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“Did you know that these lovely boys willingly offered to help me today, Albert?” The lady, Annabelle, says. She is now wearing a lab coat, and her bleached hair is straightened so it forms a professional bob that frames her face. She looks so different to how Tyler and I first met her; she almost looks nice. Then I remember how she kidnapped Tyler and I and said how she wanted to destroy my dad. With that in mind, I try to look past her approachable appearance and focus on my father instead.
“Is that so?” he says, his lips forming a tight frown. I’ve seen him mad plenty of times, upset too, but never like this. There is something about his manner that has changed in front of Annabelle. He drops his hands from my shoulders. Where he would usually place his arms proudly on his waist or in his pockets, he instead folds them across his chest like he is trying to curl into himself and hide.
“Yes,” Annabelle replies, clapping her hands together excitedly. “He’s exactly like you Albert, so much curiosity.” At that, we both shudder and I step away from him. No, I am not like my father. The simulation is just one way to prove that; but there are a hundred other reasons why I could never be the man my father is.
I feel a soft hand slip into my own and when I look beside me, I see Emerson give me a small smile. I look down to find her hand closed around mine and I suddenly have so much adrenaline inside me. I feel like I could conquer the world, and run a thousand races, and scream from the very rooftop of Calveron till my voice runs hoarse and still not be over this feeling that is erupting inside me. Emerson Clarke is holding my hand.
I knew she didn’t really hate me.
“He is nothing like Albert,” Emerson’s cold gaze is locked in the woman’s careless one. “Guys, let’s go.” She looks back towards the gang and drops my hand. Without another word, they start to exit the building. My feet are planted firmly in place. For some reason, they won’t allow me to leave. Or they know that I won’t be able to.
Annabelle snaps her fingers and the door that the gang and Tyler were about to exit out of, slams shut in front of them. “You’re not going anywhere, my darlings.” Annabelle tells them, her voice so cheerful it’s hard to focus on the real meaning of her words.
“I take the girl, my son and his friend. I don’t care what you do with the rest.” My dad intervenes.
“No, she doesn’t deserve this,” Mason pleads to Dad like he is pleading for his own life. I wonder if being the oldest, or at least the most mature looking, means he is the naturally appointed leader. If so, right now he doesn’t look like much of a leader, he just looks desperate. “Please, just let her go.”
Dad’s face is stone cold and Annabelle laughs.
“Nice try, but that won’t be happening. Not until she tells me-”
“I know what you are looking for,” I say quickly, before I have the chance to regret what I’ve just said.
“Jasper,” Emerson says softly, her arctic blue eyes glistening with disbelief. She knows that I’m lying because she hasn’t told me anything. I ignore her and take a step closer to my father with only one thought on my mind.
Keep. Emerson. Safe.
“What?” Dad says to me in a low whisper, “you got her to tell you?”
“Just like you wanted me to, Dad.” I say, knowing this makes me sound like the worst person in the world. The gang will possibly want to kill me even more for this, but Emerson will know. She has to know what I am doing. “Emerson told me why you needed her. She told me the secrets you had. She told me the code. Everything.” I have no idea what I’m even talking about, or if what I’m saying actually has any importance to him. I can tell from the dumbfounded look on his face that my words have the desired effect.
“I didn’t think you could actually do it,” he tells me. I try not to let his comment hurt me as much as it does. My dad didn’t think I had it in me to do it. He’s right, of course, but hearing him say it makes it real.
“So, you need to let Emerson and her friends go.” I instruct him, faking overconfidence. “And I will tell you everything she told me.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Dad scolds. His eyes, however, are shining with something I hope is pride. Even if it’s not real, I still treasure it as if it is.
I’m sure he won’t be feeling so proud when he finds out I lied to him. But hopefully by that time, Emerson and her friends will have hidden themselves so well, they will never be able to be found.
I realise this means I might not be able to ever find her again either. But it’s ridiculous to act like this is new news. I’ve known from the moment I met her that she would be like a feather in the breeze; there one minute and flying hopelessly away the next. I knew that she wouldn’t be able to stay. I knew that this was going to happen. One day she would get to escape, and I would still be frozen in time.
The only glimpses of her I will get are in my sketches or when I see waffles in the kitchen or in her mother’s bright blue eyes or when I walk down the hallway or when I see stairs or every single moment I breathe, knowing that she is breathing the same air but hundreds of worlds away…I will see her absence all around me like a ghost that I know will haunt me for the rest of my life.
What has she done to me?
I curse myself for being so selfish.
This isn’t about me; this is about keeping her safe. This is about making sure she gets out alive.
“But before you let them go, we need to take them back to Calveron and give them suitable clothes and food before returning them home.” I add after a moment’s thought. If I am going to let Emerson go, I want to make sure she has, at the very least, a good last serving of waffles.
“Ooh, can I ask for something too?” Annabelle giggles, clearly having the time of her life tormenting my dad. I don’t know how they know each other, but I know for certain that something is going on. Dad’s eyes are looking anywhere but at her, he is fidgeting with his watch and slowly edging closer and closer to the door. Clear indications that something has happened between the two of them has made him completely unsettled.
Dad ignores Annabelle’s comment, and instead looks from me to the gang, me, then the gang. “Fine,” he says. “The kids can come back, but after they are fed and clean, I want them out of my sight.” I hear an excited cheer from the gang.
“But don’t even think for a second that Emerson gets to leave, not until I know that you aren’t lying to me.” My heart drops. He’s not going to let her go. I have just lied to him to keep her safe, and he’s not even letting her go. I quickly cover my disappointment so that he doesn’t suspect that I’m lying. I have to keep a straight face. He has to think that I am loyal to him.
“Well, this is all well and good,” Annabelle says loudly, “but I still don’t see what’s in it for me. I’m conducting scientific research and you take away my test subjects. What do I get as compensation?”
