Hali sauntered weakly to the back of the car and opened the trunk. She picked up the young boy and swung him over her shoulder. She walked back towards me, carrying the kid and glanced over at Uncle Earl who was passed out in the back seat.
“This place seems vacant. Juvia stays in the car and watches over Uncle Earl if anything is out of the ordinary. Call me.”, she ordered. Pulling open the glove compartment in the passenger seat, she picked up the duct tape we took from the motel and closed the compartment. Shoving the tape roll into her wrist, like a bracelet, she poked out of the car and slammed the door. The moonlight shined on the concrete ground, Hali’s steps from her black boots were the only thing sounding the outdoor parking lot. I climbed back into the SUV, and quietly closed the door. Pressing the buttons down by my index finger, I locked the vehicle. Peering behind me, I stared at Uncle Earl sleeping soundly. He was still holding on to his shoulder in his sleep. What have I done?
If Uncle Earl never took me in, this wouldn’t have happened to him. What happened at the motel scared me. Thinking back, I remembered the pain each time Glass pushed each dagger into my flesh. Gasping, I curled into the seat for comfort. Why was Caedenbitus so adamant about taking me? If they wanted to kill me, they could have already. Instead, the ones around me are in danger. I pulled my backpack that was resting on the floor by my seat and searched for the items Uncle Earl bought for me at the gas station. Grabbing a candy bar, I ripped the wrapper and coiled it around the bar so it would not get my fingers sticky. Biting the top bit of the bar, I reached for my phone in the compartment underneath the radio. It was 11:54 PM. Today was tiring. Six minutes until it’s over and a new day comes.
Curious, I opened the search engine on my phone and typed in Pitt Meadows High. There it was, an article of my name and the terrorist hostage situation. I typed in ‘Sleepy Motel’ in the search engine, no event at the motel wasn’t recorded anywhere. The screen only asked me if I wanted to book a room, no thank you. I scrolled down my screen to see if other articles were stating the motel incident. I do know it was a couple of hours ago, but the media is pretty fast to pick up on it. After a couple of minutes, I gave up quickly and turned off my phone screen and rested my eyes. I only meant to close them for a little bit, but I ended up falling asleep.
Sleeping soundly, I heard sounds in the background. Some laughter and giggles, someone was holding on to my hand. “Hey, wake up you stupid bitch.” The voice said. Opening my eyes, a vast beach revealed itself to me. The seagulls barked, while waves swept up to the line of the soft sand. Beautiful shells shined and sparkled around. A sudden warm touch in my hand dragged me towards the seawater. The girl who was pulling my hand had her back facing me, I couldn’t see her face. She was about the same height as I was. She had bright red hair. When the sun gleamed on her hair, the hair moved like flickering flames. I looked down at where we were holding hands, it felt warm and safe. When she turned around and was about to reveal her face, I startled myself awake. Her voice calling me names faintly in my head.
I carefully scanned my surroundings. Where was I? Where did that girl go? I didn’t get the chance to see what she looked like. I was in the car, not at a beach. Feeling less confused, I tried to laugh off my silliness. Uncle Earl! I spun around in my seat and found him gone. A rush of panic faltered into my body and face, I grabbed my phone. My hand was shaking while I fumbled to open the car door.
What happened to him? Where did he go? Finally, I got the car door open and stepped outside quickly. All questions were answered, as soon as I turned around after closing the car’s door. Uncle Earl was leaning on the back of the car, having a cigarette. The cigarette smoke spread to my nose senses. I let out a breath of relief. Uncle Earl has not noticed me yet. Staring at his figure as the moonlight daze upon his face, his gray eye matched the colour of the planet. Again, dull pain cried in my chest. This can’t keep continuing.
Tears began to stream down my face, the dull pain in my chest moved up to my throat causing a desire to whimper. Uncle Earl looked up, he was wide-eyed. He dropped his cigarette on the ground and stomped on it. Walking with open arms, he embraced me while I began to sob as quietly as possible. Every tremble I cried he would hold me harder, always repeating, “its okay, sweetie.”
We stood there in that position for several minutes. When I realized I was sobbing in his arms the whole time, I let go and wipe my face with my shirt sleeve. Embarrassed I muttered to him, “Sorry, I don’t know why I did that.” Uncle Earl stared at me in silence, for a couple of minutes. He pulled my arm in for another hug. It was so warm and nostalgic. The faint smell of tobacco came off his clothes, but underneath it, there was a familiar smell. It comforted me and the dull pain went away.
We pulled away and Uncle Earl said, “Juvia, this isn’t your fault. Okay?” He gripped on his shoulder. I can feel my face twisting into pain. This dull pain kept re-occurring ever since all of this was happening. “Everything is happening so fast. I don’t even understand myself.” I whimpered.
“I would understand if you are hurt now, but that’s life. Don’t blame anyone or yourself when a part of your life is down. It’s supposed to be like a roller coaster, there are ups and downs. It’s just right now, we are experiencing the downs. We have been through more than that.” Uncle Earl comforted me.
I shook my head and pulled off his hands that were resting on my shoulders. I answered, “You don’t understand, I might not be who I am. I don’t even understand who I am, even before Hali came. Maybe you should have never have picked me up in that alle…” Uncle Earl has struck my face with his right palm. His face looked afflicted as he stared at his hand for the action he just did.
Taking a deep breath in, he looked me in the eyes and firmly concluded, “Don’t you dare say that! I don’t think you know what kind of man I was before you came into my life. I need you as much as you needed me then. We are family.” His eyes resonated with sorrow and love as it connected with mine. After a couple of seconds, he looked like he realized something and looked away.
“Where’s Hali? Where are we?” he asked diverting the topic. His eyes were red, and his eyelids were swollen from rubbing them. It looks like he was crying earlier. I felt a bit of comfort, I wasn’t the only one who felt sad and confused.
“We are in Surrey. She took Glass into that vacant apartment building in front of us.” I answered. I scratched my head from awkwardness. I glanced at Uncle Earl and he was glaring at the building with his arms cross. He turned his head to grab another cigarette from his pack that was lying on the car. I noticed a large scar on the nape of his neck. I didn’t think much of it, he probably got it when we were fighting Glass. “The kid that attacked us, was even younger than you.” he pronounced, “We should go look for her.” I nodded of approval and I opened the door and picked up my backpack.
We walked towards the empty building, just then I heard murmurs and laughter in the background nearby. There was a group of men walking by in grey and black hoodies. They looked like a little older than me, smoking weed. Quickly, I grabbed Uncle Earl’s shirt and we hid behind a wall to watch what they were up to. He dropped his cigarette that he was smoking so they didn’t notice the strong smell.
I didn’t expect anyone to come by this area, it was deserted. No road or person in sight. Peeking from behind the wall, it looked like there were two groups of men. A group of three and a group of two, they were trading money and plastic bags. It was a drug deal. Money and plastic bags were passed around. I close my eyes near shut almost squinting, to try to get a better look, to see if they had any weapons on them. After the exchange, they separated and left the area. We both waited a couple more minutes, in case anyone of them comes back.
Continuing our hunt to look for Hali, we opened up a door and entered the building. There was wailing echoing the hallways. Cautiously, I creep towards the wailing sound. It sounded like it came from the lounge area. As Uncle Earl and I got closer to the lounge, the louder the cries. Finally, we reached the door to the lounge room. Uncle Earl opened the door slowly. The view got wider and wider. All I saw was Glass all tied up and got the shit beat out of him. Hali was holding a syringe and had cast the ice bullets. She had one pebble suspended in the air as she filled her syringe up with an icy blue liquid.
“I’m going to ask again. Who is your boss and how do you know where the other girl is!?” Hali demanded. The young boy spat blood on the ground. He just smirked and shrugged. Hali furious, she shot an ice bullet towards his right shoulder. It was less hard than what I went through during training with her. The kid cried in agony.
I somehow made eye contact with Glass. His eyes were not empty like they were in the motel. Something seemed different from him, his eyes had life in it. He looked scared but was putting up a strong front. Stepping in I yelled, “Hali! Stop, we can figure out another way.”
Hali turned around and saw Uncle Earl and me in the doorway. She shook her head and dropped the syringe on the table. “Juvia, what did I tell you…” she paused with her hands on her hips, “I told you to message or call me if anything happened.”
Furious, I bantered back “I have a right to know what’s going on too. You were gone for hours, no text, nothing! You said you trust me!” Hali checked her watch. I walked right up to a pail of water and towel and then knelt by Glass. Looking at the kid, he was tortured and tormented. His t-shirt looked soaked with sweat and his swollen face glistened. He looks like he was younger than me. Even though he hurt me back in the motel, he seemed somehow different now. Why did he have to go through this? Who taught him this?
I began wiping the boy’s face, it made the towel coloured with blood, sweat and dirt. He winced from pain when I wiped in an area Hali had hit him. He was also bruised all over. Uncle Earl went to Hali and asked a couple of questions.
“So what do you know so far from the boy?” I heard him ask Hali. Hali pulled a chair out from a nearby table and sat down.
Sighing she answered, “He is working for Caedenbitus. He is one of the leaders or general in the organization. Squad twelve whatever his squad number is. I also asked him about the woman who attacked both you and Juvia. He said he’s never heard of her.”
“Cause I didn’t!” the boy cried back.
“So how the fuck are you going to explain this? From what this picture says, you know where Juvia’s sister is!” she stood and yelled. She pulled a piece of folded paper and unfolded it. She threw it on the table. Uncle Earl picked it up and studied the picture. On the bottom there were coordinates.
“And this lady is? Juvia’s sister?” he questioned as he places the picture back on the table. Hali nodded. I gasped hearing the conversation but felt uneasy from the dialogue that I was listening to. Looking back at the kid, he was looking down. He looks sad and lonely. Was he different now because his life was in danger? Or was it because…I don’t know. I shouldn’t think too much about it. I don’t trust him but there is something that’s not adding up.
I walked over to Hali, and said, “I think we should let him go.” Hali slammed the table, “You want to let him go!? He’s just going to go back and let everyone know where we are! That’s a stupid fucking idea.” She retorted.
“So, what’s going to happen after you finish torturing him then? Kill him? He’s only a boy Hali!” Uncle Earl stood up and offence said. The two glared for a couple of minutes. Hali sighed and picked up the syringe that was filled with the blue chemical. She walked over to the boy and stabbed the needle into his neck and presses the lever.
The blue chemical streamed into the boy’s neck and blue veins to glow over him and he began to cry in pain. Uncle Earl screamed, “What are you doing?”
Hali grabbed a knife and began to untie him, “You want to save him right? Well, at least I suspended him from using his powers.” She answered. Grunting as she was still cutting the ropes from the chair. The boy was finally free from being restrained for hours. He passed out. Now, what were we going to do? I stood there and looked at the other two. They couldn’t look at me in the eye. Was this the right way? I decided to walk towards the picture on the table. The picture stood a girl with long red hair, just like the one in my dream earlier.
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