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“Hello, Waffles.” He stops and stands confidently beside Annabelle. His voice is laced with betrayal. How could I be so naïve?
“Don’t you dare call me that.” I run at him, ready to pounce and rip him apart. Until I hear Luna scream.
“Take one step closer and I’ll shoot.” Hugo has his massive, evil fingers wrapped around her hair. I pause instinctively. I must not act rashly. I must not react at all even though I want to scream at Jasper for letting me fall for his lies.
I thought that maybe I could have some truth. At least one person that I would be able to trust. At least one person that I felt comfortable with; that didn’t know all of my past. Someone that made me feel normal. I thought wrong.
Because seeing him here now, there is only one thought in my mind. He has stolen my family from me. Him and Annabelle have taken them from me, and I will do whatever it takes to get them back. But I can’t let them know how much Jasper being here has affected me. I must not show emotion. I cannot be weak. Instead, I put my hands in the air as a sign of surrender. “Don’t shoot Luna.” I plead for any signs of mercy towards his sister. He just looks at me and smirks.
Psycho.
I turn my face back to Jasper, forcing myself to look in his eyes. But they aren’t his anymore. They are taken over by someone older, someone cruller. And even though I wasn’t there, and even though the situation wasn’t real, I understand exactly what Annabelle was going through when she told my mother in the flashback about Albert’s eyes.
I understand because I see them now. The eyes of death himself. Jasper’s eyes.
“You gave me the car keys on purpose. You taught me how to drive just so that I’d be able to reach this specific moment, right now.” I laugh weakly, “I can’t believe you almost had me fooled.”
“Only almost, hey?” He laughs, but his laugh comes out a thousand times stronger than mine does. “The look on your face tells me you believed it a bit more than almost.” I feel my face flush and I try my best to retain the burning fire of rage that is threatening to explode at any moment.
“Now, now you two,” Annabelle intercedes. “Come with us, Emerson, and you will see your little group of friends soon enough.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Well, since you wouldn’t come with Jasper willingly, I had to resort to other methods to capture you.”
“Why didn’t you just keep me that time when you kidnapped all of us before?”
“It was too risky. Back then, I was too fragile. I didn’t have my dear son’s trust. And Albert was much too on my back. But now-”
“YOUR SON?” I say, my eyes dart from Annabelle to Jasper, and then back again. How did I not figure it out sooner? It all makes sense. Annabelle being pregnant and running away. Her being close to Albert. How did it never even cross my mind that her being close with Albert was IN LOVE close? That the baby was THEIR baby. That Annabelle was running to protect THEIR baby. Her and Albert’s baby.
“Yes, my son. What, Jasper didn’t tell you the news?” The daggers that I stare at Jasper make up for the answer that I don’t give. “Hmph, well now you know, I guess. Better late than never.”
“Yes, Mum. Better late than never.” I want nothing more than to punch that smug grin off of his face.
“Fine. I’ll come. But let Luna stay here.” I say, cautiously walking forwards. I keep my hands in the air and lock my eyes with Luna. I want her to understand that I am about to act, and that she has only a few seconds to run after I move. “She’s no use to you at Black Opps.”
Annabelle thinks for a few minutes, as if really considering my idea. Maybe she’ll surprise me and let her go. After everything I’ve heard today, it wouldn’t be the most surprising thing. “You’re right. She’s of no use to us. Hugo, shoot her, will you?”
“Of course, ma’am,” he says. The sadistic grin from before is still stuck on his face. Earlier I thought that he’d be capable of showing mercy. But one look at that face tells me that I’ve thought wrong once again. He has no room in his pea-sized brain for mercy.
He loads the gun and I know that it’s now or never. “RUN!” I scream to Luna as she tries to twist away from her brother, and I charge forward. I use all of my strength to knock Hugo off balance, in hopes that he would loosen his grip on Luna.
He stumbles, and let’s go just enough for her to get out of his grasp and sprint away. Hugo grabs my shoulder to stop himself from falling and turns me around.
“This is for her own good,” he whispers in my ear as he grips my shoulder. I cry out from the pain of his hard grasp and the confusion of the words that were clearly meant for only me to hear.
Luna stops running and turns around at my cry.
Hugo leans over my shoulder and aims.
Hugo fires.
Hugo has a good shot.
Luna crumples to the ground like a ragdoll.
Chapter 39 - Emerson Clarke
