Chapter 4 –

The yellow lines of the car were swept quickly underneath the carriage of the car. It was hypnotizing; I could rip my eyes from them. Slowly my eyes began to drift closed. My mind drifted else was. Suddenly a large snore jolted me. Shaking my head to clear it, I quickly looked at the officer's head in my lap. I believe his name was Tyler. They had continued for hours and I had learned many things about their families and lives.

Jim was a bachelor. He lived by himself with a dog named Fred. From what I could gather, he loved video games, porn, and night clubs. He was a rather high strung guy, but mellowed down after a few drinks. He became a cop because he was too lazy to go after any other profession.

Jeremy was a very respectful man. He was married and had three kids; a fourth was currently on the way. He hated his wife's in-laws and anything that gave off an annoying sound. He was pretty much a pacifist, but he had been in plenty of bar fights. I believe beer was needed to kick off his fighting spirit.

Tyler was a very much a laid back soul. He would rather take a nap than talk or work, which was why he was very comfortable with sleeping on my lap. Either way, he was kind of grouchy when he was sleepy. So I let him have the comfort of my legs.

I looked at the clock on the dash. 1:46 A.M. The radio was currently humming to soft rock songs. I watched outside the road again. I noticed, ever so slowly, the yellow line moved across the road. Several moments later it snaked to the right side of our vehicle. In the mirror, the driver, Jeremy, had closed his eyes and laid his head down on his collar bone.

Carefully, so I didn't disturb the man in my lap, I reached over the side of the seat and gently nudged him. He jumped and almost swerved off the road.

"What the hell!" Everyone else had jerked awake as well. Tyler and Jim jerked themselves upright. Jeremy quickly got control of the car before pulling it on the side of the road.

"Man!" Tyler undid his seat belt and opened the car door. The other two did the same. "What the hell happened man?"

Jeremy, who still looked rather scarred, laid his the flat of his hands on the hood of the cruiser. His words were blurred, but the other two officers were next to him. As Jeremy continued to speak he raised his head to look at me through the windshield. Tyler and Jim did the same. They looked serious. The last time someone looked at me like that I was being sentenced to jail.

I lowered my head, avoiding all three of their gazes on me. Maybe if I closed my eyes they would go away. I scrunched my blue eyes closed as I heard the crunch of gravel approach the still open door of the car. I felt a pair of hands undo my seatbelt and lift me from the car. "Common little duck." Jeremy grunted before setting me on the ground in front of him and closing the car door.

I raised my face to look at him and saw a smile plastered on his face. Tyler and Jim came to stand next to their friends; they also had huge grins. I sank to my knees. Why were they smiling at me? Had I done something good? Were they mocking me? I didn't understand. Ugh. Was I crying again? Utterly repulsed at myself, I felt my eyes filling up with tears yet again.

"Aw, damn." Jim grunted. "What do we do?"

"I don't know." Jeremy said and shrugged his shoulders a bit.

"Come on guys!" Tyler looked like he could believe his team mates. "He doesn't know what's happening." Jim and Jeremy looked confused. "The boy is scared! You just kind of pulled him out of the car without any kind of explanation!"

"Oh!" Jim breathed in relief. He visibly relaxed.

"So you're saying it's my fault?" Jeremy smirked at the notion. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

"Inadvertently, yes." Tyler leaned back against the car and folded his arms in front of himself.

"Well then," Jeremy put his pack of cigarettes back in his pocket before squatting down to my level. Tears were no longer streaming from my eyes. He drew a long breath from the cigarette before exhaling. "Hey, kid."

I watched him through misty eyes.

"We really want to thank you."

Wow. Hold on cow boy. Did he just say they wanted to thank me?

"You did us a justice just now." I cocked my head to the side. In what way did I help them? "It has been a very long night and we should have been paying attention to our ability to stay awake. Thank you for waking the driver up. Thanks to you we didn't die today."

"Hey!" Tyler sounded a bit put off.

"Come on Tyler! You fell asleep while driving. The eight year old criminal had to wake you up so we wouldn't get into an accident!" Tyler had nothing to say against that.

Jim, on the other hand scoffed. "Really? Coming from the man who was snuggled up against the criminal in the backseat using his lap as a pillow. If I were you I wouldn't have anything to say."

I found myself chuckling a bit.

Jeremy looked at me and smiled. "And he was a very good pillow." I blushed. Maybe I should have pushed him off of me when I had the chance.

"Ugh! I try to insults the man and he goes off and flirts with an eight year old boy!"

"He's twelve." Tyler added. I smiled at him.

"Whatever!" Jim threw his hands up in the air. They all chuckled for a moment before turning back to me.

"You ready to go little duck?" I nodded. "All righty then." He helped me up and back into the car.