Running

         I guess it was instinct or my only alternative to getting arrested but I took off running. I had all of three minutes to make a plan. It wasn’t really a plan but it was a better start than going to jail for a few years. I grabbed the duffel bag, the little .22 I kept in my armrest and my plates out of the front and rear dashboards. The plates were kept there for just that reason. I turned the already illegal duffel bag into an Easter basket for the cops. I looked up at Jasmine and I knew she could tell I was begging with my eyes for her not to say anything. I didn’t wait for an answer though. I jetted behind my car and through the slowed traffic in the other lane. Throwing the bag over a fence, I followed with one hop. I took out my phone and called my own seven digit 911 for this type of situation. My cousin only told me to call at work when something went terribly wrong and shit hit the fan. I think this qualified.
         “Yo, just got in an accident with some work, need a ride, now.”
         “Where you at?”
         “Runnin through backyards, Start headen out towards Lakeville Road Ill be there in two minutes and Ill give you a cross street.” Click. I hung up. I needed my breath for running. I’m not a runner, more of a heavy smoker, my lungs started to hurt. I popped out of a backyard and onto a street. I saw Lakeville to my right and across the street was a school named Parkville. I used to hang out their when I was younger, I hit redial. “I’m over by Parkville.”
         “Which side?”
         “Lakeville road” I said while I was trying to catch my breath.
         “What?”
         “Lakeville road. How long you goin to be?”
         “Three minutes, were doin about 80 down Hillside. You’re lucky that I’m around right now.” Click
         I felt a little relief. I had a good number of blocks between me and the accident but that didn’t mean shit. I stayed tucked against the school not trying to look too suspicious. I took my hoody off and threw it into the garbage pale next to me, then tossed my last two bags of dope down the sewer. I saw the tinted out black Altima whip around the corner. I’ve never been happier. It was my cousin Christian and my boy Chris. Chris and Chris. They were almost inseparable. They had been boys since first grade. We usually called my cousin Chin since Chris and Chris got too confusing. Before he stopped the trunk was popped. I lifted the floor up and shoved the bag inside the hidden compartment, it barely fit. I hopped in the backseat, thank god he has limo tints.
         We didn’t even say hello we got straight to business. My cousin asked me where I was going, who I had picked it up from and why my pupils were pinpoints. He knew the answer to the last one and I didn’t bother trying to make an excuse. I crashed almost three blocks from where I was going. We all agreed it would be too hot to go and drop it off now. It was decided to go to my cousin’s apartment and lay low for a little bit. I was nervous as all hell. “Yo I fuckin crashed into Jasmine.”
         Chin saw this as good news. “You think she’ll say anything to the pigs?”
         “I’m hopen not.”
         Chris cut in “Hell ye she will that bitch hates your guts man, your fucked.” Got to love supportive friends.
         “Well fuck it” I said. “There’s nothing to find in the car if it comes down to it we just got to come up with an alibi.”
         My cousin was real enthusiastic about this, He was on probation. “Ye that’s what I fuckin need right now, get involved in your legal troubles.”
         I shot back “There are no legal troubles.” Tension was high and it was obvious.
         We pulled up to his apartment building it was a good bit away from the accident. A shitty looking place from the outside, it kind of reminded me of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I just kept waiting for it to fall. The bricks looked stained, my guess was pollution. Bars across all the windows and the fire escape was a high fall if you had to use it but it also meant no one could get in that way. They got out first and as my cousin walked by my window he gave a soft tap on the glass, then I got out. We were good in this neighborhood, everyone knew who we were and no one was inclined to talk to cops. We walked in and as the door shut some plaster crumbled.
         Almost every stair creaked on our way up to the fifth floor. With the duffel bag on my shoulder the stairs felt never ending. He opened the apartment door and we entered. His apartment was in complete contrast to the outside of the building. Everything was new or looked new. He had floors put down and the walls painted. A fifty something inch plasma T.V. sat on the wall of the living room with PS3, an Xbox 360, and a DVD collection only blockbuster could rival. It was all rounded off with a leather sectional. His kitchen was probably the most run down room in the house but that still didn‘t look bad. It had a little more of an older feel except for the microwave and toaster which looked modern. He wasn’t much of a chef. The bathroom he kept nice and his bedroom was something else altogether.
         Chin asked me “So how did you end up in this mess dumbfuck?”
         “I threw a bogey out the window it flew back in and landed on the bag. Not sure what I was thinking when I took my eyes off the road. Next thing ya kno I crashed.”
Chris was watching T.V. so I was spared of a comment about my intelligence. My cousin grabbed two beers out of the fridge.
“You really fucked up this time Mike. Not sure what to do really. Reporting the car stolen will automatically result in a run in with the cops. You don’t know if Jasmine IDed you and this guy is going to be looking for all this shit.”
         “Ye I really did it this time. Definitely stepped into one big pile of shit.” The sun was setting and he had a nice view. I thought it was nice at least. I went up to the roof for a bogey. I loved any view that had a city feel to it. A few smoke stacks, a few apartment buildings. In the distance you could see Manhattan’s skyline, with the sun setting behind it I tried to relax.