Free Hostage by Karen Tayleur

down the line.
    Griffin carefully slid into the car, then he threw a plastic chemist bag onto the back seat. His bare arm touched Tully’s as he turned back in his seat and they sparked with static electricity. Tully jumped and Griffin pretended not to notice.
    ‘You didn’t say anything,’ he said.
    Tully shrugged. ‘People in uniform are so bossy,’ she said.
    ‘The car looks in one piece.’ He made a show of looking at the instruments on the dash, then under the seat, then above the sun visor, but all the time Tully could tell he was checking her out.
    ‘So you got it?’ she asked. She nodded to the bag.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘I don’t understand. I thought ... I thought they just gave it to you on the spot.’
    ‘They did. It’s in the bag,’ said Griffin. He grabbed the bag from the back seat and threw it into Tully’s lap.
    Tully opened the bag and pulled out a box of pills. She read the instructions. ‘It says here that you have to take this on an empty stomach.’
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘It says here that it is a treatment for acne. What does this mean?’
    ‘It means that it is a treatment for acne,’ said Griffin.
    ‘I don’t understand,’ said Tully.
    ‘You thought I was at the chemist for the methadone program?’ said Griffin.
    Tully nodded.
    Griffin laughed.
    ‘What’s so funny?’ said Tully.
    ‘Nothing,’ he said.
    ‘You think it’s funny that I thought I was driving around with a ex-druggie who needed his dose of Methadone to stay sane?’ asked Tully.
    Griffin nodded, his fingers drumming on the steering wheel. ‘Tully...’ he began, then stopped. ‘So, how do we get outta here?’ he said finally. ‘I need to get back to the city.’
    Tully pointed to a break in the side road that led out onto the highway.
    ‘I’ve been thinking ... I think it will be okay,’ said Griffin. ‘If you just come and tell them what happened. The police. How I didn’t hurt you or nothing. And that guy—he charged me. I was just defending myself.’
    ‘I know.’
    ‘So it might be a crap Christmas but I think it will be okay. It was just ... I was having a bad day, you know. And that chemist woman...’
    ‘Yeah.’ But Tully wasn’t thinking of the chemist woman. She could see the day stretching out before them. A tedious day of police interviews and Laney losing it. There probably wouldn’t even be time for Christmas shopping.
    ‘It’s Christmas Eve,’ said Tully.
    Griffin grunted.
    ‘If you could have just one Christmas Eve wish, what would it be?’ she asked him.
    ‘Tully—’
    ‘No, really. Come on. What would you wish for.’
    Griffin shook his head. ‘I dunno. I guess I would wish I’d never gone to Smith Street this morning. That I’d never talked to Dad on the phone last night. He wanted to see me Christmas Day. I didn’t see the point. He was acting like he should have some kind of say in what I do. Like he had some kind of rights. And this morning I was still pissed off about it. I wish—’
    ‘Only one wish,’ said Tully.
    ‘I wish I was still in bed,’ said Griffin.
    Tully nodded.
    ‘So, what would you ... Tully, this road’s going the wrong way.’
    ‘I don’t want to go back to the city,’ said Tully.
    ‘What? Jesus. You’ve spent ages going on about how you wanted out and now you don’t want to go back?’
    ‘Yet,’ she said. Tully’s day had suddenly opened up. The possibilities seemed endless. ‘My Christmas Eve wish is to have an adventure. You need to turn left up here.’
    ‘Forget it,’ said Griffin, changing to the right lane and heading for a set of lights and a u-turn sign.
    ‘Uh uh,’ she said. Tully looked out the window to the landscape. It was familiar but new houses clustered together like a crop of mushrooms, making her second-guess where she really was. ‘If you don’t take me where I want to go, well, you can forget it. Forget about that little fantasy you have of me talking to the cops for you.’
    The car was approaching the lights and