L leaned half her body out the passenger window and let out a loud whoop.
“Get your ass back in the car!” K laughed, tugging on a loop on her girlfriend’s jeans. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”
“Ugh.” L plopped back into her seat with a giggle. “Come on, K! Don’t be such a sour sport.”
“I’m not,” K pouted as she checked her mirrors for flashes of red and blue. “We’re not far enough out of the city yet, that’s all.”
Huffing, L propped her feet up on the dash and squinted at her boots in the dim light. Licking her thumb, she rubbed a drop of crimson on the toe tip. “We’re far enough. If they’re not chasing us yet, they aren’t going to.” She cocked her head to the side as she glanced over to K, admiring the subtle slope of her nose, and the sweet curves of her lips. “We’re safe, babe,” she spoke in a soothing voice as she reached over and smoothed the wrinkles in her girlfriend’s forehead.
“Someone heard,” K retorted, but softened her face with a sigh as she checked behind them again.
L rolled her eyes and saw the duffel bags in the rearview mirror. “Who? Who heard, come on it wasn’t that loud,” she grumbled as she leaned back and pushed aside a purple suitcase to snag a purse. “Damn this is nice.” Settling back into her seat, she admired the woven pattern on the side, tracing it with a fingertip. “I’ve always wanted one of these, ya know? Not like this though, new, but this’ll do.” Holding it to her nose, she gave it a deep sniff. “Mm, real leather just smells so nice.”
K gripped the wheel and ground her teeth, eyes narrowing at the road. She couldn’t fathom how her girlfriend could be so calm after everything went so wrong. The house was supposed to be empty. No one was supposed to be home, she checked so many times. She even brought it up when she had spoken to him last night, to make sure.
“Ready for your vacation tomorrow?” She flashed her pearly whites at him.
“Got my golf clubs all packed up.” He smiled back, eyeing how low she had unbuttoned her shirt.
She always felt him looking at her, like some forbidden fruit he desperately wanted, but she pretended not to notice the hungry gaze behind heavy glasses. Even if she didn’t have L, K never would have let him touch her, but to entice him was another thing. The want made him vulnerable, made him trust her more. Enough to ask her to check on the family cats. Enough to give her a key to his place to do so.
Something moved out of the corner of her vision and K glanced in the rearview mirror. Cold, grey eyes stared at her from behind round tortoiseshell glasses. A scream tore out of her and she whirled around to face the intruder.
“Whoa! Girl! The ROAD!” L cried out as she grabbed the wheel to keep them from driving off into the ditch and the muddy waters it held. “Geez what the hell?”
K’s vision was splotchy from panic as she turned back, her breath coming in gulping gasps. Hesitantly, she looked back into the mirror and some tension released from her shoulders when she saw nothing. Of course. There was no way anyone else was in the car, they checked before tossing the bags back there. L was right. They were safe. It was just her overactive mind getting to her again.
“Hey,” L lightly punched her girlfriend in the arm, her brow knitted with concern. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” K gave her an attempt at a smile. “It’s fine. Just my imagination. I’m still all wound up. I don’t know how you’re so chill right now.”
Snorting, L placed a wet kiss on her cheek before returning to her pillaging of the purse. “Nah, I’m all jazzed up too. I’m sure I’ll crash here in a bit. Wow,” she let out a cruel chuckle as she pulled out the driver’s license. “Margaret. Fits her. She’s got that drab housewife look. No wonder Mr. Daniels always eyed you like that. I would too if I were married to her. God, what? Did she have baby hands? Probably another reason he didn’t like her anymore.” L snorted as she tried on a lacy glove she found in a side pocket. “They are pretty at least.” She tugged on the hem, trying to stretch the fingers out to fit her better. Giggling, L reached over and stroked K’s cheek. “Aren’t they, darling?”
“Haha, yeah.” K tried not to wince as the delicate fabric touched her.
“God, what a snobby bitch she was.”
K swallowed the sour taste that rose in her mouth at L’s casual rude comment of the woman. L often made such remarks, and sure, K agreed Margaret wouldn’t win any beauty contests, but this time it turned her stomach. She glanced at her girlfriend out of the corner of her eye. Her slender face was harshly illuminated by the flashlight on her phone as she rummaged through the purse. How many times had she cupped her cheeks? Kissed her little upturned nose as she gently ran her fingers through her blonde hair? How many hours had she gazed into her soft brown eyes while they talked about everything and anything? K wasn’t sure, but she knew it was more than anyone else she knew. Yet, for the first time since they met, K looked at L as though she were a complete stranger.
A pop of light in the passenger side mirror drew K’s eye and she tried to suppress another scream. The noise she produced instead was a strange, low gurgling growl which caused L to drop her phone in fright. “What? What what what?” she snapped, glaring at her girlfriend.
“I,” K paused, rubbing her temple as she shifted forward, hunching over the steering wheel as she stared at the road. “I don’t know. I keep thinking I see something. Someone.”
“Uh huh,” L said flatly, pushing the bag off her lap to spill across the floorboard. Loosely crossing her long arms, she tried to summon some patience for her girlfriend’s paranoia. “Talk to me, babe.”
This was a recurring problem for L in their otherwise perfect relationship. So, L did what she always did when K was like this, and focused on how pretty she was while she rambled on. When L had spotted her across the cafeteria, she instantly knew she had to make K hers. She could tell K was a knockout, hidden under ill-fitting clothes. She had a feeling the mousey girl poorly avoiding eye contact behind a textbook might have quite a wild streak. L was right. K was more open to things than she first appeared, a little firecracker waiting for the right person to light her fuse. Her spirit almost made up for how much anxiety was also packed into her tall frame. At first, L had compassion for the constant worry, but after so much time together and seeing this happen again and again, she didn’t bother pretending anymore. Sometimes the attacks were so frequent, L considered leaving, but then K would smile and L would remember why she talked to her in the first place. She was beautiful, and there was no other girl like K, so adventurous in the best ways…even if she was broken in other ways.
“How,” K started, then paused to wet her lips. “How could you talk about her like that?”
“Who?”
“Margaret! Especially after you, you just shot her like that! God, I told you not to bring the gun!” K hissed, her anger and anxiety a tempest in her, as she pushed the pedal harder. “We were supposed to nab the money from the safe, get some things and run, but you had to bring the gun!”
There. It was out. K exhaled as her eyes burned with tears. It was supposed to be a simple job, steal the cash her jerky rich boss didn’t need, travel until the heat died down and they could finally settle somewhere nice. How were they supposed to do that now? They — no. L was the murderer.
“What was I supposed to do? Let her go?” L threw her hands up. “I had to protect us!”
“I- No! Yes? Not shoot her!” K snapped.
“Please! If I hadn’t, she would have called the cops!”
“Why did I listen to you? ‘Your boss is rich! He’s a creep! He doesn’t need that money? Let’s go traveling! You’ve always wanted –’“ K mocked.
“You have! You have always wanted to do some big road trip and if I hadn’t suggested this, which you agreed to! Let’s not forget that. You agreed to it. You buttered him up. You got the key! I didn’t twist your arm, but if it wasn’t for me, we wouldn’t be here, would we!” L slapped the dashboard and pointed to the road.
“Someone is DEAD L!” K was almost screaming now as she looked at her girlfriend.
“K!” L shrieked, the blood draining from her face as she stared out the windshield. “Watch out!” Frantically, she dove for the steering wheel, yanking it hard to avoid the person in the road.
“L! NO!” K tried to regain control, but couldn’t fight her girlfriend’s grip on the wheel.
“K! LET ME! WE ARE GOING TO HIT HER!”
K finally followed her girlfriend’s gaze as they fought. There in the middle of the road stood a middle-aged woman with perfect posture, wearing a floral dress. In one hand, she held keys and in the other a purple suitcase. Her hair, tightly pulled back into a bun, was perfectly smooth. Her makeup, too, was impeccable. The only thing amiss about her was the blood dripping from the single bullet wound L had given her in the center of her forehead. The woman stared at them from behind her tortoiseshell glasses as they swerved across the road, fighting each other and the momentum of the car.
“L!” K cried, slamming her foot down on the brake as hard as she could, but it was too late. There was no hope of regaining control back over the vehicle.
In her last moments, K grabbed L to protect her, to keep her from flying out the windshield. It didn’t work. Together they were thrown through the thick glass and landed on the other side of the embankment as the car continued to flip and roll.
Coughing, her body riddled with cuts from thick glass, L tried to figure out what had happened. “K? Oh, oh god K?” she sobbed as she stared at K’s twisted and mangled body. “Baby? Baby, it is okay!” She dug her fingers into the dirt as her own broken body began to slide deeper into the ditch. “Please,” she begged, as she desperately tried to slow her descent into the murky water below. “Please, no I don’t want to die. No.”
Movement out of the corner of L’s eye caught her attention and she turned to see who was there. The hope which sparked in her chest at the thought it was someone to rescue them, was immediately extinguished when she saw Margaret, smiling down at her.
“No, please, I’m sorry,” L pleaded as the dead woman knelt down and put a cold fingertip against her forehead. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean it.”
L frantically blinked away tears as she stared into Margaret’s grey eyes. “Please,” she tried one more time as she attempted to grab onto anything not slick with blood or mud to pull herself up.
Margaret shook her head slowly, pressing hard against her skull, rolling her down the muck to drown in the stagnant water, mouthing “pow” as she did.
