It was strange driving back to her old neighborhood in Seattle. She'd moved out of her mom's place shortly after graduating and had tried not to drive by so much in recent months. They mostly saw each other at her shared house or going out for coffee. An unspoken opinion was made that there was a heavy cloud over those few streets that had yet to lift.
Matt's house was a few streets down from her old home. After almost a year since The Incident, there were no more cars outside. The public still had its questions, but it had received all the answers he could give them. A Chevy Nova was parked in the driveway. Angela pulled up to the curb and cooled her nerves before opening her car door. It closed loudly, announcing her arrival. The sky was covered in restless, dark clouds. Of all the things she brought, she'd forgotten an umbrella. Technically she could move the raindrops away from her head, but with the amount of practice she'd gotten recently that might be rather painful.
As she walked up the pathway, she noticed the well-manicured lawn. The quaint flowers planted in such a way as though the owner was trying to say "Look, I can keep something alive. I'm doing fine..." It was a cozy house on the outside. Before she had raised her hand to knock the door was yanked open. Yup, she had slammed the door too loudly. Either that or he was constantly on edge about visitors.
"Can I help you with something?" Matt snapped.
"I'm not a journalist," Angela said as she raised her arms in surrender. His grip on the door relaxed noticeably.
"Sorry. I've been, uh, really busy lately. Just didn't have time for another pointless conversation," he said.
"I can assure you this won't be pointless. There's something you need to hear," she said as she showed him the news heading.
Matt's face drained of color as he struggled to formulate a sentence.
"We should probably go inside," she suggested.
"Right," he replied. She followed him through the entryway that led into the living room. He sat down on a couch that had seen better days. It didn't feel right to sit next to him despite the open seat, so she chose a loveseat opposite the sofa. He leaned forward and said, "Now what made you think that I wanted anything to do with this?"
"No one in their right mind would want to be involved with these two, but I don't think you or I have a choice." She handed him the phone to read the article fully. His eyes widened the further down the page he progressed. The storm clouds outside looked ready to soak the city at any minute. If only her habit for checking the news included the local weather.
He finished reading and reluctantly handed the phone back to her. "You said you don't have a choice either. What the hell are you talking about?"
Angela cleared her throat and tried over and over to find a way to explain herself to where she didn't sound like a selfish jerk. Unfortunately, that was kind of the truth of things. His cousin was alive, and she was the only one who knew that. And she didn't tell him. No matter how eloquently she worded it, it would still sound awful.
"I found the crystal before any of you did," she finally blurted out.
There was a long pause. "You what?"
"I never told anyone about what I could do, and had no way of knowing about you or Andrew or Steve. The first time I heard of anyone else like me was on the news that day."
"And you didn't think to tell me about it?"
"Just let me finish," she pleaded. "As soon as I turned on the tv I got to the Space Needle as fast as I could. I couldn't paralyze him in mid-flight, because then neither of us could protect him from a bullet attack. Besides, he was too strong. So I did the only thing I could."
Matt had narrowed his eyes and was staring at her suspiciously. She wouldn't be surprised if he sent her flying into a wall after she told him how much else happened that day.
"When I saw that you were going to throw the spear I didn't have time to come up with a plan. So I moved all of his organs at least an inch to the side. The only thing the spear pierced was muscle. I sent debris into as many of his pressure points as I could remember from anatomy class to knock him unconscious. His body wasn't stolen from the morgue... he escaped."
Matt's knuckles were white from how hard he was clenching his fists. "So you mean to tell me... that my cousin isn't dead. And you just decided not to tell me?"
"He flew off. There was no way for me to follow him with the strength I had left after that stunt I pulled. It was his choice not to come back. All I know is we need more than two people to stop these killings."
Matt pushed off from the couch and proceeded to pace the room. "I need a minute," he muttered.
Angela closed her eyes and leaned into the chair. The leather was cold from the air drifting in from outside. It had started to drizzle. Having nothing better to do, she rose from the the chair and shut the sliding screen door to halt the chill.
The backyard was a completely different picture from the front yard. The lawn was many months dead and the hedges along the fence were overgrown. No one wanted to come back here anymore.
"So how the hell are we gonna find him?" Matt finally asked.
"Where's the last place he would have planned on going?"
"Tibet," he replied thoughtfully. "By the time we found him these people could kill hundreds more than they already have. If he's even alive why would he want to help us?"
"Because no matter what happened he's still your cousin. For now let's just focus on getting to Tibet in one piece."
I know my chapters are ridiculously short but I actually like it this way- it's more like those short periodicals in old newspapers. That way I can publish one or two of these in a day. I've actually really enjoyed writing this, I have several chapters saved up in case I don't write for a few days. I love thinking of twists and details, but if you have an idea you want to see in the plot just shoot me a message! I'd love to read it anyway! Have a lovely evening.