My gift did help steer me towards ideas of becoming a doctor. When some patients won’t talk or aren’t willing to tell the truth, I’ll know. I’ll be able to use this to save lives. I feel I have to save lives with it, that I’ve been given this for a reason. My conviction to become a doctor is what first got the attention of Sophie, my girlfriend.
When we first met, there had been a few rumblings in town about a white girl dating a black boy. It isn’t that they’re racist exactly, but rather, unaccustomed to seeing such a thing. I thought that would be our biggest obstacle, I was wrong. My gift is a huge problem. It’s definitely wrong to be reading your girlfriends mind and I feel like what I do read is a minefield. She will want one thing, but if I do that, suddenly it has the opposite effect. In the end, I realize girls don’t actually know what they want and I try as best as I can to stay out of her head. The problem is, it isn’t always voluntary what I hear. Nicole is a prime example of that, I want nothing more than to steer clear of her thoughts, but for some reason, I’m always able to read hers. I hear all about her boyfriends, the late night sneaking out and often drug use. At first, I wanted to try to save her, now I think there isn’t any saving her. The more I try to help her, the more she pushes away.
“Can you get your sister up? She’s going to be late for school,” Mom distractedly asks me, going back over the bills in her hands. I need to get a job. Any extra money around here will help. Mom and Dad don’t want me to work, they want me to focus only on school, yet I know I can handle it. They’ll realize that, too.
Waking up Nicole turns out to be quite difficult since she isn’t in her room. Her bed doesn’t even look slept in. Nicole always leaves her covers on the floor in the morning, where they remain until it’s time for her to go to bed or until Mom gives in and fixes it up for her. Right now, her covers are neatly over her bed, which means she didn’t sleep here last night.
“Blake, is she up?” Mom calls out from the kitchen.
What do I do? Do I cover for her or tell Mom the truth? I don’t have to worry about figuring it out because I see Nicole standing outside her window and then she opens it and climbs in. It’s something she has done more times than I can count.
“What are you doing in my room?” she snaps at me, a tone I’m also accustomed to.
“Where were you last night?”
“None of your business!”
‘I wish he would just get lost,’ I hear from her thoughts immediately after.
“How about I just tell Mom about your adventure out of the house then?”
“Yes, why don’t you? You’ve always been a snitch, so why stop now?” she snaps angrily at me again.
It’s true, I’ve told on Nicole a lot throughout my life. It doesn’t make me feel good to tell on her, however with Nicole, you can never know how dangerous a situation she’s getting herself into. Sometimes, the right thing to do doesn’t make me feel good.
“Just tell me where you were and I won’t tell Mom.”
‘Yeah right, like you would believe I was walking all night!’
“Like I said already, it’s none of your business!”
Walking all night? Why would she be walking all night? “Were you with Josh?”
‘Why can’t he just leave me the hell alone? If I tell him we broke up last night, he’ll just laugh and say that he told me so. He’s such an ass.’
“Seriously get the hell out of my room or I’ll use my connections to make your perfect stupid grades disappear from the records at school.”
I roll my eyes at her. She’s threatened it before and I know it’s a bluff. She doesn’t know anyone who can do that or at least, that will be willing to do it.
“Fine, hurry up and get ready.”
I walk out of her room, feeling happy that she has finally ditched Josh. He gave me the creeps, his friends are bad news and he is twenty-five. Eight years older than my sister.
I grab my homework that I had finished the night before and carefully place it in my bag, leaving it by the bathroom as I quickly brush my teeth.
Mom has gone into Nicole’s room and I already hear their voices starting to rise. They can never have a conversation without fighting these days. Mom will say something and Nicole will overreact and then Mom will get defensive and once it hits, you don’t want to be near it. With Dad gone most of the time and having Sophie around a lot, I feel like I’m surrounded by women and their moods constantly. It’s frustrating.
I interrupt them before they can get into a fight and Nicole stomps out of her room and straight past me. I follow suit, rolling my eyes at her attire. It’s a freezing day outside and she’s wearing tights, a mini skirt and a thin, mostly see-through, t-shirt. The other girls think Nicole is odd for dressing differently. Truth is, if it wasn’t for Sophie, I think Nicole would have seen a lot of bullying going her way. Now that we’re older, I think most people are afraid of her.
Nicole is beautiful, she could easily be one of the “popular” girls if she wanted to, but she never has. Getting into trouble appeals more to her than having friends and fitting in. I can’t change that, just like I can’t change the way we are with each other. She hates me and a small part of me hates her. She is selfish and rude. If we weren’t so obviously physically related, I would have said someone had switched her with my sweet, caring, real sister at birth.
Nicole gets into the passenger seat next to me and I pull out of the driveway. Both of us have our license, but only I’m allowed to drive Dad’s car while he’s away. Nicole had been allowed to at first, however after taking it for a joyride when Mom specifically said she wasn’t allowed to drive it and then crashing it into a tree, she is now banned for life. Another thing she has been able to turn around in her head and blame me for. By her screwing up and crashing the car, it’s my fault for showing her up and being a perfect diver. She’s delusional sometimes.
I turn the car off outside of Sophie’s house and take the keys with me. I know better than to leave them in the car with Nicole.
I walk up the pathway and knock on the front door. She opens it straight away and I get a look at her first smile for the day. The first one is always the best. I kiss her quickly on the lips, knowing we’ll have an audience from Nicole and hold her hand as we walk over to the car.
“Morning, Blakey, did you get that English assignment finished last night?” Sophie walks with a bounce in her step and I sort of love to watch her walk. It’s like her walk conveys how happy and beautiful she is.
“Yeah, did you?”
“I finished it two days ago, remember?” She lets me open the passenger door for her, which is now vacant of Nicole, who is lying down in the backseat.
I think back, but don’t remember. When in doubt it’s always best not to admit it. “Oh right. Guess we’re both set then.”
“Do you want me to read over yours?”
“Sure.”
I grab my assignment out of my bag in the backseat and hope Nicole hasn’t done anything to it. I wouldn’t put it past her. She has her eyes closed and I think she might have fallen asleep. It’s how she is for most of her classes, too.
I sit down in the driver’s seat and pass it to her. She looks over it as I drive and by the time we get to school, she already has several things for me to change. It’s part of why I love her. She always challenges me to do better, to be better.
As I pull into the school’s lot, I nearly end up hitting a white van head on. It pulls out of nowhere in front of me and I slam on my breaks to avoid crashing into it.
“What the hell?” Nicole demands from the backseat. The car’s sudden jolt to a stop has woken her.
I watch two men run out of the van and head straight for us while one person stays in the driver’s seat. They’re dressed in black and are armed. One of the men stands by the van, looking like he’s on guard as he observes around us suspiciously. We’ve gotten to school early and there are hardly any cars around us at the moment. The other man makes it to my side of th
e car and bangs on my window. It sounds so loud I’m surprised the window doesn’t shatter under the pressure of it. I debate internally whether we should try and reverse out of here, but since the men have guns and this car isn’t overly reliable, I decide against it. I wind my window down nervously and undo my seatbelt. What can this be about? Are we being carjacked?
Chapter Nineteen – The First Casualty
“Sir, I need for you to get out of the car immediately.” The man opens my car door and I feel exposed having my side open for attack.
“What’s going on?” My voice shakes as Sophie places her hand over mine and squeezes it.
“I need for you to get out of the car and come with us. We believe your life is in danger.”
“Is this some kind of joke?”
I wonder if one of the boys has set me up. I turn my head, managing to glimpse a look at Sophie’s scared face. If it is a joke, she doesn’t have any foreknowledge of it.
A hand grabs my arm and I’m forcibly pulled out of my car. My feet drop to the ground and in the shock of the moment, I lose my balance and fall to my knees. The man doesn’t wait for me to stand; he just drags me towards the white van.
“What are you doing? Let him go!” Sophie comes alive then and climbs out of the car, running at the man holding me.
Even Nicole panics and runs at us. She punches the guy who has hold of me hard in the side which makes him release me and I fall to the ground. I move to run, but arms grab me again and this time Sophie and Nicole are frozen. I look behind me to see why.
“Move and I will shoot you.” The man who has been keeping an eye out now holds his gun and has it pointed at Sophie. I try to concentrate and I hear a thought that doesn’t belong to Nicole or Sophie.
“The boss said to use whatever force necessary. He won’t care if I smoke a couple of annoying kids.”
“They’re bluffing. I bet it’s not even a real gun.” I know that second voice, it’s Nicole’s.
“Stop, I’ll go with you, just don’t hurt anyone.” I hold up my hands even though the man has a strong grip on one of them. “Don’t do anything stupid.” I’m talking to Nicole, but really it applies for everyone.
“We won’t harm anyone if you come with us,” the man holding me speaks up as we take several steps backwards.
“Who are you? What do you want with Blake?” Sophie is crying and I want nothing more than to go over and comfort her.
“We’re just doing our job which, at the moment, is to protect this kid. We haven’t lost anyone yet and we don’t plan on it.” I’m nearly at the van now and the door slides open behind me.
I’m shaking all over as a cloth is brought over my mouth and I breathe in the stench that smells of strong chemicals.
“No!” Sophie screams and steps forward as a gunshot rings out.
I panic, feeling my vision wavering. I force myself to focus and try to find Sophie. Has she been shot? Has Nicole? What just happened?
I see Sophie on the ground and my heart stops beating, fearing the worst. Dark tunnels close in on my vision and my limbs grow weak. No one is around me now; the men have disappeared as I slump back into the van. Another loud shot sounds and I vaguely realize bursts of light shining in the van from the morning sun. It’s weird to have holes inside a van, isn’t it?
More gunshots blast around me and I hear someone screaming, but I can’t force myself to stay awake. Whatever I have been drugged with is now working. I’m falling into unconsciousness and with the sounds outside, I’m not sure I’ll ever want to wake up. My last thoughts are of Sophie and Nicole, wishing I could make sure they’re all right before darkness mercilessly swallows me whole.
***
Sunlight assaults me when I next open my eyes. I quickly close them again.
“…see them?”
“…close for my…”
“…she’s dead. Just drive. We’ll sort it out…”
I strain my ears, but their voices simply won’t compute in my brain, so I try to listen in a different way.
“I must have hit them. I fired eight rounds. How did they find this kid so quickly? How did any of them get found?”
Those thoughts don’t make sense.
“I’m starving; stupid ass won’t even stop for a burger. We would have lost whoever it was towns ago…”
I sense a headache coming on and I stop trying to listen altogether. I place my hands gently over myself and find I’m still in one piece. I’m foggy on where I am until I remember the gunshots. I’ve been kidnapped!
Where are Sophie and Nicole? Are they okay? Have they been hurt? Who was shooting?
I move my head and this time open my eyes again. I’m out of the way of the glaring light now and, as I look around at the sides of the van, I discover all the holes I’d noticed just before blacking out look like they’re gunshots. The holes are all round me and scattered randomly about. The van had been heavily hit. Why was someone shooting at us? Sophie and Nicole, are they alive?
My arm knocks something next to me and I turn my head to the side and jolt away when I see that lying next to me is a dead woman. She has on the same clothing as the men that have taken me; she must have been the driver of the van that I hadn’t seen. Blood pools over her chest; she must have been shot. I’m lying next to a dead woman.
Nausea runs through my body and I turn away, trying to resist the urge to vomit. I have seen plenty of fake dead bodies on TV and even some real ones on the news, however nothing comes close to having one right next to me. I try to sit up and it takes all my energy to do so. I move as far away from the dead body as I can get in the back of the van and try to open the side door. It’s locked.
“What is that noise?”
“Do you hear that?” one of the men speaks. I hold my breath, worrying they’ve heard me pulling at the door.
“Who cares. We’re so close to The Windmill and I’m starving. Keep driving.”
“Shut up, kid. I’m in charge here and if I want to bloody stop this van, then I will.”
“ASSHOLE.”
The word screams in my head and I flinch. I hadn’t been expecting that. We keep driving, but I hear the caution from the two men. Even the second one who has been angry seems to suddenly be on edge. What can they see that I can’t? Who is after us?
“Get your gun out.”
“It’s just a woman with a broken down car—”
“Get it out.”
I pull on the handle again. I know something is wrong, and as much as I don’t want to be out there if some crazy person or persons are shooting at me, I definitely don’t want to be in here with a dead body being transported to a place I don’t know, against my will. In my opinion, both options suck.
“Don’t slow down.” Suddenly the second guy sounds nervous.
I pull one last time at the van door, which slides loudly open as shots ring out again. This time, it’s a constant shooting that has me thinking it’s on automatic. I hold onto the inside of the open van when it suddenly swings around in what I assume is an attempt to turn back and head the same way we had been coming from.
During the quick turn I get a full view of a woman who is now aiming a gun that looks half her size directly at me. Everything moves in slow motion then. The van is slowly spinning away from her, she is crying as her eyes take me in and then her finger squeezes the trigger.
The shots echo inside the van and I feel the impact of several bullets hit me. I fall backwards onto the dead woman and gasp for a breath that won’t come. Something is filling up in my lungs almost like water. I’m drowning.
The van slams to a stop and I vaguely hear more gunshots in the distance.
I let my head fall to the side and I get a view outside the van. I witness the woman standing with the gun no longer in her hands and she looks up at the sky as though she has surrendered. Then another shot goes off and she is hit. She falls to the ground and, before my eyes, she disappears. Her body turns to ashes and she is instantly blown into the wi
nd outside.
It’s impossible; that is not real.
I glance down at my own hands which are covered in blood and my heart beat races so fast I think it might be trying to pick up speed to jump up my throat. It’d explain why I can’t appear to breathe at all right now. This can’t possibly be real, right? I mean, I was kidnapped? Shot? Then saw a woman turn to ash? Not real, surely it’s not real.
“Shit! The kid is down.” One of the men stands over me, jumps in the back and takes his jacket off to apply pressure onto my wound. “Go, go, go!” he yells and the van flies forward.
‘How did she find us? How many more of them are there? This kid isn’t going to make it. Agent Goodings is going to kill us.’
“Five minutes!” the one driving yells out.
“Just hold on, kid.” The man pushes his jacket harder onto my wound and I groan further in pain. I know this is bad, that his jacket is already soaked in my blood. There is no way to stop the bleeding now. I’m losing too much blood. It’ll take a miracle to save me.
“Just hold on…”
I close my eyes and my final realization is that this van will be the last thing I’ll ever see.
ZOE HOLLOWAY
Chapter Twenty – The Blood
Monday, April 9th
I awake in a room I don’t recognize, however before I can try to figure out where I am, I fall asleep again. I awaken several more times, though each time, I feel nothing when I awake except a deep desire to fall back asleep. I have no idea how long I’ve been sleeping for, but it seems important that I continue to do so.
When I’m eventually able to keep my eyes open, I first notice I’m surrounded in complete darkness. Disoriented, I feel around myself, trying to find something familiar. The blanket resting over me is rough and foreign. I move my hands carefully around myself and discover that I’m lying on a single mattress. At home I have a double. I’m definitely not in my bedroom then. My arm bumps into something wooden to my right side which has something cool and metallic sitting on top of it. From the shape, it isn’t hard to guess what it is. I find a switch easily and flick it to turn the lamp on.
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