Ella's Other Side

Part 6

"Ella! Get yourself some clean clothes out of the dresser, we have to catch a plane in a few minutes..." Mr. Chu yelled from behind the door.

Ella rubbed her eyes, all crusty from the sobbing fit she had the previous night after she saw Dylan leave for Africa. She took out the phone Dylan gave her and checked the time, a couple more tears streaming down her face at the sight of the phone.

She pulled herself together.

"Okay...," she said, "Where are we going?"

"No time for questions, Ella. Sorry, but we're in a hurry right now," yelled Mr. Chu.

Ella got out of the bed, and walked over to the dresser. She opened up the top drawer and saw undergarments, and a couple outfits. She checked size of the undergarments. They were her size. Okay... Creepy... thought Ella. The outfits were okay... they could've been better, but it was all she had besides what she was already wearing. She wasn't expecting to be carried off to another city the day she left the hotel; therefore she was still wearing her dukes and tank-top with the curly-cue letter E. The exact same clothes she had been wearing since her last day in LA with the flock.

She looked around the room for something she could carry the clothes in. Surprisingly, she found a suitcase on top of the over-head shelf in the closet. Strange... it's almost as if they knew I would be leaving at some point, thought Ella.

Once Ella was all packed, she stood outside her door, having no idea where to go. A few minutes later, she saw Mr. Chu come striding down the hallway with two big, scary body-guards.

"Follow along," said Mr. Chu, as he gave Ella a small push, that way she would be in between him and the body-guards.

They exited the building through the same door, that she had entered through, yesterday afternoon. With Dylan.

There was another fancy car waiting outside the building. Mr. Chu gestured to tell Ella that she should enter the car on the far side from the building. She went around the front of the car followed by one of the body-guards. She got in the back of the car, followed by Mr. Chu. Once again, the big, scary men didn't get in the car.

"i assume you wanna know where we're going?" asked Mr. Chu not bothering to look at Ella.

"Depends, will I regret knowing when I find out?" said Ella

"Damn! you got some nerve girl!" said , "I'm starting to like this young lady."

"You're not the only one, creeper," said Ella, beneath her breath.

"Well, i'll go ahead and tell ya, sweetie... we're going to Africa..." said Mr. Chu.

Ella straightened up and let the words, just spoken, echo inside her skull. Maybe i'll get to see Dylan... she hoped. Then worried if he was alright.

Ella just sat on the airplane, looking out the window during the long flight. She couldn't help but think about her special night with Dylan. She just couldn't get her mind off of him. She also couldn't help but wonder how all the work she had put in towards shaking Fang away from Max was playing out, or if it was even effecting the flock anymore. Especially Fang.

"Don't worry," said Mr. Chu, "Fang'll figure out that he's 'better off' with Max. Now that you're gone, he won't have to worry about all that anymore." It was as if he had been reading Ella's thoughts.

"So," he said, this time he actually turned his head and looked straight at Ella's face, "Dylan's a pretty nice guy to be around huh? He's perfect in every way. Almost like your other half..."

Ella cocked her head to the side and looked at Mr. Chu awkwardly.

"don't worry, I can't read your mind like Angel, but I can do darn close to it by noticing the slightest muscle tension changes. I'm no genetic freak," he said. "But, that doesn't matter. He very well is your missing half, you've got Dylan, and Max has Fang right?"

Ella nodded her head, shrugged, then looked away.

"wrong!" said Mr. Chu.

Ella's head snapped back to look at him as if he were partially insane.

Mr. Chu chuckled, "Dylan was DESIGNED to be MAX'S other half. Not yours. When you two met a few months ago, we were experimenting. Being that you and max are 'half sisters' we thought we'd see how fast and easily he'd become attracted to you," he chuckled "that didn't take much,"

Ella looked at the back of the seat in front of her. So, I was just a 'test subject' to see if Dylan could become emotionally attached to my genes? Because I'm 50% Max? What if, now that he's with the flock, he turns out to like Max even better? Because she's like... 100% max!

A look of deep heart-break spread across Ella's face. Once she got to Africa, she would stop at nothing to keep in touch with Dylan. There's no way they can keep me back... she thought.

Ella... think about how you're going to do so, first. Don't just try to run-off when you're supposed to be with Mr. Chu... said the voice

great... I thought I had gotten rid of you... why do you always have to pop up when I've already got my mind made? She thought back. She turned her head to look back out the window, just in case she started mumbling or mouthing her thoughts.

Mr. Chu is a very powerful figure in this world... Dylan wouldn't want you to do anything 'stupid'.

Oh, give me a break! I'm sure he would be happy if I at least kept contact with him.

You heard what Mr. Chu said, he was made for MAX... not you.

DON'T SAY THAT! Thought Ella.
"WHAT?" said Mr. Chu.

Ella's head snapped in his direction so fast that she almost got whip-lash.

"wa-huh?-" were the last few sounds Ella could get out after an I-V was stuck into her back, and she blacked out.

Mr. Chu looked down at the pretty girl. Limply, hanging over the arm of her seat. He pressed a button on the arm of his chair and watched a table rise out of the floor. He sat back and sipped his glass of white wine while the guards strapped her onto the table.

"The equipment is behind the lavatories," he said. Then got up and stood beside the table.

"something's really bothering this pretty, little lady," he paused, "Well, we'll just have to make sure that's no longer."