too young for this

chapter 9 | volkswagen

Jamie slows down the car, and I look back at a sleeping Marianne worriedly. Drool collects at the tips of her lips.

"Do you have a spare tire?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows as he gets out of the car.

The sun is close to setting, dropping painfully low in the sky, which is coloured saturated blue.

"No." He says, stepping back.

"Who doesn't bring a spare tire when they go to run away?" I say. My temper is getting the better of my wits out here.

He leans down to glare at me, "It was your idea to run away. Why didn't you think to get a tire?"

I grumble, getting out of the vehicle, myself. "Well now what'll we do?"

"Hitchhike."

"Oh no no no, Mister. That's like Stranger Danger 101." I say.

He rolls his eyes. "Oh please. You murdered someone last night, I doubt that this would be the worst thing you could do."

I furrow my eyebrows, retorting, "The worst thing I did was letting you come with me."

He shakes his head, taking a heavy breath.

"Fine," I say, "we'll hitchhike. But if we all die tragically, I will resurrect you if only to kill you myself."

"And I'll gladly let you." He smirks.

I squint my eyes at him as he leans back against the car, inspecting me. I groan and hunch over the hood of the trunk, burying my face in my arms.

When I hear the distant hum of an engine I stiffen, shooting up to scouring the scene. Jamie's eyes also widen, scanning for signs of a car.

"My vision is crap." I curse, "Can you see anything?"

"Nope." He says, squinting at the distance.

I spot a reflective surface, like that of metal. I hop up, jabbing my finger at the far end of the road. "I see something!"

He grins, beginning to swing his arms. I hesitated before limply waving mine.

A turquoise, very rusted Volkswagen van vehicle comes into view, slowing down once sighting us. It stops in front of our car.

I follow Jamie who approaches it carefully. I hear the clicks of a door opening and closing as a short girl emerges, walking towards us.

Wavy blonde hair that looks as though it were spun from the sun flows over her shoulders. I raise my hand up to her. She has a small upturned nose, quite unlike my long, sharp one. She must be about our age, if not a few years older.

"Hi," She says, studying us carefully.

Jamie begins to speak, "Our car tires got popped."

"Also we're runaways." I add.

She looks me up and down, before saying, "Why did you run away?" I notice her words have an accent to them, thick and sweet like honey.

"I, um," I pause. Should I be telling a strange girl I've just met that I'm a murderer? Probably not. "killed someone. Out of self defence of course."

Her eyes widen, but a smile plays at her lips, "What did they do?"

I shift my weight to my other foot. "He was touching me when I..." God this is hard to say. "told him to stop."

Valentina squints her eyes, "I hope he goes to hell."

I smile, she took the news better then I thought she would.

Jamie takes a deep breath. "Do you have a spare tire?"

"No." She says with a frown.

My expression crumbles, "Dammit." I say.

"Uh, but you all could come, um, with us." she says, pointing back at her vehicle.

"Us?" I ask.

"Yes, my brother, Alexi and me. Also," she smiles widely, saying, "my name is Valentina."

"I'm Camilla, this is Jamie, and in the car is Marianne." I say, as Jamie has become awfully quiet.

Valentina cranes her neck to get a better view of Mari. "Do you want to come?"

I look to Jamie, who is watching me. He shrugs, saying, "What else will we do if not?"

I nod, turning back to Valentina, "Okay. We will."

She smiles and slides open the large car door, revealing a bed in the back with a sleeping boy resting on it. The rest of the interior is an extra seat, and a miniature TV with video game controller littered on the floor. Underneath the the bed are drawers for storage.

Alexi remains unmoving, eyes closed in sleep. His body is tangled in blankets.

I walk back to the car with Jamie and Valentina follows eagerly.

She asks, "Do you want me to carry anything?"

Jamie swiftly pops open the trunk as I say, "Sure. You can carry Marianne's bag."

Jamie hands her the luggage, and I walk to the car, opening the door. Mari shifts in her sleep.

I lean over her, stroking her hair and whispering, "Marianne."

She blinks sleepily, "What?"

"You have to get up."

She groans, tossing her hand loosely to grab my arm. I nudge her again and she grumbles, "Okay, okay. I'm up." She sits up rubbing her eyes with a yawn. "What happened?"

"Our tire popped and this girl and her brother are offering a ride."

She knits her eyebrows, "Are you sure we should go?"

I shrug, "No. But do we really have a choice?"

"I guess not." She says.
Her braids are loose and curly strands fly everywhere.

I help her stand up and we walk over to the van. Valentina watches us, well just Mari really, who smiles lazily at her.

"Hello." Valentina says.

Mari waves, "Hi."

She walks into the backseat, tentatively, across from the still asleep Alexi.
Jamie has already brought my bags into the trunk with Valentina so I just climb in after Mari, careful not to wake the boy. I sit on the floor of the car, as there are no more seats.

Jamie goes into the front seat with Valentina, turning back to us. I give him a reassuring smile and turn back to Mari.

She plays with her hair, curling it between her fingers. She leans over and whispers, "We're just going to leave Jamie's car?"

"I guess so, there wasn't much else we could do."

"What'll happen when his family finds out?"

"Let's hope they won't." I say with a grimace.

But hope is just wishful thinking.