End of Living

The day he had come calling on that day she had been at home. He had frightened her the very first moment she had seen him coming towards her; his failed seduction only exacerbated his psychotic nature further. The roar of the engine came closer and half turning could make out round headlights coming from the road adjacent to this one. Several men reached the corner and looked at the car lights dismissing them as not being police, then looked down the road she had taken. They could make out a murky shadow running five hundred feet away and walked towards her with long patient strides knowing that she couldn’t escape even with her running and them coolly walking the gap between them and her narrowed. Her ears became muffled by her heartbeat that beat as if it were supplying the whole city with blood. Her mind usually astute in times of crisis had no answers and began to see her life flash before her eyes; settling on a snap shot of Travis and her meeting at a rock concert. She had loved him the moment he talked and she was sure he felt the same; tears fell for not being able to tell him that she loved him and that Oswald was the reason behind this all. She closed her eyes with images settling on the happiest part of her life; Travis and her laughing, and feeling secure. This would be the last thing she wanted to remember. The motor grew louder; soon she would be taken, murdered and raped then her body would be discarded like rubbish but her last memory would not, could not be stolen from her like her life would be. The car screeched to a halt; her eyes closed praying for a miracle. She heard the familiar voice of the man. She opened them to see him sitting in an old Valiant AP5; her happiness at seeing him was like a child lost finding their mother and father. “Get in. We can catch up later”, he said urgently as he checked the rear vision mirror to see the men in their leisure realize that the car that they had dismissed earlier would steal away their intended sacrifice for their boss, Oswald. They began to run with one or two in the stance of someone who would discharge their Glocks; a popular gun with the more upmarket gangster types. “Lucky for us not the boys from the hood who sported military grade automatic assault weapons with armour piercing bullets”, he said with clenched teeth. She threw herself and the bags into the car as he sped off; she heard the sound of popcorn then found herself down on the floor with bullets lodging themselves into chassis and body of the Chrysler. She couldn’t speak as bullets hit as if it was a hammer hitting down a nail. She stared at this man with marvel as her heart still pounding with ears ringing from the chatter of bullets began to find it hard to breath. “On the floor there’s a coke: take a sip or two. The sugar will help”, he said as if an ambulance attendant attending an accident. “Thank you”, she began to say. He still with his head lent on the steering wheel sat up when they turned the corner. “Don’t mention it”, he responded. “You might want to sit up and strap yourself in”. She climbed up and buckled herself in and began to cry. He looked at her as a father would if she had been his own child. “A good cry never hurt anyone”, he said gently. “I didn’t think”, she again began to say. “Abandoned you”, he said interrupting and finishing her sentence. “Yeah kind of”, she said smiling. “Thirteen Esquire Lane is that where you live?” “But”, she began to say with disbelief “I’m sorry that you thought you were alone. You handled yourself very well indeed”, he said glancing at her then back towards the road. “It’s a police station, newly built”. “What?” He asked not knowing what she was talking about. “Thirteen Esquire Lane”, she said with a smile. He glanced at her and let out a welcoming hysterical laugh. “A police station”, he said laughing as he gripped the steering wheel and floored the accelerator to roar up the road with the restored 186 slant motor pinging along. “Whose car is it?” Marcia Said with less tension resonating from her. “I think it was some plumber; I was going to take it back but with bullet holes and those guys with guns having seen the car it is a good chance that if its parked up the police will have forensics crawling over this and the goons may have a link to us and think that the owner may know us. I don’t think their boss”. “Oswald?” She said knowingly. He turned his head towards with a long glance that had her telling him about Oswald’s flirtatious advances towards her. “Does Travis know of this?” She shook her head with real apprehension. “Your boy Oswald started to pick on Travis and dropped him in it big time”, he added going on to tell Travis’s side of the story. She cried at the thought of upturning his life. “Hey both of you have done nothing wrong and don’t blame yourself I know Travis wouldn’t, if he knew why Oswald did what he did. He was more upset by losing you”, he said glancing back in the rear vision mirror. “We will have to dump this and torch it I’m afraid”, he said with regret for having stolen a classic. “Why didn’t I jack a Volvo or Merc then I would feel less bad torching her”, he said with a contemptuous snort.