The Read And Weep Bundle: Anonymous, Perfectly Hopeless, Run

by Holly Hood

  We didn’t know where we were going. Mason did what every man did—he pretended he did. If I hadn’t known him all my life I would have believed he knew what he was doing.

  “So here’s my idea,” Mason said, watching a shiny black car pull into the gas station we were standing outside of. He slung our backpack over his shoulder finishing up his drink.

  “What’s that, Mason?” I said, pretending I wanted to know rather then what I really wanted, and that was a bed to sleep in. I was still in denial we had walked for hours on end going nowhere. My feet hurt and Wanda was gone—for good.

  “Remember my friend I told you about? The one who lives in Jersey?” Mason asked me. “Jay Archer?”

  I nodded knowing all about Jay Archer. He was a friend only because of Payton. Jay Archer was older then Mason. And from everything I had heard about him he wasn’t a good person. He did nothing legally. He stole cars for a living. Mason had got in quite a bit of trouble throughout his life because of Jay Archer. And when I heard Mason recounts some really bad times in his life, Jay’s name usually was attached to each and every one of them.

  “I know we would have a place to stay. As long as we needed, and it would help us figure out our next plan.” He stared at me, waiting for me to accept his next idea. The first one hadn’t panned out so well so far. I didn’t have much more hope left in me. I sighed, backing away from him only to be nearly run over by a red crotch rocket as it flew into the parking lot of the gas station. Mason grabbed my arm, staring at the driver rather irritated.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, he threw a hand in the air blowing me off and headed into the gas station, leaving me alone in the parking lot. I crossed my arms aggravated and waited. I took a seat on the ground, resting my back against the light pole

  I wasn’t feeling to confident Mason could get us where we needed to go. At least with Aunt Wanda we always have transportation. Wanda wouldn’t be caught dead hiking across America.

  “Kendall!” Mason said, running from the gas station a huge grin pinned to his face. He shook a set of keys at me. I nearly choked on my slurpee standing up.

  “Are you joking?” I exclaimed.

  “Come on,” Mason said heading over to the red crotch rocket. I hesitated at first. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to risk road rash, but I pushed past that and slung my leg over anyways. Mason plunked the helmet down on my head. It made me feel a little better about the grand theft auto we were committing. At least I was being safe. He walked the bike slowly around to the back of the gas station before he started it up. And we were off.

  I held on tight, resting against him as we put more and more distance between us and Virginia.

  I felt free on that bike. I didn’t have to worry about anything, all I had to do was hold on tight. I wondered how he got the keys from the man. Was it as bad as I thought it was? Was it the reason when he came out there was blood on his hands?

  How long was it going to take before I regretted everything so much that I couldn’t handle it anymore? I wondered that too. Did my Aunt Wanda ever get to that place, where she couldn’t even look at herself in the mirror because she was so full of regrets?

  No matter how bad people were I was sure they all had a conscience somewhere deep down on the inside.

  Mason stopped the bike on the side of the road as it took its last breath. He dropped the bike on its side barely checking that I was off it before he let it go. He was angry. His body rigid, his muscles tense. He ran a hand through his hair frustrated and stared up at the sky. Like the answer was going to drop from the heavens.

  “You almost broke my leg, stupid ass,” I griped, dropping the helmet to the ground beside the bike. I was sure the bike was dead. The smoke was a good indication. And we never stopped for gas. It just proved he did something terrible.

  “Did you kill that man, Mason?” I asked, crossing my arms. I barely could see him until passing cars provided a couple seconds of light.

  “Kendall don’t worry about what got us here. Just be glad we are hours away,” he said. I swallowed. I caught a glimpse of his pathetic expression hidden behind anger.

  “Where are we?”

  “The outskirts of Delaware. Now what to do to get to Jersey,” he said. I sighed knowing what that meant. I was our ticket to obtaining a ride. Men would rather pick up a cute girl than a young guy. Mason move back getting out of view and plopped down in the ditch to stay out of sight.

  I dropped the backpack on the ground and tied my shirt in a knot at my waist. I did my best to fluff my hair. It was all I could do and it would have to work. I stuck out my thumb.

  “You know, sometimes I wish I was a girl,” Mason said from behind me.

  “Shut up, Mason. That doesn’t make any sense at all,” I told him silently pleading with the traffic. I just wanted anybody to stop and put me out of my misery.

  “Kendall since when do you talk to me like that?” He asked hurt.

  “Since you have me on the side of the road, begging for a ride,” I said, grabbing our backpack as a red jeep came to a screeching halt.

  “Kendall,” Mason called after me.

  “I should use my brain for once and leave you here,” I told him. I approached the passenger side window a big smile on my face.

  “Hi there, thanks so much for stopping,” I said sweetly.

  The man was about thirty. He looked me over, a big smile on his face. He nodded his head not saying a word.

  “Does this mean I could hitch a ride with you, handsome?” I asked breaking his stare.

  “Of course. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. Where would you like to go, darling?”

  I looked him over, taking the moment to think about his life, trying to figure out what we possibly could be ruining. I doubted he had kids or even a girlfriend. His eyes were antsy as if he didn’t get laid all that often. And judging by the bad haircut he didn’t care to much about his physical appearance. Odds were he was alone in life, so the guilt slowly started to subside.

  “Oh, I’ll let you know,” I said with a wink. He melted instantly and unlocked my door.

  “Hop on in,” he told me.

  “Just a sec,” I said holding one finger up as I backed up right into Mason. He scurried like a ninja to the back of the jeep and in one quick flash was inside. The man shrieked, startled by Mason’s surprise attack.

  I dug my nails into my wrist. I didn’t like being so close to fear and violence.

  “Please don’t hurt me.” The man begged his hands in the air. Mason got him into the back seat.

  “Come on,” he yelled at me. “If I had any brains to stand up for myself I might leave you here for treating me like shit a few minutes ago,” Mason yelled at me.

  I scoffed, knowing full well he never would have the gonads to leave me on the side of the road. I climbed in shooting a quick look at the backseat at our panic stricken passenger.

  People express their fear in various ways. Some shut down and just freak out. Those are the ones who usually found themselves in bad situations.

  And then you had the ones who refused to believe what was happening. They were the ones who did the sensible things and saved themselves.

  “What’s your name?” Mason asked as he drove the jeep down the lonely highway. The light from the dashboard illuminated his face and made him look intimidating.

  “Leonard,” the man answered flatly. It had been a few hours and I could tell he was ready to be put out of his misery. Mason had said nothing to him the whole drive. That alone was torture.

  “Are you married?” Mason asked, releasing one hand from the steering wheel.

  “No, I’m not,” Leonard answered.

  “Kids?” Mason pressed.

  I stared at Mason, annoyed he was making things harder for this guy. And I was even more annoyed that Leonard was being honest.

  “No,” he said.

  “Hey, Leonard, little word of advice, when two crazed kids hijack your car lie your ass off,” Mason to
ld him, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Uh, what?”

  I looked back at the man. He was sweating like crazy.

  “It’s always better to make people feel for you, rather than feel nothing. No one would want to hurt a man who had a family,” I explained.

  “Oh god…are you really going to kill me?” he asked starting to panic.

  Mason sighed, gripping the steering wheel. He was as much a killer as I was.

  “We just need a way to Jersey. I ain’t planning on killing you. What do we look like?” he asked looking back at Leonard. “I would however appreciate if you kept this to yourself though. Ok, Lenny?”

  “Absolutely, it never happened,” he said.

  That’s all it took to take the fear out of the car ride—Mason’s kind words.

  July 9th

  The jeep came to a quick stop, nudging me out of my sleep. I tried to figure out what was happening still groggy. I closed my eyes as the sunlight flooded the car.

  “So this is Jersey?” I asked. Mason stretched, letting out a loud grunt. Leonard finally came to as well. Even he got a nap in.

  I had never been to Jersey. In all the years we had been on the run it was one place I had never seen.

  “Yes, this is Jersey. It’s a blast you will love it,” Mason said pulling out our backpack. He leaned back into the jeep and told Leonard to get into the front seat.

  “Mason are we here?” I asked looking up at the manicured bushes and two separate staircases that lead up to a breathtaking home that I was sure housed filthy rich people. It took my breath away. Windows upon windows all the way to the roof practically, the house even had two private balconies.

  I grabbed the backpack Mason was shoving at me unable to pry my gaze away from the gargantuan home. My mind was working overtime trying to figure things out—like who lived there.

  “You’re free to go,” Mason said shooing Lenny away. I turned finally. I was annoyed with Mason’s carefree attitude about his kidnapping. And just as I was about to let him have it a young guy came bounding down the staircase to greet us.

  “Are my eyes playing tricks on me or is this the pretty boy himself on my doorstep?” The guy said totally happy to be laying eyes on Mason.

  I laughed at the pretty boy comment. I wasn’t sure who this guy was, but he was stunning. He smiled at Mason and then took a look at me as Mason talked his ear off.

  “Get inside and you can fill me in on the rest of your wild ride, man.” He ordered, heading back up the stairs in his designer jeans and vintage t-shirt. He was trendy in a casual way.

  Inside the house seemed to go on for miles in every direction. I felt like an ant.

  I waited patiently for Mason to tell me his name. I kept staring at how cute he was. He was flawless and perfect. I couldn’t imagine he was that much older than I was.

  “So Mason, were you going to introduce me to your gorgeous sidekick, Mason? Or are you still that rude when it comes to beautiful girls?” He flashed a perfect set of white teeth in my direction, his crisp baby blues sucked me in further.

  “This is Kendall. Kendall, this is Jay Archer,” Mason said leaving me in shock. I couldn’t believe this was Jay Archer. The guy I heard all the bad stories about.

  I couldn’t believe what he looked like. The guy I had despised all these years was hot. And that was saying a lot because Mason was hard to beat in the looks department. Jay was gorgeous in an entirely different way. He was all American, wholesome even.

  My heart sped up. My attraction quite possibly was obvious as I looked at him.

  “Mason always talked about you. It’s almost like we’ve already met,” Jay said with a smile. He winked, leaning against the counter as Mason and I came into the kitchen.

  “Good things I hope. Although with Mason you never know,” I joked. Mason gave me a weird look trying to figure out my sudden good mood.

  “Nothing but. This kid has talked about you since the beginning of our friendship,” he told me cracking another mind blowing smile. Mason seemed a bit embarrassed Jay was letting me in on his little secret. It didn’t surprise me.

  “Well then I’m glad,” I said, shooting him another smile myself.

  Jay touched my shoulder sending a shiver through me.

  “I love the accent. You’re very southern. Like the southern Belles in the movies,” he said, his hand still in place on my shoulder. His smile remained as our eyes met, he wasn’t embarrassed about the way he was staring at me.

  “Uh, thanks. I’ve never liked the way I sound. Makes me feel different,” I blushed. “I love the way you talk though.”

  Mason cleared his throat breaking into our moment.

  “Yeah, Kendall hasn’t shaken the hillbilly yet. Anyways, can we grab a bite to eat and a shower?” Mason asked helping himself to the refrigerator.

  Jay backed off looking at Mason with concern. He was puzzled by Mason’s sudden change of mood. But I only wanted more of Jay’s dreamy stares. My eyes never left him as he helped Mason make sandwiches.

  “Kendall, did you want a water?” Mason asked. I nodded, a little bothered he was disturbing me with silly questions.

  Jay leaned across the counter grinning at me. He grazed my hand as he put the sandwiches together.

  “Do you like pasta, Kendall?” he asked going to the stove to tend to the boiling water.

  “Yeah it’s one of my favorite things to eat,” I bit down on my bottom lip drawing it in as he stirred the pasta. Mason dropped my plate on the countertop and headed for the dining room. My sandwich fell on the floor.

  This brought me back to reality. And now I was pissed at his foul mood. I quickly started to clean up the mess Mason made all over the marble floor.

  “I’m sorry,” I said softly. My face burned with embarrassment. I felt like one half of an old married couple.

  “Why are you apologizing for Mason?” he asked taking the food out of my hands. He opened up a door on the cupboard and tossed the sandwich in the trash. It didn’t seem to bother him at all.

  “I think he’s mad at me,” I said, trying to find the words to explain what was going on. I really wasn’t so sure I even had them.

  “You did nothing wrong. And you’re a guest in my home. So take my food, eat, nap, do whatever you want. Don’t worry about Mason,” he touched my hand trying to comfort me after Mason’s tantrum.

  “I don’t feel so hungry anymore,” I said pushing the plate away. I knew I needed to find Mason and smooth things over.

  “Bull, you look hungry to me. Don’t bullshit me eat. Mason will be over this in no time. Mark my words,” he said giving me a wink.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” I told Jay. Mason knew I was attracted to Jay. So unless he could turn ugly things weren’t going to be so simple.

  “Guys are jealous of just about anything. He’ll be okay,” he squeezed my shoulders and didn’t let go until I agreed with him. I finally nodded and smiled.

  “Okay, I’ll let you be right this time. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know him a lot better then you,” I insisted, taking the sandwich, he was right, I was starved. It had been days since I had anything close to food.

  July 10th

  It was almost morning and I still hadn’t slept.

  I was sitting outside on the patio chewing my nails obsessively. Aunt Wanda and I were no longer together. Even though I hated her it still didn’t stop part of me from feeling like I was incomplete. I didn’t trust anyone like I did her—besides Mason.

  My thoughts ran wild with what kind of trouble we were in. I wondered how many police were on the lookout for us. I wondered if there were sketches out there that resembled me. Was it accurate even?

  I feared my life was going to be cut short. That I wasn’t going to get a chance at a good one. I was scared of everything. I knew so much, but I hadn’t a clue what to do with everything I knew. I was stuck holding pieces to a screwed up puzzle.

  Someone touched my shoulder, I jumped. My endle
ss worries slipping away as I laid eyes on an older woman. Her crystal blue eyes looked me over. She pulled the shawl she was wearing closer. It filled her fragile frame with color.

  She took a seat in the chair across from me. She smiled and pushed her hair behind her hair, several rings adorning her knobby fingers.

  “It’s just amazing out here,” she said letting out a breath of air as she smiled into the night. The sun was ready to come up. I agreed, watching her soak in the beautiful view.

  “Everything about this place is amazing,” I said. I loved the smell of the water nearby, and the way that even in July there was still a coolness that gave me goosebumps.

  “I grew up ten minutes from here in a little town called, Oran. My father was a fisherman. And a good one.”

  “I’m sure it was a good life living so close to the water,” I smiled at her. She seemed at ease talking to me about her life.

  “It was the best life one could ask for. What is your name?” she said. “In all my ramblings I forgot to ask.”

  “Kendall,” I said.

  “Mason always talked about you in all the years him and that tramp of a mother passed through,” she said. She tightened her grip on her shawl as the wind grew stronger. “Pardon my French, but I have always thought that woman was just awful.”

  “No problem. She is and probably always will be,” I said with a nod.

  “Mason is such a good boy, a really good boy. It’s a shame he has such a mother to deal with. He’s sad and lost. I’ve always told Johnny that.” She nodded her head in confirmation.

  I knew she was right. Mason was lost in a lot of ways and I knew that made him sad. He just never let it show.

  “Johnny?” I asked curious.

  “Oh, he likes to be called Jay. He’s my grandson, I’m sure you’ve met. He takes care of me. He’s a sweet boy despite his actions at times,” she said, looking away from me.

  “He seems to be,” I agreed.