Crazy Files

by Yvi Valentin

  “Do you think that’s a good idea?” Frank asked. “If Evan finds it on her, he could erase her memory again.”

  “We can’t let her go in there without any contact with us!” Andy protested.

  “We have to Andy! We can’t risk losing her to Evan and Aimee knows how to protect herself,” Frank shouted.

  “I know this is dangerous, but we don’t have any other choice,” I said. “What do we need to do to speed up this process?”

  “I think it would be a good idea if we got together weapons and our usual surveillance gear,” Brian suggested.

  “Yeah and we’ll get our cars ready to follow you before you head towards Evan,” Frank added.

  I sighed. “Alright, let’s get ready.” I turned to the man and forced him to stay where he sat until we were ready for him again. We went to the house and gathered everything we were going to need for our new mission.

  “We’re not going to be able to hear you while you’re with Evan, so we’re going to communicate through dreams,” Andy said.

  “But Lucifer can control dreams too,” I started. “What if he’s there and catches on?”

  “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” Brian said. “It’s the only way we can communicate.”

  “What about telepathy?” I asked.

  “It’s too risky,” Liz warned. “Evan will most likely be monitoring your thoughts.”

  “Alright, dreams it is,” I said. We all headed back to the barn to where the man was left sitting. “Alright, we know the plan. I’m going to have him act as if he just captured me so it seems more real when we get to Evan.”

  Jen gave me a hug. “Aimee, please be careful.”

  “Get back to us safely kiddo,” Brian added.

  “When this is over, we’re definitely having a spa day,” Liz joked while she gave me a hug so tight I thought I was going to pass out. “Sorry.”

  “It’s alright,” I laughed. “And I’m going to hold you to that.”

  “Just don’t let Evan find out about our plan.” I was sure that was the best I was ever going to get from Frank.

  “I won’t.”

  I turned to Andy, knowing it was going to be the hardest goodbye. I tried to hold back my tears but looking at the sad expression on his face, I wasn’t able to keep it in. We stared at each other in silence for a moment, unsure of what to say. Nothing was going to make the situation any less dangerous. I sobbed as he wrapped his arms around me.

  “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you,” Andy said. I could tell he was trying not to break down.

  “Let’s not think about that. You’ll be there every night in my dreams,” I reminded. I tried to force a smile, but it was hard knowing what I was about to get myself into.

  “Be safe sweetie.” Andy gave me what could have been our last kiss. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” The five of them looked glum as they stared at me. “Don’t let your sadness get in the way of the job we have to do now. Be strong.” They each surrounded me in a group hug. I took a deep breath and said, “You guys should probably get ready to follow us now. There won’t be much time once I let go of my control on this guy.”

  I could tell they didn’t want to leave me alone, but it had to be done. I couldn’t help but cry as I watched each of them exit the barn. I waited a few minutes to give everyone a chance to get into place. Once I thought enough time had passed, I made the man carry out his orders from Evan. I stood by him for a moment while he was coming out of his daze. I knew I was going to need to use my acting skills so he wouldn’t suspect the whole thing was preplanned.

  Once I was sure he was completely out of his daze, I started to run fast enough that he would have a decent chase but slow enough so he would be able to catch me. I tried to resist as he dragged me towards the chair and ropes he was tied to moments before. He eventually was able to tie my hands and feet together. He threw me over his shoulder and walked out of the barn and towards the car he came in with the five other men. To keep up with the charade, I tried to resist and screamed for help. I hoped everyone was ready to follow because I couldn’t stop what was already set in motion. It wasn’t long before I was put in the passenger seat of the car and was on my way to see Evan. I took a deep breath and hoped the plan would work.

  Chapter 17

  I was pulled out of the car at what looked like the same farmhouse I was taken to when Evan kidnapped me before. I hoped everyone was able to follow me, I was counting on it. If I was found out, I needed a quick getaway. The man took me into the house and locked me in the same frilly room from before. I sat on the bed and waited for something to happen. I wasn’t going to find out anything new if I was locked in a room.

  I jumped as Evan barged through the door. “Oh, I didn’t scare you did I?” We both knew he didn’t care. He just wanted to gloat. “You’re speechless? I never thought I would see the day.”

  “Stop playing games and just tell me what you want,” I snapped.

  “You should know by now I like a little foreplay.” I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be like that.” He sat down on the bed next to me. I cringed at his close proximity. I could feel the familiar heat on my wrist and finally realized that it was coming from my Eye of Horus tattoo. I wondered why it was happening but didn’t have time to get the answers I wanted. “I want you to help me, help your father.”

  “That thing is not my father!”

  “Without him you wouldn’t be here!”

  “Then I wish I wasn’t here!”

  “What’s all the yelling about?” Lucifer asked as he walked through the door.

  “Oh no,” I whined.

  “What’s the matter darling? Don’t like family reunions?” He was incredibly arrogant. I was embarrassed to share his DNA, if the devil even had any.

  “Was I not being obvious enough for you? Maybe I should be even more of a bitch so you’ll get the hint!” Evan slapped me hard across the face and I instinctively threw a ball of electricity at him in response.

  “Looks like you have more of me in you than I thought.” He was so proud of me. I shuddered at the thought of being anything like him. I didn’t want to have anything in common with this thing.

  “I’m nothing like you!” I snapped.

  “I understand, you’re in denial, you see the similarities and it scares you.” I was shocked that he was partially right. “I can see it all over your face. Part of you wants to get to know me, but the part of you that doesn’t is scared of my reputation.”

  “Okay, so what’s your point? Why am I here?” I knew I had to keep my emotions from him. I didn’t want them to be used against me.

  “You’re here because you’re going to help me.” Lucifer seemed uncomfortable with taking a pleasant tone, but he knew it was his only hope of getting through to me. I could see right through him and I was going to use it against him.

  “I’m not doing anything for you!” I shouted.

  “I’m your father and you’re going to do whatever I say!”

  “Oh, so you’re going to play the father card again!? News flash! Just because we share the same DNA doesn’t mean I owe you anything! You have to earn that!” As those words passed my lips, Lucifer raised his hand as if he was about to hit me. I quickly created a wall of ice in front of me before he could strike. The ice shattered under the force of his hand.

  “You think you’re clever don’t you?” He was pissed and I knew a fight was about to break out. I wasn’t sure if I would stand a chance against him, but I knew I had to try.

  “It’s called being smart and if you had ever been there for me growing up, you would know I’m a very smart person.” I knew what to say to get under his skin and I fully intended to take advantage.

  “How dare you disrespect me like that!?” I was glad it worked and smirked in response.

  I could tell he was about to attack me and jumped out of the way when he threw an energy ball towards me. I threw an electric ball towards him, but he m
oved out of the way. I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. He created a fireball and I threw a ball of water to extinguish the fire. I created a thick fog that surrounded Lucifer so he couldn’t see anything. I unlocked and opened the window from across the room and ran towards it. Just as I was about to jump through, someone grabbed my ankle and pulled me to the ground. I turned around to see Evan had a tight grip on me. I kicked him in the face which made him let go of me. I made my way towards the window only to have it shut in my face by Lucifer.

  “You didn’t think you were going to get away that easy did you?” Evan asked as he grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the window.

  “You’re getting better with your abilities,” Lucifer pointed out, impressed by what he saw. “Some of which I wasn’t aware you had.”

  “There was nothing special about anything I just did.”

  “You were never able to manipulate multiple elements before and creating a wall of ice is definitely new.”

  “Great, now tell me how I can get out of here as fast as possible.”

  “The only way I’m letting you leave is if you do exactly what I want you to.” Lucifer seemed so sure of himself, like he knew he could break me.

  “And the only way I would ever do anything you want me to do is if you weren’t a horrible creature trying to destroy the earth.” I was sure he couldn’t break me, but I had to let him think he could. I needed to do whatever was necessary to get the information I needed.

  “I think you’ll see it my way in time,” Lucifer said confidently.

  “Then why don’t you start by telling me what you’re trying to get me into,” I demanded. I hoped it would be that easy to get even the smallest amount of information from him.

  “Sit down and I’ll tell you what you want to know.” Evan let go of me and I sat down on the bed between the two of them. I felt claustrophobic but ignored it since I was about to learn some new information. It was obvious he chose his words carefully. “I want you to help me…” he trailed off.

  “Yeah, I got that part. It’s the details I need to know,” I said impatiently.

  “You’ve heard about the apocalypse right?” Lucifer asked.

  “I get the gist of it. Specifics are a little fuzzy though, why?” I was suspicious of what he was getting at. There was no way he wanted me to help him bring on the apocalypse.

  “We need your help with an aspect of it.” He was serious. I shouldn’t have been surprised that the devil wanted to start the apocalypse. “But that’s more than I should have said at this point. We need to start your training. Come have dinner with us, it should be ready soon.” He stood up and walked out of the room, leaving me alone with Evan.

  I moved away from Evan and he immediately got closer. “What do you want?” I asked, aggravated.

  He looked me up and down which made me uncomfortable. He was suspicious, I could tell. I thought I did a good job at pretending I didn’t want to be stuck in the situation. I wondered what I did to cause his suspicion. “I’m just curious about what you’re going to try next. I can’t let you out of my sight, especially after you tried to climb out the window earlier.”

  “Okay…that doesn’t mean you have to be so close to me.”

  He inched closer and asked, “what if I want to be?”

  “Then I’ll electrocute you again and get the hell out of here.”

  “I’ll be protecting myself from that, thanks for the tip.”

  “Why are you still so close to me?”

  “Your dad wants me to keep an eye on you.”

  “Alright well I like my personal space and you know that so cut the crap and tell me what you’re really up to.” I stood up and stomped my way over to the window. I leaned against the wall and looked outside. I wondered if Andy could see me from wherever he was. I hoped they were all out there; ready to take me away in a moment’s notice.

  “What’s wrong?” I jumped when I realized Evan was standing next to me.

  “I’m being held here against my will! What do you think is wrong with me?”

  “Good point…you know, this doesn’t have to be such a bad thing.”

  “You mean I don’t have to keep fighting this because it’s supposed to be my destiny,” I assumed.

  “Well it is your destiny. Your dad is the devil, what did you think your purpose in life was going to be?”

  “You seem to know more about my destiny than I do. Care to share?” I needed to get more information. I was glad to have something new to report back, but I didn’t think it was enough. There was more to the story and I was determined to find out everything as fast as possible. I didn’t want to be trapped in this house any longer than necessary.

  “You heard your father, you already know too much right now,” Evan answered.

  “I’m going to find out eventually, why not just tell me everything now?”

  “Because if he finds out that you know everything before you’re ready, he’ll be so pissed who knows what he’d do!”

  “Before I’m ready? How will he know I’m ready? And what does he want to train me to do?” I was old enough to deal with anything anyone told me. My world was falling apart and I didn’t appreciate being treated like a child.

  “I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to tell you. You should ask him yourself.”

  “What is he doing for you that you’re so loyal to him and could care less about what happens to me?”

  “He made me who I am. I owe him everything. And you’re wrong; I do care about what happens to you.”

  “You’re scared of him aren’t you?”

  “No,” Evan said in a high pitched tone.

  “You’re lying,” I smiled.

  “Maybe I am, but can you blame me? He’s the devil,” Evan whispered.

  “I get it but you did choose to work with him.”

  “Yeah, so I could be with you!” Evan’s emotions boiled over. I hoped I could use it to my advantage.

  “You knew from the moment we met that I’m taken!” I yelled. “So why would you bother trying to be with me after that!?”

  “Your dad told me he could bring us together! Of course I wasn’t going to pass on that opportunity!” He paused for a moment and calmed down. “Look, I fell in love with you and it hurt to know nothing was ever going to happen. Your dad gave me hope and I haven’t been able to let go. Aimee, I’ve been doing all this because I want to be with you.”

  “Evan that’s not going to happen and you know it.” I decided to take a nicer tone. I didn’t like the thought of hurting anyone, but he needed to get the message through his thick skull. “He knows how to manipulate people to get what he wants.” Then it hit me. “Did you make a deal with the devil?”

  “I guess you can put it that way.”

  “You didn’t want to work for him in the first place did you?” I felt sorry for him. I only hoped it wasn’t part of his plan to get me to do what he wanted.

  “No but I was desperate and now I’m in too deep,” Evan whispered in a panic. If he was faking the whole thing to get sympathy from me, he was good, but I was better.

  “Dinner’s ready,” Gina said. I was shocked to see her. She gave me a death glare and gave Evan the puppy eyes. I wondered if I could exploit her love for Evan.

  Evan grabbed my hand. “Come on, I’ll show you where the dining room is.”

  “You don’t have to hold my hand through this.” I snaked my hand out of his.

  “Sorry.” Evan looked down. It seemed like he was trying to hold back tears.

  Gina rolled her eyes as she witnessed the scene. “Come on, you know Lucifer doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

  “You mean the devil isn’t nice to people? Color me shocked,” I said sarcastically. Gina rolled her eyes again and walked away.

  Evan cracked a slight smile, “Come on, let’s go eat. I think your dad is planning something special for tonight.”

  “What do you mean? What’s he planning?” I had a bad feeling. My s
tomach was in knots at the thought of what the devil would consider special.

  Evan smirked. “You’ll see.” I followed him as he walked out the door.

  Chapter 18

  Lucifer sat next to me while Gina and Evan sat on the other side of the table. I was surprised it was just us four. I thought it would have been a grander gathering. I felt uncomfortable as I sat there waiting for my meal to come out. It seemed like everyone was staring at me, waiting to see what I was going to do or say.

  “So…what’s for dinner?” I asked uncomfortably. I felt the need to fill the silence, it was more than I could handle. I was pretty sure his plan was to slowly drive me crazy until I cracked and decided to help him destroy the world.

  “Eggplant parmesan, your favorite meal if I remember correctly,” Lucifer answered. There was a smile on his face that sent shivers down my spine. There was something ominous behind it, I could feel it.

  “How do you know what my favorite meal is?” I asked suspiciously.

  “I’m your father; I know everything there is to know about you.”

  “How? You were never round.”

  “I was around, but you never noticed. I had to keep tabs on you.” My eyes widened in shock. I didn’t think he ever cared enough to follow me around. It was probably only because he wanted to make sure I would end up helping him. “I know this may come as a shock to you, Aimee but I do care about you, you’re my daughter.”

  I didn’t know what to say, I was convinced he was trying to play mind games with me. I hated to admit it was starting to work. If he was going to play games, I was going to play right back. “Do you really think you’re a good father just because you kept tabs on me all these years? Because it doesn’t make up for anything!”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way.” He seemed sincere, but I didn’t want to believe it. “Oh good the food is here!” He looked at me eagerly as a plate was set down in front of me. I looked at him suspiciously as I wasn’t sure if I should trust the food. “Go ahead, eat it.”

  I saw Gina and Evan eating and figured it might be safe for me, but part of me knew nothing good would ever come from trusting him. I picked up my fork and took a tiny bite. It tasted normal to me, but I still didn’t trust it. I decided to eat enough to give me the energy I needed and go to sleep. I needed to see Andy, I missed him, I wanted to know he was out there ready to save me from this hell, plus I needed to tell him what I’d learned so far.