Untitled? (Chapter 2)

The night outside was warm, but not exactly humid. A cool wind blew through my thin t-shirt. There was a sweater in my car. I could have just grabbed it, made Grace wait for one second. She saw the look in my eye and automatically said, “Whatever you are thinking of, do not do it. This is my first time taking someone on an adventure. Don’t dare ditch me.” I smiled sheepishly, wondering, exactly, how she always managed to read minds.

We stood outside the restaurant for a few minutes. She seemed never to be cold, the dim streetlight casting her in gold. It was like she was thinking, and I watched her pace for a bit, back and forth, the click from her boots seeming louder and ominous in the silence of the night.

“Got it!” She cried out and turned toward me with a wide, natural smile. She grabbed my wrist, and I noted that her tiny hands were cold.

“Are you cold?” I asked, “I have a sweater in my car if you want?”

“Normally, I’d say yes, then keep the sweater, but not tonight. Now get into my car.” I climbed into the passenger seat, Grace got into the driver, and started her car, leaving me exactly to wonder what we were doing.

We drove through the city streets without the radio to accompany us. I sat in an uncomfortable silence, arms crossed over my chest, watching the streets go by. The lamplight spilled pools of light on the cement, and sometimes you could see people, drug dealers, drug buyers, girls like Grace just looking for their next thrill, and I had to wonder what the exact point of life was. Was it just living day-to-day, then dying at the end? Or dousing yourself in cheap perfume and looking for the next guy to flirt with? What about the ones who died as kids? I wondered if there was a master plan, or if life was synonymous for totally, utterly and completely random.

I didn’t ask Grace these questions. Instead I kept them to myself. It didn’t seem like she wanted to talk, anyway. It just seemed like she liked to drive in silence, and I let her.

“Here.” She said, pulling into park. I looked around. We were at an abandoned house, with shutters falling off, made out of wood. It was old, from maybe the 1800’s. It was also a death trap.

“Here?” I asked. Grace’s mischievous smile returned to her face once more.

“Phase one.” She said, reaching into the centre console. She pulled a baggy thing from it, wrapped in a dark cloth. She got out of the car and looked at me expectantly. I had gotten this far, no use in turning back now.

“Lead the way,” I said graciously.

Lead the way she did. I followed her up the rickety wooden stairs, copying her careful footsteps like she did it every other day.

“Every other week.” She corrected my thoughts. I could hear the bugs flying around us.   

Grace kept climbing, not saying a word. I lagged back, trying to admire her and climb at the same time.

“Hurry up!” She called down to me. I picked up my pace, avoiding where the wood had climber through. Grace waited for me on the porch, and without knocking, she pushed the door open.

She stepped through, pulling out her iPhone and calling up the flashlight app. She shone it around the halls, her right hand grasping the bundled thing.

“Tommy!” She yelled, “Come on, you bastard. I know you’re here.” Silence. Grace sighed. Looking around and handing me her phone to unbutton the top buttons of her blazer.

“Tommy,” her voice sing songed into the empty abandoned house, “come on, boy,  come out.”

“Depends.” A snarling voice called back. I shone the light through the decrypt foyer, trying to find the source, “what have you got?”

“A clean shot to the forehead if you don’t have it.” Grace volleyed back. They continued like this for a while, bouncing back one-liners, bringing out Grace’s sarcastic smirk.  Finally, though, a teenage boy with low-slung jeans, preppy haircut and unbuttoned plaid shirt came out from hiding.

“There we are,” Grace purred. She let him kiss her gently and I turned away.

“Whose that?” he asked sharply. I waved sheepishly.

“I’m Nate.” I said, “nice to meet you.” He looked me up and down, watching me closely. He then turned back to Grace, his thin, chicken like lips turning upward.

“Give it to me, Tommy.” She warned, “give it to me.” Tommy shrugged nonchalantly. I wondered what time it was. I wondered what she wanted. I wondered why I wondered instead of watching the exchange.

“I don’t have it, Lovely. It looks like your gonna have to wait until next weekend.” I had never seen Grace get angry. She always seemed to be chill, taking the phrase ‘Keep Calm and Carry On,’ to a T.

But she got mad.

“You son of a bitch!” She screamed, echoing off the empty walls, and making the entire rom shake. I clutched tighter onto her rhinestone covered iPhone and shone the light in her direction.

She unwrapped the object, and leveled a hand gun straight at Tommy’s head.

“I wasn’t fucking joking. Who jokes about murder? I don’t.” Grace said,

“Tommy, do you have it?” He looked around, checking out his options. He had no options. He took a step back, Grace to a step forward, never shaking on her aim.

“I’ll ask you again, because you are either spontaiously deaf or mute. Do you have it?”

“N-N-No,” Tommy stuttered quietly. Three shots rang out, ending faster than they had started. Tommy slumped to the ground, his brown eyes staring out, and blood dripping down his nose. He was dead. Grace ran over to him, slipping her hand into his jean pockets, pulling out little baggies.

“All you had to do was say yes.” She told the body. She turned back to me, calmly, as if she didn’t just kill another human being.

“Phase one is over. Onto phase two. You in?” She asked me, wrapping the gun back up in the cloth. I couldn’t not say no. She’d probably shoot me too.

“Let’s go, then.” We raced back down the stairs and to the car. We got in, Grace putting the gun back in the center console.

We drove again in silence, the green glowing clock on the dashboard reading closer to midnight then nine pm. We drove past the same city streets with the same rapscallions lining them. But it felt different. It felt like I had just witnessed a murder and knew that every one would die, some sooner than others.

Grace drove carefully, staring forward, not making a noise the entire ride. I knew for a fact she wasn’t taking me home, not now. She pulled her little car over to the curb, over a river that rushed by happily. She took the gun and chucked it over the ledge, cloth with it.

“Phase Three.” She said upon her return. I was sure she was making these phases up as we went. She tossed her hair from her eyes and peeked into the console, staring at the little baggies full of white powder, “we sell these.”

It was never my intention to be part of a midnight drug deal, but Grace pulled her skirt up a bit, unbuttoned her blouse and climbed out of the car.

“Wait here.” She said and left me alone, once again with my thoughts.

I thought about my parents, and if I should call them. They must be worried, but not as much as when it was my brother out late, ignoring his curfew. We had driven about three hours out of the city, and weren’t even close to near back yet. I wondered if she’d drive the entire way, or let me drive half way through. I wondered what when through her pretty little mind when she had shot him. I wondered who he was, really. He seemed familiar, like all the self-righteous scumbags at my school. He probably was one of them. I made a mental note to ask Grace after this night was over.

What had driven me to say yes? I pictured my mother sitting by the phone, reading her latest harlequin romance novel, waiting for the phone to ring. Her eyes would light up when she picked up the phone, then dim again when she found out it was just a telemarketer.

I hated doing this to my mom.

It must have been nearly half an hour before Grace returned rolling her eyes.

“Some girls are the stupidest things.” She sighed, “I shouldn’t judge because I can’t, but that girl only thinks about herself.” She turned on the ignition and sped away, headed back towards home.

We did switch off. At around two am, we switched so Grace could sit, think and sleep and I could drive her back safely into the city. I hoped my parents had gone to sleep, maybe making my brother stay up to make sure I got home. He, too, would eventually fall asleep, and I would dig the key out from under the potted plant and get in safely.

“Hey, Nate.” Grace was wide-awake by the time we pulled up near my house. She kissed me gently, “don’t tell anyone about tonight, and we will resume shortly with Phase Four.”