He’s sitting on the couch, and Hazel is standing in front of him. “Oh, glad you—” I cut her off before she rants about the car crash that means nothing to me right now.
“Where does Vidia live?!”
August turns to me from the couch, confused. “What?”
“Where the fuck does she live?!”
Hazel crosses her arms. “I’m not telling you, Tra—”
“ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!” They both jump and turn more concerned. I swear I’ll strangle the address out of both of them.
“Let’s have some fun. I’ll give you 100 Mississippis to let me in.”
“The cops are on their way! Go away, please!” I doubt this maniac even understood her through her sobs.
“One Mississippi!”
They both look down at my phone, just noticing Vidia’s cries, and turn even more scared. I walk over to them as I say, “You two have three fucking seconds to tell me her damn address or I swear you’re both dead.” August stands up at the coldness in my voice and stands in front of Hazel.
“Seven Mississippis!”Hazel grabs her phone, and she loses the color in her face. Vid must’ve called her first.
“What?!”
“He has a gun. I sent you her location. Leave NOW!” Her voice has so much panic in it that I can barely recognize it.
“Eleven Mississippis!” I run out while putting her address into my GPS. She’s eight minutes away.“Sixteen Mississippis!”I can make it there in three.
“Vidia! Vidia, can you hear me?”
“Twenty-six Mississippis!”I swear, I’m killing this son of a bitch if he touches one goddamn curl on her head. I run into the garage, and since our other cars are getting fixed, I slide into my Tesla.
“Vidia! Are you still there?” All I can hear is that lunatic counting and her cries for help. I speed out of the garage and do a very illegal U-turn in her direction. I glance down at the phone, and I see it moving.
“Vidia, I’m almost there!”
“Forty Mississippis!”
“You’re not going to make it, Sire,” she says between sobs and gasps for air. I have sixty seconds to make an eight-minute drive. I press down the gas and hit 140mph.
“Vid, you need to hide. Okay? I’m almost there, but you need to hide.” I steal another glance at the screen, and she’s frantically looking for a place to hide.
“Forty-sixMississippis!”
“If your closet has a lock, go in there!” I speed past two red lights and swerve between every lane whenever there’s a car in my way.
“Fifty-three Mississippis!”The speedometer hits 150mph as I hear her start praying in Spanish. Fuck, she sounds so goddamn desperate.
“Tell my mom—”
“Tell her yourself, Vid. You’re not dying tonight.”
“Fifty-seven Mississippis!”The GPS says I’m two minutes away. I’m passing every car in a blur, but I still feel like I’m not going fast enough.
“I’m hanging up. Okay, Sire?” What?! I look between my phone and the road frantically.
“No! Don’t hang up, I’m almost there, Vidia.” I almost don’t recognize my voice at how rushed and panicked it sounds. I hear her sniffling and struggling to speak.
“I-I don’t…” Fuck, go faster! I hit my steering wheel, but that obviously doesn’t help. “I don’t want you to hear me die, so I’m hanging up.”