Catch Me

Chapter 22

     Kyle was now driving as I rested my head against the window of the passenger seat. I was exhausted. We'd been driving for hours now and it was nearing midnight, and we still had a long way to go until we reached the next city and the hotel we planned to stay at. Neither Kyle and I were speaking, so I let my eyes fall shut and sighed lightly, wondering about the uncertain future looming before us.

     "What made the SSI decide to come after me now all of the sudden?" Kyle asked, jolting me awake.

     I moved up and looked at Kyle, surprised by the sudden question. We barely talked for the past few hours and I was caught off guard by his sudden curiosity.

     "Sorry for waking you up," Kyle said. "My bad."

     "It's okay," I said. "The SSI decided to come now because... I told my boss, Will, that I'm quitting and that pissed him off, so he told me he'll get you locked up so there's no chance of us being together."

     I was biting my lip, feeling nervous as I stared out the window and noticed the sky was full of stars. We were in a rural area where there was nothing but farmland. The area was peaceful, but my heart wouldn't stop pounding.

     "Did you really quit the SSI?" Kyle said, after a moment.

    "Yeah," I said, hesitating before I added, "I quit for you."

     Kyle didn't say anything for a moment and I pulled my eyes away from him. For a moment, we sat in silence as Kyle drove us down the lane that brought us closer and closer to the city.

     "How did you become a spy in the first place?" Kyle asked.

     "Will spotted me working at a grocery store," I said, sighing with relief. I was afraid I said something wrong to make Kyle stop talking to me. "And I have no idea why, but he offered me a job as a spy under his team and I agreed because it paid well and in all honestly, it seemed like a really cool job."

     I thought back to the day Will asked me to join when I was merely sixteen years old. I'd just moved to Linhedge and I was working as a cashier and Will had approached me out of nowhere to ask me to join his team. I remembered being so flabbergasted, but then so thrilled to be a spy, which I never thought even existed in real life.

     "Is Will the guy who confessed his feelings to you?" Kyle asked. "Is he the one who had you sobbing?"

    "Yeah, that's the guy," I said, my voice growing quiet.

    "No wonder he keeps trying to ruin whatever we had. He's jealous."

    "He is!" I grew thrilled that someone agreed. It was so obvious Will was jealous, but he kept acting as if his intentions were better than that. "It's so obvious Will is jealous, but he keeps denying that and saying it's for the mission."

     "What bullshit."

     I nodded and turned to look out the window, feeling heated suddenly. I couldn't believe my life was falling apart simply because the guy who'd been my best friend couldn't handle rejection. It left my hands curling into fists as I fantasized about knocking some sense into Will.

     "I'm so sorry I triggered the SSI to come after you," I said, realizing this was all my fault. Kyle was suffering because I fell for him, because I didn't reciprocate Will's feelings. It was so unfair, I realized and I grew guilty. "You don't deserve this."

     "It's fine," Kyle said, glancing at me. "They were bound to come after me eventually."

    I didn't reply. Looking down, I felt more and more sorry for Kyle as I realized I'd been nothing but a nuisance to him since I met him.

    "I'm positive everything is going to be okay," Kyle said, looking to me once again.

    To my surprise, Kyle gave me a small smile and I stared at him, stunned by the sight. I sighed lightly and grew a bit relieved, but yet something in my heart kept aching.

     "I'm not too sure about that," I said. "They're really good at tracking people and we might be on the run for a while. But I really hope everything will end up okay."

    "I know my life would come to this one day," Kyle said, hesitating before he sighed. "But not this soon."

     I looked to Kyle and saw how drained he was. The eye bags beneath his eyes were dark and deep, and his body was slouching against his seat. Guilt flooded into me and I grew angry at the world. Not only was I mad at myself, but I was mad at the world for turning my life into this. And as I thought about Kyle and how he started all this, how he turned my life upside down, I couldn't help but grow mad at him as well.

     "Why did you sell drugs?" I asked. "Of all the ways you could have made money, why did you choose to sell drugs?"

     Kyle paused before he said, "You know why. You know I needed to support my family."

    "I know, but why couldn't you choose something legal. We could have avoided this situation if you had!"

    Kyle grew silent and I felt worse. Raising my voice at Kyle was the last thing I should have done, but I was scared and anxious and defeated. I wasn't being rational, but I knew Kyle didn't deserve that.

     I opened my mouth to apologize, but then Kyle spoke.

     "I was young and dumb and desperate," Kyle said. "I do regret selling drugs sometimes, but at the same time it's not like I could have done something else. To afford Linhedge you have to make a lot of money. I just finished high school and there was no way I could make enough to support my family, so drugs was my only option."

     "I get it," I said immediately. "I'm sorry for getting frustrated because I know and understand why you did what you did. I just really wished things didn't come to this."

     "Me too," Kyle said, entering the city.

     My eyes flew wide as I realized we'd finally reached the city. Skyscrapers loomed above us and the streets were crowded with cars. But to our luck, I could see the hotel from where we were, which meant we didn't have a long way to go.

     "I wish my life way different," Kyle said as we drove closer and closer to the hotel. "But this was the life I was given and there's nothing I can do to change what's been done."

     I nodded weakly and found myself relaxing into my seat as Kyle drove into the parking lot of the hotel. He parked immediately and the both of us stayed seated for a moment, thankful that after hours of driving we'd finally made it to our destination. We had no idea how long we'd spend here, but it was finally a place to stay and the both of us really needed that.

     "I don't know how long we'll have to run for," Kyle said, as if reading my mind. "But we need to switch between hotels for a while. We can't stay at one place for too long."

     "I know," I said. "I'm prepared for that."

     "Okay. It's only until the SSI give up on their chase. Okay?"

    "Okay."

     Kyle looked to me and I looked back, feeing so drained and tired suddenly. His eyes remained locked on mine for a moment and for a second, I did nothing but stared back and yearn for us to go back to the way we'd been before Will ruined everything. That was, until Kyle broke the moment.

     "Let's go," Kyle said. "You're exhausted and so am I. Let's finally take a break."

     "Sounds perfect," I said quietly.

     Kyle nodded and the both of us got out of the car and went into the hotel where we nearly immediately knocked out. The chase was already taking its toll on us and I worried about how long we'd last.