Oh my God.
My eyes widened as what felt like both a million thoughts and absolutely none at all, all at once, sped through my mind at, like, ninety-one miles an hour. And, at the same time, a warm rush sort of swept over me for what felt like an eternity.
And, although I couldn't really keep time with my poor math skills and clouded head, Ace kept an embrace on me for... just a long while.
It really had to be an eternity.
Eventually, though, he released me and I fell back down to Earth.
He then whipped his gaze to his right and peered past a few people for a short moment.
"Okay; they're gone," he plainly spoke.
My heart and head both pounded as he turned back to me.
"Let's get going," he commanded, now pushing past me and taking off through the rest of the crowd surrounding us.
I stood still for a second or two as I looked wildly at the people all around me, pushing every thought that had been clouding my mind into a state of non-existence.
After that brief amount of time, I turned around, searched for Ace's already far-off figure, and began to slowly follow after him. And, once I caught up, at least to his backside, I chased him, silently, until... well, actually, the entire way back to his car. And, even after passing by the endless count of street poles and hiking up the vaguely familiar, super shady garage stairwell, I still walked in silence, as did he, although he was so far ahead of me at times that I don't think I would have actually been able to hear him speak a word if he would have.
Once we were both eventually seated in the front of our reliable blue getaway vehicle, though, Ace finally piped up.
"Well," he said, with a slight sigh as he started up the car's engine. He then looked over at me as he finished his thoughts. "That was a close one."
He smiled a tiny bit, and then turned back to face the front windshield. I watched him quietly as he dropped the stick shift into reverse and twisted in his seat to glance out of the back windows. Once a few seconds of feeling the car roll backward had passed, he turned forward, once more, and shifted the gears into a forward driving mode.
After that, he focused on the road ahead and fell quiet.
For the entire rest of the drive.
___
"Mae..." a soft voice whispered from... well, I'm not really sure; my eyes were tightly shut and a blanket was thrown over half of my face. "Mae?"
Gradually, I stirred awake and pulled the sheet off my head.
I gazed around and quickly realized that I was back in my new bed, in my new room, of which I was still getting accustomed to. Near the edge of my mattress, though, stood Katie, who I wasn't exactly expecting to see at that time.
"Hey, Mae," she sweetly soothed, now carefully sitting herself next to my side on top of the bed. "How are you feeling?"
Almost confused by the overly calming tone of her voice, I looked her over a moment before answering.
"Fine..."
I kept myself in the same relaxed position, with my head firmly on my pillow, as I watched her nod her head, and then continue.
"You're doing okay with... everything, you know, with your parents and... being here, and all?"
I proceeded to half-sleepily stare at her.
"Yeah, I... I'm... good... good, yeah," I stated, my voice coming close to cracking a few times in the process.
"Okay; good," Katie responded with another nod. "I was just checking."
I slowly removed my glance from her and started to stare instead at the covers next to her legs.
"And, you know, you did a pretty good job last night," she suddenly went on, snatching my eyes back. "Even if you guys didn't exactly get a lot of information."
I squinted at her a moment while I tried to recover the events of 'last night'.
Then, suddenly, I remembered the... well, you know.
"But, I think you're kind of getting the hang of things, now," Katie continued, again. "And, so, I came to wake you, not to be mean, but because Ace says he wants you to come see this big surprise he's got for you. Also, it's one in the afternoon, so..."
I began to slide myself up to a sitting position as her voice trailed off.
"What... What kind of... surprise?" I questioned.
"You'll have to go see," she replied. "He's outside, so... you can get changed and just go see."
She then smiled, stood, and turned to leave. I watched her as she stepped out of the room, the door left open behind her.
I slowly pulled myself out from underneath the blankets on the bed and looked down at my current ensemble: pink plaid pajama pants and a light blue tank top, which had the words 'suns out guns out' inscribed on it in big black lettering.
I looked back up, and then pushed myself off of the edge of the bed. I sluggishly made my way over to one of my duffel bags on the floor, which had its contents of clothing spilling out and onto the ground. I crouched down in front of it and reached out to grab a new set of clothes but, of course, the first shirt I grabbed was a bright green tee shirt, which I soon recognized when I turned it over and read the statement 'Kiss me! I'm Irish...-ish.' that was printed on it.
I took a moment to take a deep breath, and then threw the shirt back into the bag.
My current outfit would do.
I gradually brought myself back up to stand and started to walk toward the open doorway of the room, my feet slipping on a pair of plain black flip flops along the way. Once I had found my way into the familiar hallway, I turned to the left and walked until I had gotten through the door that led to the large... whatever kind of room it was. After that, I trotted up the empty staircase, eventually getting myself outside to where the hot, humid air was.
I shut the trap-like door behind me as I gazed around, confusedly seeing nothing within my current range of sight. Once I had begun pacing toward the road area ahead, though, I caught gaze of what looked like the backside of Katie, leaned up against a sizable tree.
"Well, you think?" I heard a familiar female voice ask from around the same area, although it wasn't Katie's, as I stepped around the tree in front of me and looked ahead to see both Katie and Mel each leaning against trees, conversing with one another.
The sound of my approaching flip flops caught their attention, quickly, though.
Each turned her head into my direction, and Katie gave way to a slight smile.
"Hey, look who it is," she warmly invited.
Mel, with her arms crossed, looked me over and gave a bit of a giggle.
"Are you awake, yet, Mae?" she commented, probably on the account of my attire.
"Uh," I began to think of a reply as I approached the two women. "N-No, not really."
Suddenly, Ace appeared by jumping out from the other side of Mel's tree.
"Hey, 'Nesia, got a surprise for you!" he exclaimed.
"Oh, yay," I quietly responded, not much enthusiasm actually added to my voice.
"Yeah, come on," Ace went on to command, stepping back around Mel's side and out of sight.
Leisurely, I began to follow after him, until he walked around a few more trees and stopped by the edge of the woods. He then turned to the left as I stepped up by his side, and I copied his gaze to see a small, bright red and shiny motorized scooter sitting a few feet ahead, along the side of the road.
"A... moped?" I questioned, staring at the mini bike.
"Not just a moped," Ace emphasized, now walking over to the side of it. He stopped once he was actually at that point, though, and turned back toward me. "Your moped."
I stared at him a second, a smile forming across my lips.
After that second, though, I had to bust out a good laugh.
"You..." I began, after my fit of small giggles was done "You think that I can drive... you know, that?" I paused for a moment. "Without, like... dying, or... breaking my... m-my body, or... something?"
Ace blankly glared at me before answering.
"Well, yeah, actually," he said, turning to pick up and display to me a red full-coverage helmet from the bike's seat, which matched the color of the mini motorcycle itself. "I mean, that's what this is for."
He smiled as I gave him a blank expression.
"You're... kidding, right?" I poked around for assurance.
"Come here," he shot back, turning back toward the bike as he spoke. He then tucked the helmet under his arm, lifted the scooter up by its handles a bit, and used his foot to push in the two kickstands holding it steady.
"So, you're..." I whispered, intentionally to myself, as I stepped closer to him. "Not kidding..."
After getting the scooter completely upright, he turned to me and held out the helmet, his other hand still holding one of the handles.
I carefully looked him over, and then took the protective device.
"Now," he started. "Let me show you how to do it."
He turned back toward the bike and put his free hand on the left handlebar, the other remaining still on the right.
"These are your handles- they make you turn, obviously. And, these are your brakes," he paused to grip the silver levers attached to each of the rubberized bars. "Always pull them at the same time, slowly. And this, here," he moved his left hand over to the side of the right handle and nodded toward it, both at the same time. "Is your throttle. Twist in to go faster; push out to slow down. And, here's your turn signals," he went on, using his left hand to flip a black lever up and down, underneath the left handlebar. "Your speedometer, manual light switch, emergency kill switch, gear shift, ignition, all that good stuff," he finished, wiping his left hand over, basically, the whole front panel of the moped.
I gazed up at him once he was done, feeling pretty lost.
I forced a look of assurance and nodded, anyway.
"Okay, now, get on," he suddenly commanded, stepping back a bit, his hands sliding down to the back of the seat to still keep it steady in the process.
"Oh, n-now?" I shot back, my look of slight confidence fading instantaneously.
"Yeah, now," he spat back, just as quickly. He reached out immediately after, grabbed my left wrist, pulled me forward, and spun me around. "Hop on."
Before I could actually do anything, though, he also decided to snatch the helmet from my opposite hand and throw it over the top of my head for me.
"Okay," I mumbled, reaching up to situate the large clear eye shield over my face.
I guided my eyes over the control panel of the mini motorcycle, took a shallower breath than I really wanted to, and then reached out to place both of my hands on each one of the handles. After that, I looked down, took in the sight of my baggy pajama pants and worn flip flops, and stopped myself from proceeding.
"Actually, I don't know if—" I began, beginning to take my hands off of the bike, my voice a little muffled from under the insulated helmet.
"Oh, 'Nesia," Ace, unsurprisingly, cut me off and nudged my lower back forward with one hand.
I instinctively grabbed back onto the handlebars with his push, and then took a few quick breaths. After that, I cautiously guided my left leg over the tall seat beside my side.
Now, I was completely seated on top of the scooter.
"Okay, now, put your foot down, so you can keep it balanced until you go," Ace directed.
"W...What?" I questioned.
Suddenly, he let go of the moped, causing it to almost fall over on the right side. As a result, I threw my right foot out to stop the collapse, my body tensing with the feeling of almost falling and... dying, or something similar to that effect.
"Good," Ace commented, stepping over by my left side. "Now, turn it on."
I peered up at him as he crossed his arms and started to stare back at me.
"And... um, how, exactly, do I do... that?" I asked.
Ace gave me a bit of a smirk, and then reached out to the area below the control panel in front of me, where a tiny gold key was inserted in a little slot surrounded by the bike's red paint.
"Turn this on," he instructed, flipping the key toward a small white sticker that had 'ON' imprinted on it. "Then, hold in this button for a few seconds."
He then pushed down on a round white button an inch or two above the keyhole, causing a low rumbling sound with a slight vibration to erupt from the scooter's engine. After a short moment, he stepped back and removed his hand from the button.
I glanced up and searched the controls on the bicycle, yet again.
"I... I don't..." I started, turning my well protected head back toward Ace. "Know... what... now."
"Here, I'll help you," he offered, pacing around the front wheel to get to my other side.
I glanced over at his stance and noticed that he was currently placing one hand on the back of the seat and the other on top of my right hand, where the throttle apparently was.
"Slowly push this," he said, now forcing my hand to twist slightly forward, under his.
Suddenly, the bike began to jerk forward, catching me off-guard, honestly.
"O-Oh," I stammered out, lifting my right foot off of the pavement below as I moved.
"And a little more," Ace went on, pushing the throttle a little more.
He walked quickly alongside the motorcycle as it rolled along the side of the road.
"And then," Ace continued to push my hand over the handle but, before he could finish his sentence, he abruptly jumped onto the back of the scooter, almost right on top of me, and threw his left hand around my side so he could grab my other hand as well.
I looked around wildly as we whipped past the endless count of trees next to us, and then focused my gaze on the road ahead as Ace guided the bike's handlebars softly to the left, slowly leading us into the center of the road. After a few more moments, I glanced down at the control panel in front of me and saw that the red arrow on the speed meter was pushing its way past the number forty-five.
When I looked back up, I noticed that we were just speeding along down the center of the road, the woods still surrounding us from either side.
After another moment or two of feeling the wind whip across my bare arms, Ace piped up from behind me.
"I'm gonna let go now, okay?"
He nearly had to yell by my ear to be heard.
"W-What?" I shot back, also on the edge of screeching.
I flickered my eyes back down to the speedometer; it now read fifty-five miles per hour.
"You'll be fine," Ace reassured, now slowly removing his hands from atop mine.
"No, stop!" I yelled out, my right hand jerking up and actually grabbing his, my small attempt at keeping him from letting go.
"You're fine," Ace laughed out, pulling his trapped hand back further.
"Mm," I mumbled out, pursing my lips and widening my eyes in, pretty much, pure fear.
Carefully, though, I replaced my right hand on the steering handle and started to focus on keeping the scooter balanced as it drove down the partially paved road.
"See?" Ace commented. "You've got it!"
Right after his remark, I let out a tiny squeal of excitement.
And Ace laughed.
___
"Now, come on," Ace pleaded, stepping up to my right side. "You can do better than that; you've got this."
I lowered the gun to my waistline.
"I... I don't think I do, really," I responded softly.
"And I don't always think I'm the best person for the job I have," Ace started to shoot back. "But I am, so..."
His voice trailed off into a tiny chuckle.
I looked him over and smiled.
"So," he began, again, now stepping around to my other side. "Just try to keep your hands steady and try it again."
I slowly gazed back ahead, toward the arrangement of ringed targets across the room.
I took a deep breath, and then raised both of my hands back up to eye level, well above the countertop area in front of me.
Carefully, I attempted to stabilize my shaky palms over the handle of the pistol.
Then, suddenly, the door on my far right shot open, making a loud, almost startling echo throughout the room.
I froze up and snapped my head toward its direction.
"Hey, you two, we need you in the other room; this is urgent," Mel commanded, snapping her fingers alongside her words. Soon after her order, she whipped herself back around and charged back out of the room, just as hurriedly as she had entered.
I began to lower my gun once more.
"Well, damn," Ace muttered, walking around my backside.
I placed the pistol onto the counter in front of me and watched him pace toward the doorway. In the middle of doing so, though, he turned back to me and spoke while pacing backward, just for a moment.
"Should probably go see what's up. At least, I wanna know."
He then spun around and walked both through the doorway and to the right. I paused for a moment before following, but I also eventually stepped into the hallway, outside of the room, and turned to the right, where I could see Ace making his way through the door at the very end of the corridor.
I began to follow in his footsteps, after I saw the wooden door close behind his back. Once to the point of exit, then, I reached out, grabbed the door handle in front of me, and swung the heavy door back, afterward stepping into the large conference room on the other side.
I allowed the door to gently shut itself behind me, and then began to pace toward the large, messy desk area of which Mel and Katie both currently sat at.
"It's Mr. Williams, again," I could hear Katie state as I watched Ace take a seat on top of an empty desktop near her side. "And this whole section twenty-two deal."
I started to slowly pace over to the small group.
"They've got the information about it; they're hiding it; they're going to find it," she went on, her speech moving itself fairly quickly.
"Where?" Ace shot back.
I began to approach another desk near Mel's side, although it was few feet away from everyone else.
Katie paused before answering Ace's question.
"Well, that's the thing," she eventually picked up. "As far as I know, which isn't much, they're taking the new documents to some... a warehouse, or something, tomorrow morning and tomorrow morning only. I assume they'll have a big meeting over it and everything and then they'll be destroying all of it..." Katie took a moment before continuing. "It sounds like big stuff, too. I mean, this could be our chance... a real chance, and maybe we can get ahead."
"Well," Ace replied, smacking the edge of the desk he sat on with his hands. "What are we waiting on, then?"
"Slow down there, mister," Mel abruptly piped in. "There's more to it than that."
She glanced over at Katie and waited for her to elaborate.
"It's not going to be easy," Katie proclaimed. "I mean, if they're only going to be there tomorrow morning... It's going to be on crazy high security. And, on top of that, it's pretty far away, the other side of town. You'd have to leave really early to get there in time and I'm not even sure what time they will be there, at this point." She stopped for a second and looked Ace over. "I guess I could go on but, then again, what difference would it make to you?"
She gave way to a tiny smile.
I gazed over to Ace, who was now opening his mouth in preparation to release a response.
Quickly, though, Mel jumped in to take his words away.
"Now, wait a minute," she ordered, not continuing until she had both Katie and Ace's full attention. "This one could be actually dangerous, Ace; take more than just two minutes to make a decision on it, for God's sake."
The room fell quiet for a moment as she uncrossed her arms and began to spin her chair back toward her desk. In the process of doing so, though, she turned past my side, noticed my presence, and stopped.
"And please don't try to drag her into this, either," she added, spinning from my direction back to Ace's.
Ace leisurely gazed from Mel to me.
"She can come if she wants to," he commented. "But, she's a big girl; she can make her own decisions."
He gave me a subtle smile, and then looked back to Katie and Mel.
"Either way, I'm going. What time do you need me to leave?" he went on.
Katie took a breath before answering.
"Probably before six."
Oh, God.
"Okay," Ace accepted. "In that case, then, I need to go to bed." He hopped off of the edge of the desk he currently sat on. "I'll be ready for the lay-down at five a.m." He nodded his head toward Katie. "Good night."
He then straightened his back and turned to walk to the hallway door. He looked over at me as he passed by and spoke once more.
"Five a.m. if you wanna come, 'Nesia," he stated. "Don't forget."
He then swiftly made his way completely to the door, opened it, and stepped gracefully through, the door making a soft, squeaky sound as it shut behind him.
"Well, okay, then," Mel mumbled.
I gazed back toward her as she went on.
"You know, you really don't need to go this time, Mae," she declared as she directed her glance at me. "No one's going to hold you back, though, I suppose..."
She looked me over for a second, and then stood with an emotionless expression.
"I need some rest," she proclaimed, now beginning to head toward the hallway door.
"Night, Mel," Katie farewelled.
I watched Mel shuffle up to the point of exit, and then added my own salutation.
"Good night."
Mel stopped at the door for a second, turned back to Katie and I, and gave a weak smile. After that, she proceeded to leave the room and allowed the door to close once more behind her.
"Well," Katie started. "What are you thinking?"
I looked over at her as she gave both a questioning look as well as an addition to her words.
"On tomorrow, I mean."
I studied the desk beside her for a short moment.
"Um..." I began to mumble. "I... I don't really... know, yet..."
"Yeah," Katie responded. "Well, you can take until the morning to decide. I think you'd be fine, though, really, for the most part. It's Ace that kind of worries me, this time..."
I paused, a little too long, before replying to her.
"Oh... really?" I inquired.
"Yeah, a bit," she went on. "He can... Well, he tends to go a bit fast, sometimes, and this time around, it would do him some good to slow down a little." She smiled at me. "Maybe you could help him do that."
"Me?" I questioned.
Katie nodded.
"He pays a lot of attention to you. I'm sure he'd listen if you tried to talk to him."
I raised my eyebrows a bit and continued to look Katie over.
"Anyway, we've all got a big day ahead of us, tomorrow, and I need to at least lay down," she picked back up after a few seconds of silence.
She slowly stood up from her desk and bowed her head to me.
"Night, Mae," she said, turning to face the door.
She soon paced past my side, and then I listened to her footsteps, without turning my head, as she made her way into the hall. After I could hear the squeaky door voice its closure behind her trail, I gazed up and searched the walls across from me for the sign of some clock. However, there didn't seem to be one there, so I pushed myself off of the desk that I was sort of leaning on and whipped myself around to inspect the other two walls behind me.
Then, I caught a glimpse of a small, traditional-looking white clock, which had its big hand pointing to a four and its small pointer facing the number nine.
I gave a little nod to the clock, although I'm not sure exactly why, and then began to step in the direction of the hallway door. Once there, I grabbed at the door handle and pushed it away from me, forcing myself to jump through the doorframe at the same moment. After that, I released my grip, let the door creak back behind me, and started stepping down the empty, long corridor.
I took my time in moseying up to the door that I think led to the room I had been staying in, and then stopped directly in front of it. I looked over its white, lightly polished finish, took a breath, and then opened it.
I stepped into the pitch-black area and felt around the wall directly beside me for the light switch of which I found surprisingly quickly. I flipped the overhead light on, and then softly shut the door from which I had entered. After that, I turned back to face the center of the room and began to walk over to the bedside against the side wall.
I searched the array of Walmart gift cards that were currently scattered all over the bedspread, the area I had been residing in for most of the day, today. The only few times I wasn't flipping through the cards quietly, by myself, was when I had first been awoken and whisked away to drive a mini danger-mobile, as by Ace's command, when Ace burst into the room to give me a plate of Spanish rice and a cold, pickle-free turkey sandwich, and when... well, when Ace came to drag me away to learn the ways of 'shootin' the damn right way'.
Other than all of that, I had been sitting right here, staring at this mess.
I swung my body toward the bed, and then took a seat right on the edge of it. I looked down at all of the cards that were thrown about and reached down to pick up one in particular.
If it weren't already obvious, I was now studying an all too familiar scene of snow and dark clouds.
I turned the card in my hands for a few moments, pursed my lips, and then flung it back onto the bed by my side. I craned my neck to look at the rest of the clutter on top of the bed, and then swiftly stood. I turned my entire body toward the bedside, bent over a bit, snatched the bed sheets by its edges, and, immediately after that, whipped the covers up and into the air.
"Ugh," I mumbled as I slung the card-covered sheets over the floor next to me. I watched a number of the cards fly across the room, and then let go of the covers and allowed them to collapse to the ground.
I stood still for a second, and then decided to look back over to the closed door.
Promptly, I stepped over the linens in front of me and made my way over to it. Once there, I whipped the door back open, pushed past it, and quietly shut it, once again, behind me.
I paused before turning to the left side of the hallway and took even more time before beginning my journey in its direction.
After a little bit of time, I made my way up to a door not too far away, and then started to open it and step carefully through.
The lights inside were still turned on and the small pistol I had used earlier was still resting on the counter close by.
I closed the door slowly behind my back and made my way over to the center of the room. I looked up at the middle target across the way as I reached out to the gun that sat on the counter in front of me. After that, I stepped back a bit, took a deep breath, and cautiously raised the weapon up by my chest, my arms fully extended. I closed my left eye for a second, and then reopened it, held my breath, and pulled back the trigger.
I lowered the gun and studied the result.
I didn't hit any of the targets.
"Mm," I groaned.
I looked across the room for another short moment, and then raised the gun once more.
I followed the same protocol before I took an extra breath and shot.
Once I put the gun back down by my waist, I searched the target directly across from where I stood.
A slight smile swept across my face.
A little hole had appeared in the outmost white ring of the center target.
I gazed back down for a second, gave the smile a little bit longer to remain, and then wiped it away and returned my head back to an upright position.
I began to raise the gun up to eye level, again.
Then, suddenly, a sort of rumble echoed out all around me.
I gave way to a gasp, threw the shooter back down to my side, and twisted sharply into the direction of the door.
There stood Ace, in the open doorway, leaning a bit against the edge of the doorframe.
He smiled.
"Well, 'Nesia," he began as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Kind of had a feeling you'd be in here."
He uncrossed his arms and pushed himself away from the door, forcing it to nearly slam shut behind him.
"Really?" I asked, my tense muscles beginning to relax.
Ace stepped quickly up to my side.
"Not really," he replied. "But I'm still not surprised."
I looked him over as he turned and leaned his backside up against the counter beside me. He then glanced down at the gun in my hands, twisted his head to look at the targets far off behind him, and fixed his eyes back on me.
"You do that?" he interrogated, gesturing his head to my left.
I looked into the dire