NOCTURNE » Nathan Prescott

» xix. broken

"Mark..." Nathan uttered quietly, so much so that I wasn't even sure he heard him.

For a few seconds he stood in front of his car, looking at the two of us on the ground, before glancing over at the spot where Rachel's body was buried.

"I see you've already begun preparations. Very good. Now if you could please stand up and cooperate, I would greatly appreciate it."

Nathan moved to rise to his feet and I got a hold of his arm. "Don't listen to him," I muttered. Mr Jefferson sighed dramatically.

"There's always some sort of complication, isn't there?" He took a step towards us and Nathan cowered slightly. I grabbed his hand and linked our fingers together, raising up my chin as I cautiously eyed the handgun. "Madeline, why have you come here?"

I stared into his eyes, forcing myself to remain quiet. Nathan held onto my hand so tightly I could feel the circulation being cut off.

"Madeline. I asked you a question, and you will answer." He cocked the gun and pointed it at Nathan. "Or we speed things up a little. I have places to be either way."

"What do you want?"

A smile crept up on his lips. "Now there's a good girl. Come on." He motioned for me to come over to him with his other hand, the gun still pointed directly at Nathan's head, finger on the trigger. I squeezed his hand tightly before letting go and standing up, walking over to Jefferson. He didn't lower the weapon, but his finger no longer lingered on the trigger. Still too close, though.

"Get in the car," he ordered, pushing me towards the passengers side. I stumbled over my own feet and held onto the hood of the car for support, looking around for anything that could potentially be used as a weapon. Nothing. Then everything happened too fast.

He finally lowered the weapon a little and my instincts kicked in before I could even think about anything. Somehow my hands found their way to his head and, as he seemingly hadn't expected an attack from behind, he hesitated and his head collided with the side mirror. A gunshot was fired and the bullet ricocheted from a barrel. I felt a jolt through my body like a lightning hit me when it barely grazed my shoulder, shattering the windshield immediately after.

With an angry scream Mr Jefferson turned around and hauled off, raising the gun into the air. Something crashed onto his head and he collapsed on the floor. I jumped over his stirring body and grabbed Nathan's hand, the both of us dashing around the massive piles of scrap metal and junk.

"You can't run from me!" Jefferson's voice echoed when my car came in sight. Another gunshot went into the air and both of us flinched.

I ushered Nathan into the passenger's seat before sliding behind the steering wheel, fiddling to get the key into the ignition. The headlights hit Mr Jefferson who was slowly staggering towards us, gun pointed directly at the car. I felt my heartbeat resonate in my ears when I reversed out of the junkyard, now fully knocking over the sign. Another gunshot was heard and it hit the car at the back. I prayed that it wasn't a tire.

"Maddie, y-you're bleeding." Nathan pointed at my shoulder when I pulled into the road and slammed my foot down on the gas pedal. "Maddie?"

"Quiet!"

"... S-sorry."

One more glance into the rear view mirror informed me that a car was following behind us, and though I couldn't tell for sure if it was Jefferson or not, I accelerated even further. Nathan sat in the passengers seat, nervously fidgeting with the seatbelt before reaching over to my side to do the same there. While he buckled me up, I could hear how quickly he was breathing.

"Nate, it's okay. We're gonna get out of here," I said, not only in an attempt to calm him down but myself as well. I could still hear and feel my heartbeat resonating in my skull. "Tell me five things you can see."

He laughed loud and nervously. "Maddie what-" - "Five things you can see, Nate," I urged him further and he finally complied.

"Uh- lots of trees. The moon. Houses. A stop sign. You."

"Good. Now four things you can touch?"

Another nervous laugh escaped his lips. "The seat." He poked the seat with his index finger, then moved his hand back up. "Seatbelt. Dashboard." He extended his arm toward me. "You again. Maddie what is this? Jefferson is still behind us and you're telling me to play some weird version of I spy?"

I sped around a corner and into a more crowded street. We were outside of Arcadia Bay now. Nathan's breathing had calmed down slightly, however he was still bouncing his right leg and hurriedly tapping his fingers on the seatbelt, eyes darting around in fear.

"Right, Jefferson is still tailing us so I don't need you having a nervous breakdown on top of that! Three things you can hear?"

He sat still for a split second. "Uh- the uh- ... the engine. My own voice. And uh- the music from the car in front of us."

I overtook several cars. "Two things you can smell?"

"Gasoline. The air refresher in here."

The tapping ceased and all that was left was the leg bouncing. I took a few deep breaths myself before rounding several corners in a randomized manner, until mine was the only car on a long road again. No matter how often I glanced into the mirror, there was nobody else.

"Do you think he's gone?" Nathan asked quietly, looking down at his hands. I shrugged.

"Hopefully. How are you feeling?"

"I should ask you that. You just got shot, Maddie. Are you sure your shoulder is okay? It's bleeding." His voice began to shake again. "This is all my fault! Why did you come to the junkyard? It could have all been over by now. I shouldn't have-"

I steered the car off to the side and into the parking lot of a truck stop just by the freeway entrance ramp and slammed down on the brakes. "Nathan! For fucks sake, stop blaming yourself for everything. Sure, you screwed up bad. But that doesn't mean you're responsible for every single thing that goes wrong."

A truck driver exited the small restaurant and eyed us curiously, and I prayed he wouldn't notice my bloody shoulder. Nathan sank into his seat. "I'm sorry." The dim light illuminated his face enough for me to see the traces of tears on his cheeks and the dark circles under his eyes.

With a sigh I leaned against the headrest and slowly reached out to take his hand that was trembling into mine. I tried my best not to wince at the stinging sensation in my shoulder.

"So what do you wanna do now?" I questioned softly, the knot in my throat making it hard to speak.

Nathan seemed to think for a while, his eyes glued to the neon sign by the entrance. Absentmindedly his thumb brushed over the back of my hand as he kept opening his mouth and closing it again, no sound making it past his lips. A good ten minutes passed before he spoke up again. "The hospital you told me about..." His voice gave in and it took him a few moments to continue.

"Do you really think I can be fixed?"