Dreams Or How I Live My Life in Daydreams

Atonement

"Why did you do that, Bart?" Dante shouted, the blood drained from his face.

"I did what I had to do," the boy replied with no emotion in his voice.

Dante gripped him by the arm. "We've got to get outta here. Now!"

The boy jerked his arm away. "Not yet. Autumn is a witness. She can testify against us. I'm not going to jail. Not for anybody." He cocked the trigger.

"J-Just wait a minute, please," Dante said, his eyes bulging out their sockets.

"I need to make sure they are dead," Bart said seeing no point in sugarcoating his words. "We can't have them surviving and calling the police." He aimed his gun at Maddox's head.

"They're not moving, man," Dante screeched, his voice rising in decibels. "They're dead. I'm telling you!"

"And I'm telling you I need to be sure," Bart replied. He took a measured step over to the couple lying listlessly on the floor.

He fired a single shot. He tucked his gun back in his waistband.  "Now we can go."

"C'mon!" Dante said. He wiped the sweat off his upper lip with a shaky hand while Bart picked up bullet shells and any other evidence that could implicate them.

He circled back making sure he hadn't missed anything.

"Let's go, Bart," Dante said, tapping his foot. His eyes darting across the room, they fell upon the lifeless bodies, a pool of blood spreading underneath them. His gut clenched.

"I'm just making sure," Bart mumbled. "I watched enough of those forensic shows to know they can find the littlest thing as evidence."

Dante eyed the boy with incredulity.

"Okay, I'm done," Bart said.

They hustled out of the hideout. Seconds later, tires screeched away.

*********

Autumn couldn't see a thing, Maddox laying on top of her obscuring her vision. Her heart raced a mile a minute as she lay still trying to breathe in quick breaths while Bart stood over them.

Pop!

She heard what sounded like a firecracker going off. Maddox's limp frame reacted to the impact. Autumn felt a prick in her shoulder blade. The footsteps getting closer; she closed her eyes, pretending to be dead.

After what seemed like an eternity, the footsteps treaded away. Her eyes still closed, Autumn heard rummaging. Bart or Dante was tampering with the crime scene to clean up the evidence. She bit her lip not to utter an expletive.

"Let's go, Bart," Dante said, fear in his inflection.

Not so tough now, huh? She mused.

She heard scrambling and a door slamming shut. A minute later, tires screeched away.

She attempted to slide from underneath Maddox, his body crushing her with his weight.

"Maddox," she whispered strained.

No reply.

"Maddox!" she said louder.

Silence.

She felt something warm trickling down her shirt. It spread. It smelled metallic like iron. Blood. She broke out in a cold sweat. Maddox didn't reply because he had been shot. Oh, God.

Grunting, Autumn mustered her strength and pushed herself free. Able to access the situation, Autumn inspected Maddox. He lay on his side, his back soaked with blood. He'll bleed to death if she couldn't stop the bleeding. First, she needed to free herself from the zip ties.