Killing Me Softly (#Wattys2016)

SEVENTY-SEVEN

SEVENTY-SEVEN

"Do you see what I do for you, Paula?" Phillip ranted as they wound their way down a long ribbon of highway. "I continue to protect you from everyone. Do you even appreciate what I've done for you?"

"You're going to kill me, aren't you?" she sobbed.

"Yes, Paula, I am. I have no choice."

"Oh, please, please, don't, don't-"

"We'd just have to keep running and running and this is the only way to protect you. Because you know what she's done, don't you? She's called the police and they will come and take you away. That's why we had to leave." He shook his head and stared at the lights bouncing off the highway in front of him. "And that's why I have to take you away for good now. I can't let you spend your life in jail."

"But can't we just go somewhere else? Somewhere where no one will find us?"

"And where would that be, Paula? The FBI will be looking for you. The CIA. Everyone! And they don't rest, Paula, until they find the person they're hunting." He clenched his jaw. "Don't worry. It will be over by morning."

"Oh, please, I'll do anything, I just-" Paula rocked back and forth in her seat and smothered her face in her hands. "I don't want to die. I'm afraid to die."

"Well, Paula, you should have thought of that before you cracked open Tracy's face," he said as he punched the armrest repeatedly to emphasize his point.

"But I loved you."

He licked his lips and stared over at her. "Yes, you did. You did what you had to do." He flicked his eyes back to the road in front of him. "Just like I'm going to do what I have to do."