Ryan gives me a strange look; which is reasonable, considering how I probably look to him right now.
‘You know him or somethin’?’ He raises an eyebrow.
Oh no.
I school my expression faster than the flash. I can’t have him growing suspicious. Ryan works for the very organization that made Tomi eat people. I still shudder at the thought. To be driven to cannibalism, they must have screwed her up terribly. I would never wish that upon my worst enemy, let alone myself. I suddenly have the urge to call Lucas and set this straight; but now is not the time.
I take a deep breath before even attempting to answer his question.
‘Sort of,’ I offer. I must be as vague as possible.
With my type of reaction, if I lied, even someone as dumb as Ryan could catch on without a second thought. A half-truth should be enough to steer him away.
Should I call Lucas? Maybe even Xia? They will be in the city at the most by tomorrow. I know them, though. I somewhat know how Lucas drives too. He’s the type of person to drive 150 in a 60MPH zone.
My body itches; I feel too stiff, and too anxious to be sitting like this. I abruptly stand from my seat and pace laps around my couch. Ryan’s eyebrow raises higher, almost shying away into his bangs.
‘You sure you’re good?’ He crosses his arms with a disbelieving sigh. He doesn’t seem too happy about being kept in the dark like this.
‘I’m fine. Now keep talking about the liquid vistite or whatever…’ I murmur and flick my hand towards him.
This doesn’t feel right, being this openly abrasive. Should I put on a smile? No, not now; that would just be strange now that he’s seen me like this. He’d probably think I have some sort of mood disorder.
‘Well? What more do y’wanna know?’ He kicks his feet back up on the coffee table.
- Swear. To. God.
This is the first time in a while I’m heavily considering violence. I can see the dirt falling onto my coffee table. I feel my hands itching to fly around his throat–
Whoa.
I shut my eyes so tightly I’d be surprised if they ever open again. A strangled sound of pure and utter rage bubbles deep within my throat.
‘Did I not tell you but five minutes ago to take your fucking feet off of my coffee table!?’ I accidentally scream. I immediately put my hand to my mouth in shame; god, I’m a terrible person, I can’t even keep my emotions to myself.
My chest tightens already. The phantom pain on my arms returns, the scars protruding from my skin. It’s been a while since I’ve seen those. I shouldn’t have blown up like that.
Before Ryan can see any further into me, I rush an excuse and power-walk back to my room. The door slams shut behind me, making my shoulders tense. I lock the door and collapse against it. Tears prick at my eyes as I look to the ceiling. I’m suddenly back in my first foster home again.
The bed room was cold, and the lights flashed too bright. It would have to do though; for our safety. I pulled Lili, my little sister, into the room. Our foster mother had too much alcohol, and she was an aggressive drunk.
We went through this almost every night. She burst through the door just as I got Lili safely into the closet. I don’t remember hers, or anyone’s words from that night. I remember the emotions, though. She was screaming, although what about was lost into the abyss of my head.
The beer bottle she wielded like a sword was pointed at me, screaming and crying incoherently. I was terrified, terrified she would smash it over my head and kill me. Worse, if she found Lili. I would never be able to live with myself.
She had done this enough. A nightly occurrence for however long we were living with her, maybe a month or so? That is too much; especially for an eleven year old boy and a six year old girl. That fear that I felt? It quickly shifted into anger, rage, even. I wished at that moment that we could go back to our father and his cult; at least then, we’d know what to expect. It was different every time in homes.
The second she raised the bottle for a blow, red tinged the edges of my vision, and I tackled her by the legs. She went down with a hard thud. I’m on top of her in an instant, taking the bottle from her hands and letting it roll.
My fists connected with her face over twenty times, until I couldn’t recognize it anymore. Red, purple, green, yellow, all across her face in an array of art. I grabbed the bottle as well; she hasn’t had enough yet, in my head. I smashed it against her chest, watching the shards seep into her skin, watching the little drips of blood seep into her shirt.
I hadn’t realized Lili came out of the closet until I heard her scream.
It was pained, bloodcurdling, and worst of all, horrified.
I slowly turn to her, feeling the warm drops of blood seep into my skin, absorbing.
She ran right past me, the bloodied woman, and out of the house.
I gazed down at my stained hands in horror. What did I just do?
No. I’m not like that, I would never do that again. Not anymore, especially after the correction camps. No no no no.
My thoughts are suddenly halted as a bang at the front door echoes through the entire apartment, followed by Xia’s shouting:
‘Finn! We know you’re in here!’
I pull myself up from the door, trying to fight the blurriness in my vision and the urge to faint. I must have stood up much too fast.
I open my door and trudge to the front, where Ryan has already stood and is ready for a fight. I pull open the front door, to see a concerned Xia and an anxious Lucas.
Stolen novel; please report.
Lucas’s eyes immediately land on Ryan, and I can feel the tension.
‘Who is this?’ Lucas asks, gesturing to the man behind me. He seems to be ready for a fight.
I’m about to answer, when Ryan pulls out another one of those tiny green vials and brings it to his arm.
Before I can even process anything, Lucas isn’t standing in the same spot anymore. He’s on top of Ryan, who is now lying on the ground, dazed. He pries the vial from Ryan’s hands and squeezes it in his hand, causing the glass to shatter. His hand isn’t hurt, though. How the hell?
Xia jumps into the action too, except to check on Lucas it looks like. She takes his hand, carefully examining it for any injuries.
‘Jeez, Xia. I’m okay,’ he giggles softly, ‘you should know this by now.’
‘It doesn’t hurt to make sure,’ she rolls her eyes. Xia truly would make an excellent mom.
I look down at Ryan again, and his likely unconscious body. That was the stupidest move alive. Although, I wouldn’t expect much less from someone like him.
‘What was that all about?’ my heart speaks before my head.
‘That kind of drug is super dangerous, and there was way too much of it in that vial.’
That doesn’t tell me anything. Lucas? Being cryptic? From day one of knowing him, I knew that this man is blunt. If he’s hiding something, then it must be important.
‘You made that liquid,’ I state.
He goes silent, exactly as I thought. I knew it from the second he saw that vial. His eyes widened, as if it shouldn’t be there. He knows exactly what it could do, I can see it in his face.
‘I did,’ he nods, before continuing, ‘I just didn’t know other people had it.’
‘What do you mean?’ I glance between the glowing green liquid splattered across the floor, and Lucas.
‘First, I need you to tell me who this guy is,’ he points to the still unconscious Ryan on the ground.
‘His name is Ryan. He broke into my apartment to ask me questions about Tomi, and I learned he works for the VEA.’
His eyes darken significantly.
‘They probably want her back. Goddamnit… how did they get my formula?’ Lucas mutters to himself, as if at a loss for proper words.
‘It wasn’t meant to be used like… this!’ he gestures toward the vial in shame.
‘He did say that he doesn’t agree with what they’re doing, though,’ I offer.
Lucas looks up at me for a moment, away from the shame.
‘Oh. Is that so?’
He has that glimmer in his eyes, the one that means he’s brewing something up. He looks down at Ryan again, and nudges him once. He waits for a moment, before nudging him again, with a bit more aggression.
‘Damn, how hard did I bring him down?’ Lucas grits his teeth as he continues to push Ryan.
‘You slammed him harder than I do,’ Xia teases, although with an impressed lilt to her tone.
He sucks in air, cringing at his past actions.
‘Ouch. Sorry, man.’
It takes a solid three minutes or so for Ryan to finally arise.
‘What… happened?’ He’s almost fully incoherent, his southern accent making it at least ten times more difficult to understand.
‘You got knocked out,’ Lucas nearly purrs. Huh? His mood completely changed.
He runs a hand through Ryan’s already messy dark locks and smirks. God, this feels like a private moment. Should I be here for this?
‘So, King. I heard you don’t really agree with your big scary organization, hm?’ His voice is soft, like a whisper in the wind. And Ryan is…
Actually buying into it?
‘I don’t. That's right, but it gives some good moolah,’ Ryan does the money gesture.
‘Well, we don’t agree with them either. What do you say we join together? In more ways than one?’ His hand moves from his hair to his jaw.
‘Awh.. you’ve almost got me,’ Ryan shakes his head, a smile spreading across his face.
I’m getting increasingly more uncomfortable. There is no way that Lucas shows genuine interest in this guy, considering he laid him out like a damn WWE star just moments prior.
‘What does it take to get you all the way?’
‘More money.’
What a greedy person. All Ryan seems to care about is money. Put morals, ethics, and everything else aside. It all comes down to the riches. I can’t help but roll my eyes.
‘Well, I guess you could say I could be your sugar daddy…’ Lucas murmurs, the tone becoming even more sultry. He pulls out a card. American Express Platinum Card.
I let a soft bark of shocked laughter leave my lips. Wow. I never expected Lucas to be a snobby rich kid, although it does make a lot of sense. He acts like a rich kid, but doesn’t have the low IQ of one.
‘Oh, now we’re speakin’ my language,’ Ryan leans closer.
Are these two seriously about to kiss? I feel the bile rising in my throat. I don’t have any problems with normal romanticism, but something about this just feels wrong. I think it’s the fact that Lucas is using his attractiveness to win over Ryan. Something about using him like this really irks me.
‘How would we join together, though?’ Ryan asks against Lucas’s lips.
‘Simple. You can keep your job for your company, but you work as a double agent on our side. You give us information, and you get more “moolah” in return.’
‘Why’re you so against my company anyway? Vistite is human souls, y’know.’
Excuse me, what?
I have to butt in now. This seems like an extremely important piece of information that I was just not given before?
‘Excuse the intrusion, but what do you mean that vistite is human souls?’ My eyes practically pop out of my head.
‘I’ll explain later, puppy boy,’ Lucas winks.
It has been a long time since I was called that. My nose scrunches up subconsciously; yeah, I still hate that nickname with my entire being.
‘Because, those human souls save lives. Cancer, HIV, AIDS? Remember those? They’re gone because of those human souls. We can’t have the technology that cures all of that being eliminated,’ Lucas turns right back to Ryan.
His eyes light up. Wow, a brain cell is actually working in there.
‘Ohhhh…’ he nods, ‘how much money are we talkin’?’
‘Ten grand is the base, but depending on how important the information is to us, then we can add more on top–’
‘Sign me up!’ Ryan grins, pulling Lucas into a sloppy kiss.
Oh my god.
I throw up in my mouth. I slowly look away from the heated makeout session that is ensuing before my eyes. This is not happening. I walk to my bathroom, and other footsteps follow me. Probably Xia’s footsteps; they’re light and quick.
I spit the vomit into the toilet and rinse out my mouth, shuddering in utter disgust. Xia rubs my back as this happens. So those were her footsteps.
‘Dear God, I am so sorry about that…’ Xia shakes her head, ‘it’s his way of persuasion, and a bit of coping.’
Hold on. Coping? I spin around from the toilet to face her.
‘Huh?’
‘Nothing. It isn’t my place to say anything. Forget I said anything,’ she flicks her hand.
I will most definitely be asking Lucas about that later.