Parkour

My hand begins to bruise at the wrist. I can tell by how tight one of Dustin’s companions is keeping me from doing what I am clearly considering at the moment. To run! The orange gold of the sun stretches over the horizon, a reflection of dusk indeed, as it is eager to take its seat at the mighty palace awaiting to show off its dark side. I am, since the other night, afraid of the dark and its evils. What did I get myself into?

Dustin finishes his call, his calm attitude shifting to ballistic in just a matter of seconds. It stirs up something inside me. Something unapologetic and devouring. I want to think it is fear, but it gives me chills rather than shivers. He grunts in frustration, almost ready to hit the guy he’s talking to next to him. It’s as if he doesn’t know what to do next, stuck between a dilemma and I can tell I am the problem. He turns to face me and a sudden confidence engulfs me. My head is up high, a creepy smirk bouncing on my pale, dry lips as I put on a fake, daring personality.

“How do you know Dustin?” I ask the girl behind me, encouraging a twisted grip on my wrist.

“No talking!”

I wince slightly, moving back a bit to close the distance between us. I am in desperate need of a distraction. “How do you know Dustin?” I ask once again.

“We met in church, two days ago.” I turn my head slightly towards her to try and see if she’s joking, but her face is as stern as vengeance. There are some remnants of glitter at the corner of her eye in the line of my vision and a thick dark line of contour to give the impression of cheek bones that she clearly doesn’t have. Her previously dark hair is now in fading blond, messy with hair sticking out as if it hadn’t been combed for days. She’s undeniably going through a rough time. “He approached me, said he can help me quit stripping and get a decent job that will help me help my brother. Sam is still in school, just about to get to high school and I want to earn respectfully, you know.”

“You met in church?”

She chuckles. “What? You think girls like us can’t go to church? We don’t have a choice getting into stripping. It’s all we’ve got when life decides to screw us. It doesn’t mean I have to give up my faith.”

I shake my head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, Dustin in church? He seems more repelled to faith than any atheists out there.”

“How did you even get that by looking at him?” She sounds accusing, not believing a word I said.

“What’s in it for him? He just can’t approach you because he wants to.” His earlier statement rings in my head. 'You already sold your soul, darling. You are mine!"

“I don’t know, honestly. He just said I find him here today, do as he asks then he’ll see what he can do. I do whatever it takes, you know, I love the adrenaline in my veins,” she says chuckling and for a moment loosening her grip on my wrist. She takes out a cigarette from the pocket of her jacket and places it in her mouth using her free hand.

That’s just it. The adrenaline.

“Thanks!” I mutter lowly.

She lights on the cigarette and blows the smoke to my face before asking, “What for, sis?”

“You were kind of showing no mercy to my poor wrist. It hurts.”

“Hey, I am just doing what I’m asked. It will get me out here alive.”

She takes another puff and blows it in my face making me cough. There is the familiarity in the smell and taste of the little particles of smoke that make their way to my oral cavity, provoking those tiny little sneezes which call for Dustin’s attention. His black eyes sparkle against the now turned-on park lights as they stare into mine, reminding me of fireflies and awakening the tiny little beast I’ve discovered just today because of him. His right shoulder is leaning down a bit as he watches me, wondering what the hell he’ll do with me, what the hell he’ll do with all of us.

He is in a quest it seems, a quest to help these poor souls but none is as fucked up as mine. None is as stubborn as mine. A soul I had unwillingly sold to God knows what and God knows when but I am not ready to accept the payment. I am not ready to reach out for that dream, that huge flame when everything I’ve ever wanted is already a paper burning at the bottom of the same fire. I have dignity, and that is not putting up my soul on eBay.

The wild beast in me riles up. The girl behind me has forgotten her role in keeping me a prisoner and I am left free for a moment. I’m still close to her, she can catch me in seconds if I try anything stupid. Unless I convince her we go together.

“Let’s make a run for it. Do it for fun, huh.”

“Are you crazy? This is my life we are talking about.”

“It’s my life too. Look, how sure are you Dustin will live up to his bargain or he just pampered you to do whatever he wants then stall until you are on the end of your rope.”

“I trust him,” she says defiantly.

I turn back to her in sarcasm. “Do you?”

“It may not be the same for you, but for me, my brother comes first.”

“And what has that got to say you can’t do it by yourself, that you need his effing help.”

“Oh, you need his help as much as I do.”

“No,” I shake my head, “I want it, I don’t need it. Look, at least just let me go. He won’t even know I left.”

She scoffs, “You are the centre of his attention, sis, the reason we are all here,” her grip tightens once again, reducing my chances of escaping, “you’re not going anywhere.”

“What? Me?”

The girl is interrupted by Dustin as he clears his throat ready to speak. His companions gather around, passing out beer bottles from a cooler box I failed to notice earlier. Another group is setting up a fire in the middle of the circle just formed. Is that even legal?

Adrenaline coerces through my veins, offering me the option of flight. That is all I can think of. That is all I want to do. But Dustin has his eyes on me like a hawk, a guard on my back and several potential bounty hunters. I need to be smart if I ought to make a run for it. I bite my lip as I look around frantically, and I try my luck. Before I know it, both my hands are behind my back and a zip tie tied to keep them there. My teeth dig into my lip to keep me from screaming in pain and calling on for attention, though that’s inevitable as the girl’s dramatic grunts beguiles the attention of everyone at the little camp.  

I then feel a hand on my chin. It gently brings me to look at the person in front of me, his dark eyes that are burning in rage, pierce into mine. Using his free hand, Dustin releases my poor lip from beneath my teeth and wipes the little blood on them with his thumb before licking it off. I shudder at the sight of his thumb in his mouth, enjoying the taste of my blood. He moves closer, taking me by my hair once again and throws my head back so that he can look down at me, like silently demanding I be submissive.

His light stubble grazes my chin as he is so close, we could kiss. He has the appearance that enchant yet still of one who sees right through you to your soul and may take it to keep it safe from come what may. I like how his brows furrow in concentration as he studies my face, drinking me up in subtility probably wondering what to say or do to me. By a quick wave of his hand, the girl behind me lets go and moves back I can no longer radiate heat from her. That only gives me an opportunity. Dustin is my perfect distraction. Ironically.

“Don’t you love yourself, Ria?”

I scrunch my eyebrows as I shift my eyes to each of his. “I…” I falter, “I don’t know.”

He quirks his lips amusedly before he bites my bleeding one. I blench a shade and close my eyes to break the intimate contact they had with his. Without thinking, I headbutt him straight to his nose making him let go of me and tend to his possibly broken nose then step on his left foot and finally make a run for it. Behind me his potential bounty hunters are on my tail as per his instruction. I head out of the park, jumping over laying bodies on the grass, picnic arranged sets and even climbing some picnic tables. It is now getting dark, not so many people are around, but some who are have already taken out their phones and started filming the wild goose chase.

I bump into a group of skaters on their way to the skating arena and one of them trips me making me meet the ground with a thud. I look up desperately at them and whisper a help. One of them actually helps me up then makes his friends buy me time by holding off Dustin’s companions. I mutter a thank you before dragging my sore body towards the road. I’m able to catch a taxi and hop in then yell at the poor driver to go before those people catch up to me.

“Do you need a hospital, ma’am?” he asks after seeing my state through the rear-view mirror.

“No, please. Just take me as far away as possible from here, please.”

“Where to?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

I exhale heavily, my voice brittle as I am about to cry. I can’t believe I just escaped the devil though that doesn’t mean he won’t find me. So much so, as I have already sold my soul.