• Sean sat up in bed, having been awoken by a sharp thud on the other side of the room. He had had trouble sleeping lately, so he didn’t mind small disturbances really. The only reason this one had caught so much of his attention was because, lost in his exhausted thoughts, he hadn’t been sure whether it was a just a bump in the night or a knock at his door. As he peered through the darkness of his motel room, he strained his ears trying to discern what might be on the other side of the door.

    His first night there, three or four days ago (he wasn’t sure if the time had passed midnight yet), he jumped like that at every little sound the old place made. The Reed-side Motel was the name of the place, which he supposed was the original owner’s attempt at humor. Besides the marshy landscape, it was about the same as any motel, except it was the cheapest he knew of that didn’t ask too many questions. He got over the sounds surprisingly quickly; too quickly, he often thought. He wasn’t entirely sure why they had stopped bothering him, though he supposed it was hard to be reminded of what he had already started to think about all the time.

    The sound came again, and it was definitely a knocking. It was hard to tell if it was actually at his door with how little wall separated rooms, but he stayed quiet all the same. There was no way he could really know who it was, though there was only one thing he was expecting.

    “Dammit, Sean! I know you’re in there! Let me in already!”

    “Sarah?” The young man was only barely able to keep his voice low enough to keep from waking up the whole motel, assuming the girl on the other side of the door hadn’t already with her own shouting. He jumped out of the bed, the creaking springs further hindering any endeavor to keep everyone asleep. Rushing over to the door, he hesitated in opening it, just placing his hand on the knob.

    “Stop taking so long and just open the door, will ya?” The voice was distinct to him, with seemingly both high and low pitches intermixing. He had described it once as puberty having missed a few vocal cords, a description which had gone unappreciated by the girl.

    Turning the knob, he opened it inward, the lights of the hallway causing him to blink his brown eyes a few time. He hated when people called them red, despite the fact they did appear that way sometimes. It especially annoyed him when the news reports did it, putting emphasis on it as if to portray him like some sort of demon. Then again, maybe he was after what he had done.

    Once his eyes had adjusted, the first thing he noticed was the girl’s hair. If he had had any doubt before, the girl’s light purple hair proved for sure who it was. It obviously wasn’t her natural color, despite Sarah’s past claims to the contrary. He didn’t quite know where she got the money to dye it so often though.

    The next thing he focused on was her satisfied smirk. “Knew ya were in there,” she said almost tauntingly. Her attitude was one of the main reasons he still thought of her as a kid, despite being only a year younger than him.

    “Sarah, what are you… Get in here,” he told her while pulling her inside the room. Poking his head out the door, he looked down both ends of the hallway before closing the door and locking it. “How did you find me?” He looked back to the girl, occasionally glancing behind him at the door.

    “I told you; I’m psychic.”

    Sean sighed. “You aren’t psychic, Sarah.”

    “Yes I am! Why does no one ever believe me?”

    “Probably because you’re a crazy little homeless girl.” The man’s eyes widened as his mind caught up with his own words.

    The girl just looked down, all traces of a smile having been cleaned from her face. “I’m not homeless,” she muttered quietly, rubbing some dirt off her hand self-consciously. “I just don’t have as nice a home as some other people.”

    “Look, Sarah, I didn’t mean it, alright? I’m just not feeling too great right now.” He brushed a little of his black hair out of his eye. He knew he would have to cut it soon, and probably would have even if it didn’t need it. There was also the possibility of dying it, though he knew he wouldn’t get any advice out of the girl in front of him.

    She looked up at him, her blue eyes reflecting what little light was making its way into the room. “What’s wrong? Something happened to Britney, didn’t it?”

    “Bit,” He put emphasis on the name, his look no longer apologetic. “is not here.” Bit was the nickname he had given to the third member of their group because of her proficiency with computers, and it was what she had preferred to be called. As hard as she tried, the teenager had never got her parents to use anything but Britney, though. They had always said Sean was a bad influence, and failed to acknowledge anything of his. The younger girl’s insistence on using it was the reason that Sean lashed out at Sarah now.

    “Obviously,” she said in defiance to his anger, “but where is she?”

    Sean held his glare for a few more moments then looked away with a sigh. “Gone,” he said simply. His mind wondering, he started to see her face like it was last. With blood dripping from her hairline and down the brown strands, her eyes still seemed so full of life even as the rest of her body lost it. He wish he hadn’t looked, had just run when it happened.

    Sarah was silent for a few minutes, not sure what to say next. Frustrated, she just let her baser emotions do the talking. “Will you stop being vague and tell me what the hell is going on! You’re hiding out, there’s police and reporters swarming Bit’s house and you won’t even give one of your best friends a straight answer! Just tell me what’s wrong!”

    The boy glanced back at her, rubbing his hands together. “I thought you were supposed to be psychic. Can’t you just read my mind, or see it in the stars or tarots or whatever it is you claim to do?”

    The girl just smiled, causing Sean to raise an eyebrow. “Believe me, I’d love to. It would make things so much easier. Unfortunately, you and Bit are two of the few people I can’t get into the minds of. Sure, I can track you down if I need to, but I just dunno what’s in there. It’s why I started following ya around. I wanted to know what was special about you two. I’m still not sure yet.” She shrugged, though that only seemed to recall the older kid’s anger.

    “This isn’t a joke, Sarah.” He had forgotten just how annoying her mood swings could be sometimes. “Why can’t you understand that this is serious?” Sitting down on his bed, once again causing the screech of old coils, he held eye contact with her for only a moment.

    “I do, but you won’t give me any details,” the girl complained. “What did you do this time that’s so bad you can’t even say it?” She sat down next to him, looking toward him eagerly. “Come on, who am I gonna tell?”

    After a little while of heavy breathing, Sean finally whispered, “I killed her.”

    “What did you say?” She leaned in closer. Surely she just hadn’t heard him right. There was just no way she could believe what she thought she heard.

    “I said I killed her,” he repeated. “I killed Bit.” He turned to her, his eyes seeming glazed over and distant.

    Standing up, Sarah just stared at him, mouth hanging open. After a moment, she shook her head raised her hands a little. “Woah woah woah. Back up here. What do you mean you killed Bit? You wouldn’t just kill her. I mean, she was your best friend! Why would you kill her?”

    “It’s not like I wanted her dead,” Sean defended. “Things just sort of… happen. It’s my fault she’s dead, though.” He rubbed his hands again as he finished speaking, his eyes tracing the cracks in the ground.

    “Remember what I said about details? Those would be nice about now.” Sean saw that her feet were positioned to give her the best start toward the door, probably if she didn’t like his answer.

    With a sigh, the boy began his story, “We wanted to move up to something more impressive than just little thefts here and there, so we decided to try our hand at stealing a car.” He remembered how long they had planned: choosing a car that would always be in the same place (which turned out to be an old DeLorean), seeing when it was left alone, and of course learning how to actually hotwire a car. When the day actually came to pull it off, he had tried to get Bit to not come, saying it was too dangerous. He knew he couldn’t have convinced her, though. “Long story short,” he said to Sarah, “we got into a high-speed chase. I wasn’t paying enough attention and… I was able to make it out and find a place to hide until the cops stopped searching. Bit, though-”

    “It’s alright,” the blue-eyed girl stopped him, her face looking pale. “I’ve heard enough details. I’m not going to blame you for her death, since you seem to be doing that already.” She walked to the door, as Sean just followed her with his eyes. As she opened the door, she looked at him and smiled. “The police will be coming soon. Are you planning on turning yourself in?”

    He looked at her suspiciously, answering hesitantly, “No… I mean, I haven’t really figured that out yet. I’ve sorta been trying to decide that the past few days. How did you-”

    “I didn’t call the cops on you,” she assured him. “Good luck.” She gave him one last smirk before heading out the door. As the silence settled, Sean heard faint sirens in the distance.