Down The Rabbit Hole

by K.A. Brotherton

The cold was bitter as Bailey made her way down the boardwalk as briskly as possible against the wind that blew up off the water. The surf below crashed violently against the rocks causing frigid spray to blow against the skin of her face.

She buried her hands deeper into the pockets of her sweatshirt wrapping them tightly around the envelope of money that Rallow had given her. Four buys, four buys she would be done. Rallow promised he would get Danny released from jail. Bailey fixated on the idea of Florida as she carefully chose her footing on the worn wooden boardwalk. Four buys and she would pack Laila up in the Honda. The second Danny Flan’s feet stepped outside the county jail, all bets were off. She was gone.   No one bothered to throw sand on the patches of ice that covered the walkway. Why should they? Who the hell was walking on the boardwalk at one o’clock in the morning when the temperature barely hit twelve degrees? Bailey slipped and caught herself.  She felt the tears brimming at the corners of her eyes. How the hell did she get into this shit?

She could see Jay Hernandez leaning against a dimly lit street lamp a few hundred feet ahead. The light from his cell phone glowed against his face his focus intent on texting. Bailey could see his thumb fly across the key board of the phone and she finally reached him.

Jay continued to text another moment before he lifted his face to consider her. His skin was shimmering and perspiring even though it was bitter cold and he too wore a hoodie.

The phone was deposited to his pocket and he reached into the band of his jeans pulling out a .38 caliber hand piece. Pressing the gun firmly to her forehead, Jay broke into a smile. The smile spread from ear to ear and made his face light up like a child at Christmas.

“Are you setting me up silly little white bitch?”