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June Twenty Sixth
Wolfgang
“I’m just going up to the general store to teach June how to drive,” He hollered at his uncle before closing the door.
“Alright, juniper.” He pressed his seatbelt together. “The car is in park,” he pulled the stick down, “This is reverse, and this is drive. You try.”
She repeated his motion, “What about these other ones?”
“Let's not worry about those yet, down there, you have your foot on the brake and next to it is the gas.” He gently braced himself, “Now, if you go slowly on the gas, it will move the car forward.” She copied what he said. “You can go faster than this June.” She rolled forward, slowly moving thirteen miles an hour past the cabin.
“Are the cars the same on the island?” Both hands hugged the wheel as she didn’t move her eyes from the windshield.
“Yes, they will be exactly the same.” They pulled onto the dirt road.
“Dirt can be tricky,” he warned. “Especially with loose gravel, you can slide around.”
She smiled not looking away from the road, “From the way you drove around the island, I doubt that.”
“June, just trust me.” He sighed, “ Alright, let's just drive to the General Store and back. We can get some fresh milk and some other things.”
Her speed went up going twenty five miles an hour, coming up to the paved road. She pressed the brake hard, jerking Wolfie forward, “sorry,” she said.
“That's okay,” He comforted her, “you just gotta be gentle. Ease into it.” They pulled up to the general store. “Just park over here where nobody else is parking.” Wolfie directed her "Let's be quick.” They went inside, grabbed their things briefly and standing in line, Wolfie overheard the television behind the register. The news anchor was speaking fast but he followed along, hearing her say, ‘A man in Sacramento had been found weeks after he's been dead, the suspect is unknown and at large’.” He looked at the screen seeing Juniper's old apartment building. ‘Shit,’ he thought. He may have grown up on the island but he watched enough movies to know how this was gonna turn out.
He looked at Juniper’s brow pinched in fear, “You’re fine,” he said. “I'll drive back”, he pulled the keys from her hand and paid the lady at the register while June stood back.
He closed his car door and looked at her “They don't know who the suspect is. They didn't even mention you or his name, you're fine.”
“Was that your plan when you're going to go talk to him? You were going to kill him?”
“June,” He drove down the road calmly. “At first, it started out that way. Yes I was going to go talk to him, but the more I listened and watched the way he treated you, I wanted to beat the absolute shit out of him. Then you told me he raped you andnothingwas off limits.” He reached over and squeezed her hand, a good sign with her not pulling away. “Ben deserved what he got, if he wasn’t with you, it would have been the next girl or the next. Are you really upset because he's gone?”
“No.” She looked out the passenger window, “I just didn’t want to know what happened, It made it real.” June snapped her face at him, “What if they look at the cameras and they see me? What if they look at us the day before in front of that coffee shop? What if they put all this together and we-” He kissed the back of her hand, stopping her thoughts. “Are you sure Margaret can't let us come back early?”
“And say what Juniper? I killed somebody. Can you come get us, please?” The car rolled into the property. “Juniper, it takes time. They're not going to look at the cameras. Figure out who we are and find where we are, all in the next day, maybe week, maybe even month. Nobody knows we're here except my mom, Jay, and my uncle. And none of them for sure as shit know whatI'vedone. Nobody knows except you and I, so just please, don’t stress about it.”
He pulled back into the workshop, closing the door behind him as they exited out the side door. He stopped her next to the wood pile. With heavy shoulders she looked up at him, “I just wanna get back to the island I want to feel safe. I want what we had before Ben arrived. Everything was new and fresh.” Her lip trembled.
“We will, Jay will be here in three weeks and we will be gone for good the week after that. Do you want to message anybody? My mom, Brittanya or Whitney?”
“No, does Margaret know I'm coming back?” She sniffled.
“I told her things had ended with Ben and that you went a separate way for a few weeks. So if he does track you he will lose you through the woods. I haven't seen a single camera since we got off the freeway.”
“Okay.” She turned to walk into the cabin as Patrick came outside.
“Hey, you got a minute?” He stomped towards Wolfgang.
“Yeah, what's up?” He watched past his uncle to see June get inside safely.
Patrick led him back into the workshop, “Well I can’t get a bolt off of this bike here.” He pulled a tarp off of a motorcycle.
“This is the exact same bike as my dads.”
“Are you serious, he still had that thing?”
“I have it now, it doesn’t run because we can’t get parts for it.”
