Running Backwards

Doing what you shouldn't

   
   
    It was getting hot in there. Angie cracked the window in her cargo van. It felt like she'd been sitting in this parking lot for an hour but it couldn't have been more then five minutes. 11:17 showed in neon green on the dashboard.
   
    The van was one of her favorite places. It was always packed full with her latest garage sale items. The van cost a trade for two cows last year. It had absolutely nothing special about it, but it was very comfortable. Everything was manual. Even the locks.
   
    The lot was empty other then two cars parked close to each other. A faded green Oldsmobile took up most of its spot. While a red Kia Forte daintily sat in its two spaces closer to the doors. The Oldsmobile looked like it hadn't moved for years, almost like it couldn't. But Angie had never noticed it there before.
   
    Her puttering van letting out barely cool air in the center of the lot. The other cars sat behind a blue sign that read "Employee Parking." She was used to each lot being full. After yesterday's events she didn't even expect the two cars.
   
    "Why were they still here?" Angie said out loud to her nonexistent shadow sitting beside her.
   
    She thought of all the reasons someone would still be there. Hundreds of employees decided not to come to work in this building today. Why were at least two still there?
  
     "Why did it have to be so damned hot in Texas? It's January!" Angie said a little too loudly while wiping a bead of sweat off the side of her face. Her imaginary shadow had no commentary. The van's air conditioning couldn't keep up.
   
    The van was bought at auction by it's previous owner. A great tax write off when his business was doing good. People were jumping to live in the middle of no where years ago. A trend that slowly dissipated as it always does after a historical event.
   
    The people who stayed encouraged businesses to pop up randomly. A new discount store, a new Chinese restaurant, feed stores randomly put in old fields. There were rumors of box stores but Angie was sure they would never encroach on her town, Hailsville.
   
    Squinting at the giant windows of the building she couldn't see anything. No shadows, no movement. Nothing but the wavy reflection of her van. It's white paint was especially hard to look at combined with the sun glare. 
   
     All the windows and doors of the monstrous building had mirroring tint. Angie decided it was to blind the guests walking up to the building but knew it was to hide the secrets inside. She has walked through these doors 100s of times. This time would be the last.
   
    The six acre lot had multiple buildings. Fencing around it and also within it. A thinning tree line to the back and sides helped secure the anonymity beyond the front facade. It looked like a DMV or a permit office from the parking lot. There were no bored workers waiting for you to fill out yet another form.
   
    When you walked in you could feel the buzz. Voices from every angle bouncing off plain walls. A constant rumble coming from the labyrinth of corridors in a spiderweb like design beyond the almost ordinary office feeling lobby.
   
    Angie took a deep breath. She threw her cigarette out the cracked window and rolled it up. She felt her invisible shadow judging her smoking habits. She rolled her eyes at the empty seat, she'll quit eventually.
   
    Exhaling loudly her cell phone caught her eye. Staring irritatedly at it she decided not to bring the useless thing. There was too much in her pockets anyway.
   
    Stepping out of the van she squinted at the sky. The last 15 hours have been the most annoying time if her life. Everything was more difficult. It was the end. Then again, she was going to do something that would have been impossible before.
   
    Looking around one more time there wasn't a single motion. Even the wind was still. Yellow green plants and shrubs lined the curb. White stones under them to avoid weeds. Semi-new looking concrete lead from the parking lot to the doors asked her nicely to come in. Black utility rugs just in front of the eight foot doors.
   
    Angie closed her painful eyes. She hasn't had her second coffee session because Wendi's diner was closed. Just like here, barely an employee showed up.
   
    She doubted her ability to go along with the plan. How did she think this could ever work? Only people in action movies did things like this. She's never even thought about committing this big of a crime. Other then dabbling in some minor vandalism as a teen and relaxing with a some pot once in a while she had never broken the law. The ones that made some kind of sense at least.
   
    Was there even law anymore?
   
    Taking inventory of her pockets she wondered if she should lock the doors to her get away van. Deciding not to, in case they had to make a quick get away, she put the van keys on the seat. Standing straight again she tapped her hip. Her 32 caliber pistol sat in it's holster on her right side. The thin strap held it in securely with Velcro. She tugged at her shirt to make sure it was covered.
   
    She shouldn't have to use it. She should be able to go in, get her and get out. But this was about a half cooked plan at the start. Angie imagined sitting in an all white integration room telling a tall federal agent how the plan came together.
   
    "So I just got in my van, parked and walked in. Magically grabbed her from the two or more employees inside without a possible issue. And we lived happily ever after," Angie chuckled to her shadow copilot in a sarcastic way. Yeah, that would go well.
   
    To be honest, Angie didn't even know for a fact that she was even still in there. She could have been taken somewhere else. She could have run away. She could be somewhere Angie would never find her. She just took the opportunity and ran with it. Literally, to her van. She ran to her van the second the path seemed clear.
   
    She couldn't do this. There was no way. Angie sat back down defeated. She squeezed her fist tight indenting the moon shape of her nails into her palm. She had to do this. There was no other option. She had to save her sister. Hopefully for the last time.
   
    Those cars complicated everything. She was told that they probably wouldn't be here. He never said definitely, but Angie decided to take every word he said as fact. Why? She didn't really know him. Before today she only ever said the same handful of words to him. And him to her.
   
    Angie was going to go in there. There were dangerous people in there. Most of the employees who kept them in line weren't there. It was the right thing to do. What if something happened? Angie had to go in there.
   
    The hunting knife her dad gave her for her 13th birthday was in her right back pocket. It's thick blade hid within a pink camo covered steal sleeve. With a touch of the giant set of keys barely fitting in her front pocket, she was ready.
   
    Angie paused then stepped away from the door. She was going to do this. With a sharp breath in she took the first step. With a slight pause she took another.
   
    Her feet felt like they were in mud. Trying to keep her from edging closer and closer to her possible demise. She looked back at the van. She could just leave. She could spend the rest of her life alone with her hateful ostrich and horde of other farm animals. Was that all she wanted?
   
    Angie psyched herself up. Why not do what you couldn't do before? The impossible happened already, why not try? She was going to go in there. Just go in there. Her heart was starting to race. She was going to go in there. Get Fionna. And get out.
   
    This didn't feel like the end. This felt like the beginning.