On the Run by M Zeigler (short story to read TXT) 📖

glare at her only to see that she is dressed in clean clothes and Rodney is standing with Montgomery at the jail door discussing the difference between vintage nine millimeters and modern ones. “Hey, so were being released. Floyd police department caught Devon; all charges against us have been dropped. And you have a flight to catch back to LA, the award show is later on today and you have a very busy schedule.” Bonnie’s voice says gently to me, I sit up and look around the room.

“Son you’re losing your touch, you were always quicker to get out of here when you were younger.” I hear my mother calling from outside the jail cell. In a flash I’m on my feet and running out to hug her, Bonnie follows out a few moments later looking past my mother and I over to Heather who looks really dismayed by Bonnie’s presence here.

“Heather can you and I talk?” Bonnie says walking by me towards the front door to the police station; Heather gives me a longing look as she goes to meet Bonnie outside. I watch after them as Bonnie starts talking to Heather giving her a heartfelt look. I would give any amount of money to know what those girls are talking about right now, all I know is when Bonnie stops talking Heather leans in and hugs her tight. Even more astonishing is Bonnie returns the hug genuinely okay with Heather being so close, so Bonnie has come full circle, this is who she used to be.

“Alright let’s get you to the air port before you miss your flight.” My mother says finally feeling okay enough to let me go. “Yeah, I can’t believe the awards are in a week.” My response is numb; I’m trying to readjust to hearing normal talk and not mine and Bonnie’s normal banter or talk of who were killing and who we are not killing.

“Stay out of trouble you two.” Montgomery says as Bonnie and Heather walk back in hand in hand smiling like best friends. “We were just heading out, are you flying back to LA with us?” I ask Bonnie, she looks at me and nods yes.

“My dad flew out here to help plead our case to Rodney so he’s driving Clyde back to the house.” Bonnie informs, it takes a moment but I realize that she means the Camero. “You named the Camero, Clyde?” My mother asks sheepishly. “Yes, I named the mustang Bonnie the first. Both cars got us through this case of a modern day Bonnie and Clyde so I figure the names are fitting.” Bonnie responds to my mother as she unlocks the truck I bought her last year for her birthday.

The drive to the airport doesn’t take very long, in fact it’s only an hour drive and I fell asleep in front seat while Bonnie and Heather sat in the back laughing and laughing at my expense when Heather starts telling the wild stories of me in my younger days.

Of course that was almost two hours ago, now both girls are sitting in the first class seat ahead of me discussing the important presence of stilettos in both the Barbie world and the bad girl world. While they talk I can’t help but think of how nicely all this turned out, sure Chelsea died and I will grieve about that for a while, I’ll probably write a few songs about her but other than that this turned out for the best. I saved a woman’s life that needed someone in her life she could trust, and in turn she saved me, I think after our treacherous run from Devon I’m not straying back into the outlaw life anymore. I think I’m staying on the path to righteousness, or at least as close as I can stay to it anyhow, no one is perfect.

Outside of my own selfish bubble, I have Bonnie at my side for a while, Heather and I are apparently no longer mad at each other anymore over our falling out ten years ago. And the two women have made friends instead of enemies. Devon and the two truly evil Mayors are in prison, one was buried the day after Devon shot him, and the world knows about the corrupt Mayors that were working for the southern states. That really took the US by storm; no one would have thought something so corrupt would come out of states like the four we ran through.

Los Angeles Police is under investigation by the FBI and I mean all stations are under investigation hoping to find anymore hidden evidence on Devon and his remaining now captured hit men.

“Really? Wow, I cannot believe you went through that, you must have been so scared?” I hear Heather saying to Bonnie now. “Not really, surprisingly I wasn’t at all overly scared; I was more mentally unstable than anything. I mean after Barrette told you and his mother what was going on he came to find me up the forest back behind the house. He found me alright; I was standing there screaming at my Grandmother Bonnie, that only I could see. I think I snapped that day, I was spiraling back towards a mental Asylum.” Bonnie explains to Heather who gasps with shock.

“You poor dear, I cannot even imagine…you’ve been in an Asylum before?” Heather says trying to change the subject. I drift off to sleep as Bonnie launches into the story of how she wound up in a mental hospital in her younger days.

“Mr. Green.” Someone calls my name pleasantly, I slide my eyes open to see I’m in the meadow out behind my house way up on the ridge. A place I go often to relax and think about any and everything except the stress of the music industry. I sit up from where I’m laying with my legs hanging off the tail gate of my truck to see a younger fellow around my same age standing ahead of me.

He looks similar to me in a lot of ways, his clothes are strange to me, a very nineteen thirties look about them, he looks like a fellow outlaw though. “Pardon me hoss, but do I know you?” I ask genuinely curious as to where I’ve seen his strangely familiar face.

“Not technically though, you know of me. And your in love with my girlfriends reincarnation. I’m Clyde Barrow.” The young man before me introduces offering me a handshake; a mind numbing understanding hits me. I realize here and now that Bonnie was not nuts, she was somehow seeing her ancestors and talking to them, maybe they were reaching out from beyond the grave to help her through a tough time.

“I thought she was crazy.” I say to Clyde as I point out the empty space beside me on the truck, he accepts the offered seat as I reach back to the ice chest for a couple cold ones. Clyde gladly accepts the offered beverage popping the top and taking a swig before he speaks again.

“There were many times I thought Bonnie was crazy, like the day she accepted to go on a date with me. And when she broke me out of prison, I knew the day she did that, I was no good for her I should have let her go. Did you know after I ran off with Bonnie that her mother received a letter from flat screen pictures accepting her as an actress? She would’ve been better off without me, but I never let her have that chance to figure out what she truly wanted.” Clyde gives a detail from history that not even the history buffs know.

“I didn’t know, and how can you say you’re not what she wanted. She went with you didn’t she?” I reply to Clyde who shakes his head no, he disagrees with me. “See, the thing is at first Bonnie wasn’t in love with me. She was in love with the idea of me, she was in love with the fact my face was always on the front page of the news paper.” Clyde explains then sighs.

“Course, she did end up falling for me, the same way your Bonnie has with you. And that’s why I’m here.” Clyde says then leans sideways to reach into his pocket to pull out a handful of ashes. I watch with curious eyes as the ashes start to reverse the burning process to a piece of paper with Bonnie’s elegant yet horrible scrawl of writing on it.

“Bonnie wrote this when she was eighteen.” Clyde says as I take hold of the folded page and unfold it.

June 18 2013

I’ve sent my head shot to every single big name label on the books and off, they keep sending back rejections. Maybe Michael is right and I’m just to fat for the screens, I’m ugly or something, Michael has to be right I’m just never going to amount to anything. But I have the skill; I know that I’m at least pretty enough to make it. And besides since when are the bad girls on the screens all pretty Barbie dolls? I want this so darn bad that I can almost taste stardom.

June 20 2013

That’s it, I give up on this whole acting thing, I will never make it there with my idiot mother and Michael dragging me down. I’ve decided I don’t want fame, I want freedom, which is probably why I wanted fame to begin with. Money means freedom, traveling, having fun and not having to be responsible for anything! I’m over it, if I don’t die within the next year I’m getting out of here! I’m hitting the open road and I am never, ever looking back, all family, friends and acquaintances can just kiss my fender goodbye!

“Why are you showing me this?” I ask Clyde when I finish reading the expert probably from one of her journals, I almost feel bad for snooping in her private thoughts.

“I’m showing you this because the one thing that hasn’t changed about Bonnie is that like my girl, she doesn’t know what she wants. She’s never had any freedom, not truly, she always had to watch her step otherwise she’d be beaten or locked up like a princess in a tower. Talking man to man here, my daddy told me this when I was a young buck, he said ‘Son, if you love something let her go, if she don’t come back then it wasn’t meant to be.’ Course I knew that when I met Bonnie and I could’ve turned her loose and hoped she came back, but I was selfish. If she had of tried to leave I would have tried to stop her, don’t make my mistakes, you don’t want Bonnie dying one day and realizing she regrets staying with you, let her make the choice on her own.” Clyde gives a long winded explanation then takes another chug off his beer waiting for me to speak.

“So you’re telling me to send her off?” I scoff looking at Clyde with an incredulous look. “No, Clyde is not saying to send her away. He’s saying that you need to give her that option, you need to talk to her and set her straight. Make sure that you are truly what she wants, it’s just Clyde thinks that in the end I regretted going with him.” Bonnie’s ghost appears before the two of us, her hands on her hips, this woman standing before me is my Bonnie’s spitting image, her miniature clone.

“Woman.” Clyde snaps at Bonnie who reaches out and takes his beer. “Barrette, she isn’t crazy, I was there that day trying to tell her what she needed to know. Now, she’s come to understand what I was saying, now you need to understand that like me. I never wanted my life to turn out how it did, that doesn’t mean I regret Clyde but I dreamed my life would go