chapter 6---

Some Bob Marley tune piped up over the crackling speakers as I opened my eyes and tried to straighten my cramped spine, only two more days and I would be in Chicago and then I could start the search for real.

 

"Sleep okay, Jason?"

 

I nodded and smiled wearily at Karrey, we had spent the last few days talking and telling each other stories about our lives. Mine always ended up being a little more exciting than hers.

 

I had gotten over the things I had seen when I looked in her eyes and had let her get her hands on me during the nght before. It wasn't anything serious but I didn't know how she felt about it.

 

I could always just make her forget.

 

She leaned over and grabbed my arm, I looked down and smiled. She really was pretty in a scarred, fragile way. High cheekbones, a sharp nose and thin bones made her seem a few years younger than she actually was, her hair still smelled like shampoo after three days on the road.

"What happened after you went to South America?"

 

I remembered I had started telling her about my little adventure in the jungle before something had come over her and she had started kissing me,

 

"Oh, yeah Buenos Aires, well I was looking for a carving that I was seeing in my dreams and visions so I hired a guide to take me to the local pyramids and artifact sites. No idea where to start I just began looking over every piece of ancient stonework I could find, it wasn't long before I suspected I was in the wrong place when I came across a calender carved into a boulder. The symbols matched up from my book and I recognized the shape of the rock."

 

Karrey reached into her purse and handed me a protein bar, with a quick kiss for thanks I opened the shiny red package and continued my narrative,

 

"So I traced the calender with a big piece of cloth paper and tried to decipher it on the flight home. Really nothing that exciting."

 

The bus drove through a small town and made a stop at the local gas station, I walked down the isle with Karrey behind me. It felt good to stretch my legs and with a smile on my face and the morning sun on my back I went into thesquat little cement building for something to drink.

 

The door struck a little bell and the ringing must have surprised whoever was standing at the counter because he spun and pointed the barrel of his pistol at my chest.

 

Have you ever had a gun pointed at you? It's frightening, but at the same time liberating because the fear you feel crawling up your spine is justified and in those small moments you realize all the things you want in life because very soon you could loose it all.

 

Karrey didn't scream, she just fell to the ground like she did this sort of thing all the time. I spun to the side and the gun went off, the explosion shook the glass in the windows and threw a cloud of smoke in the air, the door behind me exploded and I stood there staring at the blown out glass. He had missed.

 

The person holding the gun looked to be about nineteen, his slender frame covered in a jacket to make himself look bulkier, his face was hidden by a nylon stocking. I didn't know what strange events led to this scared boy pointing a gun at me but I knew how I felt about it all.

 

"Put the gun down."

 

It sounded like a mix between  old Latin and Hebrew but to my ears it came out as perfect english, the scars on my hands burned and for a moment I felt like I was floating on air, reality was a dream and if I wasn't careful I would awaken the sleeper.

 

The gun hit the tile with a sharp crack, luckily it didn't go off again.

 

Karrey stood up behind me, she straightened out her hair and looked behind her,

"Oh great, here comes the police."

 

That wasn't good, I was a victim in a robbery and I would have to sign papers and talk to detectives and I really didn't have time for that.

 

"Out the door quick, act like we just got off the bus."

 

Karrey didn't question my snap decision, good girl, the police pulled up and the parking lot burst into chaos.

 

Men in blue running around with guns drawn yelling at each other, someone started in with the blow horn and before anything major occured the kid walked out of the gas station with his hands up, the stocking pulled off his face.

 

I was surprised by how young he looked.