Twisted

~5~

The bus ride is long and boring. I just spend most of my time looking out of the windows. Rain starts to fall from the sky making the vision of the window kind of blurry. Gavin is asleep with his army around me. We've been sitting in silence for an hour now. I had started glowing not too long after we got on. But no one was here to notice.

After a while I decide to check my messages. Dad called, he even left a voicemail. I put in my password, then put the phone up to my ear. "You have one unheard voicemail." The usual voice says. I expect Dad's soothing and peaceful voice, but what I get is completely different.

"Hello, Haley. We do not appreciate you leaving so unexpected. You could've stayed a little longer," The man's voice is low and slow. He reminds me of one of those dark voices you hear in dramatic movies, "but trust me, we are on your tail. Closer than you think. And once we've got you," He starts laughing like crazy, "well missy you just don't want to know. Have a very - interesting night, Haley."

I delete the message quickly out of fear.

They're after us. On our tail? I look out of the back window. Since this is just a regular street bus the windows are a little darker. And plus it's night time. But you can still make out the same black car. Now I can get a good look of it. Black, like I said before. With scuffs and marks in the front. The license plate is missing. It's a rather new car, too. Which explains how it never fails to keep speed with us. I still can't catch the driver's face.

But what I do see is the hand hanging out of the window. The hand holds a shiny... silver... gun! "Gavin, wake up! Gavin!" He opens his eyes quickly, and looks for the problem.

"What is it?"

"Look!" I show him the car, with the driver still holding the gun.

"This just gets better and better!" He hits the floor of the bus and crawls over to the bus driver. I can barely hear the conversation.

"What do you mean 'being followed' and by who?" The driver asks.

"We're not sure. But they're armed!" He yells back. "Look, you've got to get us out of this place. Drive like crazy."

"I'm afraid I can't. And I should call 911."

"No! You can't do that!" Gavin shouts as the man picks up a phone line. Gavin takes the phone, and cooks it to a crisp. His hands burn brightly. And for the first time I see his whole body engulfed in a wild flame. His hair is on fire, too. It moves around with his head. His eyes turn from the pretty blue I love to a bright red. I've never seen this side of Gavin before. "Drive this bus!" He yells. His voice is deep and mutilated. "Drive it or else!"

"Anything you say." The bus driver says sacredly. He puts some strength on the gas pedal. We're practically flying through the cars that share the highway with us.

I look back and see the car still gaining on us! They are determined. It speeds up to us, and purposely hits us. I fly forward because of the sheer strength of the crash. It only dented us, but it was strong enough to get the driver off guard.

"Keep going!" I scream. I'm holding onto our things as Gavin walks by me. He is still burning up, I feel the heat wave he brings with him. He ignores me and heads straight to the glass window. He touches the metal rim, and melts it. "This is crazy."

He burns a giant whole through it, then throws fireballs at the car. One hits the roof of the car, but it rolls off. He just randomly fires them. A different one hits the car and it drives right over the highway wall, resulting in them crashing into water. "What's wrong with him?" The bus driver calls back, still having us speed through.

"I don't know! Gavin! Gavin, can you hear me?" He finally stops throwing them and walks over to me. He puts his hand on my cheek. "Ah!" I scream out because it burns. His touch, the one thing I used to love, just hurt me. I crawl back in fear. "I never thought I'd be afraid of you."