They Called Me FIVE

LANCE

I'm smacked in the face with the wind, carrying frosty cold particles of snow. It buried the roads, no asphalt can be seen except the white stretch sheet. Sometimes the snowflakes kept me from moving forward, plowing deeper to my aviator jacket. But  I kept running. I didn't dare to slow down. 

I inherited my stubbornness from Dad. My legs showed no sign of wearing down. I still have twenty minutes of running before I reach our six months to be demolished building. The place was dark when I arrive. The windows are shut down. The lights are off. 

Dad and Lista… it slips from my mind we had a minor disagreement at breakfast today. Because I was out having sex with a girl. My heart sank. After knowing the truth, my mind still can't embrace it. Some part of me tried to fight it back. 

Meira is my new girlfriend. We had a wonderful date tonight. We visited the aquarium. We gaze at penguins and fishes in big tanks with our hands clasp together. I never saw her in green withered ugly face. She never said she wants to tear me flesh to flesh. 

I produce a smile. If any of that was real, would I be happy tonight? Humming in dead cold night, daydreaming for another day with my girlfriend… I supposed I'm a complete fool. 

'Think everything over Five. Why did your father bring you here to Chicago?' 

'You betrayed your friends just for your traitorous father and his Faery friend.'

'Once a slave of the Faeries, will always be a slave of the Faeries.'

I clamp my fingers to my ears. Muttering "Stop" forty times before their voices died down. Whatever happened tonight should wake me up from my delusions. Reorganize my prioritize. I need to save Seven and Magnus. Meira said they were caught. 

Since when?

Seven appeared to me just yesterday. Suddenly things are not adding up. For a moment, I hope this is some super intense nightmare. Then I'll wake up screaming and Dad will come up running the stairs. 

Dad… I need to make sure. I'll give him another chance. I doubted him before. Considering he's the one who raised me all these years, I shoved down the idea…But if he really is…my enemy. Honestly, I really don't know what to do. 

I took the metal stairs at the front and took out my keys from my pants. The door swung open and dark living cold room greets me. I fumbled for the switch and turn it on. My heart almost jump out of my chest when I find Dad and Lista sitting so eerie still, they would've passed statues in storage room.

"Dad? Lista? What are you two doing here?" I managed to keep my voice sounds normal. It was Lista who first moved and smiled. Dad is slumped on his shoulders. His head falls down to his clasp fingers.

"Welcome home Lance." I'm surprised by the comfortable smile he throw in my way. It all feels…too real. And it scared the beans out of me…

Especially when I know he's a Faery. I kept thinking back about the brief family history he shared with me and Dad on this same seat. How he looks considerably miserable retelling his past life. It felt genuine to me. 

I felt sympathy for him. And he wasted it by his top notch acting. 

"Hey, what's wrong with Dad?" I asked. Neither putting away my bag. In case I need to run at a moment's notice. 

"Nothing. Just stressed out I think." He's still smiling. "Here, have some dinner first. I ordered your favorite pizza. You can eat it after you finish your chicken soup and this fish." 

I looked at the simple meal prepared in my seat. Just the same. Did he know about the incident with Meira at the boutique store? Their friends right? One way or another, they would contact each other to try and catch me.

"What's wrong? You hate fish with chicken soup? Should I cook a bacon?" 

I shake my head. "No, it's okay. I'm starving anyway. The atmosphere is still the same. His demeanor is the Lista I've known for the past weeks. The one who racked his brains for the Beasts he'll use to train. The one who spend sleepless nights, injecting different types of chemicals and DNA to his beast prisoners to make them stronger to fight me.

The more I reminisce those times, the more I'm experiencing heart pangs and kept on wishing none of what Meira said was real. That the man seating opposite me is a friend. An ally. 

I feed a spoonful of rice and tore off the bone from the chicken and some flesh bits from the fish. I didn't stop eating, nor pause to drink water. I just devoured it all. Thinking this might help me find my courage.

And fill my stomach. I don't know when I'll experience eating his food again. Lista push a glass of water to me and I gulped it in one go. He didn't say any words during my meal time. He keeps on watching me with veiled expression.

When I'm almost ready to talk with him, I look up. I see his lips curl in a twisted smile. His fingers tapping on the two pieces of paper he placed on the table. 

Written on it, WAYNE REC CENTER. I gulped. That's the address Magnus and Seven gave me. How did he get that?

"Curious. Very curious. You forgot to mention you still have contacts from your old pals Lance." 

A nasty churned in my stomach caused me to double up. I barfed in front of him. My mouth taste the iron tang of blood. 

"Let's see, Wayne Rec Center. Why, obviously that's our base. Good job not going there though. They must have been pretty smart to ditch the high security for prisoners, to think they managed to give this without actually being physically with you. Man, blessings are really fascinating isn't it?"   

Without actually being physically with me? What does that mean? My stomach twist painfully and I coughed up blood. He did something to the food he just fed me. Poison? My eyes are losing focus. The last image I see, is Lista's grinning face and my Dad's dead black eyes. 

And I passed out.