"Thanks for helping us out, John, I know it's so last minute but things have been hard for dad lately," Hadley said, looking over her shoulder at Atheson who was staring out of the side window, not paying much attention to their conversation. "Do you think we could stop at the bank before we go?"
"Whatever you need, Hads," John said, returning a smile to her as he weaved through town until he arrived on Main Street, parking in front of the bank. "I'm sorry that you have to leave so soon after I got here, I was hoping we'd get more time to spend together."
"Some day we will, Johnny, I guess it just isn't the right time for that yet," Hadley replied, grabbing her purse as she motioned for Atheson to follow her. The two hopped out of the truck and stopped in front of the doorway for a moment, Hadley grabbed something from her purse before entering the building.
John sighed as he leaned back in his seat, staring out of his windshield to see the streetlamps lining the long stretch of road ahead, the town dwindling down after a long day. He couldn't help but feel happy at how far he had come from the time he left Brook until now, not once expecting to find himself in such a good place in Harrow Hall – not just physically, but emotionally. For the first time in a very long time he felt as though everything was exactly as it needed to be, and he thought over how he was going to tell me he loved me. He thought about how stupid it was that he didn't say it when he had actually wanted to, and instead just said that he was falling in love, but rather the truth was that he had been from the moment he met me. He knew that much was true because what he felt was so right, it was more than he had ever felt for Nora or anyone else – he was completely and utterly smitten.
An alarm began screeching out from the bank, causing John to snap out of his thoughts as he looked over and felt a surge of panic as he wondered what was going on – his baby cousin was inside, hoping that nothing bad had happened. He leaned forward in his seat, trying to get a better angle inside of the bank but the windows were a bit too high for him to see much except for the ATM near the front door. He waited impatiently as the front doors flew open, two masked figures running out with a black bag in their hand. His first thought was to lock the doors, but he quickly realized that the people wearing the balaclavas were none other than Hadley and Atheson. His heart sank as they hauled themselves into the truck, screaming for John to drive. He shook his head, gripping the steering wheel as he looked over to Hadley.
"What the hell are you doing? No, I'm not going to drive anywhere," John yelled back, reaching to turn off the ignition. As he went to put his hand on the keys, he felt a cold blade press up against the side of his neck, slowly looking over to see Atheson holding a knife in place.
"Drive the damn truck," Atheson growled, pushing the knife even further so that it nicked John's skin, causing a little bit of blood to surface.
Reluctantly, John began to drive forward, still hearing the alarm going off as he left his parking spot. Atheson held the knife in place which made John very tense, looking in his rear view mirror at Atheson as he demanded that John drive faster, and even when John did it was not enough for Atheson. Once they turned onto Birch Street Hadley removed her balaclava, taking desperate gasps for air as she looked over to John with an apologetic expression. John shook his head a few times, staring straight ahead.
"If you needed help, you could have asked for it," John murmured.
"You're just as broke as we are, Johnny, there's nothing you or anyone could have done. But listen, it's not all bad – you won't go down for this, I promise. You just have to come with us, that's all. We're taking off down the coast with my mom, we've got a little cabin out near Jackson that no one knows about – it's safe. And then we can figure out something more permanent when the heat dies down, it'll be fine, I promise," Hadley reassured, opening the black bag to expose wads of money.
John scoffed. "I'm not a criminal."
"Neither are we – drive faster!" Atheson called out, pushing the knife further against John's skin. Hadley quickly intercepted and pushed the knife down, snapping at Atheson to put it away.
"You didn't have to involve me in this, Hads, I had a good thing going here," John said.
"You still can, John, it will be fine – but you just have to trust me. Mom's got it all figured out, and now we can go on without these people coming after dad," Hadley replied.
"What about Fletcher?"
Hadley looked remorseful, shrugging her shoulders. "He's not coming."
"Why?" John asked.
"Because he's the one who made this mess and now he has to take care of it."
"So taking care of it means getting his own daughter to rob a bank and flee town?"
"Watch it," Atheson snapped.
Hadley sent a scolding look back at Atheson before returning her sight to John, again taking a softer approach when talking to him. "He means well, Johnny, he really does, but dad isn't all there anymore. He's so wrapped up in his games and he knows he's never gonna break out of it, he's doing what he thinks is best for us all. He has to settle his own score, but he can't risk anything happening to any of us."
"I didn't know things were this bad," John added, sighing as he washed a hand over his face. "Had I known, I wouldn't have ever asked for help. What about my mom, Hadley? She's depending on me."
"She'll be okay," Hadley tried to reassure, but John knew better than that.
Before they could continue, John looked into his rear view mirror and saw red and blue lights flashing around the corner, a cruiser quickly squealing up behind the truck.
Atheson pointed to the next road, smacking John on the shoulder. "Turn down there and don't slow down!"