Before I Go: A dark and tense psychological crime thriller.

by Marie Reyes

  “Why do you do what you do?” She asked. It sounded half like an accusation, half like genuine curiosity.

  Samuel took a moment to formulate a response, his dark-eyed glare burning through them. “Why everyone does it. Money.”

  “Money. That’s it? Why kidnap my sister, was that just for money? If so, why didn’t you release her?”

  “Hey. It wasn’t up to me. Besides, you’re right. Sure, It’s about money. It ain’t like wherever the fuck you live in some bubble. Don’t think I didn’t notice your designer clothes. What did you do to earn that? Ask mommy and daddy? But yeah, it’s not just about money. You ever feel alive in your bubble, Josie? I know you. I could see it in your eyes. You’re loving this. A little bit of excitement. You have some serious balls, my friend. Got tired of your small boring life, coming to taste some of the danger. It’s intoxicating, isn’t it?”

  “You’re wrong,” She protested.

  He carried on talking, ignoring her comment. “There’s nothing quite fucking like it. Kill or be killed. Watching someone go from the enemy, to just a hunk of meat. Watching them cower. The respect you get. It’s fucking primal. Some next level god-like shit. I mean seriously, can you imagine a world without crime? That’s some mundane bull-shit. Boring.” He pulled a right, they drove for a few minutes, and he picked up where he had left off. “I heard once why people like horror films. The adrenaline they get. The threat of death, it’s like an aphrodisiac. They did a study on it and everything. People like bumping uglies after watching them. It’s like the danger gets them off. Apparently it’s some biological thing. Survival instinct. If your body thinks it’s going to die, it makes you want to make babies before you go. Funny, no?” He chuckled to himself before making another turn.

  Michael wasn’t convinced by his theory and remained silent.

  “We’re almost here.” They drove another few miles down a lonely stretch of road, devoid of other cars until another set of headlights appeared in the distance. A blasting smash made Michael’s heart stop, and he ducked as the windshield shattered into a million pieces, showering Samuel and Che in glass fragments. A screech cut through the air as the car veered to the side. They lost control. His body was thrown around like a theme park ride. Chest pounding. His muscles tensed as he tried to brace himself. No idea which way was up. Finally, the world stopped moving and everything went still, and then black.

  Chapter Thirty One

  The sensation of falling jolted Michael awake. Had he been dreaming? It was quiet except for a hissing coming from somewhere as he tried to get his bearings. His hands still tied behind his back and his chest resting against the roof of the car, which was now facing the floor as the car laid upside down. Glass everywhere. A movement against him made him flinch, and he wriggled just enough that he could crane his neck and see Josie stirring. With his hands bound, he couldn’t touch her, couldn’t help.

  The window next to him had blown out, an escape hatch to freedom, and he inched towards it like a Caterpillar crawling across the floor. His head emerged through the gap and he looked around. It was so dark he could barely see a thing. His head throbbed with a pulsating pain, like the worst hangover of his life, but he fought the urge to give up and just lay there and forged forward, leaning his elbow against the frame of the window and propelling himself forward with his legs. A sharp-hot sensation dragged across his arm as he rolled out onto the damp grass. He lay on the floor gasping with the effort and looked at his arm. A long, deep-red gash ran along it, and warm wet blood trickled from the wound and dripped onto the floor. It made him queasy, so he opted to stop looking at it and to pretend it didn’t exist.

  “Get me out of here.” Josie’s weak voice came from the car.

  “I don’t know how?” He tried to prize his hands apart with pure strength alone, knowing it wouldn’t work, but trying anyway.

  “Listen to me,” Josie said. “Stand up.”

  He did what he was told and made his way to his knees. Every muscle in his body felt weak, and it took a surprising amount of effort to right himself without his hands to balance. He looked to see if there was a sharp bit of exposed metal he could use to cut the plastic.

  “Just bring your hands up as high as you can and drop them down really hard.” Her voice was stronger now. Michael did what she said, but nothing happened. “It might take a few tries, but it will happen.”

  “How do you know?” He wondered if she was having him on, but he couldn’t imagine her joking at a time like this.

  “I did some research before I came. You know, just in case. Do it already.”

  “Just in case you were bound with cable ties?” His mind was bracing itself for this not to work. He considered cutting the tie apart with the glass in the window frame but didn’t want to injure himself again.

  “Hurry up,” she shouted.

  He strained to get his hands up as high as possible and swung them down again. Nothing. This was useless.

  “Again,” she yelled in encouragement.

  This time, something clicked. He hadn’t even realized it worked at first. Not quite believing his hands were free, as he couldn’t feel them. He held them up in front of him.

  “Michael,” she shouted from the car.

  He ran around to her side and pulled on the door, but it wouldn’t open. “You’re going to have to come out of the window I came out of. You have to be real careful though. I cut myself.” He pulled the protruding dagger of glass that he had cut himself on from the frame, before easing her towards him. He used the shard of glass to cut her cable tie so she could get out easier, making sure not to shred his fingers in the process. She crawled out the window towards him and he put his arms around her as she caught her breath, before going to check to see what became of Samuel and Che. They couldn’t hear them. Michael crouched down in front of the driver’s window. Samuel was gone. He could see Che hanging from his seat-belt. Blood dripped from his head onto the roof of the car. It looked like the exit wound of a gunshot.

  “He’s gone,” Michael said, watching gray smoke billowing up from the car.

  “Shit.” Josie backed away from a rustling sound, and the figure of a man came down from the roadside. Michael and Josie sprinted in the opposite direction towards tree cover. Maybe this was their chance.

  “Stop. It’s me.”

  Michael stopped in his tracks. “Miguel?” No other words would come to him. He had no idea what to say after what had happened.

  “Where is he?”

  “Who? Samuel. We don’t know. He must have ran off.” Michael looked in all directions, but it was so dark all he could make out was the shifting shadows of trees swaying.

  “What are you doing here?” Michael still couldn’t believe he was here. In the middle of nowhere. Part of him wondered if his own body was still in the car wreck, unconscious, dreaming. He was having an out-of-body experience. “Did you shoot the car? My memories a bit fuzzy.”

  “Yes. I came to find you. I was pretty sure Samuel would have taken you here.”

  “Why what is here?” Michael asked, but Miguel didn’t answer. Michael wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer anyway. “We can get in your car, get out of here.”

  “Not without him. Samuel will die tonight. I’m not going to let him get away with it.”

  “I’m so sorry. We feel awful. If it wasn’t for us.”

  “Samuel is a psycho. One step wrong and he may have done what he did anyway. The families he’s done it to before.” Miguel looked like he was going to say something else, but stopped himself.

  “We saw you get arrested. How are you here right now?” Josie asked, looking as surprised as Michael felt.

  “They knew the whole thing was a farce. They had nothing. They had to let me out.”

  “What are you going to do?” Josie asked, taking charge of the conversation.

  “Find him.”

  “But he could be anywhere by now,” she reasoned.

  “I’m going to check arou
nd here. He must be injured. He can’t be far. You take Josie to my car. It’s parked up there.” He tossed his keys to Michael and didn’t give him time to answer before he traipsed towards the woods. Yet another person entrusted Michael with their car and assumed that Michael could drive. He passed the keys to Josie, and they started up the incline towards the road. “I’m worried about Alex. What if he goes back to Samuel’s?”

  “He won’t.” Her casual tone bothered him.

  “How can you be so sure?” He wasn’t looking forward to broaching this.

  “Last night. I think you were already in bed. Me and Alex came up with a safe phrase for when he was checking out the hotel. If he was in any trouble, I told him to say the safe phrase. We came up with something that wouldn’t be obvious that he could say if he was in trouble, that wouldn’t draw attention, like if he was kidnapped or something.”

  “What?”

  “False alarm. I told him to say it was a false alarm. Although the tables were turned, I’m sure he knew not to come.”

  “Thank fuck for that.” Everything started to make sense now. How she could have been so calm. “So is he going to call the police? They must know we’re missing by now.”

  “Um, yeah. Probably not.” She grimaced.

  “Why not?”

  “He told me that he’s overstayed his visa. He doesn’t want to get into trouble.”

  “Yeah but, that’s not life and death.” Michael felt a little hurt.

  “I don’t know.” The slope started to flatten out as they reached the road. Miguel’s car was pulled up at the side. Even in the dark they could make out the black skid-marks from where Samuel’s car had lost control. The open road felt empty and exposed. Michael scanned the area, but there was no-one, just black road stretching into the darkness until it disappeared.

  They hurried across the road to Miguel’s car and got inside. They didn’t know whether to turn on the engine, have the car ready to go, or whether that would draw more attention to themselves.

  “Miguel could have easily got us killed when he shot at the car.” Josie mused, pulling down the sun-visor and glancing in the small mirror. “Wow. I look like shit.”

  “He’s hell-bent on getting Samuel. Understandable given the circumstances.” Michael fixated on the dash-light that Josie had switched on. “You two have that in common.” He flicked off the light switch and watched Josie blindly rummage around the glove compartment to keep herself occupied.

  “I wonder how long we’re going to have to wait here. We’re sitting ducks.” Michael shifted in his chair. “We can’t leave Miguel though, so I guess we’re stuck here. If only we had a weapon or something.”

  “Like this?” Josie pulled a massive handgun from the glove box.

  “Fuck,” Michael blurted, taken aback.

  “Do you know how to use that?”

  “How hard could it be?” she joked, as she inspected the firearm. “Listen, Michael. I’m sorry about back at Samuel’s. You were looking out for me and I know I’m stubborn.”

  “It’s okay,” he said, hoping this wouldn’t turn into a conversation about the pentobarbital Samuel had found in his luggage. “You look like a bad-ass with that thing,” he tried changing the subject.

  “When we get back to town, I’m going to the consulate. Do this the right way,” Josie said. Michael breathed a sigh of relief and noticed her eyes fixed on him. “What are you going to do after?” she asked coyly, but he could tell she was fishing to find out if he planned on following through with his plan to end his life.

  “I don’t know.” The niggling doubts had already started working their way into his psyche.

  “I hate the thought of not seeing you again after all this, but I don’t want to be a hypocrite. I feel like people are always going to do what they’re going to do. Like me. I’ve done stupid things. Reckless things, and no-one was ever going to talk me out of them.” There wasn’t even a hint of judgement in her voice. “I wish you wouldn’t though. Just want you to know that.” They sat in the car in silence for a minute. It wasn’t awkward, but it wasn’t comfortable either—just limbo.

  Josie leaned across, resting her head on Michael’s shoulder while he watched the road ahead, glancing behind him every now and then. Maybe Samuel was injured and lying in the forest somewhere, bleeding out—one could only hope. She placed her hand on his chest, and he became increasingly aware of his heart pounding—a tight ball of adrenaline and tension thumping under his ribcage. He wondered if she could feel it too. He could see the movement of her chest rising and falling from the corner of his eye, and she looked directly into his eyes. It was a moment he recognised, that moment just before, when both of you know what’s going to happen, that micro-second that feels like it goes on for minutes.

  Their lips met instinctively, lightly at first, and then firmer and more urgently. They pressed up against each other and he put his hand through her hair, and rested it behind her head, his other hand against her back. This was insane, Michael thought. Samuel could be there any minute and shoot them dead in a heart-beat, yet he couldn’t stop himself. In that moment, this was all that mattered. Her hands wandered under his shirt, touching his bare skin. It felt so good being close to someone, like everything else could go to hell around them and it wouldn’t matter. Josie let out a moan and their movements became frenzied. Maybe Samuel had been right about death and sex. Every touch felt heightened with crazed hormones racing through them.

  Something didn’t feel right. He pulled away.

  “What’s wrong?” A look of concern spread across her flushed face.

  “Shit.” He pushed Josie down as he saw a figure in front of the car. “Where’s the gun?”

  “I don’t know.” She scrabbled about, frantically trying to locate where she had put the gun. The side window shattered and a deafening noise rang in his ears. He hunched over, holding his arms over his head, as glass fragments fell from his back.

  “Get out the car.” Samuel shouted from the broken side window. Michael berated himself for allowing himself to get distracted. He tentatively opened the door and inched out slowly, avoiding making any sudden movements. “Now pass me that gun, Josie. Trust me —before you could fire a shot —Michael’s brains will be splattered all over this car.”

  She complied straight away. Michael wanted to yell at her just to shoot Samuel. It didn’t matter what happened to him. Giving his life to end Samuel’s seemed like a good trade. Josie would be safe, and he would be at peace. It was a win-win. He couldn’t get a word out, as everything seemed to happen so fast.

  “Get in the back,” Samuel demanded and watched Michael open the door, keeping his gun on him. Michael wondered if Josie would have time to start up the engine and drive off before Samuel managed to get in the car—he doubted it.

  “Where is Miguel?” he shouted as he got in the front passenger seat.

  “I don’t know. I really don’t know. He just told us to wait here and went looking for you,” Michael said, vaguely comforted by the knowledge that at least Miguel was still alive.

  “I’ll have to deal with him later. It’s not like he’s going to the police. Now drive.” He turned to Josie and pointed his gun close to her face.

  “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see.”

  “Well, I need to know where I’m going if you want me to drive there,” she snapped. Michael cringed, expecting Samuel to explode in a rage, but he couldn’t help but get some satisfaction from her talking to him like that.

  “Straight ahead.” He waved his gun, gesturing for her to go forward.

  Josie pulled away from the roadside and started driving. The car jolted a couple of times as she stalled, trying to get used to the unfamiliar vehicle.

  “Woman drivers, am I right?” Samuel joked, but his face was dead-pan. “Slow down when I tell you.”

  With it being so late and being in the middle of nowhere, they did not pass another car for the short journey. Samuel asked Josie
to start slowing down until they reached a tiny gap in the trees at the side of the road and he asked her to pull over.

  Chapter Thirty Two

  They entered the small path in-between the trees which had barely been visible from the roadside—Samuel must have known what he was looking for. Branches scratched their bare arms as they progressed through the undergrowth. A sudden light barely illuminated the narrow path as Samuel lit a small torch that he must have had stashed in his pocket. . It was a small trail that looked like it had been forged with a machete, and it only got denser as they made their way through as ferns curled around their legs and tree roots snagged their feet as they walked.

  It wasn’t long until they reached a clearing. Now it was only this one man against the two of them. Sure he had a gun, but if Michael struck when he least expected it, surely it wouldn’t take much to catch him off guard. Samuel was distracted as he scanned the jungle with his torch, until the weak beam revealed a large black hole in the ground—an open mouth feeding on the vegetation that surrounded it, swallowing it whole. Michael had no interest in finding out what was inside there, but as Samuel shined his torchlight, some strange little voice in the back of his head dared him to. That little voice that wondered what it would be like to jump when stood on a tall building.