Series Wednesday: Timetopia page 29

                Rev and I are just staring at each other. “How much of it do you get?” Rev asks me. “Enough to get why you’re so mad at me.” Rev never had anyone but the nun. I wonder what a nun is… I wonder if nun was her job title.   “I just want my revenge.” I hear the rage in her voice. “Rev, I have a few questions.” She takes a deep breath. “I thought you might. You want to know what a church and a nun are.” Those are good questions but that’s not what I want to ask. “Yes I do want to know that, but more importantly, how is it that Richard became Charles? Where did either name come from?”  She finally sits down. “They are both his name. He is Richard Charles the Third. Charles is just a middle name that’s all. Why he started going by it I might never know.” Oh okay that make sense to me. “So what is a nun?”  Rev takes another deep breath. “It’s a woman who dedicates her life to helping others. She isn’t allowed to be selfish or get married or have kids. Her life is about serving God. But umm… you don’t really know about him, so I am not sure how to explain that one.” I can’t believe that people would dedicate their lives to helping others with no hope of a family. There is so much I don’t understand but I don’t think I have the time to ask. They will be coming for us soon. “I have so many more questions but they can wait. What are we going to do now?” Rev sighs. “We have to keep going. We need to get to your grandma’s house. That’s where all the answers are.” I smile hoping that my grandma can answer all of my questions. “What about James? Is he going to come with us?”  Rev looks over at him. “No he can’t. It’s too dangerous. We have to go because we have no choice. He needs to go back home where it is safe for him.” I agree with Rev, ever since we started on this path to my grandma’s house people have died or been hurt. I don’t want to see that happen to James. “I agree with you but I am not going to tell him he can’t come. Plus I don’t think he is going to listen.” Rev knows I’m right, I can see it on her face.

                She walks right up to James. “Thank you for saving us.” James smiles. “Did it kill you to say that?” Rev rolls her eyes. “Yes it did. Look we have to talk.” James has a look on his face. “So Charles is your husband?” James looks down. “Yes he is. So now you see why you can’t come with us.” James doesn’t say anything. He just grabs his back pack out of the van. Rev just stands there, she won’t turn around to look at him grabbing his stuff. I run up to James and give him a hug. “Thank you for everything.” He looks at me. “You ever find yourself in a bind again, just yell out Double O7 and I’ll be there. Okay?” I nod yes. “How are you going to get back?” Rev asks James. She is still not facing him. “I know my way. Don’t worry about me.” James tells her. Rev walks over to him and gives him a hug. “I’m sorry.” I hear her whisper. I can’t hear what else she is telling him. “Come find me when this is all over. Okay?” He tells Rev. She looks down and nods yes. He smiles and walks back toward the city.  “We’ll just find him when this is all over.” I tell Rev. She looks at me funny. “I am going home when this is all over.” She walks to the driver’s seat. “Wait you mean to the Bronx?” She turns on the van. “Yup, get in the van.” How is she going home after all of this? “How?  Do you even have a life there you want to get back to?” I get in the passenger seat. “Yes I do. Ava I don’t belong here in Timetopia. This isn’t my home. Although my home is flawed there is still a chance to fix it. Here, there is no chance.” Fix it? I sit there for a bit. What happens when Rev goes home? What happens when I get to my grandma’s? I get answers to what?  Why my mom planned all of this for me? I don’t understand. I still don’t even know where my mom is or if she is okay. “What’s going on in that head of yours?” Rev asks me. “What if we don’t go to my grandmas?” Rev looks over at me. “Are you crazy?” Rev asked me. What kind of question is that? “No, Rev what happens when we get there? You go back to the Bronx and my dad is being watched and my mom is missing. You’re all I have… I don’t even know my grandma.”  Rev just keeps driving. I can tell she is really thinking about what she is going to say next. “When destiny comes knocking at your door and you try and close it, it will come through the window. If you close the window it will blow off the roof. You can’t run from destiny.”  I hear her but the words fall flat on my ears.  I feel like nothing will ever be the same. “Ready or not, we are about one city away. You should get some rest. By the time you wake up we should be there.”  I don’t know how she thinks I can sleep. We aren’t far at all. I wonder what my grandma is going to be like? I lay my seat back.  I try to close my eyes for a bit. I have a feeling once we get there everything is going to change. Well I guess when you really think about it, it already has.

Series Wednesday: Timetopia Page 28

                Everyone is completely still.  No one is breathing. Rev just shot Charles. I am standing here looking at her. No one is shooting at us, I don’t think they know what to do. Charles coughs and stands back up. “Aww Revolution you must still love me. You shot the vest. Now is that any way to say hi to your husband?” HUSBAND?! Charles is Richard? How is that possible? “I didn’t think you would have bullet proof vests here. Trust me, if I would have known I would of shot you in the head.”  Charles smiles. “I did always love your spirit.” Rev points her gun at Charles. “Shut up Richard! You don’t know how to love anyone other than your big headed self.”  I don’t think anyone in the room has started breathing yet. We are all still frozen.  “Is that what you have convinced yourself? You knew I loved you Rev but you didn’t want to help me and I was going to die.” Rev puts her gun down. “You didn’t have to kill her! You did that because you were a monster. Look at this place of oppression you created. You have no soul!” Charles or Richard I’m not even sure what to call him is laughing. “Rev I created a world with no foster homes or druggie parents. I created utopia.”  I hear metal hit the floor. There is a bunch of little metal balls rolling toward us. OH NO here comes the smoke. The vent above us drops out. Someone has put something on my face. I can’t breath and everyone is falling asleep. I turn around and its James, he has a weird thing on his face too. He waves for us to follow him. Rev doesn’t follow James, instead she walks over to Charles. She puts the gun to his head, he isn’t fully asleep yet, and he hands her the paper he had in his hand. “Burn in Hell Richard.” She says to him, James grabs her and starts pulling her to the stairs so we can make it out. She is fighting James. The smoke will make her go to sleep like everyone else. So I pull her mask off. She turns and looks at me, she looks mad. She starts to fall asleep like everyone else. James throws her over his shoulder and we head out.  We walk up the stair case and it seems like James put everyone in the building to sleep. There is a van outside and James points for me to get in.

                Rev finally wakes up. We are almost to the next city. “What the hell did you do?! I had my chance!” She is screaming at me. “I don’t think you really wanted to kill him. Plus we needed to get out of there Rev.” Rev looks furious at me. “Pull the van over!” she screams at James. “No we need to keep moving.” James tells her. All I hear is a pop and glass shatter. She just shot out the windshield. “I said pull over!” James pulls over and Rev gets out of the van.  I run after her. “Stop!” I yell. “NO AVA! This was what I came for! I came here to kill him! You stopped that. You can’t understand how I feel.” Rev is still yelling but I don’t think its anger. “Rev, he is your husband. I don’t think killing him is the answer. Please tell me what happened, the whole story. Not just pieces so I can understand what you feel.” She hands me the paper, it’s a photo of them together. After handing it to me she just screams into the air. “Fine you want to know the whole detailed story?” I sit on the floor and look at the photo of a happy Rev. She looks in love. “Yes.” She starts pacing back and forth. “Where do I begin? Okay let’s start with me.  I was born a drug baby. Which means my mom did drugs when she was pregnant with me. But I wasn’t sick like other drug baby’s, the doctors said it was like my body fought the drugs. Like I was stronger or something. Not that it mattered because my loser junkie mom sold me I think. I still don’t really know because I was found on a city bus. I was just a baby and someone left me for hours on a bus. No one noticed me, all tucked under a seat until I started crying. So they took me to the hospital. The closest one just happens to be run by a church, so they gave me to that church where the nuns raised me. One nun, my mom, adopted me. She took me in and she named me Revolution. She said that I had fought the drugs and fought to stay alive, and that I was so strong that one day I would change things. She said that I would ignite a revolution.  Richard on the other hand wasn’t as lucky as me. He was born into a good loving family until his dad passed away and his mom got hooked on drugs. She overdosed. He found her after school when he was 6 years old. That’s when he went into the foster care system. We met when we were teens. Both lost and confused, we didn’t really have anyone but each other. What my mom did was unheard of and I grew up in a church with nuns. It’s not easy being a kid like me. I was always in trouble for being curious. I thought no one in the world was like me. That was until I met Richard. Once we found each other, nothing could tear us apart. My mom didn’t like him but I didn’t care. I loved him. We got married at 16 and lived on our own. We had many happily married years when he found out he had cancer.” She stops to take a breath. But if Richard and Charles are the same person… I know this part of the story from the history books. “He was cryogenically frozen in your time and woken up when they found a cure for cancer. That’s how he ended up in the future where the rest of The Five were.” She laughs at me finishing her story. “Yes he was and that’s correct. But what you don’t know is what he had to do to get on cryogenically frozen. He had to sell our country secrets that I had been collecting. I stole the secrets just in case the higher power decided I knew too much and wanted to kill me. It was like an insurance plan. I hid them in the church where I grew up.  Richard knew that and so he went to the church and killed the nuns… my mom included. Just to get the secrets. When he sold them, the CIA found out it was me the secrets had come from. And well you know the rest.” Although I don’t understand most of Rev’s story. I understand that Richard/Charles killed her mom to save himself. 

Series Wednesday: Timetopia Page 27

Why are they keeping these boxes in cages like this? I walk thru the rows and rows of boxes each row having a name like city lights and library. I don’t even know my way out of here anymore. I think I’m lost in the rows. I see a screen at the end of all the hall ways. I think I should try to use one. I walk up to one of the screens to turn it on and start typing in code to find Rev. She pops up on the screen she is sleeping. The doctors are walking around her looks like they are trying to help her. I need a way out. I start looking through all the protocol for this building. I see Ron’s killer walk into Revs room. I check my old room and it’s still empty like no one has come yet to check on me. Ron’s killer is now talking to the doctor. How do I hear them? I need to turn on sound.  Oh I got it.  “How long is she going to be out for?”  Ron’s Killer asks. The doctor looks over at her. “Not long. She is unlike anyone I have ever seen. It’s like she is fighting the medication.” Both of them look at Rev now. I wonder if Rev is special like me and doesn’t realize it. “We have to be careful with her. He seems to want her alive. Maybe to answer questions, I’m not sure. I just know we have to do everything to keep her and the other one alive. Have you examined the other one yet?” The doctor looks lost. “What other one? Rev is the only one I have seen.” They must be talking about me. He looks shocked. He doesn’t even say a word he just rushes out of Rev’s room and I see him on his way to the room where they were keeping me. This screen seems to have access to everything, I wonder if I could get his key card not to work by taking it off the system. So I type in codes as fast as I can. I think back at all those times my dad would read code book to me. Teaching me how to work the screens, he said he always wanted me to be a programmer someday. I think that was a lie, I think he knew someday I would have to do this.  He runs up to the room and uses his key card just in time I set the trap. As he swipes his key card I take it from the system. Now let’s delete it so he can’t use it to get out. I sit and wait; he looks shocked to see I am not in the room he left me in. Come on walk all the way into the room, you can do it. I watch him as he slowly walks in. Does he think I am hiding under the chair or table that are see through? Yes he walks all the way in and the door closed behind him and now he has no way out.

                Rev is still sleeping. I need to figure out where they put all our stuff. I look at all the rooms but I am not sure what to look for. Maybe Ron’s trapped killer can help me. I split my screen to make sure I can still watch Rev while trying to figure all this out.  Let’s see if this screen has a mic. “Hello.” I say to Ron’s killer. He looks up at the camera. “How are you doing that?” I laugh at him. He still thinks he is in some kind of position to ask me questions. “I just am. Now let’s talk. I am here to help you. You see I have the power to open the door and you won’t ever get out without my help. So why don’t you tell me what you guys did with all of our stuff?” He looks around. “It’s in the research room. Ava you won’t get away. If you work without me you will not survive this. They will just erase you and Rev.” That wasn’t hard to get him to tell me where our stuff was. Plus he acts like I haven’t thought about that. If they really wanted us gone they would of by now. “Then erase me! Someone doesn’t want me erased, otherwise you really think me and Rev could of got this far? Thanks for your help.” I turn off the light to the room and turn off the sound. I look back at Rev and there is Charles standing over her. I turn on the sound in her room to listen. He is just watching her sleep. “If beauty could be measured yours would still be unmeasurable.” He is walking around her bed. Why is he doing this? He seems almost fascinated by her. “Rev why would you think I wouldn’t catch you? Did you think you could out smart me? The oh so elusive Rev. How did you get here?” Okay now I defiantly think he is not what the history books say. He almost seem like he is enjoying her asleep like he just won some kind of game. I need to get us out of here. He has a paper in his hand but I can’t see what it is.  Okay let’s look at the research room. I pull it up on the screen I see all our stuff, okay now how do I get there from here without anyone noticing. I got an idea; this room seems to be able to do anything like control the lights and power. I slowly start shutting off the lights to each room which set the alarms off but I slowly it down so I can make it just before the lights go off in the research room. Time to go get our stuff! I run out of the rows until I see the door I just came through. I take a deep breath and head up the stairs. I peak before going into the hall way everyone is being evacuated. So as the people start walking out I sneak to the research room. No one is in here they have already been evacuated.  I see Revs back pack and our guns bag. I grab everything I can and start to run to where they are keeping Rev. I run to see Rev in the hall way right outside of the room. “How did you get out?” I ask her as she grabs a gun out of my bag. “Well the alarm went off and I woke up and there was just one doctor in the room with me. So I smack him over the head grabbed my shoes and stole his key card. Now how do we get out of this hell hole?” What is a hell whole? No time for that.  “We just have to get back to the stair case and from there I can get us out.” Rev gets her gun ready. “Revolution where do you think you’re going?” I hear Charles voice from behind us. I turn around and he is with 6 managers with guns. Rev whips around and shoots Charles in the chest. She didn’t even blink. He hits the floor. What has she done?

Series Wednesday: Timetopia Page 26

                I start to open my eyes. I am trying to move around but I can’t. I seem to be chained to a chair. I am in a room with no windows, all I see is a door. Where is Rev? I see a camera in the corner of the room watching me. The last thing I remember is the ball with smoke coming out of it. I hope Rev isn’t hurt. I hear the door knob turning. “Hello Ava.” It’s the man from Ron’s room, the manager who shot him. I start trying to wiggle out of my chains, “I wouldn’t bother trying to get out. They are smart chains built by The Five themselves. Only I have the key card to open them.” I stop moving and just look at him. I can tell he wants something from me. “Ava, Ava, Ava… Seems like you have been a model Timetopian up until this point. What happened? Why did you start breaking the rules with Rev?” I look at the papers he’s holding in his hand. That must be information on me. I look up at the Camera and do what James said to do if I needed him. “Double O7” I say looking at the camera, and the manager looks at me strange for a bit. “What did you just say?” I look right into the camera again. “Double O7!” I say louder. The light on the camera goes from red to green and now it has shifted to the manager and off of me. James must be watching.  “What? Is that some kind of threat?” I shake my head no. “Ava I am just trying to help you. If Rev kidnapped you, this is the time to speak up. She can’t hurt you anymore.” I look down at my chains and I can see where you put the key card in to unlock them. I can’t help but stare. “If you don’t talk to me Ava, I can’t help you. You can look at those chains all day. Nothing you can do will open them, just my key card that I have in my pocket. If you talk to me, I’ll let you out of those chains.” I never  heard much lying growing up or at least that is what I thought I hadn’t but I know he is lying to me. I don’t think I am ever getting out of here with this man’s help. But then a loud alarm goes off. “Everyone to room 5, she has injured her keeper.” A loud voice says out of the alarm. Rev must be awake now. “I’ll be right back.”  The man leaves the room. I start to wiggle again. My arm is burning. I look and see that I am bleeding. I must have gotten cut when the car flipped. My blood! That could be exactly what I need. Rev said that thing about the Nano bites. I wonder if it will work on my chain’s cuffs.  It worked on my mom’s cuffs. The more I wiggle the more I bleed. My blood isn’t far enough down my arm yet and I can’t reach it. I just need to keep wiggling. The alarm is still going. They must not have Rev under control. I wiggle as much as I can, and I can finally see the blood seeping down my arm. My hand feels wet, I rub my blood where the key card should go. I hear a click noise and I am free.

                I jump out of my chair, okay Ava time to come up with a plan.  I wipe my blood off of the cuffs. I don’t want who ever has me to know what my blood can do. The camera’s light is off, so I know it’s not recording but why? I need to get passed this door. If I can get to the control room, then I can get me and Rev out. I walk over to the door panel and put my blood on it. The door opens. I wipe my blood off and peak out. Right away I know where I am. I’m in a wellness center in the basement where they hold the injured or troublemakers.  Everyone is running to room 5. Rev must be taking them all on. I hope she doesn’t get hurt. I just need to get to a control room… I see a restroom a little down the hall way. I need to clean up or they will spot me right away. The hall way seems clear so I run to the restroom. I make it in, I walk up to the mirror I am covered in blood and dirt. I see the showers. I need to wash off. I take a fast shower and bandage my cuts. I see the white coats everyone’s been wearing on a hook next to the shower, so I put one on over my clothes. I start to head back into the hall way to find the control room. The alarm has stopped, so they must have gotten Rev to stop. They are going to notice soon that I am not in my room. I look around and no control room. I am running out of time. I need to think. Last time I was in a wellness center the control room was on top and I’m in the basement. I need to go up. I walk down the hall and see the staircase. I touch one of my cuts and put a little blood on the panel. The door opens and I start to head up the stairs when I hear the man who killed Ron’s voice from above me. There are stairs going down so I go down and hide under the staircase. “Do you think Ava is okay? Or do you think the crash made her disoriented?” Says a voice that sounds familiar but I can’t place it.  “She wouldn’t say a word when I was in with her. She seemed a little disoriented to me.” Ron’s killer says. “Well if the hounds wouldn’t have smashed in to her car, maybe she would be just fine. We need to figure out who is helping her and why? What is so special about her? Rev wouldn’t just protect anyone. We are missing something. Have you done any tests on her blood work?” The first man’s voice I know it… but from where? This is going to bother me. “No sir. We haven’t had the time, they both just got here. We were going to do blood work on Rev when she woke up and stabbed her doctor and the wellness checker in her room. We got control of the situation and put her to sleep for the time being.” Rev is asleep. Well this explains what happened. They can’t do blood work on me.  I look and see a door. There’s a floor under the basement? How is that even possible? I hear them open the basement door and go to that floor. I walk out from under the stairs to the panel on the door. I open the door and it’s a whole floor full of boxes in cages all lit up. There is a sign that says server room. I hope this will help me save Rev.

Random short story: the lies she made true

      When you wake up and everything that was once yours is gone at your own hand, you cant help but really take a good look at yourself. How did a few lies do all of this? I was always told how good a lie can be freeing. If you get in trouble lie your way out. That was until the day i met her. She was beautiful and interesting, she was completely different from my wife. I loved my wife do not get me wrong but I got bored years ago. Once we had our kids everything changed. I guess I really wasn't ready to be a dad. So many nights i would say i was working late and would get to be some one else for a night with some one who was not my wife.
      I was out just like any other night telling Linda my wife i was working late. The bar was filled with lots of beautiful women this night. I was excited at who i could become. When i saw her in a yellow dress. She was tucked away in a corner of the bar. She looked so sweet and innocent, I had to have her.  So i walked up and offered to buy her a drink. Her eyes slightly grey she looked up at me. "Do you mind if i sit with you?" She smiled. "No go right ahead." i pulled up the chair next to her. "Hi i am Brandon." She looks down at her drink. "Are you now?" she replies. I'm not sure how to proceed with an answer like that I can't tell if she is flirting. My name isn't really Brandon but she doesn't need to know that. "Yes, really now." I laugh. "Brandon, I must say you are very handsome. but i must give you a warning. Anything you say to me must be the truth. I know this sounds crazy but i have a gift of honesty. No one can lie to me, anything they say is there new reality. So I hope your pick your words wisely." A challenge I cant help but be drawn in. She is challenging me to lie to her. She must be nuts. But she sure is hot, so ill play along. I spend the rest of the night tell her lie after lie. I told her i had no parents that they had passed away, she asked if i was married i said no way. She went on to ask if i had any kids and once again i said no. I mean she really didn't need to know about them. Happy hour was coming to an end and she was hanging on every word i said. "So would you like to get out of here?" I asked her. "I would love to but can't i have to get back." BACK!? she didnt just waste my time did she. "Where do you have to get back?" she laughs "I have to get back to work."  She got up and gave me a hug. "Can you be just a little late and spend more time with me?" She laugh at me. "Trust me come tomorrow, you will be looking for me. The next 24 hours will change your life Maxwell." She whispers in my ear. She called me by my real name. She tilts her head at me and walks away.
     I get home after a wasted happy hour. There she comes running up to me screaming "Daddy." my beautiful baby girl. She is the only part that i hate about lying. She has a picture in her hand that she drew for me. "Daddy look." I look at the stick figure. Linda is standing there giggling. "At school today they asked her to draw her favorite superhero and she picked you." I hope my daughter never finds out who i am really am. I love her but i hate feeling chained to this house. I hug her and take her to her room to get her to bed. I rock her to sleep. The way my daughter looks at me i will never get over. i lay her down in her bed. I walk to my room, "How was work today ?" Linda asks. "It was long." i start to change into comfy clothes. "Your mother called. She wants all of us to go see her this weekend." Linda is a good women and everyone wanted her in high school when we met. I won her heart and it once made me feel like the luckiest man alive. she deserves better i know. "Sounds great. i am going to watch some T.V. before bed." I give her a kiss on the cheek and head to my man cave.   I watch my sports news and now time for bed. I cant stop thinking about that women. She said i would look for her. I wonder what she meant.
       I feel cold so i open my eyes and i'm laying out on the street. I'm not sure how i got here. I am out here like a homeless man. I get up and start trying to find my way to my house. I see Linda kissing a man, who is getting in my car. I don't understand. "Linda!"i yell at her. She looks frighten. "Go away or I will call the cops,"  I stop walking towards her. "Its me Maxwell." The man in the car stops. "I am not sure who you are but i am Maxwell and if you don't leave my house i will contact the authorities."  I run to my parents house. how is this man calling himself Maxwell.  I run all the way to my parents house but they are not home. i use the key hidden inside the fake rock to get in. I go to my old room and grab some clothes and shower. As i get out of the shower and get dressed i notice all the pictures on the walls aren't of me any more. They are of that guy the same one kissing Linda. This makes no sense. I walk to the kitchen to make some food. i hear the front door open and its my mother. She screams, "Who are you!? Get out of my house." She doesn't recognize me either. she is calling the cops on her phone i run out of the house. where do i go? The woman she said my lies would become my reality. I need to find her. I go back to the bar. There she is in the corner. i march up to her. "What did you do?" she smiles "Oh Brandon i warned you." Brandon!? that is not my name. "My name  is Maxwell." She starts laughing. "Not any more its not. Here is your wallet you dropped here last night. Your name is Brandon now, you have no family. No parents because they passed away like you said. No wife and kids. You are now all alone as you proclaimed you were. What you did not appropriate you now no longer have." She had me my wallet and disappears. I am now all alone.

Series Wednesday:Timetopia page 25

                I find myself sitting here wishing we were back at James’ house. I miss having a home. I look over at Rev and she has a huge smile on her face, the kind that lets me know she is about to do something bad. “Hold on!” She says as she drives off the road into the tall trees. The car behind us follows. Rev stops the car in the forest. “Drive away if you have to. The most important thing is for you to get to your grandma’s. Do you understand me?” She kind of yells at me like I am not right next to her. I nod yes. “No Ava I need to hear you say it.” I am not sure why she is being like this. “Yes I understand.” She smiles and grabs her guns. She gets out of the car shooting. I look back at the car behind us. He is in shock and starts to back up his car, as Rev shoots right through the windshield. He is no longer moving. I get out of the car. “Is he dead?” I ask Rev. “Let’s hope so.” Rev walks over to the car with her gun still pointing at him. He is dead, I can see the holes through his neck and chest. Rev puts her guns away and opens his door. “What are you doing?” I ask her as she is pulling his body out. “We need to know how he knew to follow us. Also, we need to see if he has anything that might help us to get to your grandma’s without any more interruptions.” I feel like what she is doing is wrong searching the body of a man she just killed. “He is dead there is nothing he can do that can help us. We should just leave. It’s bad enough you killed him.” Rev pulls out a gun from his belt. Well she was right about that.  She grabs a key card out of his pocket and his id. She moves on to the car. “Ava he has the flyer. He must have printed it out before Erick deleted it.”  She grabs some more stuff out of his car. She starts to head back to our car. She gets in the driver seat while I am still standing here. I can’t help but look at this poor guy lying dead on the floor. What if he meant us no harm?

                “I get why you killed him but why you couldn’t wait to see if he was going to hurt us. He might have wanted to help us for all you know.” She laughs at me. I’m sure she is going to say something not so nice to me. I get back into the car.  She starts to drive back on to the main road. “What is a hound?” She asks me.  “A hound? Like the dog?” I respond, I’m not sure if they have dogs where she is from. “He is a hound, that’s what this little ID thing says.” She hands me his ID. It does say that under his job title. I have never heard of a hound before. It must be higher than a manager. Then again, next year is the year I learn about all the different jobs. Next year was supposed to be my placement year, where my perfect job picks me. “I have never heard of anything like this. Nor have I ever met anyone who worked as a hound.” Rev’s eyes sharpen. I can tell she is thinking really hard. She is completely silent and her cheek bones somehow get sharper when she is thinking. “Have you ever heard of a bounty hunter? I’m pretty sure the answer is no but I still have to ask.” She is right, I have no idea what that is. “Nope no idea what that is.” She sighs a little. “I think that’s what a hound is in your world. Bounty hunters hunt people down for money. That’s their job, to find people that someone else wants for whatever reason. They are usually not the nicest guys.” If what she is saying is true I can’t say I’m surprised, I feel like everyone is after us at this point. I wish more than anything I could ask my mom what is going on. Why didn’t she ever warn me about any of this? I feel so overwhelmed I think I just need to close my eyes for a bit. 

                I am looking up at my bright red kite. It’s swaying back and forth in the wind. I hear my mom and dad laughing behind me. “Good job Ava.” My dad says. I run faster to make it go higher. Then I realize how far I just ran, so I start to run back to my parents. They are fighting. They never fight… I walk over slowly. “The hounds will be after her if we go along with this.” My dad says to my mom. “It is better than them finding out about her. They will execute her if they ever do. We always knew this was the plan.”  My dad doesn’t seem to like that answer. “She is our daughter. You would think we would have more of a say.” My mom puts her hand on my dad’s shoulder. “She is meant for great things. She will be the one to change everything. We have to have faith in that.” My dad pulls away from my mom. “At what cost?” My dad looked over at me and then my mom. “Sweetheart how long have you been standing there? My mom laughs as she picks me up. She wraps me in her warm embrace. I remember this day. All of the sudden I feel a jolt. I wake up and the car is in the air. “Hold on!” Rev yells as our car hits the ground on its’ side and then it keeps rolling. What just happened? Our car stops rolling and we are upside down. Rev is reaching into the back grabbing the guns. “What just happened?” I ask her. “They ran me off the road. Shoot anyone who comes near you!” She hands me a gun then cuts her seat belt off. All of the sudden I see round balls roll up to the car and smoke is starting to come out of them. I am feeling sleepy.