Chapter Seventeen

‘After that visit, you are not going to be able to escape the truth.’

I so want to escape right now. I am not strong enough to see or hear what the love of my life was actually in reality. This is definitely not what I signed up for.

Not even a minute had passed since Ayu came in and called the boss man by his name, but I was already feeling like a couple of hours had been engulfed by the silence around us. I couldn’t open my mouth even in astonishment as this was too much. Ayu was not with me for nine years. She was away from a secure circle and probably ended up on the bad side of the world. Does this mean that she is a part of a mafia gang?

‘What the hell?’ Deke’s remark brought all of us back to reality. I turned around to look at Sean, who looked like he’s just been pushed off a thirty storey building and Deke looked like he just got an A in algebra.

She was acting as if the three of us didn’t exist. With her hands on her hips, she was dictating attitude and authority. She looked different to me, to us actually and she meant a different kind of a business altogether.

‘You’ve kept a lot from these boys, haven’t you?’ Sebastian, as he is supposed to be, broke the ice by speaking again.

‘Why do you care?’ the way she spoke was unusual. It wasn’t her old, cheerful self but a nasty and cold character.

‘Oh…I shouldn’t care?’ he started to scoff at her ‘After all that we have been through together. After all the fun we had…’

‘Don’t tempt me, Sebastian. I would love to put a bullet through your throat!’ I wasn’t sure if I was even listening to the conversation properly. Did Ayu just say ‘bullet’?

Sebastian was enjoying the ride. He was acting as if Ayu was over selling herself and it was hard for him to accept that she would be able to kill him. He had different opinions in his head. ‘Not if I put one into you…’

I was baffled and astonished at the same time. He was ready to kill Ayu? And she was also ready to kill him? Killing?! What is all this about? I knew that she was somehow involved in this and I wanted to believe that she was not deep into this. As things are progressing though, it looks like all of this is happening because of her. Or should I say, all of this happening for her to die?

I can’t help but think that Deke was going to be right and that he would love to say ‘I told you so.’ 

‘You won’t kill me that easily. Now, would you Sebastian?’ she was giving him cryptic questions but in the end, it seems like it was cryptic only to us. ‘You’ll have some big show lined up for me right?’

‘You know me so well.’ He was a sinister and I knew it. Whatever was going to follow this conversation was not going to be good.

‘What is going on here?’ Sean suddenly spoke out, startling all of us. ‘I don’t understand any of this. Why are our parents in it? Why are we in it? Ayu…what are you doing here talking like you know him? You know him that well?’

‘I promised you more than just answers right?’ she turned around to face Sean and for a moment, we saw our Ayu come back…The girl who always loved to help us and make sure that we are safe and in no trouble at all because of her.

Now that I realized that…is she trying to get us out of this mess now?

‘We need to see our parents now!’ Deke yelled out ‘Nothing else happens but that. Do you understand me?’

‘You wildcat…’ Sebastian suddenly turned his focus to us. ‘You just gave me the cue for my next big move!’

As if it was really a cue, two of the guys left the scene immediately. We didn’t know what was going to happen next and I could say that Ayu was also unsure. She dropped her stance and then came to a steady standing position. She was distracted now and I couldn’t understand why she was. Only Ethan was now standing next to Sebastian, facing her. Unless…

‘Hi…Been a long time, huh?’ …they had a history too.

‘Ethan…’ she barely dragged his name. It was as if she was either disgusted or ashamed to say his name. Or else…she was either disgusted or ashamed to face him.

‘I cannot believe you are here. You have some guts or maybe you’re just crazy.’ He was teasing her. ‘You do know what will happen, right? Or you don’t know…like you didn’t know back then?’

‘What do you want from me?’ Ayu’s voice was now desperate. She sounded like she’s had enough…at least with him.

‘Just tell me I give you nightmares…’ he came so close to her when he spoke, this was almost like a whisper.

‘You do…’ she confessed. ‘You did…even this morning.’ She wasn’t sleeping. She was being terrified by her mysterious past.

‘Oh…’ Ethan was almost celebrating. ‘I am going to love this.’ Saying this he went back. The whole deal seemed pretty synchronized as I heard footsteps leading into the room now. He’d heard them and given way for the ‘next big move’ that Sebastian had planned. I did estimate the effects of the big move will be on us. Now looking at what was coming up in front of me, I judged wrong again.  The faint voices of Sean and Deke, stating their surprise, slowly reached my ear.

‘Mom…Dad…’

They were there now, right in front of us, tied and gagged but very much alive. I swear my eyes were welling up with tears. It was finally relieving to know that our parents were alive and well, while we have been considering otherwise. While we were happy to see them, Ayu was again, exhibiting a different reaction. She was showing her back to us, so I wasn’t able to see her face. Her body though, has always spoken to me. The way she moves, she stands, she sits, and everything has a meaning. Now, her body was in complete shock and I was left to wonder why.

‘I know what you’re thinking, Aysha.’ It was odd to listen to her full name being used and said out loud after all these years. It, however, reminded me of something else.

She was always ‘Ayu’ when she was with us but we never knew what ‘Aysha’ was or what she could really be.  

‘Willie?’

Her words were now not just shocking to us but also to our dad. I saw his face and he, unusually, looked surprised to the core. It was as if…they knew each other already.

‘I was tailing him and look what I found? …’ he turned a whole 360 degrees and faced Ayu once again, like he was hosting a show and these gimmicks were needed. ‘…you. The girl who was my primary target for so many years, the girl who escaped my fort and the girl who was presumed to be dead…alive and kicking.’

Dead…did he just say dead?

‘You got me, Sebastian!’ now Ayu was pissed ‘You got me, right? Then why take them? Why pull this family into our unfinished business? You should deal it with me! They are innocent!’

‘Yeah…the boys are innocent…’ Sebastian was acknowledging it ‘…so is the lady. They don’t deserve to be here. They were just the people who were at the wrong place at the wrong time…with the wrong people.’ While he said the last word though, he immediately shifted his focus to our dad and snarled at him.

My head was now twirling and jumping into various conclusions. I couldn’t help but overhear Deke’s whisper

‘Our dad is in this?’ and it was exactly what I feared about.

‘Your beef is with me! Take it out on me! Let them go…please!’ as soon as she uttered the last word, Sebastian's face expression changed. He seemed surprised.

‘Well well…what do we have here?’ he was smiling at her ‘All the cockiness has disappeared, is that so? All those words of insult inserted in between every sentence that comes out of your mouth have left you? You’re not going to fight?’

‘I don’t want them to get hurt! They don’t deserve it! You said so yourself…’

‘Well…Garth didn’t deserve it too. Did he?’

Ayu stood there, frozen once again. She didn’t have an answer or did not plead further. It was as if he had silenced her with a spell. I gradually shifted my focus to our parents now. Our mom was terrified. She had absolutely no idea why any of us were here. On the other hand, our dad was expressing identical to Ayu. They seemed to know what this was all about and now, they looked like they had figured out what was going to happen next.

‘What’s your plot? How is this going down?’ she finally spoke, only to scare me further.

‘Now…this is the girl I know! Always right down to business. I assume that you’ve already figured out the plan.’

She shook her head slowly, as if she was experiencing some difficulty in accepting what the plan was going to be. All I knew was…this was going to get nasty.

‘So…shall we?’ Sebastian started to meddle with his jacket pocket and the movement seemed heavy. I was hoping it wasn’t what I thought it was but whatever happened next was so fast, I had no idea how it happened so.

 I was holding a gun in my hands while my parents were held with knives on their neck and Ayu was facing me, arms stretched wide open constantly yelling at me just one thing, that froze me even more than what I was before.

‘Shoot me, Rocky! Get this done! Just SHOOT ALREADY!’

‘Are you insane?’ Sean was the only one reacting to this entire ordeal. ‘Kill you? You were the one we were supposed to kill? What did you do?’

‘You will get to know it. You cannot waste time now! Get this done; get your parents and leave! I've already put you in too much trouble. This isn’t your battle.’ She was yelling at us like anything. She was there and she was ready to die and I was holding the gun that may take out her life. What is all this?

‘Why is this even a battle?’ Sean was relentless in his efforts to convince her.

‘Sean…no time to talk!’ but she wasn’t giving up either.

‘Rocky…do something.’ Deke was now whispering to me telling me that I am now to do something.

‘Ayu…listen to me. We don’t have to do this!’

‘Sean…you do not understand!’

‘Rocky…do something!’

Voices were gripping me and chocking me as I stood there holding the gun as firmer as I could. I was building up my strength and I was squeezing the gun until my hands started to pain. Repeated statements were pushing me to my edge and I had no idea what my next move was supposed to be. I knew one thing though…

‘I am not going to kill her…’ I spoke my first since I gripped the gun and it silenced almost everyone.

I silenced everyone but I seemed to have pissed one particular person too.

‘What did you say, boy?’ Sebastian's cold voice erupted along with rage and frustration this time and his eyes were focused on me.

‘I said, I am not going to kill her.’ unknowingly, I had also found the inner strength that I needed the most now.

‘Hmmm…’ he dragged slowly allowing my blood pressure to rise even more. ‘So you don’t want to kill her. Boy, do you know or even remotely realize the consequences?’ what does he mean by consequences?

Before I could blink, things began to change again. He nodded his head as soon as he finished the sentence and right then, the guy holding my mom, slit her shoulder.

‘MOM! NO! Get your hands OFF HER!’ Sean and Deke started to react vigorously and they had to be restrained by the other three guys who were standing behind us. They were wriggling and trying too hard to escape their clutches but in vain.

‘Stop it! Sebastian! Do not hurt them! He’ll do it!’ I could hear Ayu pleading to him to stop the torture while my mother screamed her heart out in pain.

While all this went down, I stood there frozen watching all my loved ones hurt at the same time. How was this possible? What did we do to deserve this? Looking around, I had no idea what all this meant. I closed my eyes and started to pray. Please…someone help me.

‘You know Sebastian…’ a new voice filled the room silencing everyone once again ‘…You should never turn your back to your enemy.’

I looked up to see the scene completely changed. The guys who held knives at my parents were now holding guns against them. Ethan was pointing his gun towards Sebastian while Sebastian was held at gun point by a girl who looked focused and fierce.

‘Rachel…’ Ayu called her out ‘…you made it out?’ she sounded as if she was surprised to see her alive.

‘Ayu…you think that the little flame that erupted in that club would stop me? Give me more credit, please.’ She sounded way too cool and composed for a situation like this.

‘Rachel Wood…is that you?’ Sebastian was now showcasing his menacing smile. ‘Another one of my targets just shows up at my doorstep. This must be my lucky day!’

‘Call it a lucky day if you make it alive, you bastard!’ she put her arm around his neck and almost strangled it as she held the gun to his forehead.

‘Let him go!’ Ethan suddenly spoke out. His voice was all of a sudden soft and it seemed like he was begging to her. ‘We don’t need to this…’

‘Hi Ethan…’ she was sarcastic now. ‘Always a pleasure to see you…’

 ‘What are you doing now? What do you think you can accomplish? You are outnumbered and psychologically, your accomplice isn’t really steady today.’ Sebastian was still cocky; in spite of having a gun to his head ‘You might want to reconsider your plan.’

‘I do have a plan…’ she began. ‘…and it seems like you are lucky today!’

In the moment I blinked, she had moved her hand and shot the men that were holding my brothers behind me.

‘JESUS CHRIST!’ Deke’s loud exclamation gave me an exact image of the effect he had experienced.

‘Ayu…let’s make this count!’ Rachel yelled at Ayu and almost immediately Ayu turned around to face us. Now, she was no more the helpless one. She was completely the opposite of what she was a while ago. She was…different.

‘Guys…when she says so…’ she spoke out the last words that I was going to hear for a while.

And it happened all so fast, again!

‘NOW!’ Rachel yelled out and dropped something down. As soon as it hit the ground, it let out yellow smoke and it instantly filled the entire room with it. I was barely able to see and that is when I felt her touch.

We were running away from there, in the direction we had come in. We were running for the exit and we were running for our lives. The smoke was clearing up a little as we reached the stairs and I was able to see, barely enough to let me from tripping down the stairs. I could see Sean before me and Deke was leading the way. Ayu was not in front of me and I assumed that she’ll be behind me. I did hear footsteps climbing down behind me, so I presumed that it was her.

‘Rocky…are you with me?’ I heard Sean’s voice echoing through the air.

‘I am bro. Keep going!’ I yelled back my assurance and kept running.

Not long after we had descended the first set of stairs, I heard gun shots all over. It was echoing so loud that I actually raised my hands to cover my ears. We were running so fast, I wasn’t sure where we were at the moment. The ground came soon enough and so did the light. I was unusually blinded by the light that the sun radiated. It felt as if I had come into another universe where battle and gun shots were the primary authority. I didn’t like it one bit and right now, I was just about glad that all of us were okay.

Then again, I thought too soon…

‘Where’s Ayu?’ Deke’s tensed voice brought me back to a cruel reality that almost gave me a heart attack.

I turned around and hesitantly scanned the area around us. I could’ve sworn that I heard footsteps behind me and maybe I actually did. Then when did she leave us or why did she leave us? For the drama that had unfolded a moment ago, it wasn’t very advisable for her to be out there alone and when no one knows what she is capable of.

‘She can take care of herself!’ Sean started to talk looking at my agitation. ‘We need to get out of here. I really hope you understand, Rocky!’

Unusually, I did. The obsessed freak that I've been lately about Ayu had actually scared Sean so much that, he had to mention my name to make a point. He rarely does that. Then again, I had to agree. She can take care of herself. She has proved to us that much already. Now my question remained as this…what was she capable of doing?

‘Let’s move!’ I acknowledged and we started to run outside.

We weren’t out of the building yet and when I thought things were going to be fine from now on, the worst thing happened...worse than what was happening now.  

‘What the hell?’ Deke’s voice was the last thing I heard before a smoke bomb engulfed us again and I was bashed in my head.

A moment of clarity suddenly showed up and the sun was shining on my face again. I had a sharp pain radiating through my head to my neck and below and my ears felt hurt by all the gun shots that I was hearing.

‘Bro…are you okay?’ Sean was nervously fluttering and sitting next to me, holding me in his hands. He was worried and I wasn’t sure why.

‘Sean…what…?’ I wasn’t able to talk clearly, at least even make sense. It all seemed like a dream to me where I was lost beyond explanation. The pain was making me uncomfortable and I was flinching. Where was I all this while?

‘Deke…you have to be sharp. If moving him will be a problem, you have to figure it out as soon as possible. We will have only a small window.’ A female voice was suddenly all over the place.

‘Mia…what is all this? Why are you in this? I need to know now!’ Deke, my brother, was yelling out on top of his voice to someone called Mia. Mia…why is that familiar now?

‘You can die or hear out the truth once you’re safe, Deke!’

Truth…die…death…gun shots…Mia…all this was leading my head to somewhere specific. And then it hit me like a lightning bolt!

‘Ayu…’ I whispered her name as reality sank into my mind.

‘Thank god, you’re okay!’ Sean almost hugged me. ‘The way they hit your head, I thought we were going to lose you. You’re still bleeding a little.’

Then I realized what the pain was about. I slowly touched my head to feel my blood stagnated around a part of my head. I then slowly came to understand the situation. We were hiding from the mini world war that was happening out there. And we were waiting for Mia to give us a window.

‘Wait a minute…Mia?’ I was letting all the things flow at once and my head was spinning with the details. We’ve already had enough of surprises for a day and now Mia shows up too?

‘Hi Rocky…’ she greeted me ‘…good to see you up and alive!’

‘What is going on here?’ I managed to utter the first proper sentence that my head formed since I woke up again.

‘Talking later…we need to escape!’ Mia was acting like she was in charge. ‘Wait here! I’ll come by!’ and so she left the place.

We were outside, behind some crap of machinery, old parts or some sort and we could hear the echo of the bullets from all around. When all of them knew what was happening around, I was lost. I was lost in thought…thoughts of where Ayu was.

I looked around to check if she was anywhere to be seen. The stream of memories that were flooding in now was doing nothing but scare me more. I needed to know that she was alright. It was all that I wanted.

I turned around aimlessly, hoping to find her. I did find something. It wasn’t her but a flash from a fragment of the memory that I hold dear. I saw the lone, rusty, narrow bridge that we sneaked into one night to admire the moon. It was a little far away from us but I had all the view I needed to reminisce enough. I still remembered the glow I saw on her face. She was radiating and her smile was so beautiful that it made me realize that since then; I've wanted to experience it again with her and see her wonderful smile. I could imagine her standing there, holding my hand and the both of us living the life that we had then.

Now I was imagining something different. She was there, up in the bridge but she wasn’t anywhere close to happy and she wasn’t anywhere close to me. She was up there with another man and she was fighting him off with a club. She was pounding him as he kept on trying to get his hands on her, as if he was to grab her by her neck. She was struggling but she was aware of what she was doing. She was in control of her body and she was doing a great job of hitting him hard. As my imagination unfolded, a question that had been haunting me earlier popped up into my head again.

‘What is she capable of?’

I was sure now that she will be capable of hitting someone to defend herself. Of course, under desperate circumstances, you get brutal. Now, however, it wasn’t so desperate after all. It was pre planned and it was supposed to happen. Right now, to save herself, what will she do? What is she capable of?

I started to walk out of our cover and I was leading myself towards the bridge. The imagination was too vivid for me to not test it. I wanted to know what my head had formulated or concluded about her capabilities. I was in love and I needed to know the depth of it. I was still walking and right then, the man fell in front of her, probably knocked out cold. I stopped a fair distance away from the bridge and it was for a reason. She wasn’t doing anything else. She was standing there looking at the man she’d beaten down and her expression was remorseful. She was regretting what she had done. I was glad in a corner as now I knew; she wasn’t capable of what I feared the most. When all seemed well, I found something else weird.

Now she was moving around. I was sure that my head wasn’t really working much now. I had found what I needed to find out and I wasn’t sure what she was doing now.  She turned around and met my eyes just then. I was taken aback for a moment. The power I saw in her eyes wasn’t too remorseful as it was a moment ago. I didn’t understand this as I didn’t know how it was possible of her expression to change as such immediately.

‘Ayu…’ I found myself whispering her name again.

Right then, a bullet found its way towards her and it hit the bridge and not her.

‘Rocky!!’ my brothers’ voices echoed through the air and at that moment; I knew I was in reality.

I turned my focus now back to Ayu. I knew I was going to find something that I wouldn’t like and my breath was lost as I witnessed the next scene.

In the blink of the moment, like time was moving in slow motion, I saw every detail. There was a guy shooting at us from the adjacent building from which we just escaped and she’d spotted him. Like a well oiled machine, she stood there ready to show her stuff. She bent down to find the gun belonging to the man she hit, lying there next to him. If I hadn’t seen what happened next with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it one day.

She kicked the gun by her feet and it rose up in the air. It went so high only for it to sit perfectly on her hands and she was already aware of what she had to do. She clocked the gun and held it upright and she shot down the man, without even blinking an eye.

I had got my answer right then. She is capable of killing and she was good at it.

A tear drop escaped my eye as she turned around to face me, with the gun still in her hand. She was hiding this from us the entire time and we’d just found it the hard way. This was reality and it struck me harder than the truth. Now her eyes were full of remorse, for sure and she was ashamed of herself. I still wasn’t sure if this was reality and if I was seriously awake. I knew for sure that it was when the most dreadful thing happened right in front of me.

A distant echo of a gunshot filled my ears and I turned around for a moment to see if it was for me. It wasn’t for me though.

It had reached its destination and the next thing I knew, Ayu was falling off the bridge…

Chapter Sixteen

This was the most disturbing moment of my life and I never thought I would be able to do this.

Leaving Ayu stranded on the road was in itself a bad thing to do but also not looking back at her because of the trust issue that has sprung up between us; it was all the more disturbing. I can’t blame my brothers for feeling this way. To see her as a kid who left us and now to look at a girl, who is mysterious beyond a normal person can accept…all of this will obviously lead to such conclusions. What bothered me was that however, I was feeling the exact same way.

I have always considered her my only true friend but now, the word ‘true’ in front of the word ‘friend’ seemed like nothing but misused. She has held my hand through all the happy memories that I hold dearest but now she won’t let me hold her hands through this challenge we were facing. She is silent now and never has it been good news whenever she has chose to be so.

Watching her run out of the burning club, dressed in black and speaking in every cryptic way possible definitely made it hard for us to trust her further. Now that we have seen her acting like this, it was only smart that we concluded that she was the one who drugged us the previous morning. Incidentally, since the way we reunited, she has been nothing but mysterious and mysterious was not the word that would suffice to describe her behavior. It only led me to disturbing conclusions, when I thought of the scenarios that would push her to act like this. It also made me feel guilty that I wasn’t there to help her through it.    

‘Are you insane, Sean?’ Deke still wasn’t cooled off from the incident ‘You’re just driving to a place that was suggested by someone who might potentially be the villain here!’

‘Deke, I understand you have issues...’ Sean was calm but the authoritative hold he had on us hadn’t left yet. ‘…but she promised us answers. I want them and I want them real bad.’

‘Screw the answers, bro! I want our parents back. Doesn’t any part of your brain relate all these events and conclude that this potentially might be a trap for us?’ Deke was making sense for the first time and it wasn’t about something good.

‘So…it’s a trap!’ Sean started to yell out again ‘What have we got to lose?’

‘Our lives, you dumbo! …’ Deke screamed it out radiating all of his rage ‘…Our damn, pitiful lives!’

Sean and Deke stared at each other, both their faces carrying disturbed expressions about our immediate future. Sean hadn’t deliberated that scenario and evidently Deke wasn’t letting go off this easily. It was a possible theory that may play out there. All of this might cost our lives and maybe it doesn’t matter. However, I wasn’t ready to accept it because I knew something deep within my heart.

‘Don’t worry…’ I finally spoke, instantly making them turn around to face me ‘…we will not die today.’

‘Dude…if you’re going to say that ‘Ayu will not lead us to our demise’ and crap, I swear to God I’ll beat the crap out of you. She is…’

‘No…’ I interrupted him. It was already killing me to accept the alternative. I didn’t want him adding fuel to the fire. ‘…I have a different theory.’

‘Like what?’ Sean was in on the conversation too.

‘If this visit to the mill was in fact a call from the guys who are holding our parents, they will not kill us…yet. They still haven’t told us who we should kill and we still haven’t said yes or no. This is the one card we can play. They cannot kill us before that.’

The boys now looked convinced. Their expressions made me believe that I made sense in some way. I was quite relieved at the moment to know deep within that we still might have a chance to steer clear of our death. As usual, Deke had to be the party pooper.

‘So you’re saying unless we agree to kill someone, they will be killing us?’

‘More or less…’ I dragged slowly.

‘So we’re going to kill someone?’ his bewildered expression just struck me hard and right there, I was lost for answers.

‘Guys, looks like killing as an option isn’t so bad after all.’ Sean’s statement brought both our attention back to the reality that wasn’t looking too good.

Sean was driving into the mill and I was startled to see the sight in front of me. There were three SUVs already waiting in front of us and everywhere I looked around the vehicle, there was a man standing.  They were all dressed in suits and adorned their eyes with cool sunglasses, creating the complete mafia look. To recall whatever they were capable of, I started to suspect if they were just a local hit gang as I was hoping that they will be.

We were still sitting inside the car even after Sean had hit the brakes. We didn’t know what to expect and we weren’t actually ready to face them yet. It happened all of a sudden and it was just really bothering to be in such a position. Something else now, started to bother me. in fact, it was a line that Ayu had told us before.

‘I will come but I cannot be there with you.’ 

  

Looking at what’s in front of us and what she had said, I couldn’t help but think of one question.

If she knew this was going to happen, was she running away from them all along?

‘Get out of the car!’ before I could realize, there was a huge guy right next to our door, knocking it hard to get us out.

Without any denials, all three of us climbed out of the car and stood next to it. The guy rejoined his posse of overgrown men while we waited for the next bad thing to happen.

‘If we don’t make it through this…’ Deke whispered to me ‘…I am haunting their asses coming back as the worst ghost ever.’

Humor was always Deke’s thing but to see him pull it off under this circumstance was unbelievable.

‘You’re looking better than how you were inside the cab with us…’ suddenly, out of the blue, someone spoke out. He made his way through the other men and stood in front of us. He removed his glasses to give a clear look of his face.

‘Hey…’ Sean reacted instantly ‘…I pushed you to and fro inside that cab.’

‘It’s great to see you too.’ His voice was completely draped in sarcasm and I wasn’t really up for whatever lay ahead. ‘I see your pal is missing…’ he had noticed that Ayu was missing. ‘…Where is she?’

‘She’s not with us…’ Deke answered almost as if he was delighted to talk about her absence. ‘…come to think of it she never was.’

The guy started to laugh out loud, acting like he had just uttered the best joke in the world. ‘She’ll be here…’ he inserted the line in between his laughter ‘…I know that for sure.’

Right then, my mind replayed her sentence again…

‘I will come but I cannot be there with you.’ 

…and my fear of what would happen next was growing steadily. She is of importance here. Why so?

‘You’re on due to give us your decision…’ the guy started to speak again, interrupting my thoughts ‘…We are still waiting on it.’

‘We are giving you nothing until you tell us where our parents are.’ Sean got down straight to business. ‘We don’t even know if they are alive or not. Under what assurance do we have to even think about killing someone?’

‘You’re parents are well and good. You can have my word for that.’

‘Yeah…and you can kiss my ass!’ Deke was showing off his attitude to him. The guy wasn’t pleased but I couldn’t help but enjoy it.

‘You better watch your tongue, boy. You don’t want to get under my skin or else…’

Now I really hoped Deke wouldn’t push it.

‘Or else what?’ but he wasn’t in any mood to let it down.

‘You want to test me?’ the guy was putting his hand inside his coat and I’ve seen enough movies to understand what it means. He was about to pull out his gun.

I was standing there, not able to cope with any of the events that was happening. My mind was in complete disarray and I wasn’t even breathing right. It was as if the world had gone into slow motion and my mind was dissecting my thoughts perfectly. Ayu was all over it though, all over my thoughts. I don’t know if my brothers noticed it or not, somehow all of a sudden, she seems to be completely in this whole mess. To be more specific, she was right in the middle of it.

She knew where to go. She knew what to do. She knew enough to lead us here. She knew that she had to make us let her go. She knew that she shouldn’t be here right now with us. She was already known by them and she was asked for. If she was already this deep into this mess…my Ayu…who is she really?

‘Ethan! Don’t do it!’ a voice yelled through the air to bring me back to reality. I had actually closed my eyes, immersed in all the thought. I opened it to find Deke, standing in the middle of us, facing the nozzle of the gun the guy was holding.

The guy, or like the voice called him, Ethan stood there frozen like he was just commanded to do so and he wasn’t fully in favor of it. He was intrigued enough to put a bullet in Deke’s head but he was bound to be under the control of the voice that just distracted all of us.

‘Bring them up here!’ the voice echoed through the air once again and it was only then I realized that it was coming through the PA system that belonged to the mill.

The voice was cold and emotionless. It was so still that it actually gave me the chills once I heard it. I took one quick glance around us and registered where we were. There were guys and they had guns. They were mean and they meant business. They aren’t ready to take a joke and they are definitely not ready to let us go.  With such factors really pushing the possibility of us making out of this place alive a little more close to impossibility, I had only two questions in my mind.

How did we get into this mess? How did Ayu, if she was involved, get out of it?

The next thing I realized was that all three of us were being led up the stairs and I had no idea where this was leading to. It was a very old mill. I had no idea about what was manufactured here. I sure knew one thing though…they were going to manufacture some huge disaster today.

We stopped climbing the stairs at about halfway through and then moved onto the floor where small machinery was accommodated. The whole posse didn’t escort us here. About four men, including Ethan, who held a gun at us, was leading the pack.

‘Are you okay?’ Sean’s concerned voice reached my ear.

‘Yeah…’ I simply dragged the word, not in the exact mood to talk.

‘You haven’t spoken a word since we came in here. I’m worried…’ Sean stated the cause for his worry. Typical

‘Can you blame him?’ Deke interrupted our conversation ‘He just lost trust in the person that he realized that he was in love with.’

Both Sean and Deke fell silent, leading me to dwell upon my confusion once again. I was being pushed to my limits as I was tired of the mystery surrounding all of this. All that I want is for me to understand the events that are happening now. Now, I feel maybe that is why we are here after all.

‘Like I said…more than just answers.’

We almost abruptly stopped walking into the room when the four men in the front halted us. Ethan must be some important guy in this circuit, as he was feared by all the other three men with him. While he was acting all badass with us, he immediately succumbed to the authority displayed by the voice that commanded him a while ago. Now, he was walking alone towards the other end of the room where a guy was standing, his back shown to us and smoking vigorously. If I were to guess from this action playing in front of me, I’d say that guy was the big ticket around this joint.

‘You didn’t have to handle this, sir. I could’ve manipulated them.’ I could hear a faint echo of Ethan’s voice and it was disturbing me for some reason.

‘They are the friends. They might also need some motivation or…they might as well be the motivation. Chill, Ethan. We got this.’ The voice was still cold just as it was when we heard it before. Right now, I was breathing hard.

The figure wasn’t too tall or too short but his build suggested that he was a sluggish person. He wasn’t the one who did any dirty work but the alpha who commanded them all. Then again, he must be the most feared person around. The behavior of Ethan just confirmed it. If the boss man himself is here, then this is something beyond us. Our involvement is trivial. This has something to do with us…but not entirely us.

And finally, the boss man decided to turn around to face us.

His eyes were fierce but his lips had a smile that was completely inviting. His posture was tough and it looked as if he was here on business and he was here to finish it…no matter what it takes to do so.

‘Hello boys…’ the cold voice matched his appearance to a tee. ‘…Been waiting to meet you for a long time.’

‘Where are our parents?’ Sean kept his cool and started to deal the problem that we had in hand.

‘We need to see them…’

‘Oh don’t worry, Sean…’ he almost literally shocked us with his knowledge of our names. ‘…They are very much alive and very much healthy too. I fed them…I did.’

‘How do you know…’ but Sean didn’t even get a chance to finish his sentence.

‘Your names aren’t the hardest thing to find in this world, Sean Matthew Harrow.’

His knowledge in our names just scared us more and reduced the chances of us escaping the scenario were reducing by the minute.

‘So you know everything about us?’ Deke and his big mouth cannot be shut for a long time. He just had to ask.

‘Of course I do, Deacon Kyle Harrow. I even know the girl who you tried to bang but instead slapped you and ran away. I must say, she was pretty hot.’

The expression on Deke’s face said it all. He had reached his epitome of fear and worst of it all, his epitome of desperation. One more curve ball from his side, its strike three and we are all out.

‘And…’ he suddenly turned his attention to me ‘…do you need to know anything…’ I didn’t want to hear what he was about to say and I wasn’t going to let him.

‘No…I’m good.’ I almost yelled at him. I didn’t want him saying my name out loud.

‘So…we have a rebel in our midst?’ he didn’t seem very pleased with my reaction though. ‘This should make things tad bit more interesting.’

He was only an inch away from me when he decided to turn around and walk away. He was giving me the chills and looking at my brother’s current expressions, I could say they were affected too. I was now wishing that this would all get over…one way or the other.

‘Look…we just want our parents back.’ Sean tried talking once again ‘We’ll leave without creating any problems. You can keep us at bay or whatever is the code you use to mean that we are under watch. We will not tell the cops or even our closest families about this. Please…we are not cut out for this.’ He was almost pleading. He just wasn’t on his knees yet.

‘Sean, please don’t beg.’ He shook his head in dismay. ‘You’re a grown man. Don’t do this.’

‘Then why do you have to do all this?’ Sean was trying hard and it seemed like he was trying to imply that they have the wrong family. ‘I don’t even know how you know us. I don’t know what our parents did to you. Why are we the ones that should be out there killing someone? We don’t have anything to do with whatever is happening here! Understand it…’

‘Sean…you are wrong about one thing, boy. You are almost everything to do with what is happening here. You…all three of you…are in this, just because though. It’s your fate.’

‘Fate?’ now I couldn’t stand there not talking. He cannot debate about fate without me in the conversation. I had to talk now. ‘So all of this is fate? That is why you’re holding our parents and nagging us to kill some person all of a sudden? What made you think we are capable? Don’t blame fate here. Fate does a lot of things but doesn’t push you down through your own death trap.’

‘It does!’ he almost screamed on top of his voice. ‘You are totally wrong! Fate is the ultimate decider. It decided long back that you and I will be standing in this spot right here, facing off each other like the worst of the enemies. It has also decided that the person you have to kill…will be killed!’

‘Why us?’ Sean’s voice was trembling now. He has had enough. He didn’t want another minute of this. However, he wanted to know why.

‘Why? Sean…you cannot be possibly asking this question.’ Now his voice was spiked with sarcasm till its core. ‘Well…you are the most capable, the most proper target in this whole plan. All three of you are the trump cards in this delicate game, fate’s been playing. You are the only ones who will be the ones to change it all and you…’ he paused momentarily and it didn’t look too good. His expression changed instantly, as if he had just realized something that was actually delightful to him.

‘You boys…’ he continued ‘…are the only one who can bring along what I want the most.’

We didn’t understand his cryptic verse. We hadn’t brought along anyone. We were three and we were the only ones who were here. Now, my brain started to work sideways and went back to the one theory I’ve been dreading of.

‘Come on out…you bitch!’ he yelled at the space behind us.

Instinctively, all three of us turned around to see what he was yelling at or to be more specific, who he was yelling at. As I waited for someone or something to show up, my mind was finalizing my hypothesis. We had brought along something he needs. We are the only ones here now but we did bring along someone else until halfway. My mind echoed the sentence one last time and I had cracked it all up.

‘I will come but I cannot be there with you.’ 

‘Ayu…’ I breathed her name out as quietly as possible when the one event I dreaded would happen was now, unfolded in front of my eyes.

She emerged from behind one of the machinery and she had come here without us.

I turned around to give one quick glance at my brothers and they were shell shocked even more then I was. Clearly, they haven’t connecting anything as much as I had done. Of course, they don’t think about her as much as I do. Now my mind was filled with more than one question to ask her and everyone of it was intriguing. My head was still formulating the questions that I needed to ask as she walked past the three of us. Finally I decided upon one question and my mind was already echoing it.

How was she related in this tangled mess of intense suspense?

And right then, another surprise was ready to throw me off my track. It was pretty much the answer to my question but the one thing I prayed that it wouldn’t be.

‘Hello Sebastian…’ her voice echoed around the room.

She knew him…by his name.

Chapter Fifteen

I knew this was not going to be something as simple as a meet and greet as he never calls forward a specific person. I was called for today and I am not sure if I will come back.

Walking towards the room, where the others consider it the place where the mystery lies, I had no fear which is supposed to be quite unusual. I have been here long enough and I’ve also known enough to not be scared for my life for if I was breathing still; it was because I knew I’d be dying soon enough.

‘He is waiting for you…’ the huge guy in front of the door announced to me. His build made me look like a bug that he can squash just by his looks.

I slowly nodded my head and I doubt that he even noticed it. His chest would’ve probably interfered with his downward vision. He held the door open for me, like the gentleman he surprisingly was, as I allowed myself in.

The first thing I noticed was the huge desk that was spread all over the room. Whatever you can think of placing upon a desk was there on it. Behind it, as you guessed correctly, was a huge rolling chair which was turned around with its back to me and a thin smoke kept emerging. As inappropriate as it was for the situation, I started to laugh.

‘I see you are delighted.’ The cold and dreadful voice with a constant hint of sarcasm filled the room. ‘Is it because you are here to meet me?’

I wasn’t thinking with a straight head…that much I knew. Thinking back about what I had done that day, I must've been completely out of my mind.

‘I don’t understand what I am seeing.’ I was sarcastic enough for him to put a bullet down my throat. ‘You being the bad guy you are…I didn’t expect you to be a clichéd one for sure.’

The chair turned around slowly and the person whom everyone dreads about was finally facing me. Unlike the reaction I was expecting to see…he was smiling at me.

‘I am guilty as charged…’ he began ‘…I am a sucker for the dramatics. Always been and always will be. You got a problem with that?’

If I didn’t know better, I was already asking for trouble. He might have been smiling but on the inside, I was sure that I had struck a nerve. I was glad I did that because probably by the end of the day, my misery will be over and I might be put to rest…literally.

‘I am here because…?’ I got straight to business and I wanted for this to be over.

‘You think you are smart?’ his voice was cold again and his expression now matched his voice.

‘I know I am. Was I called over to establish it?’ I kept a straight face and I couldn’t care less about what was about happen next.

‘Attitude…’ he dragged as he bit on the word. ‘…you seem to have loads of it.’

‘I wasn’t told I shouldn’t have one. Besides, is this a job interview of some sort? I don’t remember filling up an application or agreeing to answer your questions.’

‘You actually did almost everything you denied when you slashed my man’s throat three years ago.’ To have heard him say that, it brought back nothing but memories that made me want to kill myself. ‘So, now you get to answer me every time I ask you to.’

I stood there silently not knowing what I should give back. I knew this was something significant and the outcome was going to change me. For better or for worse was the million dollar question. I decided that I shall wait and see.

‘What? Cat got your tongue?’ he leaned forward to mock me for my sudden silence with his voice spiked with sarcasm once again. He still didn’t scare me. What he was starting to do was however freaking me out.

‘Now…’ he leaned back and made himself comfortable as he continued. ‘…I hear you are heartless. Are you really?’

‘I claim only what I really am. If you’ve heard something about me, then it must be the truth.’ I was standing there; acting like a stuck up bitch. Lately though, that was what I had become.

‘I see confidence overflowing out of you. Is that confidence or overconfidence that I see?’

‘You decide that yourself…’ I dragged adding to his silly speculations.

‘I know…only I have to decide it. And that is why I have a method to do so. I always have a method. It makes me…I don’t know…let’s say heartless.’

His words were confusing me now and I was not able to connect whatever was going on here to anything. He was up to something and I knew that much. However, I kept going on.

As I was deeply immersed in my thoughts, he had pressed a button under his desk. A silent buzzer had gone over personally to one of his henchmen and a moment after that, he blasted his way through the door, figuratively of course. What seemed really off was that he wasn’t there alone.

He was dragging another man, who was almost into his early fifties and he was bleeding. His mouth was taped up and his hands were tied up behind him. He was constantly mumbling and I could feel the fear that he was feeling as fear was all that I've been thriving on for a few days.

‘As you can see, we have a guest amongst us. He will help me decide how heartless you are.’ He was now off his chair and walking towards me. ‘I have heard that you don’t ask questions at all. You just point and you just shoot. Is that so?’

At that moment I knew exactly what was happening. ‘Are you testing me?’

‘You bet your ass I am…’ he breathed those words in my ear as he reached closer to me. I could easily smell the tobacco all over his face from all the smoking he’s been doing. For some reason, I stood there frozen, not moving an inch.

‘Now…if you are heartless, you will shoot this man with this gun without a second thought. If you are hesitating…then you just ain't got the balls to do so!’

‘And…?’ there is always an ‘and’ part.

‘And…you know what scares you the most and you know why you became heartless. Do I have to revisit?’

Those words pierced through my sanity like arrows aiming right at my life. I had no second thoughts and before I could realize my actions, I was doing the unthinkable. I had turned around, taken the gun that was lying in his desk and shot the old man in the head. The scene in front of me was dark and disturbing as I saw the old man flailing down onto the ground, experiencing his untimely demise. His head was bleeding out all of his blood slowly but steadily as he lay there with his eyes open, looking up at into the heavens. In spite of shooting the man, my hands were not trembling and my heart was not guilty of my act. ‘I had to do what I had to do’ I told myself once again like I've been telling lately. Then again, I silently prayed for his soul to rest in peace.

‘So…you need a bit of motivation…’ his cold voice filled the room once again ‘I can live with that.’

I was breathing hard now, allowing my fear to subside. I had gathered enough courage to bring back my posture and talk back. ‘Now…what was this damn test all about?’

‘What do you think I do?’ he sat back down in his seat and asked me a question that I found ridiculous.

‘Besides from being cocky and clichéd…’ I had brought back my swagger and now was facing him with a renewed rage.

‘Just answer my question!’ now I knew for sure I had struck a nerve in him. I also knew better not to build on it now.

‘You do a lot of stuff that doesn’t interest me like…’

‘So you’re aware of it all! I am impressed.’ He skipped my entire answer in a beat.

‘I barely even started answering your question.’ I was more than confused at the moment. I was irritated.

‘I like to keep things short and sweet…’ he was now walking around the room acting like the king of the world.

‘You’re a maniac!’ I spat out those words with enormous amount of rage and it struck another nerve inside him.

His walking stopped and his smile faded away in no time. He was a little farther than where I was standing and before I could blink, he was right next to me, breathing down my neck.

‘That I am…’ he whispered slowly.

I felt his cold breath all over my neck as he lowered down and I also felt my heart thumping against my chest. I noticed that my hands were still gripping the gun I had used to shoot down that helpless victim and I was gripping it harder. One wrong move on his side, I decided to blow his brains. Like he had read my mind though, he acted the way I didn’t expect him to. He slowly took the gun off my hands as he spoke again.

‘You know what else I am?’ he began as he still held my hand high with the gun in it and his hold all over it. ‘I am your worst nightmare.’

Now I knew I was in trouble…deep trouble. I was already psyching myself up for the inevitable. Then again, surprises have a way getting me back.

‘Now you know what I do and what you are capable of…’ he finally let my hand go and started to walk around once again. ‘Do you know where you are?’

His questions were as cryptic as he was. I was lost there; not even trying to attempt to find what answer would be the one he wants. I just returned a blank look and the answer was something I didn’t like…not one bit.

‘You are…right in the middle of it!’

The one thing I dreaded about finding out about myself…that I had become one of them.

‘You are special…’ he continued ‘You are the most precious asset in my world now. You are the monster that I always wanted to create and I have done it. You are one student that I am proud of. I really am.’

Shell shocked seemed like an appropriate word to describe my state at that moment but then again, feeling dead was more perfect. I was numb from top to bottom and I couldn’t believe his words at all. I was denying to myself; telling again and again that he was lying…lying about me being a monster.

But I knew the truth when I was made to realize the worst thing I've ever done.

‘Dad…?’ a trembling but familiar voice came into the room. I was facing the other way at the moment and somewhere deep inside my heart I didn’t want to turn around. Fate apparently had other plans.

‘I am sorry, Ethan. Your father crossed this road at the wrong time.’

Like an instant reaction to the words I had heard, I turned around to look at the sight I wished I hadn’t been a reason for. I saw Ethan sitting down, holding his father in his arms and crying out loud all of his agony on losing his father. I stood there, tears welling up in my eyes as I was seeing what I had done.

He slowly looked up and met with my eyes. He gathered his strength and finally uttered the words that were chocking him.

‘You did this?’

And then I knew…I was a monster.

I had an issue with dreams. They were never pleasant for me. They never have been since then. And now wasn’t a saving grace too. I was fighting to erase the visions I was having and I wasn’t putting up a great fight. I could almost hear myself yelling out my wish that it will somehow stop.

And someone seems to have heard it too…

The car came to a screeching halt that almost threw me off my seat but definitely brought me out my sleep. I slightly opened my eyes to adjust myself to the sun the outside and I also noticed Deke slamming the front side door and yelling outside in rage. I slowly turned my head around to find myself in the back seat with Rocky, who was at the moment looking outside with all the tension possible and then saw Sean who was removing his seat belt to follow Deke outside. Slowly and steadily Deke’s words registered in my head.

‘I am not travelling another inch without knowing what the hell is going on here! I am tired of this constant mystery surrounding our every step. I feel so lost and I do not like it!’

‘We are almost there and you want to create a scene now?’ Sean was yelling on top of Deke’s voice to make his presence felt. ‘I am just telling you to be patient. Let her get up and we will talk about this!’

‘Wake her up already!’ Deke was not letting it simmer down. ‘She is not a baby that needs to sleep or be fed at specific times. Wake her up or I will…’ and right then he fell silent.

He had noticed that I was already awake.

‘Ayu…are you okay?’ Rocky seemed to have noticed too. What I noticed was that his voice was agitated and he wanted to know about my well being.

‘Yeah…I am fine. Why do you ask?’ I was clear about my confusion.

‘You slept ten hours straight without a move or even a flinch. You scared the hell out of us!’

Now that he mentioned it, I felt my whole body being stiff and cramped up. I looked out and the sun was shining as if it was high noon and actually it was. I stretched myself and then breathed hard recalling whatever had happened before I got into the car. I also realized that all of that happened wasn’t a dream. I remembered what was going on and shifted back to the right track.

Without another word, I got out of the car and started to walk away from it. I could sense the confusion that I was creating but I had to be cryptic a little while longer.

‘Get into the car and drive to the old mill next to Canary Island.’ I almost commanded them and I immediately noticed the aversion building up in Deke’s face.

‘Well…what about you?’ Sean asked me with complete sincerity and also with utter confusion.

‘I will come but I cannot be there with you.’ I maintained my voice and kept it straight. I was working hard to not give away anything. But it seems like I have been giving a hard time for Deke.

‘You know what?’ he yelled out ‘Cut the crap at least this once!’

‘You have a problem?’ I reacted before Sean could calm him down.

‘I have a problem alright…’ he spoke to me ‘…I have a big one at that.’ he started to move towards me

‘Deke…you keep your theories to yourself! We don’t know anything yet!’ Sean held him like he was putting up a barricade between me and him but I knew I had to do this for them to leave me.

‘Let him at me, Sean!’ I yelled back ‘Let us hear what he has got to say.’

He pushed Sean almost like he had blown away some paper or something and he confronted me.

‘I don’t trust you. Not one bit! You keep telling us stuff and we have got to act like you want us to? We aren’t your god damn puppets! We are grown men with brains. I don’t care if my brothers have immense faith in you but I do not! You get me? We ain't moving an inch until we know what is going on here!’

‘What is really on your mind, Deke? Why don’t you be the man that you are and spit it out?’ I was waiting for the big blow and I had to pull it out of him.

And I seriously wasn’t expecting this out of him.

‘What did you to our parents?’ he began yelling right at my face. ‘I am starting to think that you are completely responsible for all of this. All this sneakiness and shady stuff is leading me to believe that maybe you are in on this! Who knows what you did these past nine years? I am not in for this! Why did you kidnap our parents? What did you do to them?!’

Sean walked off and balanced himself leaning on the car while Rocky didn’t even get out. I understood that they have been having this conversation all this while and they hadn’t liked it one bit. What hurt me was, all my striving to keep them away from the truth has led them to believe that I might be the villain here. In a way, I felt guilty but then I also knew that this was the one ticket that I needed to push them further.

‘Oh yeah?’ I pumped up the volume of my voice as I began. ‘You are so juvenile enough to think this way? I am not holding your parents. I am, and note this; I am the only person who is trying to save them in this entire world. If you do not trust me, I don’t give a shit. Then again, you do know that I am right.’

‘I don’t care if you are right or wrong!’ he interrupted me. ‘I just need you out of my sight and note this; I am capable of finding my parents. What would you think we would’ve done if you weren’t here? Oh wait…none of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t been here! Our lives were really fine without you in it!’

Silence fell between us and none of us wanted to talk again. His words were slowly registering in my head and I wasn’t feeling too good. Deke was kicking the sand below in frustration while the other two didn’t even want to react. I knew there was no point in continuing this conversation with Deke. He was pushed but not to the extent of driving to the mill. I slowly moved towards Sean and stood next to him. He wasn’t looking at me and for the first time in my life, he had done so. Swallowing my sorrow, I gave it another go.

‘Sean…is that how you feel?’ I slowly asked him.

‘I just need some answers!’ he yelled out all of a sudden which caught me off guard. Also, he noted me taking a step back and lowered the impact by repeating it slowly now. ‘I… I just need some answers.’

‘Then drive to the old mill…you will find more than just answers there. After that visit, you are not going to be able to escape the truth.’

I put my hand on his shoulder as a gesture to assure him that I was telling the truth. In fact, I was telling the truth. After this…even I cannot escape the truth.

‘Come on, Sean! Are you brain dead or something? She’s playing us!’ Deke was evidently still not out of his raged mode. But Sean didn’t seem to be listening to him.

‘I get to have all the answers after this?’ he asked me trying to find out if I was sincere about this.

‘Like I said…more than just answers.’ And then he knew that I was.

‘Deke, get in the car!’ his voice now held authority and he was actually commanding him.

‘Sean! Are you serious?’ Deke was still in denial…

‘GET IN THE CAR!’ …but Sean wasn’t letting down.

Like an obedient child, Deke put his head down and slammed the front door behind him.

‘This is better be good, Ayu. Right now, putting my faith on you seems like the stupidest move I can make.’ Sean was broken and I have given him nothing to find peace.

‘I am sorry…’ I whispered and I wasn’t sure if he heard it or not but he climbed onto the car and drove off.

All along, Rocky didn’t even dare to get out of the car and as far as I noticed, his face was facing the front alone. I have lost his faith too…and I know it is my entire fault.

In this entire rollercoaster ride, there have been many downs than the ups. This seemed like it was such a biased affair that every time, only I got to lose in the end. Watching the car drive away into the city, all I could think of is one fact…I had lost the only family I had in this entire world. I didn’t know what caused this to happen. Maybe it was my choices or decisions or the basic factor that I can blame all the time…fate.

I knew one thing, however…

After this visit to the mill…none of this will matter but the end.