~peanut~
“Killing kids isn’t my forte, Rae, I told you that before.” Ember Harrows flicks her lighter open and slowly lifts the trembling flame to the edge of her cigarette. Slowly her feet carry her down the steps away from the house. If Rae argues she knows it will get loud; wouldn’t want to wake up the owners. She leaves the flashlight on the banister, the beam shining on her as she leans against the siding of the steps.
“Come on, Em? Have a little fun! Jackson’s gonna expect us to do something. They’re just little rats anyways.” The cigarette stops, hovering in front of Ember’s open mouth. She thinks about it, they don’t know what they are missing, they are little anyway, Jackson’s voice whispers in her ear. She thinks about the light in her hand, the one Jackson paid for. If she doesn’t do this he might stop buying them. She shakes away the thought and looks up; taking a drag she stands up straight, looking Rae in the eyes.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” Ember whispers, keeping the cigarette in her mouth. When the smoke burns her lungs she breathes, releasing everything that has built up inside her. She can see now, see the light that is pouring down on her from the flashlight she carelessly left on the railing. The streetlights aren’t like a bokeh picture anymore; she can see the light bulbs instead of just splotches of brightness.
Ember notices a gasp of relief escape Rae’s lips, but she doesn’t look at the girl in front of her; she looks past Rae, with her bleached and ragged hair, at the street. She winces when a car’s headlights burn her gray eyes.
“Shit, Em! They are pulling in the driveway. We’ve gotta go.” Rae whispers frantically, pulling the cigarette out of Ember’s mouth. She knows that’s the only way to make Ember comprehend what is going on. But Ember doesn’t run toward the trees, she walks slowly up the porch steps, almost in a daze. Rae watches as the girl steps toward the flashlight that she had left there. A beam of light flitters on the green-black ground turning it an odd shade of yellow.
The car is skidding on the gravel, swerving itself closer to the house by the second. Ember jumps and curses as the flashlight bangs against the concrete side of the porch and the light bulb shatters. It is dark, the only light coming from the car that doesn’t need to see her. She runs.
There are woods behind the house. They stretch for acres behind the property and that is where Ember finds Rae. She is crouched behind a tree at end of the yard, barely under cover.
“They’re drunk,” Ember says laughing at Rae who hides. Ember doesn’t even bother; the two people who get out of the car aren’t paying any attention to them. She watches them while they stumble and scream at each other. But then the littler one shrieks. It’s not like the yelling that flowed from her mouth when they got out of the car, she’s in pain. “Oh God.” Ember whispers. She knows what happened. Her eyes travel down to the ground where the girl is crying, then to her own hands. She can feel the blood oozing from shallow cuts on her palms, but she can’t see it, it’s too dark.
Glass from the broken flash light broke through the skin of the girl’s foot. Why she is barefoot Ember can’t even begin to fathom.
“What did you do?” Rae hisses, a hand grabs Ember’s shoulder and she is pulled back behind the trees.
“Broke the flashlight.” Ember mumbles, thankful she can’t see the look on Rae’s face. “Do you have your phone? Because I’m not walking through these woods with out a light, call Jackson.”
Rae calls, and Ember listens on the speaker, careful not to breathe. Jackson wouldn’t like it if he knew they were both in on the conversation. He tells Rae that he will meet them at the end of the driveway in twenty minutes and that they better be down there or he will leave them there.
“Get in.” Jackson’s voice is cold as Rae slips into the front seat of his van. Ember yanks the hand on the sliding door and waits for it to move. Jackson taps on the steering wheel, waiting impatiently for her to get in. She pulls it again and this time it slides to the left allowing her to get in the back. Once she’s in she hits the lever on the inside and the door slams shut.
There are no seats in the back of the mini-van. They were all ripped out; more room to put “stuff” in, Jackson said. Ember sits in the floor, her back against the door and her feet stretched out behind Jackson and Rae’s seats. As soon as she is seated Jackson floors it, getting them as far away from the house as possible.
“Can I smoke?” Ember asks, waiting for permission. In the rearview mirror she can see Jackson roll his eyes then smile down at her, his silent way of saying yes. Ember reaches her hand up behind her, twisting a little bit as she fumbles to find the button to operate the window. Her fingers find it and push down, the gears in the door whirl beside her ear and the glass falls slowly down.
“So what’s the plan?” Jackson asks. Ember hopes he is talking to Rae as she takes a drag from her cigarette and leans her head back against the leather siding of the door.
“We strike tomorrow night,” Rae tells him. “Ember agreed to do the honors this time. And I know how to get in.” She says it matter-of-factually like she’s in school bragging about something she can do better than everyone else. Jackson is the boy she’s trying to impress. Ember sighs and takes another drag. She waits for it to clear her mind, to take away all the anxiety she has about this plan.
“You ready for this, Ember?” He is talking to her now. She extracts the cigarette from her lips and tries to form words. But nothing comes out; this is what she was afraid of. “I’ll take that as I yes?” Ember looks up at him; his elbow rests on the console between him and Rae. In his hands he is holding a cigarette, unlit and perfect. Slowly he twists his fingers around it, crushing it into pieces.
Here as I promised I would be!