Final Destination

[Abelle Broussard]

Arriving...


Abelle leaned casually up against the side of the Greyhound bus. Her *** hurt, her joints were stiff, everything ached from that long mundane ride, and they still had about 400 miles left to go. Dropping to a squat she fingered the cold dirty ground for left over cigarette butts; she couldn’t afford it, but it was still a habit that otherwise would make her go insane without. “ Need a smoke?” a sympathetic voice came out of no where. Abel cut her eyes over to the left matching the voice with a face. As expected, a prepped out looking college girl, who probably had to steal to get those cigarettes. Her parents weren’t going for that sort of thing, not from lil miss perfect standing there. The young blonde handed out one of her menthols, and Abel gladly excepted.

“ You going to school up north?” if this little twat thought she was about to make a new friend, she was mistaken. Matter of fact next stop ahead, Abelle had full intentions of robbing the little thing, and leaving her for dead on the side of the road.

“ Non anglais,” that was a bold faced lie. She spoke English well enough to get by with a decent conversation but to make her conscience a little lighter she decided best not to get too attached to her future victim. The girl sighed a little disappointed, and quietly puffed on her cancer stick. Abel couldn’t help but smirk and shake her head, visions of how she would attack her later floating around in her head. She never thought twice about it being a wrong decision, it was something she needed to do to survive.

“ Headin out!!!” the driver called out as he boarded the bus, and everyone began to file in behind him. Waiting until the last minute she took her place behind blondey, waiting to get her chance to snag the pack of smokes right of her jacket pocket. Success as always, she thought once she had found her seat, grabbing the back pack from under it, right where she had stashed it. So far she had been lucky to get a pack of smokes, a half drank bottle of Jack from the last stop they were at. Man was that hobo going to be upset. A pack of playing cards she had acquired from the bathroom of another little pass through town, and the best one was the gun she had lifted from a police officer right before boarding the bus. Life was good, now to just make it to Church hill Falls, where her pen pal lived. She could finally be free of that god forsaken doomed little city of Togo. Every mile the bus drove, was every second closer to freedom and sanity.

Abelle’s eyes began to flutter closed on about the second hour, that they drove into the night. She had jet lag, she was still sore as all hell, her back was killing her from the crappy seats. Grabbing her violin case from the seat next to her, she knew better to tuck it under her legs, before she fell completely into a deep sleep. That knapsack and instrument were the only two things she had left to her name. Leaning her head against the filthy window, the next thing she would hear was their final stop before her destination being announced. Quickly she sprang awake, trying to get the last minute sand out of her eyes, watching as a few people passed her by, her eyes scanning the lot of them for the girl. She hoped this wasn’t the girls last stop, this would make things harder, as she may have already lost her. Grabbing her bag and violin, she hurried off the bus, adjusting the bag against her boney back and cradling the other like a guitar case across her other shoulder. Looking up and down the street, all around, behind her and in front of her, she didn’t see this girl anywhere. “ Oh what the hell” it was time to make a quick decision. Should she venture off a little further, or just jump back on the bus and wait for the next opportunity to arise? “I know she’s got money….Damn it!!” ripping her fingers through her tangled mess of blonde curls, she didn’t give it a second thought, but walked down the street some , keeping her eye on the bus to make sure the driver wasn’t boarding again. She would have given up had she not caught and heard the feint sound of the young girls voice just a block up. Her senses quickly reacted and she sprang forward, trying to catch up with her. This would only take a few moments she figured. Drag her into an alley, beat her up real good, take whatever was in her purse, pockets, bra….wherever and get back to the bus before anyone even noticed. That was the plan, but fate had another for her.

As it turned out, it wasn’t the girl she had been looking for, and by the time she had even turned the corner dashing back to the bus, the only left for young Abelle, were the fume trails left behind. “ F***” she called out, dropping her bag and carrier on the ground. In that second she felt everything unraveling as quickly as it had come together. Defeated she dropped to the ground beside her things, fishing for the pack of smokes she had stolen earlier. At least one good thing came from this, she figured as she lit up. Plan B now had to go into action. She still had to get to Church hill, and she still needed more money. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. This would give her more time to find not only one victim but maybe even two or three, then she could pick up another bus or perhaps a train. Finishing her cigarette she took a deep breath, trying to relax, and finally with a push of determination she got back on her feet again. She figured most places had homeless shelters, where at least she could get a warm meal in the morning and a decent place to sleep tonight, once she found it at least.