Fall - Prequel

04. Home Sweet Hell

Neglecting every notion in my body that told me to run for the hills, I begrudgingly got back into his vehicle.

I knew in my heart that he wasn't going to let me walk free with my hands clean, so I saved myself the trouble of looking pathetic by getting back into the car voluntarily. I had no doubt that he would drag me by the ends of my hair and throw me into the trunk if I didn't get back into the passenger seat myself. He was a criminal after all.

A killer.

Maybe I was going down without a fight, but I couldn't run away from my problems. Not when they were faster than I was. If I tried to make a break for it, he would catch me without question. There weren't any ifs, ands, or buts about it. Running wasn't an option. Facing what was in front of me was. That was the reality of my situation and I accepted it bitterly.

As soon as I shut the passenger side door, he hit the gas in hopeless abandon. He drove like he was on the run and it occurred to me that he was. If he wasn't running from the police, he was running from the people he attacked in fear of retribution. The more I thought about it, though, the more it seemed like the person sitting next to me was fearless. I doubted that he was afraid of much, if anything at all.

"What's your name?" I asked as he turned on the radio to fill the silence. Out of all the things I couldn't remember, his name was on the top of that list. For some reason, I wanted to call him Eric, but I was almost certain that wasn't his name.

I waited patiently for his response as an old rock song filled the interior of the car. It sounded like it was from the late eighties or early nineties. The soft melody and heartfelt lyrics were almost enough to distract me from the awful predicament I was in. Only almost though.

He muttered a response underneath his breath, but it got lost in the sound of music. I couldn't make it out.

"Did you say something about Mount Everest?" I tried to read his lips, but they barely moved at all. He was speaking low on purpose. He didn't want me to know who he was. I guess I couldn't blame him. I suppose that's something a criminal would want to keep secret. God forbid their identity get leaked or something. They would have to fake their death and move to the Himalayas where no one could find them.

"My name is Everet." He gritted out through clenched teeth, flaring his nostrils. I'd clearly upset him somehow. "Don't forget it because you'll be screaming it later tonight."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I narrowed my eyes at him in accusation, mouth hanging agape. Had he really just said that out loud?

"Close your mouth." He ordered me in a deep whisper, keeping his gaze locked on the road. It never strayed very far from the dark gray asphalt that protruded out for miles. "Unless you want me to put something inside of it."

A grim promise hid behind his words, causing me to fall silent in the seat next to him. I got the strange feeling that he wasn't talking about a gag. Ignoring my intuition, I kept talking. I wasn't going to let myself be intimidated by him. If I did that, he would think that he had some kind of control over me. He didn't. Not really.

I spent the next five minutes asking questions that he didn't bother answering. I started with the basics.

Who? What? When? Where? Why?

All of which he openly ignored. Occasionally, I'd get a grunt or two from him. He sounded like a caveman who didn't know how to speak proper English. I felt like I was talking to a brick wall, but honestly, a blank wall would've been more entertaining than he was.

Another five minutes of silence passed between us. The song on the radio had changed twice. The scenery outside of my cracked window stayed the same. Green and mountainous. Everet kept his eyes glued on the open highway before us. Only a few minutes had passed, but if felt like an eternity.