Through the fire

CHAPTER 2

A sense of dread settled heavily around them as they took in the sight in front of them.

"Oh my God! We killed someone, we are murderers, we are all going to jail! Oh my poor baby is going to be without a mother! " Marie exclaimed panicked. How was she to explain to her husband how she was in Italy partying with her friends instead of the retreat she said she was off to? Russio, her husband, will loose his s**t when he finds out she was off partying with Juan even when he had forbade any relations with him. This was bad.

Juan moved to comfort an obviously shaken up Marie, even though he himself was barely holding onto his s**t.

"Stop panicking, we will get through this. Nothing will happen to us. We can get out of this, we are lawyers after all, " Juan said, trying to convince himself more than the others. He knew if he went to jail it will only prove his alcoholic stepfather right, that he was a good for nothing.

"How do you expect us to calm down?! We were driving under the influence at a high speed. We are definitely going to jail, especially when we get tested and they find traces of estacy in our blood. " Aviella said with a terror filled voice. She felt like she was about to go mad.

"Let's check first if she is alive, there is a high chance she might be and we might mascarade as her saviours who found her at the side of the road when we take her to the hospital, " Fabio suggested, giving them a flare of hope that maybe they hadn't f****d themselves over completely. Pierre slowly walked to where the woman was lying face with blood all around her head and tried calling out to her but when he didn't get a response, he checked her pulse instead. Nothing, there was no pulse. She was dead.

He scrambled away from the body like he was scorched by just being near her. "She's dead. " He said quietly as sat by the car's side and put his head in between his bended knees. This made Marie wail even harder as she held onto Juan tighter. Daniel who had been quiet all this while suddenly said, "Let's burry the corpse. No body, no evidence of our crime, no going to jail. " Mixed reactions was heard through out the group, as the idea was absurd to say the least.

"We can't do that, what of her family and the baby? Oh my God, what are we to do with the baby, " Aviella said as she rushed to where the little one lay in her basket, miraculously unharmed.

"We leave her here, she is a the last piece of evidence we don't need to be associated with. " Daniel said. Aviella was too stunned to speak, she was just a baby. "We can't leave her here in the middle of no where! She is just a child, we have already killed her mother, the least we can do is care for her. She is our responsibility now. " This angered Daniell as he made a move to where Aviella and the baby stood but was intercepted by Fabio. She couldn't just take a baby, it could be traced back to them, then what.

"Guys let's bury the body first then we can worry about the child later. It's almost morning we need to get a move on and be out of here before someone sees us, " Fabio said. "We had passed by the petrol station a while back, let's go and see if we can get something we can use, " he went on, still not believing what he was about to do. It was so wrong but he didn't want to go to jail, this would ruin his mother's reputation and thus destroy her chances for the Governartoral seat in the upcoming elections. Thus sacrifices had to be made.

They all hurdled into the car silently with Juan behind the wheel. The whole car ride to the petrol station was silent, they were still processing what just happened. This could potentially ruin their lives forever. As they drove into the petrol station to the back where the toilets were located, Fabio and Daniel jumpedout to go look for some shovels while the rest stayed back. They didn't have to wait long as they came back with three shovels which they put in the car's boot. They drove back out towards the cliff, but no sooner did they drive out than they was followed by a police car.

Everyone panicked as they were sure they had already been caught. Fearing for her freedom, Marie told Juan to not stop the car but to speed off instead and make a gateaway.

"Don't do that Juan, it will only make us the more guilty. Just stop the car and let's not dig our grave any deeper, "Aviella reasoned, everyone knew she was right after all they were all lawyers. They parked on the side of road and waited for the officer to walk to them.

" Good evening officer, what can I do for you this lovely night? "Juan said rolling his driver's seat down as he threw his award winning smile the officer's way.

" There seems to be a problem with one of your tail lights. Have you noticed it isn't working. That's dangerous young man"the male officer said. You could literally feel the calm settle on them, their secret was still safe.

"I'm so sorry officer, it has been a long night out, we are just visiting. Sorry we failed to notice, we will get it fixed first thing tomorrow, " Marie said from the passenger's seat. The officer shortly let them go after more assurance they would drive safely.

"Damn that was a close call. I almost died of heart failure, " Daniel joked nervously as he leaned back on his seat trying to calm his racing heart.

"Let's just get this over and done with ang get the hell out of here, " Pierre said, looking sickly pale.

They got to where they had hid the body behind a road siide bush, got out the car, took out the shovels , dragged the body into the woods and proceed to start digging a grave. The boys took turns, as they were a shovel short, and soon had the grave done after 30 minutes. They lowered the body into grave, crawled out and covered the hole with all the sand they had dug up. All through and done, they stood around the grave silently with glistening eyes,they felt guilty but the promise of a great carrer ahead had them turning their backs to their morals.

"Guys we have to agree, what happened in Andora, stays in Andora. We will have each other's backs untill the very end, " Aviella said strongly even though tears were slowly rolling down her cheeks, as she put out her hand for their go cheer. One by one, they all put their hands together before saying, "For love, for eternal friendship, together we all stand tall! " Giving one final glance at the woman's last resting place, they walked out the woods with Aviella carrying the baby, into the car and drove off back to their hotel.