Free Ugly Beautiful by Sean-Paul Thomas

the kind of person who likes to just sit around thinking for days on end.'
     
    Jason smiled teasingly and pretended to be hurt by Haley's comments.
     
    'How would you know what kind of person I am?'
     
    'Just impressions that's all. Simple, little impressions. Are you in some kind of trouble?'
     
    Jason fell silent. He continued to stare far and wide at the scenic mountains all around. He was contemplating whether to come clean or not, and not just about why he was there, but everything. Everything about his insane life. He really was beginning to feel a great urge to just tell someone. Haley, all about his secrets and the woes burning deep inside of him.
     
    'You really want to know why I'm here?' he said finally.
     
    'Yes.' replied Haley instantly. Jason then leaned, almost teasingly, in towards her and whispered into her ear.
     
    'I stole some money.'
     
    Haley raised her eyebrows acting a little surprised at Jason's revelation.
     
    'Wow, so we could both be a pair of bank robbers then.'
     
    'I didn't steel my money from a bank though. I stole it from some gangsters in the city and a sometimes pretty half decent friend. I never even told him either that I was running away. I just up and left...' Well it was a half truth though Jason, maybe even a quarter truth, but at least he was finally opening up. Surprisingly he found himself feeling a little better. So better in fact that he seriously considered confessing the rest of his brutal story and the violent acts that haunted him over these last few days, but he quickly shrugged it away. He just couldn't. He just couldn't. He wasn't ready for such a bold step and neither was Haley. Not a chance.
     
    'He mustn't have been a very good friend then if you stole some money from him and didn't tell him you were leaving.'
     
    'Actually, he was a real pain in the arse, just like you.' Jason teased.
     
    'Hey.' replied Haley pretending to be upset. She playfully slapped him on the arm.
     
    'But he was good to talk with sometimes, you know. Not as deep and as probing with his line of questioning like you, but thereabouts in his own weird and wonderful way.' Jason smiled remembering some of Gary's own up front, bold and direct advice during their rare and all too brief life conversations. There weren't too many that's for sure, but there were one or two, and always after a few too many whiskies, about the meaning of it all, where did they think they would be in ten years, did they have any regrets about their lives. It was usually while staking out some drug suppliers for a few days who were supposedly on the take or watching over some other local gangsters and planning their next act of violence against them after somehow managing to piss off Jason's father. Haley blushed at the tiny compliment.
     
    'So why did you steel the money?'
     
    Jason deliberately hesitated. Trying to think of a half decent lie mixed with a little bit of tiny truth.
     
    'I just got fed up with the life I was living that's all. I wanted a fresh new start.'
     
    'So where are you going next then? What is your plan from here?'
     
    'I really have know fucking clue.' said Jason with a chuckle. And he really didn't. This was the first time that he really had the chance to think his future if he was honest.
     
    'Maybe travel on down to Birmingham or further south to London. Get a visa or a fake passport sorted, then, well... to wherever the damn wind carries me after that I suppose. Canada, Southern Europe, Australia.'
     
    Once Jason had said it out loud it actually seemed like a plausible plan. And since his mind was now pondering on it, it occurred to him that he really did know some dodgy and shady people who could fake him a new life. Whether he could pull it off though without getting busted was another thing entirely. Surely he must have been the most wanted man in Scotland right then, but he hadn't listened to the news since he'd fled and he didn't even want to listen if truth be told.
     
    'I