by Yvi Valentin
“I know this is hard for you. We just have to keep going a little while longer.”
“Knowing Evan, it’s probably going to be more than a little while.”
“Let’s hope we can get rid of him fast.”
“How do we do that? We don’t even know how many more creatures and people he has working for him.”
“You’re right,” said a familiar voice from behind us. Andy and I turned around to see Evan. He was so full of himself. A feeling of dread shot through me followed by an intense heat on my wrist. I couldn’t believe Andy and I had let our guards down enough to let Evan get close to us. I tried to run away but Evan got a hold of me. I tried to electrocute him again, but it didn’t work. He laughed. “I learned my lesson the first time.”
Andy and I exchanged a look of panic. I didn’t know how else to get away. I knew I couldn’t control him either. What other options did I have? I tried fire and ice and every other element I could think of to run through my body but none of it worked. Then it occurred to me, I had the ability to control the elements on a much larger scale. I had never tried it before, but it was my last chance to break free. I blocked my thoughts from Evan and made sure Andy caught on to my plan. We both knew that for my plan to work, we were going to have to go outside. The question was: how were we going to get there?
“Where are you taking her?” Andy asked in a panic. We both knew everything would be fine if my plan could be put into action. We were in agreement about making Evan believe we were scared. I hoped our acting skills were good enough.
“You don’t need to concern yourself with that. She’ll be in good hands when she gets there.”
I realized we weren’t moving towards the exit, but towards the platform for the blue line. I panicked and pretended I couldn’t breathe, hoping Evan would be nice enough to take me outside for some fresh air.
“Can’t you see she can’t breathe!?” Andy yelled. “She needs air. Sit her down outside so she can catch her breath!”
“There’s plenty of air in here, she’ll be fine.” I could tell Evan was sure I was faking. I decided to kick it up a notch and pretended to faint.
“Come on Evan! You can’t be this cruel! She needs help. Do you really want her to die!?” Andy was a great actor. He knew exactly what to say to get under Evan’s skin.
“Alright, fine!” We were finally heading towards the exit. Soon we would be free from Evan once again. I was running out of time to figure out which element to control once we got outside. I knew I was going to have to work fast and make it big enough to get Evan to let go of me.
“Aimee, we just got outside. Hurry!” Andy’s voice rang in my head.
I decided to make a severe thunderstorm. I hoped it would get intense enough to startle Evan. I focused on what I wanted to happen as I felt Andy and Evan lay me down on the sidewalk outside of the train station. I heard thunder in the distance and knew it was my doing. I focused all of my energy on making it louder and more intense. I felt the raindrops hit my face. It wasn’t long before there was a deafening crack of thunder followed by lightning. It was loud enough to cause Evan to let go of his death grip on me. I sprang up and started running as fast as I could with Andy right by my side.
“Where are we going to go now?” I asked.
“Frank has a car waiting for us nearby.”
“How far is it? I’m not sure how much longer I can keep running.”
“We’re almost there,” he started. “See that parking garage up there?”
“Is that where the car is?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s speed up so we can get there sooner.” I used all the energy I could to make myself run even faster than before. Andy kept pace with me and it wasn’t long before we made it into the garage.
“The car shouldn’t be too far away from the entrance.” Andy took out the key and pressed the button to turn the car alarm off. We saw the lights flash and ran over to the small black car. “Frank left us directions in the GPS so we’ll know where to go next.”
“Good.” It was the first time I was able to relax in a while. I felt relieved knowing I didn’t have to run anymore but I was still on edge. Part of me wanted to take a nap but I couldn’t, knowing danger could come around at any moment.
“You should get some rest,” Andy suggested. “It’s a long drive and I’ll wake you up if anything happens.”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep with everything that’s been going on,” I said.
“Just try. After the day you’ve had, you really need it.”
“You’re right.” I leaned my head against the headrest and closed my eyes. It wasn’t long before my eyes got heavy and I drifted into a deep sleep.
“Why won’t you help?” I heard a man’s voice ask. I realized I was dreaming. I looked around to find a face to go with the voice. I did a complete 360 and saw nothing but darkness in front of me.
“Who’s there? Where am I?”
“You mean to tell me you don’t recognize my voice by now?” The man sounded disappointed. I noticed a light shining behind me and turned around to see Lucifer standing there. He was in distress, but I wasn’t sure why.
“You can control dreams too?” I was in shock. He was the last person I wanted to see. I was hoping to escape the drama by falling asleep but apparently it was too much to ask.
“Yes and we really need to talk.”
“About what!? About how you want to use me to destroy the earth so you can have control of it!?”
“I want you to see it from my point of view.”
“No matter how you spin it, I get the basics of it all and there’s no way I’m going to help you!” I was furious. I wanted it to be over but I knew the only way he would stop was if I helped or killed him.
“Come on, we’re family. Why won’t you help me?”
“Because you’re pure evil! You’re the devil for crying out loud! I’m not a horrible person and want no part in your quest to take over the world!”
“It’s not as horrible as it sounds. Just let me explain.”
“Fine, try to justify this whole thing to me and see what happens.” I had no intentions of paying attention to a word he said. I hoped letting him say whatever he wanted would make him go away faster.
“You know the story about how I became known as the devil right?” I didn’t respond. “Are you listening to me young lady?” I could feel the anger within him rise. If he was going to keep asking me questions, I knew I was going to have to pay attention to his little story.
“Young lady? So you’re trying to act like a real dad now?” I asked. “As if anything you say or do at this point could ever make up for all those years you were M.I.A.! It doesn’t work that way.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way…I never meant to hurt you,” Lucifer said. I was surprised by how kind he sounded but deep down, I knew it was just an act.
“No! Your only intentions were to use me for your personal agenda.”
“I never wanted to use you. I wanted you to help me.”
“What’s the difference!? You’re just wording it differently!”
“The difference is that you were willing to help me.”
“No! I was never willing you help you!”
“You were until that Andy came along!” He snapped. I was shocked. I couldn’t imagine myself ever being evil. “He brainwashed you! Told you there were other things you could do with your powers.” My heart dropped. “He’s still using you for his own agenda and you’re mad at me for the exact same thing! Why does he get off so easily!?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I hoped none of it was true. I hoped he was making it all up to get a rise out of me. “Why should I ever work with you?”
“You’re my daughter! You’re supposed to work with me! You’re supposed to be on my side, not work against me!” He knew I was right, but still tried to argue like it was going to change anything
.
“Shouldn’t I have a choice!? It’s my life! I should be allowed to do whatever I want with it! I shouldn’t feel like I have to work with you just because of blood!”
“That’s exactly the reason you should be working with me! We’re blood!”
“Blood doesn’t matter when you’re literally the devil! I’m old enough to do what I want. There’s no way you’re going to change my mind so stay out of my head!”
“You remind me of your mother. I see nothing I say is going to change your mind. I’ll just go now.” I was surprised when he calmed down. He kissed my forehead, turned around and walked away. He disappeared and I suddenly woke up.
I was still in the car. I wondered how long I had been asleep. “Good morning sweetheart,” Andy said cheerfully. It was nice to hear his voice again, but at the same time I had a lot of questions for him. “Did you have a nice nap?”
“Not really,” I said. “Did you know Lucifer can control dreams too?”
“No. Is that what happened?” Andy seemed genuinely surprised.
“Yeah, he said he needed to talk to me.”
“What about?” Concern filled Andy’s voice.
“He wanted to explain himself to me. He was mad that I wouldn’t listen to him. It wasn’t new; he still wants me to work with him.” I was debating on telling him the rest of what happened. I knew I should have, but I was terrified of what this could do to him.
“What else?” He knew I was holding something back.
“He said that you brainwashed me, that you wanted to use me for your own agenda. I figured he was saying it to mess with my head.”
“I never brainwashed you!” Andy furrowed his brows and his face turned the same red color of my favorite lipstick.
“Andy, he was desperate. He said whatever he thought would make me want to work with him.”
“Well, did it work?”
“Of course not. He just wanted to cause drama, Andy, can’t you see what he’s doing!?”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath and the redness faded from his face.
“I understand why you got upset.” I paused for a moment as I looked out the window. “How much further do we have to go?”
“It shouldn’t take us much longer to get there.”
“Where are we?” Looking out the window, all I could see were corn fields and farms.
“Central Illinois.” I flashed back to when Evan kidnapped me the first time. I felt the color drain from my face as I remembered he had a place nearby and I didn’t want to risk running into him. “What’s wrong?”
“You don’t remember where Evan took me the first time he kidnapped me? Aren’t you worried about running into him?”
Andy smiled. “I remember. I talked it over with the guys and we agreed it would be best if we kept an eye on Evan and everyone he has working for him.”
“So why this house?”
“Frank said Evan has been staying there a lot lately.”
“But I don’t remember seeing any other houses near his. How are we going to pull this off?” My stomach was doing back flips. I had a bad feeling about the risky new plan. “Do you really think this is a good idea?”
“Yeah, we need to know what they’re planning,” Andy answered.
“They’re planning on kidnapping me! They can’t do anything else without me! We should have gone with my original suggestion in the first place.”
“That was more dangerous than this plan!”
“How do you figure!? If we had gone with my idea I wouldn’t have to run and we would know so much about what they’re planning already! What do we really know about their plans now?”
“Nothing but I don’t want to risk losing you to them! He could erase your memories again! Don’t you get that!?”
“I get it, but we would have so much more information by now plus I could stop their plans from the inside! I could give you information!” I could feel my frustration boiling over.
“If they ever caught you feeding me information they would kill you Aimee! I’m not willing to risk that!”
“They wouldn’t kill me if they really need me so badly! They need my abilities just as much as our side does!”
“But then they would erase your memories for sure! I can’t lose you!”
“Okay you’re right,” I sighed. “I’m just tired of not having any good leads.”
“I know but we have to do this right.”
“I know.” I stared at the vast corn fields when I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Andy…”
“I think we’re being followed.”
“Who do you think it is?”
“It’s probably Evan or someone working for him.”
“Oh…that’s comforting.” I looked in the mirror to see who was following us but wasn’t sure which car I was supposed to look at. “Should we try to lose them?”
“I’m not sure if there are more cars following us.”
“I didn’t even think about that, so thanks!” I was hysterical. I was helpless in the car and knew something bad was going to happen. A car sped in front of us and suddenly stopped. Andy managed to screech to a halt without hitting the car.
“Some people don’t know how to drive,” Andy said. “We’re lucky I managed to stop in time.” Another car suddenly stopped on the driver’s side shortly followed by a car stopping on the passenger’s side. My heart skipped a beat. “They’ve surrounded us.”
“Well that’s a bit obvious, isn’t it? What are we going to do? I can’t keep running, Andy!” A man got out of each of the three cars I could see and I assumed there was someone getting out of the car behind us. “Oh god. What are we going to do?”
“Hang on.” He sped through the gap between the two cars in front and next to us, grazing both of them. We had barely escaped when I heard gunshots. “Get down!” He held my head down while he had the task of driving and trying not to get shot. I heard glass shatter from the rear window and tried hard to stop hyperventilating.
“Why are they shooting at us? Shouldn’t they be concerned with keeping me alive?”
“Maybe they’re just trying to get us to stop…oh crap.”
“What is it?”
“Well,” he started, “we’re driving off the highway.”
“What!?” I shot up to look at what was happening and to my horror we were actually driving off the highway and into a ditch.
“I’m so sorry, Aimee.”
Seconds later, I heard the sound of metal being crumpled against the ground as I felt the impact of the crash.
Chapter 16
“Andy? Andy, are you okay?” I was disoriented and struggled to catch my breath. I rubbed my eyes in attempt to see clearly again. I felt around for Andy to find out what was going on. Eventually my vision became clear and I saw his unconscious body. I tried to shake him awake. “Andy, come on! Wake up!” He was slumped against the steering wheel, his head bleeding. Tears welled up in my eyes. “Andy, please get up!” None of my efforts were working.
“Aimee, you have to get out of there now!” I heard a voice in my head. I forgot I still had the earwig in place.
“Brian, I can’t leave…not without Andy!”
“You have to! Someone could get to you soon! We’ll worry about him later. Right now you need to get as far away from there as possible!” Brian was panicked. He was always the fun guy who lightened the mood so to hear him all serious and panicky I knew I was in big trouble.
“I’m not leaving without him!” I yelled.
“I’ll have someone get him once the coast is clear, but we can’t let you get caught right now!”
“Oh shit,” I said as I looked out the broken window. There were three men rushing down the hill towards me.
“Get out, now!” Brian yelled in my ear so loud that I thought my eardrum was going to burst.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and weakly opened the car door. I briefly glanced at Andy before I got out and ran. I felt sic
k about leaving him there. I didn’t even get the chance to check if he was breathing or had a pulse. I worried about what those men might do if they couldn’t get to me, but I knew I couldn’t let anything keep me from getting away. Each step was excruciating as I made my way up and out of the steep ditch.
“I’m out of the ditch but I don’t know where I am or where to go!” My head was spinning and I struggled to make up my mind on where to run. I felt so weak that I almost wanted to get caught so I could finally rest.
“Go in any direction, we’ll track your earwig and catch up to you.” Brian was no longer panicked, but focused on the task at hand.
I decided to run towards the only building in view. I didn’t think I had enough energy to run the great distance without stopping, but I forced the pain out of my mind and tried anyway.
“How soon can you guys get here? I’m not sure I can keep going much longer.”
“We’re almost there,” Frank responded.
I looked behind me to see the three men closer than I wanted them to be. I panicked and tripped on my own feet yet somehow managed not to land flat on my face. It must have been the adrenalin. “They’re getting closer! Hurry!” I looked behind me every few feet and in no time at all, there was a car behind the running men. “I really hope that’s you in the car.”
“Yeah Aims, get ready to jump in for a fast getaway,” Brian said.
“Great.” Seconds later, the car sped up to me and came to an abrupt stop. The door closest to me opened and I quickly jumped in. The door wasn’t even closed when the car sped off. Frank managed to close it before I slid out. I looked through the rear window to see the men trying to run after the car, but it wasn’t long before they gave up and turned around. I remembered Andy was still back in the ditch. “We have to go back and get Andy!”
“Relax. Jen and Liz are on it. They’re going to meet us in a little bit,” Frank replied.
“Any word on how he’s doing?” I managed to ask despite my exhaustion.
“No, I don’t think they’ve reached him yet,” Brian answered.
“Then we have to go back and help them!” I yelled.