Meeting Mr.Player

Chapter 2 Not you...

I turn away from them to look into the next gurney to see who hit my parents. I see dark ruffled hair.

"I'm...fine!  I don't need to go to the hospital!" Jared slurs.  I close my eyes trying to grasp the idea of who had hit my parents.  Jared!  He is the guy who earlier today had a fight with his girlfriend, the one who is drunk, and the one who killed my parents.  I climb up into the ambulance, not looking at the two bodies to my left and walk to Jared’s gurney.

  

"Oh, who are you?" he asks giving me a wink.  I don't answer him; I hit him as hard as I can in the face and run.  I run away from the accident, I run away from my parents, from Jared, from everything.  I find myself at the driveway of my house.  I look over to my car.  I needed to find my keys.  I open the front door.  I knew where she put my keys when I got them taken away.  She always hid them behind the bread box.  I grab the keys and run to my car.  I slide the key into the ignition and twist.  The engine softly purrs as I back out of my drive way.  I don't know where I’m going, I just drive.  I needed something to clear my head of what had happened in the last two hours, yet the littlest things reminded me of my parents.  I end up pulling over onto the side of the road, and turning off my car.  I gaze at the forest out my left window trying to fight back tears.  I didn’t succeed.  It's hard to breathe when you cry this hard.  My eyelids droop a little.  Knowing I’m not up for driving anymore and still parked on the side of the road, I lock the car and climb in to the back seat.  I had left a blanket back there when I went on a trip to Vermont with my parents.  I use it as a pillow since my car was relatively warm and I fall asleep to the sound of thunder.

  

I wake up with the sound of something hitting against the window.  I open my eyes to see a police officer and a very worried looking James.  I crack my window a little bit so I can hear what they say,  but not enough for them to do anything more.

"Arianna!   God, do you know how much hell you put me through for the last twelve hours?  All these guys said is you took off and that they couldn't find you.   I'm so sorry."

  

"Your Hell probably wasn’t even close to what I have been through."  I mumble.  I wish I hadn't said that because the tears came flowing back.  It was hard to breathe.

  

"Babe, can you unlock the door?" James asks.  I reach over the front seat, aimlessly trying to hit the button, it was taking a lot longer than it should have.  Finally the car makes a clicking sound and James slides into the back seat, pulling me into his chest.

 "He...he....killed them...." I sob softly into his shoulder.

"Who killed who?"  James asks confused by my declaration.  He pulls back looking into my eyes. 

“Jared killed them.  My parents."  James face is expressionless as my words sink in.  His eyes glimmer with anger.

"Was he drunk?”  James asks me.  I nod my head.  We sit there for a few moments.

"Well what do you want to do?"  the policeman asks turning to look at James.

  

"I'll drive her home, and stay with her." James says while unwrapping his arms from me and climbing out of the car.

"Alright.  Make sure she doesn't run off again.  She could get hurt running off like that." the policeman says quietly. James nods to him, opening the front door.  The police officer gives me one last sad smile before getting into his car. I lay down in the back seat and closed my eyes.

"Why did you run?" James asks, breaking the silence.  I open my eyes and look into the mirror.   I see him staring at me, waiting for an answer.  Then he shifts his gaze back to the road.  I sigh.

"James, please not now."  He turns his head to look out the window.  His elbow was resting on the door lock, and he was biting his nails.  He wanted an answer, but didn't want to bother me about it.   

He pulls into my driveway.  I tried not to look at the house.  It brought back too many memories of my parents. Instead I just stared at the driveway.  I noticed a Mustang parked where my Dad always parks.  Where he used to park...  James turns, looks at me, confused, and then he parked my car next to the Mustang.  I shrug my shoulders,  I didn’t know who drove the car.  He is the first one to get out of the car, with me following behind.  A man in a black suit, hair slicked back, with those pager things clipped to his belt, hops out of the car.

"Who are you?"  James questions while standing in front of me protectively.  The man approached us and he held his hand out to James.

 “I’m Alex Marshall."  James shakes his hand.  That explains the Mustang and fancy clothing.  He is the richest man in Phoenix, let alone Arizona.  He extends his hand around James for me to shake, but James shifts his weight trying to stop him.  James hates the man standing before us.  He bought the land his Grandmother had lived on for over thirty years and forced her to move out within five days so he could build a super mall where her house used to be.  She and her husband had raised their children in that house, and it was important to her.  Yet Mr. Marshall didn't care. She moved into James's house, occupying the guest bedroom.  Mr. Marshall sensed his mood and holds his hands up in the air innocently.

"I don't bite.  I came here to see Miss Arianna, not you." he says to James and turns to me.

"I am very sorry about your loss dear.  I am furious that my son, Jared, was drunk and decided to drive causing your parents accident."  His words made my parents death more real.  I just hoped that he got to the point soon because tears were threatening to fall.

"I know I can't bring your parents back, but I feel awful.  Guilt is tearing me up inside when I think about you being alone in your house with your loved ones gone.  So I wanted to ask you to consider something.  We owe you so much because my son took so much from you.  We were wondering if  you would be our guest and live with us until we can get you back up on your feet?" he asks.  

My mouth drops open.  How can I live with my parent’s murderer?  

James eyes grew wide as he turned to me.  Both were waiting for my answer.  I look at my house; wrong move Arianna.  A tear escapes my eye.

“Yes.”  

Mr. Marshall smiles while James just stands there in shock.

 What did I just do?