun was bright out showing that the day had no intent on being over even though it was almost six in the evening. The movie Halley had started before was still playing the theme song for the main menu over and over on a loop. So I hit the eject button on the movie and placed the disk back in the thick ugly blue and white case.
I hear a car door slam so I peek out the window. The car pulled in a few spaces away from our room and is dark in color maybe black or navy blue with tinted windows. The two men that step out of the car are nicely dressed and wearing sunglasses. They start looking around and are beginning to argue when I hear the word that sends my blood running cold.
"What room are they in?"
"How am I to know? You talked to the fat girl at the desk. What did she say between crying?"
"Four something. How am I supposed to know? I shot the bitch after she gave us the 411."
"Ya well you shoulda made her show us before you clipped her! There all four something! Four oh what?"
"I don't know I guess we gotta check them all. Aro will be pissed if we fuck this up!"
"Ok you start on that end I'll take this one."
"Ya ya let's just get this shit done so I can make it back before tomorrow. My wife will have my balls if I miss her mom's birthday!"
I watched as the two men went separate ways then I moved into action. I started grabbing bags and dragging them to the bathroom and slammed my hand over Halley's mouth before putting my finger to my lips and giving her the universal sign for 'shut the fuck up'. I took a few breaths before putting my mouth next to her ear and whispering.
"They found us Ally. Aro's men found us. We need to get the hell out of here and now without causing a scene or drawing attention to ourselves."
Slowly taking my hand away from her mouth I noticed her lips were trembling and her eyes filled with tears. I wanted to tell her that I loved her just in case we didn't make it, but I didn't want to just give up. As quickly and quietly as I could I rounded up our bags and put them into the bathroom. I quietly closed the door to the bathroom which wasn't as easy as it sounds. All of our bags were in the small bathroom taking up most of the floor and I had to hold my hand over Halley's mouth because she was sobbing so hard. Little squeaks came from her followed by hiccups and sniffles.
We sat like that in the windowless bathroom for about two minutes before banging came on the door to the room. Followed by the guy I saw walking around drinking a beer earlier yelling.
"HEY! YOUSE GUYS! "
It was silent for a minute before we heard a scuffle and then the front door broke open.
I haven't gotten any feedback on this story. Do you guys think I should keep going or should I discontinue this story? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks again for reading!
Indianprincess28