Liars and Deserters

CHAPTER - 8

‘Lie to me one more time and you’re dead meat.’

Nicholas Summers hated lies, he had heard them his entire life. Why didn’t Nana want to see him; why did his fishie have a suspicious new stripe on its fin, and why couldn’t he meet his dad and sister anymore? All the answers fed to him had been lies. And Nick had had enough of them.

Much to his disappointment, he couldn’t alter his family’s behavior to a version where they didn’t choose deception as their very first option for ammunition. So Nick did the next best thing.

The members that he could choose to be in his life had to accept one condition – never lie to Nick. If anyone had thought it to be a joke, the surprise they faced when he walked right out without even looking back, was proof enough; Nick was dead-serious.

In his six year long friendship with Andrew, there was only one single time when Nick believed he had been lied to. It was also the only time Andrew had raised his hand at him.

It was a friendly play-out with the soccer team; Nick was nowhere near knowing even the basics, but he was still having fun. He had heard Andrew scream ‘watch out’ even before he had turned, but the fury flaming in Andrew’s eyes as he crashed down on him made Nick freeze on the spot.

The ball had disappeared from sight, but Andrew’s fist collided with his cheek, and the very next second, Nick was on the ground. Initially unable to feel the right side of his face, Nick let out an anguished cry as the pain begin to blossom, painting his skin in a reddish-purple hue.

However, Nick hadn’t said a word to Andrew. Even when Andrew had handed him an ice-pack, throwing in an ‘I’m sorry’ with it, Nick had remained silent. Not because he had seen through Andrew’s scam of an apology, but because he knew what the punch was for; and he knew that he had deserved it.

Nick had been two-timing his month-old girlfriend, and as soon as he got to know, Andrew had given him hell about it. Shutting his ears off, Nick stalled him, multiple times.

He hadn’t understood what Andrew’s issue was. He was finally getting girls to like him. Heck! He was dating two at a time. Andrew would eventually come around.

But after hounding him for weeks, Andrew dropped a bombshell on Nick. If Nick wasn’t gonna come clean, then Andrew was going to do it for him. After all, to someone who hated lies so much, lying to others was too big an irony to escape.

Nick was shaking with rage, he wasn’t too big of a fan of the image that reflected in the mirror Andrew had shown him. While Jackson had managed to keep them from breaking into a brawl, Nick had warned Andrew to mind his own damn business. Although following through, Andrew hadn’t been subtle about it, unsurprising to Nick.

Nick had eventually mended his ways, and now that he was helping Andrew pack his car; he felt grateful for him. Effectively hiding his saltiness, Nick hugged Andrew tight before bumping his fist against his shoulder.

“Call me when you reach Boston.”

Breaking into a wide grin, Andrew hugged him again, patting Nick’s back, ”I will Nicholas”.

Earning a kick for using his full name Andrew got into his car, waving one last time before driving away.

And as Nick waved back, he couldn’t help but shake the feeling that he, was being lied to.

*************************

‘Run, run. Keep running.’

‘Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Keep running.’

‘Don’t stop. If you do, it’s all over.’

Sarah had always believed that dogs were balls of fluff with four little feet, they couldn’t possibly be anything else. Well, that’s what seven year old Sarah had believed at least.

Out to play, she had kept her dad amused with the various names she appointed to the numerous pups running wild in front of them. Just having assigned a Samoyed the name ‘Cloudy’, Sarah spun on her heels, turning to her father, ”Do you like that name Dad?”

She hadn’t heard what his response had been, the hair on her neck rising when her ears perked at the sound of a snarl too close to be safe. And when her eyes spotted a black blur, Sarah’s feet instinctively kicked into motion. She didn’t remember what had happened next, but the lesson always stuck with her.

‘Keep running. The moment you stop, it’s all over.’

Sarah did however, remember the intense fear that had surged through her nerves, her legs had felt like jelly and the pounding of her heart in her chest had been so acute, that she had to hold one hand to it, fearful of her heart bursting through. What she also remembered, was the taste of the grass in her mouth.

And today, she was again holding her hand to her pounding chest, knees weak and the other hand busy picking at the blades of grass underneath her, further aggravating the smell. She also wasn’t on some random open ground, but sitting on a front lawn, clueless of her disregard over someone’s property. The recreation seemed to fall short, of only one point.

Sarah had made the grave mistake of stopping; and now, it was all over.

Almost three to four hours away from her neighborhood, Sarah was out of breath, nearly out of strength but still, very much high on spirits.

Until, she had stopped for a second long rest. She realized just how much a difference an act of a millisecond makes when her eyes landed on a mailbox, the ‘Smith’s’ mailbox. She had no idea who they were. If she was being honest, she didn't know who anyone there was. Nor did she know the people in the area she had just passed. And she doubted if she'd know anyone ahead. It was almost as if for the very first time, Sarah had realized her actions, and taking into account their repercussions.

Alone in an unknown neighborhood, where she was sure no one could see her, especially at 6 in the morning; Sarah was out of breath again.

Hyperventilating, her arm automatically reached for the grass, but the sensation did little to calm her.

If she had just kept running, if she hadn’t taken a break, if she had just not stopped. Now she wasn’t sure what would happen.

‘What if someone saw me?’

‘What would they do?’

…

‘Would they do something?’

…..

‘Isn’t this what I wanted though?’

Sarah’s phone chimed with a notification and as she scanned it, she felt a combination of frustration and helplessness. Chucking her phone across the street, she screamed, ”I used half my data on stupid Spotify!”

Her eyes were focused on the cracked screen lying feet away from her, but Sarah was spiraling down the whirlpool of doubts in her mind.

‘What about Maddie?’

‘What about Mom?’

‘I just left without saying anything what would happen?’

‘What about money? Do I have enough of it?’

‘What about..?’

‘What about..?’

‘WHAT ABOUT?’

And just as abruptly as the questions had poked through, they retracted just the same. A few of the inflicted gashes did leave behind wounds that Sarah was worried about, but she was convinced. She was not going back.

Reciting the steps of her plan in her mind until she felt assurance replace uncertainty, Sarah let her body relax as the dampness of her skin vanished when the wind hit against it, cooling her body.

‘I have a plan’, Sarah forced her legs straight, squaring her shoulders. Convincing her body that everything was fine was the first step towards calming her mind.

‘I have a plan’, picking up her phone and resuming was vital, and the rest would eventually fall into place.

“I have a plan”, she said out loud, bending to pick up her phone.

Getting hit by a car was never a part of the plan though.

A/N - Hello reader, I've been noticing for the past few chapters that the draft format and the published one vary immensely mainly due to the lack of Italics and Bolds showing up on the mobile version of the app. While it does interfere with the comprehension and enjoyment process of the reader, unfortunately it's something that cannot be helped. So here is a tiny guide that'll hopefully help improve your experience:

********** - I have been using asterisks for the purpose of separating scenes, which will continue as usual

(' ') - The single inverted commas are used to denote the thoughts of the character

( " ") - The double inverted commas are the dialogues spoken by the characters

That is all, I hope you're enjoying the story and if you like what you've read, please consider dropping a rating( I know, it gets annoying, I'm sorry. But gotta do what you gotta do)

Thanks! M :)