Series Wednesday: Family game night Page 55

     “One mothers life for another.” Daniel tells me. It’s my mother he has strapped to this table. “Why!?” I ask him. “It’s simple I needed someone Grace wouldn’t help you kill. Plus I don’t think she will ever welcome me into the family. So I thought how poetic that you kill your mother Rose to get your mother Hope. One life for another” Daniel smiles. “You are truly evil aren’t you?” I say as I take a step back. “She will never really accept us. She isn’t our mother and is the only thing standing in the way of having a great relationship with our dad.” Daniel is trying to get me to be on his side. “What happens if Cahira doesn’t kill our mom?” Percy asks. “I will kill Hope.” Daniel says as he rolls my mother closer to me. Percy grabs my hand and holds it. “Daniel can we make another deal? Is there something else we can give you in exchange?” Percy is trying to reason with him. I don’t think Daniel is the reasoning type. I can see Daniel thinking it over. “Aww my dear little brother Percy, don’t you see I just want to be part of your family with you. She will never allow that. We have to get rid of her. Plus we need to make you “ stronger and maybe losing her will allow your heart to harden.” Daniel says. Grace is being strangely quiet. “I don’t want to lose my mom.” Percy says so sadly.

            “You really are an idiot.” Grace says to Daniel. “Excuse me?” He says back to her. “YOU ARE AN IDIOT!” She says louder. “How do you figure that?” Daniel says back. “Dad will never forgive you or accept if you kill his other half. He will hunt you down like a dog. When honestly she would love you more than he ever would. She would admire all you have done, even this moment right now. Look at her she is smiling.” Grace says as she points to our mother. Daniel looks back at her. “She will never accept me. She told me so.” Daniel says. “Does it have to be Cahira to kill her? Or can I kill her and you still give Cahira her mother back?” Grace asks. “WHAT?” Percy and I can’t help but yell. “She will never see me, especially now that he is here. She will fall in love with him and his inventive murdering ways. I once again will be thrown to the side. Percy if anything I am doing you a favor to. Once mom and dad have their perfect killing machine son, they will never look at you again.” Grace says as she steps forward. “Well this took a turn I didn’t plan on.” Daniel says as he looks at Grace. “Grace are you crazy? You cannot kill mom. She loves us in her own way. I know it often feels like she should love us way more but she does love us.” Percy says to her. “No Percy I am just sick of living in perfect Cahira shadow and she hasn’t even been that person for years. Now that he is here, well he will just be another shadow I will have to live in. No I want to put a stop to it now!” Grace says. “So Daniel are you going to let me kill her or what?” Grace asks. 

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We all stand here looking at our older brother. I pull out Grace’s gun and point it at him. “This is not the way I planned on this going” he says. “Where is she?” I ask him. “She is hanging around here somewhere. How about we make a deal?” He says. “How can we make a deal with a nameless person?” Grace says. “That’s  an easy answer, you can just have to ask for my name.” He says back to Grace. “Do you have just one name?” I ask. “Now you’re asking the right questions.” He says to me. “What would you like us to call you?” Percy asks.  “You can call me Daniel if you would like. It was my name the longest.” He says. “Okay Daniel, what is the deal you want to make?” I ask him. He smiles as he walks out of the room and starts to head down the stairs. I roll my eyes and follow him. He does love the dramatics doesn’t he?
            We all follow him down the stairs and through the warehouse. He leads us back where Grace and whatever that little girl’s name was who killed everyone. All the bodies are gone. He must have cleaned everything. How long were we in that room for? “So what is the deal Daniel?” I ask him as I stop walking. “Grace did all the work to get Percy back. Cutting into people and killing them. I think if you want your mom back so badly I want to see you slice someone open and kill them.”  Daniel says to me. I point it at his head. “How about I just blow your brains out and just search the warehouse for my mom without you.” I tell him. “You could but did I say she was in this warehouse? Maybe I meant the one in New York or London.”  I look back at Percy who is standing behind me. “How many days ago did he take Hope away?” I ask Percy. “It’s hard to tell time in the room but I would say a few.” I look back at Daniel. “You want me to kill someone. That’s it? Why?” I ask him. “I just want to see if you have it in you. The first time I met you it seemed like you would kill anyone for no reason at all. Plus let’s just call it a life for a life. What if I promise to make it a good one?” I turn to talk to Grace. “I don’t want to take a life.” I whisper in her ear. “I will help you. You’re just going to have to do the torching part. You use to love this maybe you will again.” Grace says. “I don’t think so. But promise me I won’t have to take a life.” I whisper back to her. “I promise.” She says.
            I turn back to Daniel. “You are a real son of a….” I start to say. “Hey now let’s be nice, I lost my mother, much like you I had no idea who she was. You want a chance to know yours. I’m willing to give you that chance.” He says it like he is doing me some kind of favor. “What did you mean you promise to make it a good one?” I ask him. “So you agree to kill someone after you cut them up for a little while?” He asks me. “No I agree to do what I have to in order to get my mom back.” I tell him. He claps his hand and guys roll in a person strapped to a table with a sack over their head. “So you promise to do whatever it takes to get your mom back right?” He says. I look at the figure and it looks like a women’s body. “If that is my mom you’re trying to make me kill, I promise to end your life.” I point the gun back at his head. He laughs. “Oh no I would never do that. I am sorry I didn’t even realize how it looked until right now.” He says so light hearted. “Okay fine ill do what I have to.” I stop pointing the gun at him. He smiles and pulls the sack off her head. “NO!” Grace screams.

Life update: Timetopia is out!

I am so Excited to announce that Timetopia the book is finally released. After years of hard work it is finally available on amazon. Be sure to buy a copy. Tell me what you think. Thank you so much for all of you that supported Timetopia as a weekly series, you made this possible. I couldn't be more grateful!

For Timetopia Click here

Series Wednesday: Family Game Night Page 53

             “I can’t make a decision until I know that my mom Hope is okay.” I explain to Percy and Grace. “I will accept him as our older brother.” Grace says. “What really? He kidnapped me.” Percy says. “Yeah I know but with the way our family is I get why he did it.” Grace defends her answer. I sit next to Percy and hug him. “Grace is playing it smart.” I whisper into Percy’s ear. He gets what Grace and I are doing. We are going to say what we need to get out of here. I have known Grace long enough to know when she is lying. Percy looks at Grace. “Okay Grace convince me.” Percy says. That’s my little brother catching on. “Well think about it if dad has him he won’t push you to decide if you want to be a killer. He will be so focused on his new son; you can slide under the radar.” Grace tells Percy. “Yeah that makes sense. I guess we are kind of better off letting him into our family. He didn’t hurt me at all; he was very humane to me. So my vote is yes.” We all nod in agreement. The door unlocks. “Let’s go before he changes his mind.” I say as I run to the unlocked door.

            Grace and I peak our heads out the door to see if our big brother might be waiting for us. “Coast is clear. Let’s go.” I tell Percy. We all walk out into the waiting room we were in with little Hope before. “You two go home and I am going to find Hope.” I tell Percy and Grace. “Not happening. We are going to help you find Hope.” Percy says. “I am not even sure if she is still here. I have no idea where she is?” I tell them, I realize I don’t even have a starting point. “Let’s search the rest of the warehouse and see if she is still here.”  Grace says. “Thanks you guys. You have no idea how much it means to me to have you both by my side.” I tell them. “Of course we might not always agree but we are family.” Grace says. I smile as I hug Grace and Percy. It means everything that even though Grace hates the fact that I want to know my mother she still wants to help me. “So let’s get going.” Percy says. “Missing your room?” I ask Percy. “No, oddly I am kind of happy this happened when it did. I needed some time to think.” Percy says. “Have you decided where you stand on killing yet?” Grace asks Percy. “I think that we should focus on finding Cahira’s mom Hope.” Percy responds as he walks to the door. He opens the door and there he is. “Or you can just ask me where she is.”

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 “Percy its Grace open your eyes.” Grace says as Percy slowly opens his eyes. I can’t hold back my tears. “Cahira don’t cry I am okay.” Percy says to me. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Grace asks him. Percy’s slowly sitting up. “No he didn’t hurt me. He just wanted to get to know me.”  Percy seems just as confused as we are. “So he wasn’t mean to you in any way?” I ask. “Mean no, just kind of intense. He asked me a lot of questions about myself. He just wants to be a big brother to us.” Percy says confused. “So Percy do you think we should let him come home with us?” I ask Percy.

            Percy and Grace just sit looking at the floor. We aren’t talking about what we are going to do. “So are you going to answer me?”  I ask Percy. “No, I can’t answer that.” Percy says. “Why not?” Grace asks. “Because I know something about Cahira’s mother Hope that might change her mind on letting him be our big brother.” Percy won’t even look at me. Grace is the exact opposite she can’t take her eyes off me. “Percy what do you know?” Percy is sitting on the edge of the bed. I walk over to him and pick up his face for him to look at me. “He killed or is going to kill Hope.” Percy has tears in his eyes. “How did you know about Hope? Did he tell you?” I ask Percy since we only found out about Hope because Percy was kidnapped. He has been here the whole time so how did he find out. “She was here with me. She told me who she was and how she wanted to get back to you.” Percy puts his head back down. “She was here?” I ask. Can’t believe he got to meet my mom. “Yea she was here but he took her away. She told me to tell you she loved you little warrior and that she would be okay.” I am not sure what to do now. Hope could be dead but I need her. “Why do you think she is dead?” I ask Percy. “I don’t know if she is dead yet. But I just have a feeling like he is going to kill her.”  Percy says. I need to figure out what happened to Hope. I need to get out of this room. “We need to get out of here.” I tell Grace. “Of course we do.” Grace says. “He won’t let us out until we make our decision.” Percy says. “So let’s make our decision and get out of here.” Grace says.

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    The door is locked and Grace is trying to break it down. “We are trapped!” She tells me. “Of course we are.” I tell her back as I look at Percy, he looks just as he did when he was a baby. I stick close to him and brush his hair with my fingers. “I need your help getting us out of here!” Grace says to me. “When he wakes up, the door will unlock. He is just locking us in here so we are forced to make a choice if we are going to allow him into our family.” I tell her back. “So let’s talk about it. Are we going to side with him?” Grace asks me.  I turn to look at her. “Side with him? I thought we already knew where we stood. Our parents will never welcome him with open arms. Well at least mother wouldn’t.” I turn back to Percy. “Don’t you think we should make our own decisions on how we feel about him?” Grace says as she sits against the wall across from me. “You want us to make our own decision? You really? You’re really willing to fight with our parents.” I ask her. “He is our brother, so how we feel about him should be our choice.” Grace has a point.

                We sit here just watching Percy sleep. “I think we should each make our own choices about him.” I tell Grace. “Why do you say that?” She asks me. “He still has my mom, so if I have to kill him to get her back I would. With that being said I feel like you should make your own choice when it comes to him.” I just want my mom back and as much as I am against killing, I will do what I have to for Hope. “I think we should make our choice about him together. Mom and dad have always had us competing with one another. For once I would like us to be on the same side. If you have to kill him I will stand beside you.” Grace says. This is the first time in a long time I have my sister standing by my side. “What do you really want Grace? Do you want us to just except him as our big brother? Setting my mom Hope aside and him keeping her captive.” I ask Grace, wanting to know what she wants. “I wouldn’t just write him off. It’s super hard to go through the world alone with the type of urges we have. I don’t think him learning how to control it from mom and dad isn’t the worst thing.” Grace says it like her urges are to dance not like she is out there killing people. “Grace no one is better off with dad and mother’s teachings.  No one should kill for fun; killing should only be for survival. I wish you didn’t down play being a murder by calling it an urge.” I am not trying to be mean to Grace, I just don’t agree with her. “Cahira don’t act like you weren’t just like us. Before your stupid accident you were a murder. You also didn’t do anything to stop us, so how are you any different?” I look at Grace and know she is right. I should have stopped them and yes before I was a murder but I don’t really remember that. “You’re my sister stopping them meant hurting you and Percy and that was something I couldn’t live with. It doesn’t mean that someday I won’t stop you. It just means not yet.”  I have never said this out loud. I guess I always did plan on stopping them. “I don’t think you will ever stop us, especially if Percy joins us. If you turn us in or kill us you will be all alone. Have you ever thought of that?” Grace asks me. “Of course I have.” I take a breath to think of what I am going to say next. Percy makes a noise like he is waking up. “Percy!” We both say as we turn to him.    

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Percy is just laying on a bed, he is not moving. “Is he dead?” I ask Grace. “No, look at the IV bag. He is on some kind of sleep drug.” Grace is moving her body around to find where the IV is connected. “The IV isn’t connected.” Grace says holding up the unconnected IV line. I hear my cellphone ring. I pull it out of my pocket and see on the caller ID that the call is coming from an unknown number.  “Answer it.” Grace tells me. “Hello?” I say as I answer. “Hello little sister.” It is him, my big brother. “What did you do to Percy?” I ask him. “He is fine. I had him on an IV that was keeping him in a medical induce coma. I took it out before you found him. He will be waking up in a bit. I didn’t hurt him, he is after all my little brother. Now that we got that out the way, I want you three to decide if we are all going home as siblings after this or am I going to meet our dad on my own.  Don’t answer right now I’ll let you talk it over and get back to me.” I look at Grace who is just staring at me. “Where is my mom?” I ask him. “Don’t worry about her right now. You should be taking care of Percy. I am sure he will have a lot to tell you once he wakes up.” He hangs up on me. I throw my phone across the room and start screaming.
                I calm down and look at Grace who is shaking her head. “Who was it on the phone?” She asks me. “Who do you think?” I tell her. “What did he say about Percy?” She looks back at Percy who is still asleep. “He is in a medical induce coma and he is the one who took him off the IV. Percy should be waking up in a while. Also our screw loose older brother wants to know if we are going to go home as siblings or not?” I explain to Grace. “Is he nuts?” Grace asks me. “No he is a genius. What would dad and your mother respect more than this? He wants them to except him as family and our parents love psychotic crap like this.” I sink to the floor. “You know mom will never take him in to our family. Although this was all pretty impressive, if you really think about it. He took our little brother and mom will never let that fly.” Grace says. “We have Percy back and that’s all what really matters. We need to start coming up with a plan to get you guys home.” I tell her as I look at the open door. “What do you mean get us home? We are all going home after this.” She says. “He has my mom, I can’t just go home. I need to find her and make sure she is okay.” Grace walks over to me. “Cahira we need you, forget about your dead beat mom.” I push Grace. “Don’t start with me right now Grace. I will make sure you guys get out okay and then I am going to find my mom. I know you want us to get Percy and go home like everything is great, but Grace everything is changing. We have an older brother who wants to be a part of our lives whether we want him to or not. Plus Grace I can’t go back to just acting like she is my mother. All my life I have known something was wrong and now I know what it is. I just want my mom to be a part of my life.” I know this is going to hurt Grace’s feelings but she has to start understanding that everything in our lives is about to change. I can see on Grace’s face that she is gearing up to say something to me but she stops. “Do you hear that?” She asks me. I get quiet and hear a loud ticking and it seems to be getting louder. “What is that?” I ask her. She looks around. The doors slams shut on us and locks. What is happening?