On The Run

Chapter Eleven

I wake up next to Ty but I'm just so tired that I end up closing my eyes and falling back asleep in his arms.

I'm sinking. The small boat keeping me afloat on this big body of water just collapsed. The storm is raging and I'm just falling deeper and deeper into the water. Im losing air, slowly, losing hope. My lungs start to burn and it takes all my strength not to swallow a mouth full of water. I hear the overwhelming waves crash above me, and I just give up.
Or wake up?
He's waking me up.
"you were screaming again." He says shaking me.
Why am I having these dreams- er- nightmares?
"I'm sorry. It must be the stress from these last few days that has me on edge. I'm sorry if I scared you." I add because I notice his worried eyes almost scanning for something to be wrong.

I reassure him by squeezing his hand.
"It's ok. That happens sometimes when I'm super stressed out." He smiles and gets up. Heading toward the fridge.

"Do I stress you out?" He asks, almost sad. What do I say? Ever since he kidnapped me, so many things changed. I went to the hospital, I was held at gunpoint, I was almost torn apart by wild animals, and I almost starved to death...
But I also fell in love. Which is stressful enough as it is.

"Yes." I answer, and I'm sad to see his face fall. Do I really mean that much to him? Could I ever mean that much to someone?
"But it's not in a bad way." I start, eying his reaction closely.
"My life has changed since I have been around you. Some things are scary, some things are sad..." His face falls even more. "But some things are amazing."

He looks at me and smiles. But he's been scanning the fridge for a solid three minutes.
"Having trouble deciding what to eat?" I ask, wondering why he's been in the fridge for so long.

"Not exactly...." He answers.
"So? What is it?" I ask.

"We are running low on food, and I don't really have, you know, any money." He says ashamed. Well that's not good. Now what? I can't steal and become a felon like him...
No matter how wrong our relationship is, I can't just resort to that kind of behavior.

"So what do we do?" I ask willing him not to say what I think will pop out of his mouth. Yet, it does.
"We may have to... Just take a few things from a store. But, it can't be anywhere near here, because they might get your face on a camera, and then the cops would know where we are." He answers.

"I don't want to steal, Ty." I say, I hope he doesn't get mad.
"Well what else are we gonna do?" He asks.
"It's not like we have any options." He adds. And with that, I know he's right. Since when has this become a Bonnie and Clyde relationship?

I nod and he looks relieved that I wasn't going to start an argument. He must remember how stubborn I used to be, but I have matured since then, realizing that being stubborn only leads to unnecessary fights.
Life lesson courtesy of my parents. I mentally roll my eyes at the thought.

"Ok, in the mean time, do you want any toast?" He asks. I am really hungry from the horrible incident that happened a few days ago, but the thought of stealing makes my stomach twist. I decide I should eat something so I'm not completely famished by the time we get the the store I am supposed to rob later.
"Sure." I answer. And he seems happy that I wanted something.

We eat in silence as I contemplate about what I am about to do. It's not like I am only going to steal a few things, we need enough food to last us a while. Or at least until my parents pay the ransom. This is going to be a big steal. Literally.

After we Finnish we clear the table and walk a while until we find another car at the side of the road.
He hot wires it and we both get in. This one is blue and not as old as the other one. I don't know why someone would just leave it there.

I am so nervous that I keep making wrong turns, and have to fix my direction as i misjudge the stop that we parked our car.
I can already tell I'm not going to be good at this. The worker is going to know I'm guilty before I even put anything in my jacket. Plus we are going to look suspicious walking into a store in Arizona dressed for winter up north!

I think Ty can see how nervous I am, because he starts to say something. But I'm not even paying attention. I'm trying to map out a plan.

"Did you hear me, Iz? This is important!" Wait... What was he saying?
"No sorry I wasn't paying attention." I respond honestly.
"Ok, pay attention. When we get to the store, you are going to talk to the cashier to distract him while I start getting some things we need. After, I will walk out, empty my shirt and I will distract the cashier while you get some things and walk out. Then, we are done, ok?"
That sounds like a horrible plan. Won't the cashier think we look suspicious if we keep walking in and out? Oh, this is not good.

I nod, but I think he knows I'm second guessing the plan.
"You have to keep a level head or they are going to know something's up." He basically reads my mind but I can't help how guilty I already feel. My conscience is screaming at me to back out. But how do I back out?

I know that I have some kind of relationship with him, but he can always play the kidnap card. Would he do that?
I stop my train of thought as we pull into the store hours away from our hide out.

This is it.

He gives me a reassuring squeeze of the hand before he gets out of the car. And reluctantly, I follow.

I walk in, and the store is pretty much empty. I walk over the the cashier, who looks extremely bored and start talking to him.

"Hi, I was wondering if you carried any paint. I know this isn't that kind of store, but I'm kind of desperate and don't have enough for the expensive gallons at a paint store." Ok this is going pretty well.

Until the guy just shakes his head no. No conversation or anything. How am I going to keep him distracted?
"Oh. How about paint brushes?" I ask desperate.
"Listen lady, all the isle ways are marked with what we got. Now if you'd just read them, and stop being a waste of my time that'd be great." He answers snidely. I get annoyed, and also very anxious because I know that if I don't keep him occupied, Ty will get caught.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ty trying to sneak out and that's when every thing went wrong.

"Hey! You gotta pay for that!" The cashier screams, and Ty tries to bolt, as do I. But the cashier must have had a switch to lock the doors because Ty couldn't get out.

The cashier pulls out a gun, and tells us to put our hands up. obviously, with the new threat, we oblige.

Ty's stash fell out of his jacket as he lifted his hands and we both were caught red handed.

The cashier lead us to a room in the back of the store, the gun on us the whole time.

As we sit, I realize it must be some type of office. We get locked in as the cashier promises,
"The cops will be here any minute!" And at that, Ty freaks.

"I though you were supposed to distract him!" Ty blames.
"I tried, but he just told me to look for myself and he stopped talking to me!" I try to defend myself, but the fact is, this is my fault. I got Ty into yet another mess.

"Well, we have to come up with a plan to get out, or we are both screwed. Me for kidnapping and you for stealing." He says, and at that a tear rolls down my face, I may not see Ty for a long time. Even if I do, will it be behind bulletproof glass?

I decide right then and there I was not going to let that happen. I will get Ty out of this.

I start to come up with a plan.

Ty and I start to Whisper about how we think we can get past the cops once they open the door, and he can "take me hostage" with the officer we pushed down's gun. We also talk about how we should get away with the car and ditch it later.

After coming up with a thorough plan, he insists that if something goes wrong and we get caught, I say that he forced me to do this so I don't go to jail. The thought makes my stomach knot up.

I love this man, my kidnapper.

I will not lose my Ty.