White Christmas

I didn't sleep. How could I? Despite how many times I made that run I couldn't be completely sure I wouldn't fuck something up on this run. I had no room for errors. Somewhere in my head I knew Adal was crazy even if he was being this nice to me. I had no way of knowing what he would do if I managed to mess up the run.

At the very least protection was on the line for Johnny, myself, and our families. That by itself was enough to keep me awake all night. It occurred to me at some point in the early AM that not sleeping would not, in fact, help my reaction time on the run. By that time, it was too late. My phone buzzed. That familiar dull buzz from inside my left jacket pocket.

"Time to run Fox. South side of the trail. Thirty minutes"

It was Adal's number, and it was my call to arms. In less than five minutes I was fully clothed and out the front door. I had my phone pressed to my ear with Johnny on the other end as I pulled my jacket on. He hadn't slept either.

It was somewhere on the spectrum of four in the morning so the sun still hadn't bothered to get up. The dull headlights on the fox body unwillingly lit the road to Johnny's place. The faded out yellow and white lines set against the pitch asphalt captured my attention a little too well. In my sleep deprived state, I found myself drifting to one side of the lane staring at it.

Thankfully I made it to Johnny without incident. With him in the cabin an odd and eerie quiet fell over us. I kept the radio off and neither of us said a thing. Johnny wasn't the smartest guy, but he wasn't so oblivious to not know what was on the line.

I pulled up to the start of the trail and slid to a stop on the damp mud. I pulled the e-break and let my seat belt slip off. It felt better not to be restricted by it. After sharing a silent moment Johnny and I exited the car.

A man stood off to the side behind us on the trail. It was dark but the headlights from the truck that brought him here half illuminated Adal's face. He wore a white sweater, and white slacks against the cold. To top off the look his hands sat clasped over a slim black walking cane.

Johnny and I where completely terrified, but it didn't show. I would be damned if I showed weakness now, and I assumed Johnny had a similar amount of pride. Adal's eyes scanned over us hiding that glimmering edge of danger. Like a hungry wolf.

"Pop the trunk, and Hound stand by to load the car. Good luck to you both"

Adal's lips curled into a wicked smile that shook me to the core. Not wanting to consider that any longer I dived into the car and reached for my trunk latch. It popped satisfyingly, and I strapped myself back in the fox body.

I took deep breaths slow and steady. Each one even and measured to keep my heart rate down. My hands gripped loosely on the wheel ready for action.

A glimmer caught my eyes. A set of headlights blared in my rearview. They stopped bearing down on me. I could hear people moving around behind me but I couldn't see past the high beams.

My heart rate kicked up. Slowly the sound of my pulse filled my ears. Thump after thump it grew louder and louder. Faster and faster. My breathing was no longer under my control. I could feel something being dropped into the back of the car and when the trunk lid dropped my breath hitched in my throat.

I couldn't hear past my own breathing and heartbeat. I gave up trying. I kept my eyes locked on the trail in front of me and what little of it the headlights illuminated for me. The muddied path went straight for a few yards before taking a hard right and disappearing into the trees.

My hands tensed on the wheel ready for the turn. My feet itched ready to hit the pedals. I didn't see Johnny get in but I felt him move into the passage seat. My right hand shot over for the gear shift. The second Johnny's door shut my heart stopped.

In the next second my hand had the shifter knocked into first and my left foot was dropping the clutch. The car screamed loud enough to break the sound embargo my heart beats had created on my ears.

The whole vehicle launched forward and my tires ripped away the mud under them tossing it up high. Once I caught traction I was gone. The road was muddy from the early morning dew, but it was hardly the first time I drove the trail in wet conditions.

The first turn I slid a little wide due to nerves but when I pulled the car back under control I found myself back in the zone. Nothing else matter for the moment just like every other time I ran the trail. My adrenaline soaked system screamed for my hands and feet to work faster. My brain focused in hard to keep each action in perfect sync with the next.

Break, turn, clutch, rev match, gas, repeat. The sharper turns required some negotiation of the throttle and the e-break, but muscle memory took care of all of them.

Finally, I saw the end of the trail, and a set of headlights from some undefinable car shrouded in the early morning darkness.

I pulled the e-break and pulled a bootlegger's turn before throwing the car in reverse and stopping just short of the other car. I felt Johnny leave the car quickly after I pulled my trunk latch. It didn't even take a minute for the trunk to be unloaded and the headlights to disappear.

I sat perfectly still in my seat. My arms and legs hurt from moving so hard and fast. No doubt the fox body wasn't exactly thrilled to be man handled like that. I didn't know what to do now. All the extra energy burned off me as Johnny found his place back in the car next to me.

"They said we made it"

He mumbled under his breath. I turned to him stars truck. Like I couldn't believe I had made it.

"We made it a whole minute and a half quicker then Ricky's guy"

Even when he said it I couldn't believe it. Like I couldn't believe in my own skills for once. Even after the display I just put on.

That familiar dull sound buzzed to life in my jacket pocket. I answered it on autopilot not really knowing who to expect. It was Adal. I could hear the smile in his voice.

"You have my protection Fox. I know you don't want to do this for a living, but if you ever change your mind..."

I just hung up on him. I didn't need any more today. No more drugs, no more danger, and no more fear. I didn't need any of that today. I turned to Johnny. It was the first time I turned to really face him this morning. He looked wrecked. I'm sure I didn't look much better. His hair had no work in it, and his bangs sat messily on his forehead. That hoodie of his had a few stains on it from who knows what, and rings had set in around his eyes.

"You're sleeping on my pull-out couch tonight"

"I am?"

"Yeah. My house is closest, and I need to sleep now"

He shrugged and sat back in his seat. Whether he was too tired to argue or didn't care where he slept I wasn't sure. Honestly my answer was only half true. The other half was I hadn't really slept since the drug deal with Ricky, and I didn't think I could sleep without another person in the house at the moment.

Thankfully he didn't argue, and I didn't have to give away my issues with loneliness for at least one more night.