We take off quickly. Me, on the back of Dad’s bike, and the rest of the gang. Everyone else is really pumped, there is an air of excitement buzzing through the crowd, but for me I don’t feel any of that. I’m just scared. I’m like a fish out of water, drowning, barely able to breathe. This isn’t the life I want, that’s why I chose to walk away. I never thought that I would be dragged back in like this.
We speed along the road, taking us away from one dirty old warehouse to what I’m sure will be another. Only this one will have my mother in it. I only now notice that Dad didn’t tell me how Mom is. I hope she’s okay. After all of this, I really hope that she’s alright. She needs to be alright.
Determination surges through me as we drive. It isn’t the same excitement as everyone else is going through, but it’s enough. The reason I have stuck around is for this and now it needs to all work out…
The world whizzes by, I don’t take any notice of where we are, I spend far too long trying to psyche myself up, but soon we arrive. I only know this because all the traffic stops. This isn’t what I was expecting at all, this isn’t some rusty old building that no one even knows exists anymore, never mind bothers to check in. It’s a house. A house on a normal street with other homes around. Neighbors who I’m sure will be twitching their curtains, wondering what the hell has descended on their door step. We won’t need to call the cops. Someone else will do that for us. I guess at least we’ll be able to see how quickly they turn up.
“What now?” I ask Dad quietly. “Do we go and knock on the door or something?”
“Don’t worry, just wait.” He pulls out his gun and aims it at the front door, setting the tone of this meeting before the other side have even turned up. “They will come to us. I’m sure they already know we’re here.”
“Don’t you think you should wait before pulling out the gun?”
“They have your mother. They started this and turned it into a fight first.”
Hmmm, yeah I suppose he’s right about that. I reach down to grab my gun but it doesn’t feel right in my hand so I leave it there. I’m sure if the time comes that I need to use it, instinct will kick in and I will just know what to do. Either that or I’ll end up dead, so I won’t have to worry about it…
Not that I want death to come my way, of course.
“Dixon, Dixon, Dixon.” The door swings open and just like Dad predicted, the other side makes a show of himself. I have built this other person up to be a monster, but to be honest, he doesn’t look too different to Dad. “I see that you have finally decided to make an appearance. It didn’t have to be like this though…”
“You know why it’s like this,” Dad growls angrily back.
“Yeah, I suppose so.” The man laughs and shrugs. “I guess I did take something from you. Although I didn’t know she belonged to you at the time. I thought that she was just a rich bitch…”
“Don’t speak about her like that!” Dad’s face turns a funny shade of red. “And you knew!”
“Alright, alright. I knew.” He laughs. “But I didn’t do it just to piss you off. I just wanted the family to pay the ransom then all of this could be over. Unfortunately, you have dragged it out.”
I suck in and hold a breath. This tense exchange is too much for me. Where the hell is Mom?
“Well, you must know by now that you aren’t getting the money.” Police sirens burst into the background, letting us know that our time here is limited. “And if you don’t end this soon, you’ll be in jail.”
The man pulls out a gun and aims it at Dad. Dad’s gang all grab their weapons and there are windows open with guns pointing right back at us all. This is escalating in the wrong way very quickly.
“I’m going to be in jail soon enough anyway. Might as well take some of you down with me.”
A scream comes from up high. My eyes flicker upwards and I see my mom staring down at us with terror on her face. She doesn’t look too bad, like she’s been beaten or anything, but she clearly hasn’t had the best time either. She’s within reach but I can’t quite touch her. It’s a nightmare.
“Let her go, Max. Don’t do this,” Dad warns. “Don’t fire your gun at anyone.”
“You aren’t really in the position to tell me what to do,” Max warns. “Dixon, you’re fucked.”