“Did any of you drink the liquid they gave us?” Sebastian asks the seven men.
“Hell no!” Sammy replies out of annoyance. “Jerry told us about the elders killing Santine. So, once they gave those cups to us, we went back near the door, dropped the cups, and left the same way you did, Seb.”
So now everyone is having their own stories of the crazies that’s happening in town; the town is turning into hell.
“Well, I don’t know about most of you…” Arlena speaks. “But I’m leaving this town tonight, and that’s what I wanted to talk to you about, Talia.”
Hearing this caught my attention. “Yes?”
“I want to know if you wanted to come and live with me.”
Her comment surprised me. Arlena wants me to go with her? Stay with her?
“It’s a promise I made to a best friend we knew.”
Gina. That is Arlena’s reason, and she doesn’t want history to repeat itself to me. Something is telling me to go with her. Since I don’t have home to go to anymore, and I can start over with a new life and a clean slate, same with Arlena. It seems that she wants to atone for her wrongdoings, and since I’m physically on my own, and since Arlena is as well. So…
“Sure.” I respond. “I’ll go with you, Arlena.”
“Well, there’s no need to leave it at that.” Randall told Arlena and I. “Count me and Mom in, because screw this place!”
“Exactly, son.” Mandy replies. “Seeing new scenery wouldn’t be so bad, and staying here isn’t healthy for any of us.”
“I second that.” Amanda agrees, so did the other women.
“Well, what about us?” Edward asks, looking at me. “We know we’re no longer welcome here, so where should we go? What do we do now?”
“Go wherever you want to go.” I answer. “Live on and leave this place behind because that’s what we’re going to do.
The seven looked as if I was talking nonsense; I look to them as if they were stupid.
“You all are telling me you’ve never thought of leaving from here, or are you all scared to think that?”
“Scared to leave? Of course not.” Sammy replies. “It’s just that we all had stable jobs here, so, yeah, we never thought of leaving.”
“Keyword, ‘had’.” Delotti comments. “You might as well leave, Sammy, because you are no longer welcome here; just like us.”
“That’s right.” Tori adds. “They don’t want us ‘filthy demons’ in their town.”
“That might not matter soon anyway.” Loretta retorts. “Because how Seth is speaking, it sounds like he’s going to wipe Tinton of the map.”
The majority agreed with her statement, and so do I, because nobody here should be consumed by the nightmares I still have. Once that happens, it’s over. Thinking about this, I hear rustling through the sunflowers. The two people that emerge are Mayor Morris and Chief Gino! —well, Morris and Gino. Seth was able to help them escape! What a relief. Both men were catching their breath since it took several minutes for them to run to the fields from the town. Morris and Gino looked at their surroundings, seeing who was here, they saw me with surprise.
“Well one, I ended up here after I was attacked by Sampson. Two, everyone here can tell you what happened.” I answer.
“No. He didn’t do anything to them.”
“She’s not lying to you, asshole!” Randall retorts. “What’s going on in Tinton is not his fault! We all know he would do much worse.”
“Well, Morris and I saw him in town! He was making everyone act like psychos and they tried to fucking kill us!”
“Good God, Gino! How much of an idiot can you be?!” Tori yells at him. “He was talking to us minutes ago, found out the two of you were in trouble, and went to help you both get away from the people! And now that you both are here, he should be coming back soon.”
Morris nods at Tori’s argument, but Gino starts looking around, mockingly, trying to find Seth.
“Well? Where the fuck is he?! I don’t see him, so you’re just sticking your neck out for an abomination now known to man!”
The moment Gino finished his ridiculous rant, Seth reappears behind Gino, grabs Gino’s neck, making him scream. He tried to get out of Seth’s grasp, but Seth’s grip, of course, stayed true; Gino couldn’t move. Seth got close to his ear.
“Watch your words you arrogant, ignorant, and abhorrent waste of flesh!”
With Seth’s sharp tongue and tone, I can see the fear instilled within Gino. Also, it serves him the right for talking crap about Seth. He lets Gino go which makes Gino turn around and face him; Seth’s face looked furious.
“Consider yourself lucky that Talia asked me to save you.” Seth explains. “If it were me, I would have let the people take you and I would have sorted you out later in my realm.”
Gino decided not to counter Seth’s explanation. Hearing this, Morris looked at me.
“Talia, is this true?”
“Yes.” I answer. “I asked Seth to help you both escape, because you two haven’t done anything physically to me.”
Morris and Gino look to each other in thought, then back to me, agreeing with in nods.
“You both haven’t called me names, either. But… you two have handled some problems in a poor way.”
“And what problems would that be?” Gino asks.
“Your negligence to act in a timely manner says everything about both of your characters.” Seth answers. “Besides the seven, the others that are here want nothing to do with you two. If you did act accordingly and not disregard the issues, certain events would not have happened. The women here can tell you.”
“Yes, and it’s true.” Rachel adds with her arms crossed.
The other women, Randall and Sebastian look to Morris and Gino in a disappointed manner as well.
“So…” Rachel continues. “You two need to pack up your things and go wherever you two are going to go. We don’t care where you go, but don’t come with us.”
Morris and Gino look confused at Rachel.
“Wait. Why should we leave?” Gino asks.
I huff at Gino’s stupidity. He is not grasping what is going on and what will happen.
“Because everyone in Tinton doesn’t want you here! They would rather see you dead, like me!” I explain. “They’ve gone off the deep end, and if they see you, they will try to kill you!”
“Also…” Seth speaks. “If you did not understand Rachel clearly, yours and Morris’ history of negligence of power does not stand well with the women and men here. It would be best if you two found another town to live, find different jobs to work. Tinton is turning into ruin, and there is no stopping it.”
“And if you don’t know what that means, Seth is going to turn into the hell that it is tonight. And that means we should all leave tonight.” Randall adds.
“That’s what I’m doing.” Arlena speaks.
“Same here.” Tori agrees. “I’m going back to my house tonight and pack.”
“Well, what about us?” Ronald asks pertaining to him and the other six men. “We’ve never gone outside the town’s limits.”
“Go with Morris and Gino.” I tell them. “I can tell you that being out here made me realize that I want to see what the world has to offer. I’m ready to move on with my life. So, I say to Tinton, goodbye, and good riddance!”
I look to Seth. He gives me this… sincere smile that I have never seen before. I guess he’s proud that I’m ready to leave this town behind, but I think to myself, what will happen when this is all over? Will Seth disappear and I’ll never see him again? Will he forget about me? Being the mind reader that he is, Seth walks towards me with a calm face and puts his hands in mine.
“Please.” He speaks to me calmly. “Do not worry yourself wondering if you will see me again or not. Remember, Talia, I am one footstep away. Not just from Tinton, but from everywhere else. I will never forget you, gifted one, and you will see me again. Wherever you go, I will not be far away.”
Hearing him say this gives me reassurance and it makes me smile with joy.
“W-well, I don’t think she should ever see you again!”
I turned to see Morris who spoke and what he said baffled me.
“Remember what I told you, Seth.” He speaks to him. “She doesn’t need to be exposed to what you have to offer!” He then looks at me. “Talia, if you choose to stay with this… this… whatever he is, you will be brought into something you can’t get out of. Whatever he promised, it’s not what you think it is!”
It’s nice to know that Morris is concerned for my well-being, but I tell him:
“Well, I’m glad that you care about my safety, Morris, but my mind is already made up. If you talked to me earlier before all of this, then things would have been different. But I chose this; this is my decision, and it’s final.”
My words must have left a sting within Morris, but he knows I’m right. Things would have been different if he had talked to me earlier. He looks like he understands my reason and exhales.
“Okay.” He says to me. “If this is your decision, then you better follow through with it. But down the line, you will ask yourself if it was all worth it in the end.”
“Morris!” Tori calls him. “We are talking about Tinton as a whole! Levi, Deloris, Laney, and the others who are following after them. They all agree with Levi 100%, and they’ve become a cult with a hive mind. They will continue what they’re doing and will probably kill anybody that doesn’t agree with them! I’d say the world would be just fine without them.”
The majority of the group agreed with Tori’s statement. Again, so do I. Morris couldn’t say anything else to defend the people of Tinton, because he knows how they can be; he saw how they were to him and Gino earlier.
“Tonight.” Seth speaks, catching everyone’s attention. “You all must pack your things and leave this town. Make sure you are not seen. If you are, run and do not look back. They will not stop until you are caught and killed.”
“And how would you know that?” Gino asks him.
“Because this is the work of Luce. When humans are under his influence, this is how they operate. Knowing this and eradicating it is part of my occupation. Also, you do not want to be on the receiving end when I carry it out, correct?”
Gino’s only response was to nod, not saying a word. I’d rather him not say anything anyways, because I’m sure he’s seen what Seth is about ever since the jailhouse. Seth continues.
“Then you should leave tonight.” He speaks then looks at me. “Especially you, Talia.”
I look to him, feeling the thoughts of us separating again, but I know I have to stay strong. We will see each other again soon. Now, my thoughts are where do we go to get out of this town?
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