Chapter 30- Bittersweet Sundown

Walking down a main highway was something I absolutely dreaded. I hated walking down any road, fearing that I might get hit by a vehicle. When the first car had come up, I jumped to the other side of Nick and grabbed his hand. Everytime after that I gripped his hand like a vise. 'Why are you squeezing my hand so hard?' He was amused.
'I... kinda have a fear of being hit by a car.'
'Oh.' I tried to distract myself by counting my steps but failed. 'Ow.' Nick pried his hand away, 'Child,' he laughed.
'Sorry,' I blushed and hugged myself.
'Okay, what do you plan on doing when we get settled down finally?'
I looked at the ground and thought. 'The first thing I have to do is call my boss and see if I still have a job.'
'But you only have been gone for a week.'
'He's a dick.. But yeah anyways.. uh, after that I have to go over to Raven's and talk to her.'
'About?'
'The.. uh, situation between her and I.. I don't wanna talk about it right now.'
'Well, what do you wanna do that's FUN? It seems like you don't know what that word means.' He smiled.
'I know what fun means,' I stuck my tongue out, loving the feeling of the cool metal back on my tongue. Nick took notice and his eyes widened.
'I didn't know you had your tongue pierced!'
I laughed, 'I put it back in when I was getting dressed at the hospital. Nick likey?'
'I don't know yet. Why didn't you tell me you had one?'
'I forgot to mention it,' I giggled.
'What else did you forget to mention?' he smirked and slickly slid his hand into mine.
'I don't know. I've pretty much told you everything about me,' I quickly replaced my guilty face with a look of innocence. 'What about you? Anything you haven't told me?'
He twitched his mouth in amusement, 'Hm, let's see..' he thought for a moment then raised his eyebrows. 'Aw, yes. I like long walks on the beach and baths with the little rubber ducks.'
I laughed and pushed him, 'Smart-a*s.'
'What? I was being for real,' he joked. Then his smile faded, 'Well, actually, there is something I haven't told you.'
'What is it?' I asked gently, surprised at his sudden change in mood.
'Um.. remember when I was telling you how I was sent to the Centers?'
'Yeah..' I said slowly.
He waited a beat before telling me, '.. I was dating her.. The girl that.. killed herself. And I was there when she did it..'
I waited for him to say more and when he didn't, I squeezed his hand slightly. 'It's okay,' I said softly. He once again let go of my hand and looked away.
'No.. it's not okay... When that man was beating her, I had barged into her house and ripped him off of her.. She kept telling me to stop hitting him but.. I couldn't. When he was dead, I was standing over him when she hit me in the head with a frying pan. After I had gotten the weapon away from her, we got into an arguement.. She kept yelling at me that I shouldn't have killed him. I told her that I didn't mean to and that I was just trying to protect her. But she wouldn't listen to me.. She said that that man was her real boyfriend and that he only did that when he got drunk. She told me she didn't mind that he hit her, that she kinda liked it and now that I killed him, she was going to kill herself to be with him.'
Nick shook his head and I noticed that he was trying not to cry. 'At first all I could think at the time was: ohmygod, she's been cheating on me with a grown man. One who beats her and she doesn't mind it.. I was so mad at the time, I told her to go ahead and kill herself. I didn't think she'd really do it at the time. I thought she had just said it to piss me off.. She had ran to the bathroom and grabbed a bottle of pills.. I watched her take the whole bottle but at the time I was too upset to move.. It's like.. I wasn't realizing that what she was really doing until it was too late... After she had taken all of them, she threw the bottle at me and asked if I was happy now..' A tear slid down his cheek. 'All I said was yes before I walked out.'
I gasped and did nothing but look at him as more tears escaped. He glanced over to see my reaction, 'I swear, Alice, I wasn't thinking straight at the time. I was just soo mad..'
'What was her name?' I asked quietly.
'Kristin..'
'What happened next..?'
'By the time I came to my senses, it was already too late. She was already dead and her parents wanted an explanation for the dead 30 year old in their living room so they called on an investigation. My prints were found all over him, so they found and arrested me. I tried to tell them that I was trying to protect Kris but nobody believed me. They suspected that the bruises on her were from me and that I drove her to kill herself and then I killed the man when he tried to protect her.'
'Ohmygod,' I managed to whisper, hugging myself.
'I.. I feel so bad, Alice. You have no id-'
He was interrupted by someone honking at us. I jumped to see Eli in our piece of s**t station wagon pulling over beside us. He glared at the both of us, 'Aww,' he mocked. 'Why is the little emo crying?'
'Shut up, Eli,' I growled.
He scowled at my sudden braveness. 'Get in, Alice,' he hissed, opening the passenger side.
I rose my chin in defiance, 'Not without Nick.'
'Get in the f*****g car, now.' He was beginning to become extremely pissed.
'No.' Boy, was I going to get it later. But I wasn't going to leave Nick on the side of the road, even if I was upset with him.
'Why do you insist on being so bold all of the sudden? Is it your meds?' A vehicle honked behind him and Eli motioned ahead, 'Go around, a*****e!' The truck passed while honking again and Eli flicked them off. He looked at me again, 'Well?'
'Why do you have to be such a dick?' I sneered.
'Why do you have to be such a b***h?' he countered. Nick began to stomp towards the car but I stopped him. Eli laughed, 'Ooo, getting the emo b*****d to try and kill me to? Wow, and how many people have you really slaughtered?'
I turned towards Nick and laid my hands on his chest. 'Don't listen to him, Nick. He's just a jerk and he's trying to press your buttons.' Nick nodded his head slightly and looked back at Eli.
'Look Abigail, if you don't get in this car I'm going to have to explain to Noah why her sister has been gone for the past five days all by myself. And believe me, I won't leave a single detail out.'
I gaped at him, 'You wouldn't..'
'Oh, but I would,' he smiled.
I thought for a moment, I had to be quick on my feet with him. 'Fine, I guess I'll just have to tell the cops what happens when big brother gets a little too tipsy.' I cocked my head to the side.
He narrowed his eyes at me, his mouth slightly agape in surprise. He knew that I'd do it. After a minute of glaring at each other, he rolled his eyes and sighed. 'Whatever. Get in both of you.'
I smiled and made sure Nick was in the car before I got in. Eli grumbled a bunch of words under his breath as he slammed into gear and sped off.