Why was this work so important?

                The boss had been keeping an eye on me all day. I was such a normal guy that it confused me why he wanted to watch me. I had been working there for ten and a half years and been as honest as I could possibly be. What did he want?

                I stopped for a minute and rubbed the back of my neck, which had been bothering me for the longest time.

                “Damien!” barked my boss, Greg Martin. “Why aren’t you working?”

                “Why aren’t you picking on someone else?” I muttered to myself as I got back to work, almost grudgingly.

                “What was that?”

                “Yes, sir,” I replied, knowing that was all he expected to hear.

                He left his position near my cubicle, and I took the chance to stop once again and rub my neck before resuming my typing. Soon he was back again.

                I rechecked the article I had typed out for spelling mistakes and such. It had been talking about those murders. Not something that would usually interest me, but somehow this drew me. I reread it again and again, pretending to be looking for typos, when the article was clean of such errors.

                Finally it was time to go. I sighed in relief as I shut down my computer, grabbed my lunch bag and go cup, and headed out of my cubicle, hoping to escape before my boss realized I was gone. Unfortunately, I was not able to.

                “Damien, why were you taking such interest in that article? Your job was to type and proofread it, not read it!”

                I rolled my eyes, hoping he didn’t notice. “I did that.”

                “You also read it several times. It may be the big news of the day, but that gives you no excuse to not do your work. Is that clear?” he said, almost as if he was chastising a naughty child.

                “Yes, sir. Can I go now, sir?”

                “Yes, but remember this for tomorrow.”

                “Yes, sir.” I rolled my eyes in exasperation.

                I was glad to get out of there. I hurried to my beat up old pickup truck-why on earth did I keep it and fill it with gas?-climbed in, and drove off.

                My apartment building was bustling with people returning from work. I hurried up eight sets of stairs to the top floor, where my apartment was the last one down the hall. I unlocked the door and walked in.

                Oh no, I thought.

                On the couch sat someone who was giving me a deathly glare.

                One of worst enemies.

                My older sister.

                I grinned nervously. “Uh, hi, am in trouble, Madylyn?”

                “I’ve been waiting for you, Damien Pacer. I arrived early so I could talk to you about something important, but something else important happened. Your boss called my cell phone.”

                “Yeah?” I asked, hoping that she wouldn’t notice that I was getting more nervous by the minute.

                “He told me about your behavior at work.”

                “OK?”

                “I’m not happy.”

                “What did he say?”

                “You were taking too many breaks, you were lazy in your cubicle, you sent in your article full of errors-“

                “What?!” I almost yelled. “It was exactly the opposite at work! He was keeping an eagle eye on me, and I didn’t leave my cubicle once!”

                “Why do I not believe you?” Madylyn asked.

                “Why do you have reason to?” I asked. “I’ve been honest all my life!”

                Madylyn raised an eyebrow. “I have my reasons.”

                “What reasons?” I tried to get past her to my kitchenette.

                She blocked my way. “There’s always a first time, Damien Troy Pacer.”

                “This is not it. Move, please!”

                She didn’t budge. “Explain everything.”

                “I did! He watched me almost all day, I did not leave my cubicle, I lived on my lunch and one go cup of coffee…what more is there to tell?”

                She moved aside unwillingly. “Plenty more, I’m sure.”

                I tried to change the subject.”Where are your kids? You didn’t leave them behind, did you?”

                “Damien, of course not. I left them with Mom. Now, about work-“

                “No!” I shook my head. “Look, Maddie, I’m not trying to be disrespectful, it’s just that I had a bad day and I don’t really want to talk to anyone. Please, leave.”

                “Tomorrow,” she said, before picking up her purse and going out the door, shutting it behind her.

                I slumped down on one of my kitchen chairs and sighed deeply. “I told her everything she needed to know, yet she didn’t believe me. What happened to the Maddie I knew last week?”

                “She changed drastically,” came a voice.

                I covered my eyes with my hands. “Can’t anyone just leave me alone?”

                “I’m not here to talk about work, Damien.”

                I sat up and saw my best friend, Jesse Morgan, standing in the doorway.

                “What do you want, Jesse?”

                “I was just checking up on you,” Jesse said. “I don’t think your big sister recognized me, and I take it as a good thing.”

                “She has a remembrance for so many faces, it’s a wonder she didn’t,” I said.

                “You want to escape from her, don’t you?”

                “Yes, but one problem…she always knows where I am.”

                “That…is a problem…but do you think you could be ready to go really quickly? We could try.”

                “I only have enough food to last for a couple days…I was about to go shopping on my weekly trip… I don’t have many clothes, don’t have a need for too many….and only a few essentials and extras.”

                “That’s good. Anything to pack it up in?”

                “A backpack?” I asked hesitantly.

                “I have some bags if you need help. I always have stuff like that just in case.”

                I was ready to go in minutes. I put all my things into my backpack and set it by the door with my laptop case. I wrote out a check to pay for the time I had spent there since I had paid last and wrote a note that briefly explained why I was leaving. Then I was all set.

                “Better come in my car and we’ll pick up your pickup later,” Jesse said.

                We headed out, down the stairs and across the parking lot to his car. We hopped in and drove off.

                Finally, I thought, I can escape!

                Why did I think that?

                How wrong I was.

                I don’t know how, but big sister Madylyn found out.

                “So, you’re the big brother I never knew.”

                “Yes. And what about it?”

                “You make it sound like a big production, big brother.”

                Jack tried to calm the hot feelings rising inside of him. “Alright, I did. Why does it matter?”

                “It doesn’t.” Jesse grinned cheekily.

                Jack turned to Alliona and Clyde. “Leave him here for a couple of days without sustenance, and we’ll talk after that. Get Weston to guard with you. He’ll deal with little bro better.”

                And with that, Jack hurried off.

 

                When Kiril left, Jackie told Brynn and Kinalo about all they had discussed.

                “And Jesse was captured,” she finished.

                “Did they kill him?” Brynn asked.

                “That’s for me to write and you to find out.” Jackie paused, then changed the subject. “When Damon and Dory are fully recovered, we’re going to join all the others down south and hang out as one big, happy group.”

                “That sounds like fun,” Kinalo mused. “I get to see little sis and big bro again. And little cuz.”

                “And I get to see little sis and a bunch of friends,” Brynn added. “I’m looking forward to it already.”

                “Good, keep it that way because it’s gonna be a while before we actually do it.” Jackie smiled sweetly at them before she went to her cot at the back of the cave to be alone for a while.

 

 

                Brynn turned to Kinalo as they headed to the kitchen to prepare the evening meal. “When are we going to go somewhere? I mean, not to another set of woods, but out into the big city?”

                “They’d think we were bad guys, since we would act so weird,” Kinalo said. “I personally don’t want to end up in jail.”

                Brynn shrugged. “One thing’s for sure, our parents wouldn’t be proud.”

                “Nope,” Kinalo agreed.

                They feel into silence as they went about their work.

 

                We were almost at Jesse’s destination when my cell phone rang. It was Madylyn.

                “Damien Troy, why did you leave?”

                “Because I wanted to,” I replied, knowing she wouldn’t take it but knowing what else to say.

                “You wanted to get away from me because you didn’t want to get remonstrated for your behavior at work.”

                “Oh, so good behavior is frowned upon these days? That’s news to me!”

                “You know what I’m talking about, Damien.”

                “Why do you believe him and not me?”

                She paused. “Instinct, Damien, that’s why I believe him and not you. Because I know he’s right.”

                “How did he get your number?”

                “I’m not giving out free information, Damien! No more questions!”

                “Then what is there to talk about?” I was getting really bored. “Everyone is against me for nothing!”

                “‘Everyone’ is against you for going against your boss, Damien Pacer!”

                “I didn’t, Maddie! That’s all I have to say!”

                “I talked to Mom, little brother. Guess what she has to say.”

                I rolled my eyes skyward. “What?”

                “She says to either give your boss a profuse apology and promise never to do it again, or quit and a get a new job.”

                “Do you realize how bad the economy is these days?” my voice rose. “And do you realize I’m not going to apologize for something I did not do?”

                “Damien…”

                “I’m sick of repeating myself, Maddie! He told you a pack of lies!”

                “Why would he do that?”

                “Maybe he doesn’t like me. And he likes you better and wants me to get in trouble with you, not him.”

                “Damien, he’s your boss…go apologize to him. Right now.”

                “I’m sorry, but I did nothing. I’m sick of repeating myself!” And with that, I cut off the call, turned off my ringer, and shut the cell phone. Then I turned to Jesse. “I think I feel better now.”

                “That’s good,” Jesse replied, acting as if he had not heard a single word of the conversation. “Want something to eat? We can stop at a fast food restaurant.”

                I didn’t really do fast food, but it sounded good at that point in time, so I agreed.

                Jesse found a McDonalds and we went through drive through. In no time we were eating hungrily as we neared our destination.               

 

                “Wow. Again?” Kerry was the only one who spoke right after the news was broken.

                There was a minute of silence. Then Reule spoke.

                “Unfortunately, this is what’s gonna happen for a while unless they’re caught.”

                “Not at the rate they’ve been going,” Vanar Pytheria said. “They’re more slippery than jello.”

                “A lot more,” DJ agreed.

                “Be more careful than ever,” Reule advised the rest of this group. “They’re out for blood, and if you try to stay inconspicuous while we investigate it, maybe it won’t be ours.”

                “That’s a comforting feeling,” Jess murmured. “And Jesse was probably captured by them, too. That’s great.”

                 Reule straightened up.  “We need to find him fast, rescue him if need be. He probably has important information he can share for us. Let’s get going, gang!”

               

 

               

 

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