REWIND

“Who sent you both?” The question hung in the air like it didn’t belong to a room full of breathing men. No one answered it. Not immediately. My head throbbed before I even opened my eyes properly. A dull, splitting pain at the back of my skull told me exactly what had happened—I’d been knocked out, and not gently. Cold air brushed my skin. I was on a chair. My wrists were bound tight enough that I didn’t need to look to know I wasn’t getting out easily. Ron was beside me. Tied up too. Unmoving. That was the first thing my mind locked onto. Not the pain. Not the voices. Just him. “Ron…” My voice came out lower than I intended. Dry. Careful. “Ron, wake up.” Nothing. I leaned slightly, trying to get a better look without drawing attention. His head was tilted forward, still. Too still. A spike of worry cut through me. But if he were dead… they wouldn’t have bothered tying him up. That thought didn’t comfort me. It just made things less final. And in a place like this, “less final” was enough to keep thinking. The room was almost completely silent apart from distant movement and the faint shuffle of shoes on concrete. In that silence, I caught something I didn’t expect. His heartbeat. Barely there. But real. That single detail kept me from losing control. I tried again, closer this time. “Ron… Ron, wake up.” Still nothing. Then— A splash. Ice-cold water hit both of us without warning. My body jolted violently. Whatever fog was left in my head snapped apart instantly, like glass under pressure. I sucked in a sharp breath, choking on the shock of it. Ron jerked forward beside me. Alive. Coughing. Shaking. For a second, relief almost hit me—until I remembered where we were. A man laughed somewhere off to my right. Another voice answered immediately, sharper, irritated. “Why do we have to keep these fools? Why don’t we just blow their brains to bits?” “You know we can’t,” another voice cut in. Calm. Controlled. Worse. “Not until the consigliere is informed.” That word made something shift in my chest. Consigliere. So it was that kind of operation. Family business. Mafia. My eyes lifted slightly, careful not to move too much. I didn’t need to see everything clearly to count. Footsteps. Shadows. Shapes. Seven. Five standing apart with the ease of men used to violence. Ron and me making seven in total. One of them moved closer. Ron groaned beside me. “Ouch… Joey… you awake, man?” “Shh,” I hissed under my breath without thinking. “We’re in deep s**t because of you, dipshit.” He blinked at me like he was trying to remember how he got here. I wish I had a better answer. The conversation around us didn’t stop. If anything, it sharpened. “I’m telling you,” one of them said, voice tightening with impatience, “we end it now. No one has to know.” “If the boss finds out we handled this wrong,” another replied, “we’re dead anyway.” Silence followed that. Heavy. Decided. Ron’s breathing changed. Faster. Shallow. I didn’t need to look to know he was panicking. I could hear it. And worse—I could hear mine starting to match his. Then I saw it. A shift in one of the men’s stance. A hand moving under a jacket. Metal catching faint light. A gun. Pointing at Ron. Time slowed in a way my brain couldn’t keep up with. No thoughts lined up cleanly. No plan formed. Just instinct—raw and useless and desperate. The trigger began to move— Bang. The sound echoed across the room. Everything inside me dropped at once. My stomach. My breath. My balance. My sense of time. For half a second, there was only ringing. Then my voice broke out of me before I could stop it. “RON!” And the world went somewhere I couldn’t follow. ⸻ Ten hours earlier, none of this had existed. Not the blood. Not the guns. Not the silence full of threats. Just a bus stop. Just a normal afternoon that I would’ve forgotten if it hadn’t been the beginning of everything going wrong. 12:03 PM. May 12th, 2008. The city moved like it always did—indifferent, loud in its own way, pretending it wasn’t going to change someone’s life without warning. I was waiting for the bus when I noticed her. She was shivering slightly. Not dramatic. Just enough to be noticeable if you were paying attention. I took off my black neck scarf and stepped closer. “Here.” She looked up at me like she wasn’t used to strangers offering things without a reason. “Are you sure? What about you?” I shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got another one.” Her eyes narrowed slightly, skeptical. “Do you always carry an extra scarf around just in case you meet girls like me?” That made me pause. I smirked before I could stop myself. “Only if they’re as pretty as you.” She let out a small laugh, shaking her head as she accepted it. “Flattery won’t help you.” “Didn’t say it would,” I replied. She adjusted the scarf around her neck. “Thank you.” That should have been the end of it. But it wasn’t. The conversation carried on so naturally that neither of us noticed how much time had passed. “You must’ve been in a real rush to come out in this weather without a coat or scarf.” “Maybe I was expecting you to save me,” she replied. I smirked. “Now who’s doing the flattering?” A laugh escaped both of us. The atmosphere between us felt strangely effortless. There was no awkwardness. No tension. For someone I’d only just met, she spoke to me like we’d known each other for years. And somehow… I found myself liking that. A strange sensation stirred in my chest. I was catching feelings for a girl I had known for less than an hour. “Do you plan on keeping me company until my bus arrives?” she asked. “Well, I heard the buses are running late because of the snow, so… I guess I am.” “If you say so,” she replied softly. “Although,” I added, glancing down the road, “I have a feeling your bus is about to show up.” “How sure are you?” “Because…” I pointed ahead. “Look over there.” Her eyes widened slightly as she turned toward the approaching headlights. For a second, she stared at me like I had performed some kind of magic trick. “Are you psychic?” she asked. I laughed. “Maybe.” The bus rolled to a stop directly in front of us with a hiss of brakes. I straightened instinctively, preparing to say goodbye as she stepped toward the open doors. “I didn’t catch your name,” I called out. She turned immediately. Almost as if she had been waiting for me to ask. “It’s Esdeth,” she said. “Well, it was nice meeting you, Esdeth.” “You too…” She paused, looking at me expectantly. Right. “Joey,” I said. “My name’s Joey.” A faint smile crossed her face. “Catch you later, Joey.” “Catch you later.” I watched her climb onto the bus and take a seat by the window. A moment later, the doors folded shut. I lifted a hand as the bus pulled away, disappearing slowly into the snowy distance. For a while, I just stood there. Lost in pointless thoughts that tangled together inside my head. Then— Ring. The sudden vibration of my phone snapped me back to reality. I pulled it from my pocket and glanced at the screen. Ron.