The Rogue Agent

by Shiloh White

  We caught up to Justin the Car Salesman, who was holding the back door open for us. I wasn't sure how long, but I decided not to ask. His smile was quirky enough for me. I avoided his gaze as we walked past him, and out onto the car lot. It was bigger than I originally thought, looking at it from inside the building. The setting sun cast a glow on all of the cars, making them shine and glisten brightly. It made my stomach sick. I didn't want to see any of them.

  Justin the Car Salesman jogged through the door to get back in the lead. “So, a high school graduate, you say?” he asked with that strange smile again, which definitely wasn't helping the anxious feeling in my body. I could feel my palms getting sweaty. I stuck them in my pockets and forced myself to speak. “Yep,” I nodded. “For my older brother. It’s his b—”My voice cracked and I froze.

  Why did this keep happening? It shouldn't have been bugging me as much as it was. I was past this...right? I might have continued to stand there and ponder this for a while if Scott didn't jump in to help.

  “Just show us your best. Something that will really let him experience the world.” he said. Justin nodded, and started leading us through the lot, trailing off about this car's top speed and that one's mileage. I tried to tune him out.

  “Hey,” Scott nudged me and leaned down to whisper, “What happened back there?” I let out a wavering breath, before finally deciding to answer him. “I don't know. It must have been something about asking for the car that...” I paused, searching for words carefully.

  “The car that my brother never got to enjoy,” I decided. I couldn't bring myself to speak the whole truth. Scott pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed in sharply. “It's gotta be the Zone. It's affecting you more and more. We must be getting close. Just try to hold out for a little longer.” He stood back up and continued following Justin, who was still zooming from car to car like a wind-up toy.

  Hold out for a little longer, my mind whispered, echoing Scott's words. Easier said than done. How was I going to keep the Depression Zone out of my head? I didn't know how to fight back. Or just how much was actually the Zone, and how much was my own anxiety talking. I tried to push the thought out of my head as Justin lead us to the next car.

  “...Now this one, this is a thing of beauty. If freedom's what you're looking for, you need to get this baby in your life before it's stolen and wrecks your dreams...” I looked up, and my body went hot and cold all at the same time.

  ✽✽✽

  It looked exactly how I remembered it: a bright orange convertible with leather seats. Two white racing lines trailed down the front of the hood.

  Nostalgia swirled into my stomach. With the anxiety already in there, I was about ready to throw up. I remembered Lucas holding my hand as we walked the lot. I tugged on him, and pulled him over to this one. “That's the one, Luce?” he smiled down at me. “Okay, let's go check it out.” He ruffled my hair and asked the car dealer. Before I knew it, he was sold on it. Then there was the rain later than night...

  “Are you okay, Lucy?” Scott asked, breaking me out of that memory. I was pretty sure I nodded, but I was feeling too nauseous to tell the difference between a nod and being dizzy.

  “I see that look in your eye!” Justin the Car Salesman said, rubbing his hands together. I wanted to ask what look he was talking about, but he spoke before me.

  “Would you like to take a closer look?” He asked. I said nothing. It was getting to be too much. All I could focus on was remembering to breathe.

  “Lucy,” Scott leaned down and asked me in a low voice, “is this your brother's car?” I tried to answer him, but hardly a squeak came out. Pull yourself together, Lucy, I thought to myself.

  I pinched myself on my open leg hard. The pain helped to clear my head and think. I shook off the anxiety as best I could and answered him in a small voice. “Yeah, it is.”

  Upon hearing this, Scott winced. His face looked hurt for a moment; almost sad. But the expression disappeared quickly and he didn't waste a beat.

  “Then here we go. This is our lead.” Scott turned to the salesman and nodded. “We would definitely like a closer look.”

  “Perfect!” Justin answered cheerfully. “Hop in!” He jogged around the side of the car and Scott followed. He opened the passenger-side door, but Scott went past him, and climbed into the back seat. Justin looked confused. The expression looked so odd on his face, I broke a small smile. “Err...” he started to say, as he stood there awkwardly waiting.

  “Oh!” Scott looked up at Justin, realizing what was going on. “The back seat is for me to get the full experience. Trust me.” Then he looked at me with a smile that may have been meant to encourage me, but I wasn't buying it. His expression a few minutes ago didn't match that smile. Something was off with him. I crossed my fingers that he would still be able to take on that Agent. Justin's face took a momentary reboot, and then returned to his quirky smile. “The customer is always right,” he recited. “In any case, young lady, you may have the honor of passenger.” I shot a look at Scott, who was nodding in agreement. I wanted to be bitter, but the anxiety came rushing back. I squeezed the water bottle in my hand, steeling myself to slide into the passenger seat.

  “Safety first!” Justin pointed out. I watched as he pulled his seatbelt over his chest and it clicked into the lock. Then he turned and smiled at me and Scott. I did the same, my heart beating out of my chest. It was probably the only thing I was in control of that made me safe. Plus, I didn't like Justin the Car Salesman all that much. His staring just added to the anxiety that was creating a lump in my stomach.

  Justin put the key in the ignition and the car's engine revved to life. It sounded exactly the same as it did from my bedroom window. He backed the car out of the parking spot, and my body tensed up. I put my hands in my lap, looking down at the green sun I painted on my arm in the hospital. Focus on Chloe. Tough it out for her. Maybe Justin will drive us to the Depression Agent. I kept telling myself, to stay calm.

  Justin began to drive it around the lot, spewing facts about the car as we went: “Great gas mileage, excellent handling, and so much more capabilities!” he rambled with enough enthusiasm for the three of us.

  “That sounds great,” Scott spoke up from the back seat. “Is there anything we should be worried about?” My heart skipped a beat when he asked that. I couldn't see his face out of the corner of my eye, so I shot my glare through the rear-view mirror, hoping it would bounce off and reach him.

  “Well, the car is actually used. And at one point, it was totaled.” He looked at me on the last word. Avoiding his gaze, I looked down at my hands in my legs, which were quickly turning red. Without my knowledge, my hands must have latched onto either leg with a death grip.

  “How did this happen?” Scott asked. I wanted to choke him out. There was no way I could relieve this again. But Justin the Car Salesman didn't pick up on that.

  “There was this nice young man, no older than eighteen,” Justin started to say. “He and his little sister came in, looking plenty like you, Lucy,” he smiled, shooting me a wink. I held back my urge to hurl on the refurbished upholstery.

  “Anyhow,” Justin continued, “I sold them on this car, you see. But something tragic happened just the next day...” He trailed off, trying to find the right words to continue.

  At this point, I was willing to try anything to get him to shut up. I really wanted to hit him, but that probably wasn’t the best idea while he was driving. I peeled my sweaty hands from my legs, and clutched my armrest and the door handle next to me. I’d been gripping them so hard; I started to lose circulation in my lower half. Then I glanced down at the side of my car door, hoping it was unlocked. But it had been fitted with old-fashioned locks; the small metal poles near the window.

  Scott would probably stop me before I could work up the courage to throw myself from a moving car anyway. I sank into the seat and gripped the armrest tight, defeated that I was unable to make Justin shut up. Why did this random salesman even
know about all this? As vivid as the entire memory had been, I didn't remember him at all.

  “The young man, you see...well, he had—” Justin the Car Salesman paused. He looked down for a moment as he slowed the car to a halt. “I guess there's no easy way to say this. The young man had passed. They brought the car back the next day, wrecked. Apparently he wrapped around a tree.”

  For a moment, no one said anything. I fought back tears, and looked up at the rear-view mirror again. This time, Scott met my look. His face was a sad mix of compassion, and something else. But he looked away before I could figure it out.

  “Beautiful car,” Justin continued, breaking the silence. “But nothing compared to raw nature.” He shook his head. I rolled my eyes. I'd had enough. I reached for the car lock—ignorant to the fact that I still had my seatbelt on—but the car zoomed forward and jolted to a stop. I jerked forward from the inertia. “What the heck was that?” I shouted at Justin. “Not to worry,” he assured me with the wave of his hand and a smoky smile.

  Wait. Smoky smile?

  “Since then, I've been able to give it a few upgrades you're sure to love.” Sure enough, dark wisps of smoke were seeping through his teeth. “Scott!” I yelled, and whipped around in my seat to look at him. “It's him! Justin's the—”

  A loud CLICK interrupted me, and from there, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The sound was so loud; it was like it came from right next to me. Scott looked at me with confusion and a little bit of panic—he must have heard the noise too. Then, right before my eyes, Scott shot out of the car—seat and all.

  12. “Act Now And We’ll Throw In Your Last Sunday Drive!”

  I yelped in surprise, dropping my complimentary water bottle on to the floor. Probably a hazard for the driver, but I was more concerned with something more important. I looked up into the sky for any sign of Scott—or his seat—but it was too dark to find anything. The sun was mostly set now, which brought a dark twilight with it. Wherever Scott was, I wouldn't be able to help him right now. Besides that, there was now a new problem.

  Justin the Car Salesman, or should I say, Justin the Depression Agent pulled out of the parking lot onto the road. He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Phew. I'm glad that Depression Force loser is gone. There's no way I could trust him to take care of this beauty,” he said, rubbing the outside of his car door.

  “How did you know he was from the Depression Force?” I asked. As soon as I said it, I wished I didn't. He looked at me with a devilish grin and his hair turned to dark smoke, flapping around in the wind. “Don't worry yourself with the details, Lucy. Besides, we've got more important things to worry about.” said Justin.

  “More important things?” I asked, rubbing my arm; the green sun I painted helping me not to lose it as the car gained speed going down the street.

  “Of course!” he shouted enthusiastically. His face was facing forward, but he gave all of the emotion as if he was still facing me. “I've got one more thing to show you,” he continued, “Something that will really get you sold on this car.”

  I got the feeling something wasn't hooked up right in Justin's head. What did the car matter now? Did Justin expect me to spend my days driving around this fake memory for the rest of my life? (Definitely couldn't let that happen, by the way.) I hoped all Depression Agents weren't this crazy.

  We travelled further down the street, through a part of town I didn't recognize. Buildings grew scarce around us. The sidewalk devolved from solid and smooth to cracked and neglected. It grew dark, too. Not like the sunset dark, but gloomy dark, just like the hospital where the Depression Agent attacked me. The scariest part was there were no people in sight. I wasn't sure where Justin was taking us, but I didn't plan on finding out.

  “You know, this car is really growing on me, Justin. I think I'll take it.” I said in a dry voice. I needed to convince him to turn around somehow. Maybe buying the car would be what he needed to hear. Playing out the memory, like Scott said. Although this was nothing like I remembered it.

  “Nonsense,” he grinned maliciously. “I haven't even shown you this baby's top speed! I want you to see how fast you can be crusin'. Just like your brother.”

  My heart skipped a beat, and my hands started shaking. This was bad. I couldn't afford an anxiety attack now. It wouldn't do any good to have a giant boot squish Justin, since it would squish me too. I didn't want to believe this Agent even knew Lucas. There was no way. He had to just be picking at my memories. I steeled myself to get past it.

  “I'm perfectly aware of how fast it's going. Don't you think we should use that speed to get back and sign all those papers before the dealership closes?” I asked, my leg bobbing up and down. I placed my hand on it to try to get it to stop. With Scott gone, I realized I had no clue how to take on a Depression Agent. I'd definitely gotten lucky

  “Oh trust me; we'll be back in time.” Justin assured me.

  “But—”

  Justin floored it, and the wind took my breath away. The only sound besides the wind was the revving of the engine. The town disappeared into a blur, and the world around the road grew desolate until I was looking at a bland gray desert. Up ahead, there was a large gray expanse that I'd quickly grown to recognize. I didn't realize Depression Zones had a limit, but the closer we got to the gray wall that was The Dust, the more I began to understand. Someone—no, something had taken all of that feeling inside me and amplified it. They took every piece of anxiety from me and condensed it into this one place—somewhere to trap me. To drive me insane. (No pun intended.) It was no wonder I could die here.

  But I couldn't let that happen. I was already knee-deep in this craziness. Scott was gone. The only one who could get me out of this was me. Somehow.

  I bit my lip, brainstorming for a moment.

  I could dive out of the car and roll to safety. I looked down at my fastened seatbelt, and then back up at Justin the Depression Agent. He was quiet and in tune with the car, his eyes focused on the gray wall in front of us. We were going wicked fast, and only gaining speed. If I was going to do it, now was the time. I reached down slowly to the seatbelt.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Justin asked. I froze. My hand was only halfway to the seatbelt. I cleared my dry throat and responded with a super intelligent distraction like, “Uhh...”

  I wished then that I'd taken a sip of the complimentary water bottle. Wait...that was it!

  I hurriedly bent over in my seat, one hand half-heartedly searching the ground, as I reached across my waist with the other.

  “What are you doing?” Justin repeated, louder and angrier this time.

  “I'm looking for the water bottle I dropped!” I shouted up at him.

  “You don't need that right now. Get it later!” He growled angrily now. But I was feeling defiant. Some strange part of me was enjoying making him angry. Especially the part that knew as long as he was driving, he could do about as little as I could.

  “My throat is really scratchy. I need it!” I said with a fake whine. (I couldn't resist.)

  I moved my hand around on the floor more, to really sell the performance. Suddenly, I felt my hand hit something. I actually did find the water bottle. This was my moment. Instead of picking it up, I succeeded in knocking it to Justin's side of the car and out of view.

  “Lucy. This will all go faster if you listen to me and get out of there!” He grabbed my arm, and tried to pull me back up. I flailed against his grip, reaching across the middle of the car and underneath Justin's feet, using my body to shield my other hand from view. It was a good plan, except I couldn't see the seatbelt either. After a minute of feeling around for it, I finally felt it and pressed down hard until I heard a click.

  “I've had enough of your silly game!” Justin yelled, as his arm swirled and morphed into black smoke. He wrapped it around my arm and yanked me back into my seat with crazy strength. I tried to use the momentum to reach for the car door, but something stopped me. I looked down, and my heart sank. My
seatbelt was still fastened. I'd unbuckled Justin's by mistake.

  There was no getting out of the car now. Not with him clamping down on my arm. The smoke hurt my arm with rug burn and cuts, moving around like a twister. I couldn't shake free. “Why couldn't you make things simple, Lucy? After all, Lucas did, and he's in a much better place now.”

  I could feel anger making my blood boil. I couldn't stand this jerk anymore. I might not have been able to escape, but I had to fight back somehow. I reached for the steering wheel, but Justin used my arm to shove me back into the seat. Then something weird happened.

  My arm got really hot. A green light started to glow underneath all of the black smoke, in the shape of the green sun I drew. But the weirdest part was Justin. The smoke started to bubble and turn green as it spread up his arm. He let out a howling scream, and tried to slam on the break. But the only thing that happened was the crunch of the water bottle jammed underneath. “What did you do to me?” he yelled in agony.

  I'll be honest: I didn't understand what was going on. But I took my chance. I reached for the steering wheel again, trying to do anything to swerve us off-course from The Dust. The gap was closing by the second. Justin fought back with his other hand, and I watched as the green paint travelled around his neck and down to his other arm. “You can't win this, you know. The plan is way bigger than your Zones—augh!” The paint found its way to his hairdo, which began to melt down into his eyes. I couldn't imagine what it felt like to him. The way he looked, all green and bubbling reminded me of that melting witch in that old movie. Come on, stay focused, Lucy.

  I yanked the steering wheel hard to the right, and we spun out like a top as we barreled at the wall. The good news was we hit the wall with the back of the car. More good news: Justin flew out of his seat screaming, green and smoky until he collided with The Dust and evaporated. The bad news was I watched this happen through the rear view mirror as my head flew backwards into my headrest, hard.