31;
"Do you trust me?"
Ellie paused with some hesitation. "I think so."
"Come on, gonna need more than that."
"Fine. Yes, I trust you."
Riley grinned then turned to face the man standing at the end of their table. "We're gonna start with some calamari."
"I'll get that going right away." The man nodded and disappeared through a door near the back.
The diner's atmosphere portrayed the popular style of the times when it was first built, likely the fifties or sixties. The exterior was rounded, lacking any hard edges, and was lined with blue and red neon lighting that wrapped around the entire building.
The inside featured a bar that stretched throughout the diner in its entirety, the edges dotted with barstools with cushy blue tops. The floor was checkered black and white and the décor featured pieces old cars, red and white booths, and walls covered in signs for any and every business.
"Calamari?"
"It's, uh, fried…" Riley finished with a mumble. "…squid."
"Did- did you say squid? Fried squid? Seriously? That's sick."
"Hey, you said you trusted me."
"Yeah, well, that was before you ordered us squid."
"Relax, it's awesome. You'll love it." She smirked at Ellie with a smugness. "Besides, have I ever steered you wrong?"
"Yes."
"Yeah that was a stupid question."
They both broke out in a laugh just as the server came by with their drinks and then took off again. They took a couple of sips before relaxing back into their seats.
"If you say it's good then I guess I'll at least try it."
"That's all I ask." Riley smiled at her jokingly, but soon watched as Ellie's own smile slowly faded from a grin to a neutral one and finally to something that looked like a mixture of confusion and nervousness. "What is it?"
Ellie nodded her head in the direction behind Riley and to the right. "See those two guys in the booth over there?"
Riley twisted herself around and eyed the direction she was looking at. She spotted a couple of heads sitting in a booth next to one of the windows. Only one was facing them, the back of a head was all she could see of the other.
She turned back around and gave her a confused look. "Yeah. So?"
Ellie widened her eyes as if she had been expecting a reaction. "So? They don't look like anybody to you?"
"Should they?"
She put her elbow on the table and pushed her temple against her fingers with a distressed look. She looked around for a couple of seconds before sliding off the seat and standing herself up. Riley gave her another look of confusion which she ignored. She walked towards the booth and slowed down as she passed by it. She examined the faces of the two guys at the table and froze for a moment.
One of them looked over in obvious confusion. "…yes?"
Hearing his question snapped Ellie out of her daze where she found herself at a loss. "Uh, nothing. Sorry." She awkwardly walked her way back to the booth where Riley had been watching the entire time and sat back in her spot.
"Well that was embarrassing. Want to tell me what that was about?"
"I…" She shook her head and then took a drink. "I'll tell you after."
"Okay. Weird." She looked down at the plate now in between them. "Food came while you were doing… whatever the hell that was."
Ellie picked a piece up and observed it closely. "They look like onion rings or something."
"Pretty much. Now can you stop playing with your food and just eat it?"
She glared at Riley and cautiously ate one, expecting to hate it. She chewed through it slowly and swallowed it with a neutral look. She focused on Riley again and rolled her eyes. "I still trust you."
"Told ya you'd like it."
"You also said I'd like pizza."
Riley chuckled at the absurd statement. "I still don't know how you can't like pizza! It's like the one food that everyone can agree on."
Ellie shrugged. "I don't know. It's just really greasy."
"That's one of the best parts." Riley exhaled and took a piece of food. "I swear you're not human. Like some kind of… pizza hating robot. Or something."
"I could be like the terminator. Sent from the future to destroy pizzas."
"I hate you. You would, singlehandedly, make the world a terrible place."
After some more bantering and a couple of entrees they left the diner and headed back out onto the street. The day was getting dim, but not enough yet to where the street lights kicked on. They turned onto a lightly populated street with other people already walking along it.
"So?" Riley looked expectantly over at Ellie, obviously giving her a sign which she didn't quite grasp.
"What?"
"You said you would tell me after. Well now's after."
"After? Oh, right." She rubbed her arm. "Don't freak out on me, okay?" Riley gave her an annoyed nod. "Alright. I thought they kind of looked like, uh… Sam and Tino."
"Seriously?"
"I know! I know, alright? It's messed up and it was stupid for me to think tha-"
Ellie was suddenly shoved hard to the side by a man running down the sidewalk. Riley caught her as she fell and helped her back to her feet. The man kept up his full sprint as he continued down the road ignoring the voices behind him.
"Ow! Son of a bitch that hurt. What the hell?"
"Asshole!" Riley turned back toward Ellie. "You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit-"
They both immediately ducked down when a high-pitched squealing sound followed by a loud crack and some low thudding occurred nearby. They looked farther down the road just in time to see the runner roll over the top of a car and then hit face down onto the street behind it. The person in the car had slammed on his brakes and pulled hard to the side, stopping only after hitting the pole of a street light.
"Holy shit! You see that?" She quickly glanced at Ellie and back to the accident after getting a nod from her.
They ran down the sidewalk to where the man was lying and several people were now standing around. He was spread out on the ground motionless and not breathing as far as they could tell. They heard a yell from somewhere around them for someone to call the police.
The nearby car was clicking from the heat of the engine which itself was now completely totaled. The hood was caved in and had molded itself around the pole about half way up towards the cracked windshield. The hazard lights were flashing and illuminating the otherwise dark section of street a muddled yellow color.
The driver swung open the door and stepped out holding his head. A couple of the people that were standing around the man on the street ran over to check on him while the remaining were distracted by his groans. Riley quickly examined the people around the runner and realized they weren't paying immediate attention. She knelt down and hastily patted his coat in a couple of spots which forced Ellie to nervously glance around.
Riley slipped her hand under the left half of the coat and produced a brown wallet which she then stashed in her own jacket. She stood up quickly and put an arm around Ellie, forcing her to start moving away from the scene.
Ellie followed along only until they were a distance away from the other people and out of earshot. She pushed the arm off of her and shoved Riley backwards.
"Are you crazy? What the hell are you doing?"
Riley kept her voice down and kept looking straight ahead. "I'm just getting us some extra money. It's not like he's not gonna need it anymore."
Ellie was dumbfounded and struggled for words. "Jesus, Riley. That's not the point!"
"We'll talk about it later. Just keep moving, come on." She put an arm around Ellie again to get her moving and was again pushed off.
"Don't touch me."
Riley gave up and moved hurriedly back in the direction of the apartment, leaving the runner and the car behind them but taking a small piece of the event with her. Ellie was anxious the entire walk. Her heart was racing as she darted her eyes back and forth analyzing the immediate area for anything. The sun was dropping lower in the sky and caused shadows to stretch across the city which put Ellie even more on edge.
"It's later." Ellie was honest but the sarcasm was thick.
"Later?"
"We'll talk about it later." She quoted her with a mocking tone. "Remember that?"
Riley shrugged at her. "Yeah, I do. I just wanted us to get moving though. There's nothing really to talk about is there?"
"You're kidding right? I mean you have to be because thinking that stealing a wallet from a dead guy is not something worth talking about is insane." Ellie was progressively getting louder and quickly losing her patience.
"Can you keep your voice down? I got caught up in the moment, sorry. He was running so I figured he probably stole some money or something and it wasn't actually his. And besides, we don't know he was dead."
"That's so… I don't even know what to say. I'm just gon-"
Riley and Ellie both stopped in their tracks when a man appeared in front of them. They eyed him nervously and started to walk backwards to put some distance between them and him. They stopped again when they spotted a second man already behind them with a hood over his head, shadows blocking his face. The girls looked around entirely but spotted no cars driving along the road, not even other pedestrians. The front man walked forward and stopped just a couple feet from them.
Riley's voice was shaking, noticeably filled with panic and irritation. "What do you want?"
"You have something that belongs to us." The man spoke with a calm demeanor. Riley looked confused and shrugged her shoulders. "In your pocket."
She glanced down and quickly reached into her coat's front pocket. She pulled out the wallet and tossed it to the man in front of her. "Here. We don't want any trouble."
"Thank you." He nodded to the man behind them and then looked back at the girls. "Sorry about this."
Their eyes widened in fear. "Wait! We won't-"
Ellie jerked her head to her left when she heard Riley yell. She glimpsed a shimmer of metal being pulled from her back only to disappear again into the same spot. "Riley!" She screamed as she went to attack the hooded man only to be hit in the side of the head by the other man's fist.
She hit the ground hard and could feel a boot press itself against her back. Her head was sent into a complete daze and her ears began deafeningly ringing from the impact. The world went blurry, but she could make out the shape that was Riley hit the ground next to her.
The man crouched down against Riley and repeatedly buried his knife into her while Ellie hysterically screamed at him but only managed to accomplish tearing her own throat up. She looked into Riley's eyes as they faded, tears pouring from her own.
The man eventually stood up when the girl stopped moving and stepped over to Ellie. He forcibly pulled her to her feet while she continued to stare at her lifeless friend. Her entire face was soaked and her body had completely shut down.
She unfocused on Riley and lowered her head when she heard the sound of a gun cock from behind. "Just do it already." Her voice was no more than that of someone whose entire world was just destroyed right in front of them. "I don't care."
The man in front moved his face closer in interest. "You'd rather die than live without her?"
She snarled back at him. "Yes."
"That's sweet. I think I can help with that." The hooded man behind her spoke for the first time with a familiar accent.
She furrowed her brow when she heard him and after a moment her heart sank with the realization. She turned around and found herself at the end of a gun barrel, the face of the man behind it in clear view.
"…David."
"Ellie."
A bright flash and a deafening sound forced a familiar repeating pattern of light and shadow to suddenly project itself in the room around her. She lurched up in bed with a scream.
Riley immediately jerked up in a panic and instinctively reached over to calm her, but Ellie recoiled from her sudden movement and frantically pushed herself away from the approaching figure with another scream.
"Hey, it's me! It's okay. It's just me."
After desperately analyzing the room she was suddenly thrust into she realized she was in her bed and no one else but Riley was there. A wave of bewilderment, relief, and fear washed over her, the combining emotions leaving her in tears.
Riley sleepily crawled closer and laid Ellie's head onto her lap, again rubbing her arm trying to provide some sort of relief until her emotions rebalanced.
"You're okay. You're in bed and you're safe. It's just me here."
Ellie's crying was reduced to sniffling and she began breathing normally again.
"Jesus, Ellie. I think that's your worst one yet."
"I hate them so much." She spoke with barely a whimper and on the verge of crying again.
"I know... I know."
Marlene came hurrying through the door just a moment later. "What's going on? I heard screaming." She spotted Ellie laying on her side against Riley, both of whom looked exhausted.
"Ellie had another nightmare."
She sighed and let her posture relax. "I'm sorry, Ellie. I know you've been having them a bit lately, but I don't think I've ever heard you scream from one before. At least not like that."
"Me neither."
"They don't seem to be getting any bet-" She stopped herself, realizing her train of thought was unbeneficial. "Sorry, that's not helping. I'll be right back, one second." She disappeared out the door which was followed by some noises in the kitchen. She reappeared a minute later with a glass of liquid and placed it on the table next Ellie's side of the bed. "Here. This should calm you."
Ellie managed to lean herself up slightly and mumble out some words. "What is it?"
"Valerian tea. I'm told it helps you sleep and eases anxiety. Both of which I think you could use right now."
She scoffed. "Yeah."
"I'm sorry you're having these nightmares, sweetheart. Drink up and try to get some rest." She laid a hand on Ellie's shoulder and then stepped back through the door while quietly closing it behind her.
Riley started rubbing her arm again. "You want to talk about it?"
"Not really."
"Alright." Riley sank her head back against the upright pillow and closed her eyes. "They'll stop. It just takes time."
"Will they though?" Ellie sat upright, her words suddenly more stern. "Marlene's right, they haven't stopped for like a month now. They just seem like they're getting worse."
"Well I t-"
"And not only that but you're still ignoring them, Riley."
"But tha-"
"Like they don't exist or something."
Riley rubbed her temple out of embarrassment. "Okay, okay. I get it. And yes, you're right. And I feel really shitty about it. I should never have let it go this long. So if you want to talk, we'll talk."
"You say that every damn time, Riley. We never do."
"I know I do. I know. But I promise. Really."
There was a moment of silence between them as Ellie scrutinized Riley's words. She cautiously gave in to their honesty. "Okay."
Riley stifled a yawn. "Okay. Get some sleep, you need it. We'll talk tomorrow. Promise."