Song of the Fireflies(60)
Author: J.A. Redmerski

“No thanks,” Bray said.

Tate nodded and turned back around. He tapped his thumbs against the steering wheel and turned the song up on the radio. Awolnation’s “Sail” streamed from the speakers. We were all getting into it, bobbing our heads and singing along to the words.

“I might as well take a piss, too,” Tate said after a minute.

He opened the door and started to take the key out of the ignition, but I stopped him. “Leave ’em,” I said. “This is a great song.”

“All right.” He shut the door and jogged toward the front of the liquor store.

I leaned between the two front seats and reached out for the volume button, turning it up.

Bray and I became lost in the music. I leaned my head back against the seat and shut my eyes. She laid her head on my lap and shut her eyes. We let the music roll through us like medicine, and for a moment it was all we cared about. For that brief moment, we took advantage of shutting off the outside world.

A gunshot rang out, and our eyes popped open. Bray rose upright from my lap. “What was that?”

“Sounded like a shot.”

I looked out the window beside me to see Caleb and Tate running toward us, Caleb with a gun in his right hand.

“Oh shit!” I cried.

We both froze and looked at each other as if to ask, What just happened? But neither of us could move.

Tate swung his door open and jumped inside. “Get the f**k in!” he yelled at Caleb.

A second later, Caleb was in the passenger’s seat, and we were speeding away from the liquor store with dirt kicking up behind the Jeep’s tires.

“What the f**k?” Tate roared at Caleb, white-knuckling the steering wheel as we got back onto the desolate highway.

“I didn’t mean to shoot him!” Caleb leaned over and rammed his own head into the dashboard several times.

“What happened? Oh my God, what the f**ked happened?” Bray said frantically. She rose up behind him, trying to look over his shoulder.

“You shot someone?” I grabbed Bray by her waist and pulled her away from Caleb and next to me.

“Back off!” Caleb screamed at us.

He looked at Tate, his eyes full of fear and anger and regret. “I-I f**king swear it, Tate. I-I didn’t mean to hit him. I was only trying to scare him.”

“You robbed the store?” Bray asked. “I can’t believe he robbed the f**king store!” She was looking at me again.

I put my hand over her mouth gently. “Bray, please, just be quiet,” I whispered.

She was shaking. I was shaking.

Tate slammed his fists down on the steering wheel. I counted six times before he almost lost control of the Jeep and had to grab the wheel to steady the vehicle. We fishtailed in a quick jolting motion until the Jeep straightened up. I could smell the burnt rubber from the tires.

“What are we going to do?” Caleb said nervously.

Tate swerved to the side of the road and came to a sudden stop. I caught Bray just before her mouth hit the back of Caleb’s seat.

Tate fumbled for his cell phone somewhere in the front seat and called nine-one-one.

“A man was just shot,” he said into the phone and then proceeded to give the operator the location of the liquor store.

Caleb got out of the Jeep and started walking down the center of the road. Tate followed. We watched them argue in the street for a moment.

“I did it to get money to pay Rocky!” Caleb yelled. “So you wouldn’t have to use all of your savings!”

“And robbing a liquor store makes it better?!” Tate roared. He hit Caleb in the face.

Caleb stumbled backward and almost fell, but he didn’t hit back. “I was only trying to scare him! I shot but I aimed at the wall! I didn’t mean to hit him!”

“What are we going to do, Elias?” Bray asked, her whole body trembling.

“I don’t know, but we can’t stay with them.”

Just then Tate jumped back inside and Caleb followed. Before we could even protest, the Jeep lurched into forward motion. We fell heavily against the seat and then forward again.

“Let us the f**k out!” I tried to shout over the radio and Tate and Caleb screaming at each other in the front. But I don’t think Tate even heard me, he was so blinded by rage.

“I’m not doing this anymore with you, Caleb!” Tate said. “This is it! I’ll always love you. You’re my brother. But I never want to see you again!” Then his voice began to rise. “What the f**k, man! I just pulled the same stunt they did!” He pointed at us. “I f**king ran to protect your ass! What the f**k was I thinking?! I’m not going down for you! Not anymore! Not like this!”

We sped by a maroon-colored minivan.

“Slow down, man,” I said nervously from the backseat. “You’re going to get us all killed.”

Minutes later we pulled into another convenience store parking lot. Bray and I jumped out quickly before Tate even put the Jeep into Park. I grabbed her hand and pulled her next to me.

Tate and Caleb started fighting in the front seat. Tate was on top of him, pummeling Caleb with his fists. But this time it was far from being a harmless brotherly squabble. Tate was a merciless animal, raining down blow after blow after heavy, bloody blow onto Caleb’s face. I was afraid he was going to beat him to death.

I let go of Bray’s hand and she screamed at me as I ran around to the passenger’s side of the car and opened the door. Caleb fell out halfway and I grabbed him by the arms and helped him out the rest of the way. Tate was outside of the Jeep and standing over Caleb on the asphalt before I even had a chance to pull my arms from underneath his.

“Back off, Tate! You’re going to make a bad situation worse!” I put up my hand, hoping to get him to back down. His balled fists hung bloodied at his sides. His face was twisted with rage. His tats almost looked alive as the muscles in his arms hardened and became more pronounced against the white backdrop of his shirt, also stained by Caleb’s blood.

“Please, man, just back off,” I pleaded one last time with him.

Tate’s conscience took control of him again and he took two steps back. His chest rose and fell with heavy, deep breaths that he could hardly steady. I finally let go of Caleb and stood back as he picked himself up from the ground. Blood streamed from both of his nostrils. His left eye was already swollen. He reached up and wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth with the side of his hand.

I looked over to see Bray running into the convenience store.