Chapter 1: Why Save her? (rewritten)

“It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone, but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.”
-Anonymous

It was written in a journal I had found in a dusty attic in our house when we had just moved in a few years ago. Any time I have nothing to do or just want to be alone, I find this journal and read at least one entry every time. No one knows who the author was but it has obviously been here a while. It’s been helping me coup with the past school year. It was a dark and rainy evening in Yuma, Arizona. It rains for the first time in God knows how long and I was stuck inside because my parents thought I was going to crash if I drove in the rain. I was a good driver but they still didn’t trust me. I had nothing to do but read this journal. I read that quote and it brought back harsh memories of my ex. I wondered if my heart would ever mend after She dumped me the way that she did.
The phone rang. I was on the other side of the house so I ran to get it. When I got there, it had almost gone to voice mail. When I answered, I almost didn’t recognize who it was. She was in tears. I could barely understand what she was saying. “Are you ok?” I said trying to sound as sincere as I could after what she had done to me. “I… I’m so sorry Nick. I… I’m in big trouble. Can you meet me?” she said trying fight back the tears. My ex asking me for help? I wasn’t sure what to say. “What kind of trouble?”
“It’s Robert. I guess he wanted more than he asked for.”
“Is he there? I want to…”
“NO! Just meet me at the new mall sight. I’ll be by the big light on the corner. Please Nick, don’t make this any harder than it has to be. Meet me in 10 minutes, or Robert will find me. Bring your Camaro.”
“Wait, Hello?”
She had hung up on me. Why the Camaro? She knew my parents wouldn’t let me drive it after dark, especially in the rain. I didn’t have time to think about it. The lot that the new mall was being built on was at least 10 minutes from my house, so I had to act fast. My parents were in their room so I wrote them a note telling them where I had gone and why, put it on my door and ran out to the car.
The new 2010 Camaro I had got for my 18th birthday was beautiful, with its cyber grey finish and the black racing stripes made it perfect for getting around with little or no attention. I turned it on and floored it. The roar of the engine was like nothing I had ever heard in real life. Going from 0 to 60 in 4.6 seconds is like a drug, once you do it you can’t get enough of it. It must have been fate or something for me to be there because there were no cops on the way over. I don’t believe in luck or coincidence. I peeled out around the corner going at least 40. I know I left rubber on the road. There was the light, but where was she? I parked in the light and got out. I heard her scream from the construction sight. I took off running towards the nearest entrance. She screamed my name. This time it was coming from above me. I saw steps across the room. They were unfinished but there was no other way up, so I ran. I ran faster than I have ever ran before in my life. I don’t know why, I didn’t care too badly what would happen to her considering what she put me through last week. Maybe, I felt like by saving her, I would win her back, then I could put her through the anguish of me not caring about her, then she could try and win me back. Kind of cruel, I know, but if you knew what happened you would understand.
By the time I got up to the third story, I saw her. She was cornered by Robert’s buddies, Luke, Don, and a guy who goes by the name “Spaz”. No one really knows his real name or why he goes by ”Spaz” but no one will mess with him. Some say he’s skitzo. Robert was no place to be seen but I knew he was there somewhere. I had to act fast, so I found a lead pipe near by and used it as a club. I had taken some martial arts classes in the past so going up against these guys wasn’t a problem. It was not knowing where Robert was that was making me nervous. I decided to go for Don first, who was in the middle of the three with Luke to his right and Spaz to his left. I hit Don on the right side of his neck, causing him to fall to the ground instantly, then coming back the other way, smashing Luke’s nose into his face, breaking it and making him fall to his knees crying like a girl. Then it was just me and Spaz. I think I finally found out why the call him Spaz. He looked like an escaped mental patient, with the smile he had on his face. He wasn’t very big but he was fast and unpredictable. I lunged at him but before I knew it, the pipe was knocked out of my hand and he had me up against a support beam with one hand. I promptly brought both hands down on his in a scissor-like motion, breaking his hold on me. He came around with the other hand, trying to punch me in the face, but I saw it coming and I blocked it with my arm, grabbing his next swing with my other hand, swinging him around, putting him in a choke hold. It didn’t take very long. Spaz finally, limp in my arms, fell to the floor.
I looked at her. I could tell this wasn’t a set up like the other time. She was genuinely shaken up. “Come on lets go before Robert gets here.” No later did the period get tacked on to my sentence did he show up. “Run!” I said to her as we took off down the stairs. Robert was right on our heels. I could feel him breathing as we ran for the car. It was a good thing the remote to my car has a long range because she was out running me pretty well. I was still 30 yards away from the car when I unlocked it and she opened the door and got in. Robert was getting tired and was running out of breath by the time we got out side. Must have been all those cigarettes he smoked. I slid across the hood of my Camaro in a Dukes of Hazard kind of fashion, opening my door, turning over the engine, and blasting into the night.
The silence in the car was deafening. You know that silence that there is so much nothing that the air passing by your ears is almost too loud. At least, it would be if the car wasn’t the only sound we could hear. I didn’t say anything. What was there to say? She had damaged my pride in front of everyone. For that, there is no forgiveness as far as I could see. Why did I save her? Was it because I still had feelings for her? Or maybe, it was a desperate attempt for me to earn my dignity back. What ever it was I still had no idea where we were suppose to go. “Where do you think you can hide?” She stared out the window as if she didn’t even hear me. “I need to know where we’re going if you want to be safe!”
“We can go to my aunt’s house. She lives just off of 21st street.”
“Freeway then.”
“Robert won’t let us get away so easy. He’ll find a car and when he does...”
“I think he already did.”
Just then I notice a dark blue Mustang, ‘07 I believe, come drifting around the corner. Who ever was driving it sure did want us immobilized, or worse. It came right for us. I had to floor it. I watched the speedometer climb higher and higher. 50, 60, 70 miles per hour! I had to find the freeway and fast before a cop got involved. Not too far ahead, I saw an on ramp. The light turned green signaling those turning left onto the ramp to go. I was turning right. I didn’t have time to stop, so I quickly found a gap in the flow of traffic and adjusted my speed accordingly to merge. As we made it on the freeway, I sped up to get around everyone who was in front of us. Robert wasn’t so smart. He got stuck waiting for an opening, giving us time to get ahead. It must have not taken too long because we hadn’t made it 2 exits and he was already on our tale. I weaved back and forth, in and out of traffic to try and shake him. We almost ran a few people off the road. The mustang pulled up next to us on the left. I could see Robert in the front seat, so I knew I had to act fast. All these cars on the freeway seemed to much at 10 o’clock at night, and they were potential casualties, so I swerved to the right over two lanes to get off on the next exit. Robert followed us but he caught the attention of a cop car. “Crap, this does not need to be a high speed chase!” I yelled. “Hold on tight, I’m gonna try to lose him.” I cut into a residential area and turned onto my first right, then my first left. I Parked on the curb and shut off the car. I hoped I had lost them for now. Almost right after I had made the left I saw the mustang speed by followed by the cop. “We’re just past 18th street. Where do I go from here?” “Go strait, then turn left. We’re in the right neighborhood.”
It didn’t take long for us to get there but it wasn’t a pretty sight when we did. When we pulled onto the street, we saw a bright orange glow then we saw what was making it. Her aunt’s house was a treacherous inferno.