THIRTY-ONE
Emmie Keyes
“This is it,” I said, looking up at the stylish flats where Faye lived. I’d never been here before but it was easy to piece together where she lived from the times I had seen Will visit her. It was a million miles away from my flat, covered in fancy grey and blue panelling with giant windows for each room.
“Are you sure she’ll be here and not at Will’s?” asked Gabe.
“No idea but there’s no chance it will be safe to go to Will’s place. Tobias will definitely be guarding it with some of his employees.”
I entered the building code “88692” that I had seen Will enter many times. He got so excited whenever he visited Faye that moments as mundane as typing in a keypad code would get passed onto me as Tether events.
We walked into the building. “It’s room B02 that we want,” I was relieved Faye lived so close to the ground floor. After my fall earlier I felt a lifelong fear of heights coming on so walking up only one flight of stairs was perfect.
I was surprised to see that the door to room B02 was closed. Part of me expected Tobias to already be here waiting, holding a leash that he could put round my neck and a lead to carry me away to his lab. I will never be your pet, I thought to myself.
Gabe removed his gun and aimed it at the door. “What are you doing I asked?”
“Protecting you,” he replied. “Anything could be through that door.”
I placed my hand on his gun and pushed it lightly downwards. “Faye may be deceitful but she is no killer. If we run in with guns exposed word will get out pretty fast that we are here.”
“Fine,” Gabe put his gun back into its holster. “But I’m keeping one hand on the gun.”
I knocked on the door. There was no answer. I knocked again. “Come on Faye, it’s Emmie, I need to talk to you.”
The door opened and it was Yuna, Faye’s sister. They were almost identical in appearance and when Faye dyed her hair purple Yuna did the same to keep the similarity going. They both had beautiful smiles and the main difference was that Yuna’s eyes were slightly thinner and her nose was raised up slightly at the end. Were it not for these characteristics I would have sworn I was speaking to Faye.
“Oh, hi,” I said. “We were looking for Faye?”
“Come in,” Yuna replied. Gabe held his hand on his weapon but kept it concealed as we walked through the door and entered apartment B02. I’d seen in many times before through Tether events shared with Will but the sheer contrast to my own home was startling. There was no random assortment of furniture. Everything was colour coordinated with light brown wooden furniture that complemented each other, which was offset by purple vases and decorative pieces.
Yuna and Faye were not rich by ‘haves’ standards but they had far more than your average ‘have-not’. Their home was clean, their neighbourhood looked safe and most of all the word I’d use to describe their lifestyle was ‘comfortable’. A long way away from the constant struggle to survive we faced in Smyth West. It was no wonder Will had wanted this lifestyle so badly and I had to admit I secretly craved it as well.
“Can I get you some tea?” asked Yuna. “Faye isn’t here right now. I’d have thought you would have checked Will’s place, she pretty much lives there.”
There was no chance Faye would be at Will’s place. Returning to the scene of the crime didn’t seem safe right now. She would have to be crazy to go there.
“Yes, we checked but she wasn’t there,” I lied. “We were actually hoping you’d have seen her?”
“Not for weeks sorry. I can give her a call if you like and see where she is?”
“Fantastic.”
As Yuna placed the phone to her ear Gabe walked over and smacked the phone away from her onto the floor where it shattered on impact. He pushed Yuna backwards on to a purple leather sofa and pulled the gun from his pocket aiming it at her head.
“What the hell are you doing?” I screamed.
“Be quiet Emmie, this is for the best,” replied Gabe. I had made the wrong choice in trusting him.
Yuna sat on her knees on the floor and held her hands into the air. “Please don’t shoot,” she said as she sobbed. “I don’t know where she is.”
“It’s not you I want to talk to, it’s Faye,” said Gabe. “I know you’re experiencing this Faye and I know that you can hear every word I am saying so listen carefully.”
He was right. Yuna was clearly in shock and that meant a Tether event between her and her sister would be happening. It was a clever idea, although one carried out with far more aggression that I would have liked.
Then Gabe amplified the threat; “If you aren’t at your sister’s house by sundown I will kill her.”
“No!” I wanted to scream but I couldn’t. If I stopped Gabe there was chance Faye would never come. I hated Gabe for putting me in this position.
“Yuna. It’s ok, I need you to calm down,” said Gabe. “Your sister will come and I promise I won’t harm you if that happens.”
“Why me?” shouted Yuna. “What do you want with me?”
“I don’t want you,” said Gabe in the coldest way possible. “I want your sister. Now I need you to calm down so she can come here.”
Yuna started to hyperventilate but Gabe continued to hold the gun on her. “Are you insane?” I asked, emerging from cover to find a bag for Yuna to breathe in to.
I handed her a bag and started to calm her nerves. “Put the gun away!” I shouted to Gabe and this time he listened. “You need her to calm down right? Then sit down, now!” he sat down, proving that he hadn’t completely lost control.
“It’s ok, it’s ok,” I said to Yuna, who kept her eyes fixed on Gabe. “The weapon is gone now and you’re safe. Faye will come, she has to.”
As much as I wanted to help her relax in order to calm the situation I also knew that until she stopped panicking the link between her and Faye would not be severed.
I didn’t want to spend a minute longer here than we had to so to took Yuna into one of the rooms and tried to calm her down. With Faye free from her Tether I hoped she would come but most of all I feared what Gabe would do if she didn’t.