Sunnyside Up with Red Ketchup

by Andrews, Ashley

  She couldn't finish. She hadn't stopped breathing. She hadn't noticed something. She hadn't seen anyone. She hadn't suddenly realized that she was wrong.

  She couldn't finish—because another mouth was pressed against hers.

  Zane was kissing her.

  What started out as a little frantic and desperate, quickly became sweet, passionate, and life-changing.

  Chapter 23: Beige

  Zane's eyes widened and it was only after a few seconds that he realized what he was doing. His hand was on the back of her head, holding her to him. For a short second, they stood, rigid. Then they melted into the kiss.

  Oh, God…he was kissing Red.

  He could feel her damp cheeks against his cheekbone and a single tear fell from her eye, onto his cheek instead of her own. He had no idea what compelled him to kiss her. She had been yelling at him, and he had just been compelled to draw her into his arms, and silence her misery with a kiss.

  And the action had lifted the three tons of weight he'd had on his chest.

  He pulled back shocked his discovery. He looked down at Red for a moment.

  Her face was still tilted toward him. She looked dazed, confused, and he wanted to kiss her again.

  He let his arms fall away from her, stepped back, and walked away from her. His legs were like jelly and his face was completely frozen in a look of horror. He made his way slowly up the staircase of Royal Haven, not taking any notice of the odd looks he received from people that wandered by.

  "Hey, Zane, you look like you've seen a ghost."

  He didn't acknowledge the brown—haired boy who watched as Sunnyside's idol slowly crept up the staircase and entered his own room, slumping onto the edge of his bed. His hand rose to his lips.

  What had he done?

  * * * * *

  It'd been a week since she’d moved out of Royal Haven. Since Zane Noble had kissed her.

  She was still in a trance. When she thought about it, a strange zing of electricity ran from her head to her toes. She had been so angry with him that night and yet with that one simple action, the irritation dissipated, changing everything. It had been her first kiss.

  She'd read about a kissing, read romance novels. Her favorite had been a story about a young girl who had fallen head over heels in love with a boy, but yet everything conspired to keep them apart. It was like one of those triangles, where another boy loved the girl, yet she just wanted to be friends. Kind of like now. Seth loved her, she loved Zane, and she was a little confused about what Zane felt. And no matter what she’d done in the last week, she hadn’t seen Zane. He was always somewhere other than where she looked for him.

  At the end of her favorite story, the girl got the boy she wanted, and the other boy found he was satisfied that the girl was happy.

  She wanted that happy ending for herself. She wanted Seth to be happy that the girl he loved was smiling. She wasn’t smiling now.

  Zane’s treatment of her had brought her to tears. But the kiss described in the book was nothing compared to the real thing. Were you supposed to have such an aftershock? All week she’d felt…dazed…wide eyed and well…shocked.

  She wanted to try it again.

  That night, when Zane kissed her, she must have stood for more than a few minutes in the summer night, stunned into silence and immobility. Her mind had taken so long to register everything, that when it caught up with her two days later, it landed on her like a brick wall.

  Zane Noble had kissed her.

  She tried to keep herself busy throughout the entire week, trying hard to make sure that her mind was always somewhere else. If it wasn't, it drifted back to that kiss.

  Why couldn't she get it off her mind?

  Vikki didn't know anything. Nobody knew. She'd seen Seth occasionally throughout the week, but saw nothing of Casper and Zane. Wait, scratch that.

  She'd seen Zane once, from a distance, he looked as tired as she felt. It looked like he'd been working hard.

  She hurried to Royal Haven. She planned to visit Seth to see how he was. He had gotten sick just after that evening, with a cold. She felt compelled to look after him.

  But as she made her way up the final set of stairs, she bumped into someone. She took a step back, missed the step and landed on her but. She looked up to see who she’d run into.

  It was Casper.

  * * * * *

  Casper looked down at Red, who was staring up at him with wide, blue eyes that he had learned, weeks ago, didn't really match his. They surpassed his. Her eyes held so much life, and were so much more beautiful than his could ever be.

  But seeing her made his heart clench horribly.

  Why? He didn't know. His cheery, lovable attitude had disappeared. Not since he'd seen her with Seth that day had he felt like he knew what he was doing. Why had she gone to Seth for comfort? Why had she felt so upset with Zane's comment?

  What was he in all of this? An acquaintance? A buddy? A pal? He reached out a hand and helped Red to her feet. She grinned at him happily, "Hey, Casper! Long time no see. I missed you—"

  She had no time to react when he didn’t let go of her wrist, but dragged her along the hallway and into his room. He had to do it now. He was fed up of being confused about his feelings and just felt like saying what he thought they were…outright, to get it off his chest. He pushed Red over to his bed, telling her to, “Sit,” a look of misery etched on his face.

  She looked up at him in confusion. "Casper—"

  "What am I to you, Red?" He knelt down on the ground and rested his hands on her knees as he brought his head level with hers.

  She stared back at him and then smiled. "My friend. My first friend."

  His heart missed a few beats. What did he expect her to say? That he was her crush? Of course not. That was Seth.

  "Do you love Seth?" He asked her bluntly. He wasn't going to beat around the bush any longer.

  The smile fell from her face and she dropped her head onto her chest, so Casper got a view of her hair. “I don't know. I don't know what love feels like." She jumped when a hand lifted her chin up.

  Lips came into contact with hers.

  Casper knew it was a stupid thing to do. For all he knew, he could be stealing the girl’s first kiss. But he had to get his feelings out of his system, had to know if he was just confused or really had those feelings for Red.

  He pulled back, taking in her shocked expression. He let out a gentle laugh feeling like the world had been lifted from his shoulders. He could lock them away for a while, until she understood. Until she knew what love was.

  He stood and ruffled her hair, laughing quietly to himself about her wide eyed look. "Sorry. I just had to confirm something," he slung an arm around her shoulder. "Now let's go and get a smoothie."

  * * * * *

  She'd been kissed. Twice.

  As She leaned against the bar counter with Casper, drinking her smoothie and watching the public bustle past her, she let her mind wander. But after Casper had kissed her, she hadn't felt nervous around him. In fact, it was like it never even happened. He just seemed a lot more loose and friendly than he had before.

  She sucked on her straw and watched a boy pass by. She felt Casper staring at the side of her head and tore her gaze away from the boy to look at him.

  He smiled at her. "Do you really not know what love feels like?"

  She shook her head and took the straw out of her mouth, twirling around the smoothie with the end of it. She smiled to herself. Maybe it was time she told Casper a little something about herself.

  “I've lived underground in a secure facility my whole life. This is the first time I’ve been around kids my own age. Heck, it’s the first time I’ve been out in the sun for almost a decade. I only came above ground for the first time about two months ago." She looked at him. His mouth was hanging open.

  "No way. You're kidding."

  She shook her head, laughing nervously. “I had a phobia of the world and some pretty bad people whe
re after me. When my parents died, I was taken down to live there, just until the bad people where caught.” She sighed. “Only they never were. That was okay for a long time. But I wanted to get out." She raised her head and looked at the sky, smiling. She had wanted to be free and now, she wished that she had come above ground earlier. The world was beautiful. “I think hiding was what I needed to do for a while, but I’ve come to realize how much I’ve missed out on.”

  Casper hadn't said anything for a while, so she glanced at him.

  He was pouting like a sad puppy and suddenly flung his arms around her neck. "Reeeeed. Red. Red. Red. I can't believe you've been locked away all this time. No wonder you're so innocent." He released her, allowing her to breathe. He and gave her a determined expression. "Right. I have a ton of questions. But you can answer them on the run. Right now I think I should show you a little more of what you've been missing out on."

  For the rest of the day, Casper dragged her from arcade to arcade, from tourist spot to tourist spot. She was so amazed at everything, at what she’d missed. She was overjoyed. The sun began to slowly set, and she realized she hadn’t even scratched the surface. She slumped down on a bench beside Casper, who had almost collapsed with exhaustion.

  He grinned at her and looked sleepily up at the sky. “I told you, you've been missing out on a lot."

  Her eyes were still wide with amazement, but she felt herself slowly relaxing. She'd had a good day.

  But she had also forgotten to visit Seth.

  She shook her head. No. She needed this. She needed time away from Sunnyside. Swallowing, she looked up at Casper. She nudged him in the ribs. "Have Seth and Zane spoken to each other yet?"

  Casper grimaced and looked down at her, his cat-like eyes and dimples drooping. "Nope. They won't even go near each other."

  She felt guilty. It was her fault they had ended up fighting in the first place. If she hadn't ever accepted the mission, they would probably still be talking and living their normal lives.

  Casper ruffled her hair. "Hey, cheer up. You know what they say; you drift away, only so you can get closer."

  She smiled at Casper reassuringly. He was right.

  They sat in silence for a moment, watching the bustling city life.

  However, before she had felt comfortable and at ease watching the scene in front of her, now she began to feel uneasy. Cars were speeding by fast. People were chattering loudly as they sped by her and Casper on the bench. Lots of sounds were jumbled together, confusing her. Then, in the distance, she heard something.

  "Mommy!" A little girl screamed. It was just a little girl, one who had lost her mom in the crowd. But it'd triggered the flashbacks.

  "MOMMY!" She yelled, reaching out a hand for the woman who was forced to kneel in front of her.

  An ugly looking man with red hair sneered at her and tugged the woman’s head back, pulling on her hair. "You want your mommy, do you, kid?" He laughed loudly and pulled a gun from his jeans, clicking the back of it and pressing it hard to her mother’s head. "Do you know that your mommy came here to kill me? Yes. I underestimated her. To bad I found out what she was up to, now, I’m going to kill her."

  He looked to his left, at the man who was being forced to kneel beside her mother. He was held by his neck, by a man wearing a black hood. A gun was also pressed to this man’s head, by another.

  "And him," the ginger man sneered. The man who was being held looked at her with sad, fearful eyes.

  "Honey, look away. Mommy and daddy will be fine. We’ll watch over you. But you have to look away. You have to push this to the back of your head. Don't remember it. Don't remember us. We lov—"

  He never finished his sentence. She looked away, and when she heard a horribly loud explosion, she looked back. And both the man and her mother were lying on the ground, a crimson puddle surrounding their heads.

  She screamed.

  "Red! Red, come on, snap out of it!" Casper's hands were pressed to her shoulders and her eyes snapped open. She'd cupped her ears with her hands and was staring hard at the concrete ground. She looked up alarmingly, noticing that she’d attracted a lot of attention.

  She'd blocked it. She'd blocked it all. She'd watched her parents die.

  A rumble of thunder echoed overhead. She heard a few women in the street scream. And the sounds sent her into another memory.

  "They said they'd be watching, didn't they?" the evil, malevolent voice growled.

  Her head was pushed down into a bucket of water.

  "Well, I wonder if they'll enjoy watching their ten-year-old daughter be tortured."

  After her parents were killed, she'd watched a female agent fight to keep her alive. The agent had died getting Red away.

  The Task Force had been assigned to look after her. But someone had contacted her, saying that they would take her to see her mom and dad—she met them in front of the mall. So she’d run away from her protectors. And she’d been kidnapped, and taken back to the darkness.

  The darkness, where her screams echoed around the walls, the pain was excruciating. Her head was dunked into the bucket again.

  When she came back to reality this time, she’d just been staring straight into nothing. It was like she hadn't even reacted, just sat there. Quietly. While her world collapsed around her. How had she gotten away the second time? She wondered.

  Casper was shaking her shoulders, his expression changing the moment she came back, like he could tell. "What's wrong? Why did your eyes go funny? You were mumbling. You looked really scared. Come on let me take you to a hospital."

  She grabbed his hand, stood up, and shook her head, stopping him.

  "No." She shook her head again and tried to still her trembling hangs. She looked at him. “I just need some time alone, to think. I just…remembered something…" her voice trailed off.

  Casper swallowed and stared at her, his messy blonde hair drooping in front of his face. He looked at her cautiously, before nodding. "Alright. If you don't feel well, come straight back, you hear me?"

  She nodded and let him go. Then she slumped back down on the bench.

  She'd watched her parents die at the age of nine, then blocked out their deaths and been kidnapped and tortured a few months later, right after she’d turned ten.

  Suddenly all those forgotten memories were falling into place.

  * * * * *

  "Boss."

  Blaine looked up from his chair in the black van and let out a sigh. He frowned at his accomplice. "What is it?"

  The guy was staring out of the tinted window, squinting into the distance. He raised a hand and pointed at the bench he was focused on.

  "This kid looks just like those people who infiltrated our base all those years ago." He waved his hand at Blaine. "Come check it out."

  Blaine lifted his hands off of the computer keyboard and shifted over, to peer out the window. His eyes widened. Sure enough, the kid was a spitting image of the two agents he had killed. He would never forget those two? They were the only agents who had ever found his base, infiltrating his little group. He had been paranoid all these years about the kid who had managed to escape and seemingly disappear off of the face of the earth. He patted his accomplice on the shoulder.

  "Drive closer."

  The guy started the engine.

  Blaine kept his eye on the girl.

  She didn't even look up when they stopped in front of her. Instead she stared at the ground, as if in a trance. Her eyes were wide and frightened as she studied the concrete pavement.

  It seemed like years since he'd seen those eyes. Those, deep, bright, frightened eyes. He'd missed them.

  Without paying any attention to the black van in front of her, Red got to her feet and started to walk away, her gait stilted and uneven.

  Blaine snapped his fingers and turned to the driver. "Tim, follow her."

  Chapter 24: Mauve

  It was late when she got back to camp. Close to curfew, but she didn't care about the consequences. Sh
e hadn't noticed the time. She'd just sat on that bench for hours after Casper left, her mind working to uncover more memories, more blocked bits and pieces of her past.

  And then she’d sat there, trying to decide just how to react what she’d remembered.

  After thinking about it for so hard and so long, she noticed that even though she remembered everything, it didn’t upset her nearly as much as it should have. She’d poked and prodded her psyche…wondering why she wasn’t more emotional. She should have been devastated.

  Then she realized that somewhere, deep down, she had known all along. She had carried this sadness with her for an entire life time. It may have been locked away, but the feelings and fears, and well—hatred for the monster that had killed her parents—had been buried inside her.

  This was why she had stayed underground for so long, why she didn’t like the water, why sometime she just couldn’t bear thinking about her parents. That sadness would overtake her, and she would struggle to cover it with a smile.

  In many ways she felt relieved. It was like this huge tension had been lifted from her body. With every step she took, it was like walking on a cloud. Her parents had said they would watch her. And they were watching her protect the life of a man who shined brightly, like an angel. A man who eased her sadness with is very presence, when she needed it gone. A man who mesmerized her with every move he took.

  She opened the small gate at the side entrance to Sunnyside, about to enter.

  All of a sudden her shirt collar was pulled back, and she was hit in the head.

  She couldn't scream. A big, burly hand cupped her mouth, keeping her from making a sound.

  "It's been a long time." A figure stood in the shadows of the trees that ran around Sunnyside. Then slowly, he emerged into the lamp light.