Noxious

36 | know the meaning

Kyle

Good things always come to an end. 

I was happily munching on the gas station snacks that Charly had stolen for us. We might have fought over who got what until we finally settled down. I had to admit, the sibling rivalry was showing through and it wasn't bitter hate. 

We came around a rather sharp bend in the road. 

My eyes widened and I planted a hand on the dash as Tommy slammed on the brakes. 

It was a two-lane road but maybe ten feet away, there sat two police cars.

Something was rolled across the road and I realized it was a spike strip. 

"Oh, fuck." 

I don't know who said it. My eyes were glued on the police officers, braced against their doors with guns drawn. They were shouting for us to get out. 

How had they pinpointed our location?

It wasn't until a warning shot was fired, and we heard it ping off the hood of Tommy's car, that we were torn from our shock. 

"Get down!" Tommy hollered, and he slammed the car into reverse. He swore and swerved sharply, which I only realized was because two police cars were coming in behind us, and then I felt the car leave the road. "Hold on!" 

I was glued against my door as Tommy spun the car around on the dirt and then he gunned it for the gap between the police cars following us. We skimmed through and Tommy's driver's side mirror cracked from clipping one of the cruisers. 

I simply did my seatbelt and held on, as Tommy had said, because I trusted him. Everything was blurry outside the car window for me, but Tommy was able to watch everything and react within milliseconds. 

He was a magnificent driver and he had gotten us out of a lot of situations. He might have sworn to never street race again, but I was going to tell him he should pick up legal racing. He could probably make it a career. 

The car jerked as it came in contact with the pavement again and Tommy pushed the engine until it was screaming. His face was completely calm and focused. However, I didn't miss the dark circles starting to show under his eyes. 

I glanced in the mirror and saw the flickering lights of five police cars in pursuit. 

How long were we going to run? 

I didn't know. 

Tommy swerved around a slow-moving car. Well, they were actually driving the speed limit. It was a woman and her face was horrified as we breezed past. I almost lifted my hand from the door handle to give her a wave, just because it would be funny. 

I didn't and we sped into a town. 

It almost felt like we were back in the city again, and Tommy started drifting around corners onto random streets. I was pretty sure he didn't know where he was going but he was taking random directions to lose the police. 

There was laughter from the backseat. 

My head whipped around in utter disbelief. Charly and Rowan were holding onto each other, and every time Tommy drifted around another corner, they would grin and laugh. From side to side they went, as if nothing else in the world mattered to them. 

"Are you two fucking insane?" I asked them. 

"Pfft no," Charly snickered, "This is just fun!"