Flame of the Universe

2 : Runaway

"We're leaving this place" I said, and I pulled Agnes and Jack to the dorms. "Wait— what do you mean, leave?! We should call the police!" argued Agnes. Jack looked nervous, "You guys don't think... whoever killed Koko is out to kill US, right?". "I can't guarantee that we're safe" I looked around us, "That's why we have to leave, let's pack up, now." Agnes glared, "We have to tell somebody." "And then what? Risk being a suspect?" I looked to Jack, "Is your uncle home?". Jack nodded, "He's usually always home.". Good. "We're getting him to pick us up.". Agnes sighed in defeat, "So, what's the plan?". The plan. I didn't have a plan, I just knew we had to get out of here, she's out to get one of us. "Well, we pack our bags, get our phone, Jack could call his uncle after we get away from this... hellhole as fast as possible." I made up a plan on the spot. "Right, be right back" Agnes left to the girl's dorms. Then I started packing my clothes, not a lot of them. "Noel," Jack turned to me, "You don't think those things in my dream would actually.. happen, right?" and I honestly didn't know. I didn't know what to do after we got Jack's uncle. I didn't know HOW we were getting out of the school. I didn't know how we could get signal. By now I just wanted to go home, somewhere out of reach now, and it's not like it's safe there anyways. So I just looked at him and shrugged.

We finished packing, and our next step is to run away. We didn't have much we left behind. Agnes' parents don't care about her, or anyone for that matter, Jack only has his uncle he can turn to, and I left everything behind already. The school was quite then, the sky was already dark. We slowly walked out of the dorm room before we were stopped. "Hey! What are you guys doing here?" It was just George, thankfully. Before we could answer he asked us something again, "Have you guys seen Koko?". My heart sank, I can't explain him his best friend's guts got spilled out, so I just ran. "Noel, wait up!" Agnes yelled behind me. Sometimes you can get so selfish. Another voice in my head said. "Sorry, I just... Let's go now".

It was silent for all of us, someone's gut got sliced open and cut up, now I decided we should run away. "Once we do this, there's no turning back.." Jack added. Then I remembered the stories I told them about my parents, that they were long gone, that they overdosed. I couldn't bring myself to tell them what had happened, because it's just too complicated.. or you're just too scared. Looking at Jack, Agnes shrugged, "I don't know.." She wanted to say something else but didn't. We kept walking until we were on street nowhere at location nowhere. "Jack, do you have signal?" I asked. Jack pulled out his phone, "Faint, but yeah.." He dialed his uncle, Dominic Rockwell. "Um.. hey uncle.. so I sort of... need you to pick up.." silence, "It's a long story, um.. I— I'll just send my location." silence, "Yeah.. okay.." then he hung up.

We just sat there, at wherever this place is. I thought about the things that just happened, it happened so fast. I wondered if I made the right decision, I wondered why these two even followed me. I think they were wondering things too. I wondered if Agnes' parents would even notice she's gone, that just made me sad. I wondered if Jack is feeling okay, but right now, no one's okay. I wondered if they would even let me back.
We waited in this open place for hours, until—

Honk.

"Dom!" Jack ran to the van in front of us. "Woah, woah, kid, you okay?" Dominic looked at all of us in confusion, but invited us in his minivan. "So, what happened, little dude?" Dominic asked. "I don't know how to explain it—" "Someone was gutted" I blurted out. I felt a mixture of anger, confusion, fear, sadness. Why did I say that out loud? "Wait, what?!" Dominic was probably scared too, all of us were. "He... was found in the janitor's closet, we found him" Agnes continued, "Noel suggested we run away". "That place was never good to us anyways" I added. Mr Rockwell looked at us nervously, "Alright... So... where are we going?" My heart stopped, where WERE we going? "Maybe we could stop by a motel?" Jack said quickly. I wonder if they ever knew I didn't have a plan to begin with. Jack got up a little to play some music, maybe lighten up the mood. Agnes was falling asleep. The road was empty and dark, a sight I haven't seen in quite a while. It reminds me of home, and all the things that happened up to this point. At one point, I called Sunrise Boarding school my home. Yeah, maybe running away was a good choice.

We continued going, searching for a place to stay in for the night. It was quite in the minivan. Jack leaned to the window, right next to him, his uncle drove carefully. Last time we were picked up by his uncle, Dominic was rough and careless, maybe the change of mood. It all happened so fast, why did I make that decision so fast? Dominic stopped by a convenient store, "Let's stop by here for a while, you kids can get some snacks for yourselves." Dominic handed us some money. I didn't feel like buying anything so I just waited in front of the car, leaning towards it. Then I felt something

The car was moving.

Maybe Dominic was trying to find a safer spot to park in? Nah, that wasn't it. He was moving further and further, each move being faster than the last. Before I knew it, the minivan was moving on the dark road, going towards a pole. "STOP!" I screamed. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How would that make him stop in any way? "JACK! AGNES!" I yelled back to the convenient store. "DOMINIC!" I ran towards the minivan, trying to catch up. Oh god, no.

He had crashed.

The front window was broken to pieces. The front of the car was ruined, crushed. Inside the driver seat, Dominic. His head was bashed in, his usually chill, friendly eyes was now dull and cold. Worst of all, his blood. His blood was pouring out fast, abnormally, his blood was shimmering and bright. Golden. My ears rang, I felt my body shiver and I started to stumble.

My heart sank when I heard Jack yell out behind me, "Hey, what happened?"