Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story that appear in the hit syndicated TV show Dark Angel, owned and created by James Cameron. I do, however, own any and all original characters appearing here. If you wish to use them, please ask me first.
Summary: Things get a little weird around the Thompson household.
A/N to Ash: Hello, yes, hi. If you're reading this, did you see that at the end of chapter 1 I mentioned Asha is going to change her last name several times during this story? Hmm? I removed your review, because it was meant to be discouraging and I don't care if you think Asha is boring. Don't read it then!
I've become website-happy these days. Please visit the Twisted website.
http://brin5734.tripod.com/twisted
And, while you're at it, want to become a member of the S1W? Click here to find out more:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/s1w/
Twisted Angel
By
Brin
Why am I so uptight today?
Paranoia's all I got left
I don't know what stressed me first.
Or how the pressure was fed/but
I know just what it feels like
To have a voice in the back of my head--Linkin Park, Papercut
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The next morning, a Saturday, Asha sat on her bed with her back against the headboard, knees pulled to her chest with her chin resting on top of them. She could hear her little brother's Saturday morning cartoons bouncing around downstairs and her mother messing around in the kitchen like always. Once or twice she had heard Cade pass by her door, but didn't dare make a noise. The back of her head was beginning to throb. She sat like this until the clock said noon, then the doorbell rang. Asha got off the bed and went over to the door to listen. Hardly anybody ever came over to their house.
"Hello," her mother was saying with forced sweetness. "To what do we owe this pleasure, officer?"
Asha cracked open her door and peeked out. Her mother was standing in the way; she couldn't see the police officer, but she could hear the crackle of his walkie-talkie.
"Mrs. Jennifer Thompson?" queried the officer, his voice a deep rumble. "I need to speak with your son, a Cade Thompson."
Mrs. Thompson faltered, but recovered quickly and managed a smile as she turned and called upstairs, "Cade! Could you come down here please?"
Asha quickly pulled her door shut so that there was only a thin line to look through as Cade exited his room, which was farther down the hall, and passed by her door to stand at the top of the stairs.
"Yes?" he said politely.
"I'm Officer Jacob Wrigley, I need to speak with you in private," said the cop.
Asha narrowed her eyes as she spotted something in Cade's hands, which were held behind his back. He started moving down the stairs and she realized what it was—a gun. The young woman could barely muffle a gasp as her brother stuck it in his back pocket and pulled his sweater down to cover it. Cade hated guns… didn't he?
"Alright, Officer. Let's step outside," suggested Cade calmly.
The officer nodded and stepped out the door, Cade right behind him. As soon as the door closed, Asha was at her window. She pulled it open all the way open and pushed the screen off, stepping out onto the roof underneath her upstairs window. Having done this several times, Asha quickly and quietly climbed onto the main section of the roof. She went all the way to the top, then slid down the side and stopped herself on the gutter. Getting down on her stomach, she belly-crawled forward to where she could just barely see what was going on. The wind was blowing towards her so their voices wafted to her ears without strain.
"Is this your vehicle?" asked Wrigley, gesturing to the black Acura, which was currently half-covered with a blue tarp.
"Yes, sir, that it is," replied Cade coolly.
"Last night several people broke into the police station and stole some important files. They were ran to a black Acura RSX that had a large gash on the back bumper. May I look at your vehicle?"
"Do you have a warrant?" asked the young man, standing between Wrigley and his car.
"I have a grant from the Captain to examine any car I wish," growled the cop. "Now step aside."
Asha's heart was beating out of her chest. So it hadn't been a dream! Then how did she get the ticket? What was Cade and his friends doing stealing police files? She nearly fell off the roof as a wave of dizziness washed over her. The police car that had rammed them from behind! Had he done it on purpose to mark Cade's car for IDing?
"Let me get that out of the way for you," Cade's voice caught Asha's attention. He stepped over to the car and removed the tarp with a sly grin.
Officer Wrigley walked over to the back of the car, which was facing away from Asha, and inspected it closely. Minutes passed, and Asha's heart was beating so hard that she was afraid they could hear it. Cade, on the other hand, looked totally confident.
After he had fully inspected the back of the car, the officer straightened up and sighed, a sort of confused look on his face. "Well… there's no gash here."
"That's right, officer. I'm a very good driver," replied Cade.
Asha's jaw dropped in utter and complete shock. What?! Just last night, a long, deep gash had been in Cade's bumper! How was that possible?
Officer Wrigley looked just as confused as she must have as he said, "Sorry for bothering you."
Cade nodded his consent and watched carefully as Officer Wrigley got into his cop car and drove away. It was at this time that both Cade and Asha realized the officer's confusion—he had a large dent in the front of his car… He had been the one who rammed them from behind yesterday. When the car turned the corner, Cade's cell phone went off and he picked it up as he went back inside. As soon as he was gone, Asha slid down to the gutter and slung her legs over the edge. From there she lowered herself onto the downstairs roof, careful not too make too much noise. The ground was about ten feet below this gutter, and Asha was especially careful as she got down from here—Cade would know in an instant that she had been spying on him if she broke her leg.
The morning afternoon grass was soft and cool underneath Asha's bare feet as she hit the ground, tumbling backwards onto her bottom. She lay there for a moment, making sure nothing was broken, before getting up and tiptoeing past a living room window to the front gate. It had a horrible creak to it, having not been repaired or tended to for at least as long as Asha could remember, so she climbed over it instead.
Finally through with all the tumbling and climbing, Asha sauntered out onto her driveway, trying to make it look like she was going to get the mail. After she had checked the empty mailbox, she slid over to Cade's car and lifted the tarp. Sure enough, the car was as good as new—no gash in sight.
"Hmph," she sighed, shaking her head. She must've dreamed about the little 'adventure' from the night before.
Satisfied that the gash was absent from the car, Asha turned to head back into the backyard, only to find Cade glaring at her from the front stoop.
"Asha!" he barked angrily. "What the hell are you doing?!"
"I-I… uhhh… I'm waxing it for you?" She rubbed her sleeve against the car, smiling nervously.
Cade checked over his shoulder to make sure Chris and their mother were preoccupied before stomping over to his little sister. "Don't lie to me, Asha. I know when you lie."
"Mmmkay, well… I was just checking to see if you got your car fixed? And you did. Awfully, quick too," she prodded.
"You stay out of my business," he warned her, his voice dangerous and low as he leaned forward for emphasis. "Don't you go snooping around my things, ever."
Asha recoiled from his closeness, moving out of the way so that she wasn't caught between him in the car. "Okay, I'm sorry! Jeez, what's your problem?"
Cade grabbed her wrist and narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't push it, Asha."
"Don't touch me, Cade," she snapped in the same tone. "I don't take orders from you."
His grip tightened. "I'm serious."
Asha's eyes widened in surprise. "Cade, you're hurting me…"
"Do you understand me, Asha? Don't you get into my business."
"Yes, I understand!" she said, unsuccessfully trying to twist her arm from his strong hand. "Let go of me!"
Cade released her wrist and spared her one more glare before going back inside, slamming the door behind him.
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Asha ran cold water over her bruised wrist, trying not to think about how mad she should be that Cade had been so mean to her. In fact, she was putting a lot of effort into not thinking about the past days' events at all. Cade's business was Cade's business, right?
…but the police are involved and everything, that traitorous inner voice reasoned.
"No," she said aloud. "Cade's my brother."
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the memory of how terrified his face had been last night when they picked up the four people. That amount of fear in one person at one point in time wasn't something to be toyed with; he had obviously been scared for his life… and not only his life, but the lives of others, too. Billy's life? Natalie's life? …Asha's life? What kind of things could her brother be doing to get himself into something so serious?
"…broke into the police station and stole some important files…" She remembered the officer's words.
Suddenly all the pieces fit a little more snugly. Her brother was always complaining about the new Sector Police and their unruly ways. In fact, once he had come home in a raging frenzy because he had been arrested for what the police called "harassing the police station" whereas he had only been walking down the street past it. And now that Asha thought about it… ever since that day, Cade had been especially cold when it came to police. He saved newspaper clippings about people saying they had been unjustly persecuted by the police; recorded news footage of sector police beating people mercilessly. Sometimes she would catch him watching the tapes at night, writing something down in a beaten-up old journal as he watched. It was starting to make sense.
"Asha?"
The young woman turned and stared at the closed bathroom door, wishing it would just disappear and she could stay in the room forever. "Cade?"
"Can I come in?"
"Free country." She watched as the doorknob slowly turned and heard the soft 'click' as the door slid open.
Cade stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "Asha, about earlier today…"
"No, I understand," she interrupted. "You don't want me poking in your business. I will stop poking in your business, oh powerful one."
"Asha, you don't understand what you're dealing with. I want you to see that. The cop that came here today was ready to take me in, and you woulda never heard from me again if he found what he wanted. No trial, no goodbyes. He woulda handcuffed me on the spot and I would disappear from the radar. If you guys talked, you'd mysteriously pack up and move to another country, if you get me," he said seriously. "This isn't like when we were kids and we played spy games."
"So you are doing something illegal!" Asha jumped up and down. "Tell me tell me tell me!"
Cade frowned. "Haven't you heard anything I've said? Asha, no. You stay away."
Asha rolled her eyes at him. "You're so dramatic." She pushed past her brother and into the hallway. "Chill out."
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Days passed and there was no more action around the Thompson household. There was definitely some tension from the cop's visit, but otherwise nobody said much about that particular incident. Asha suffered through yet another week of school and Saturday rolled around again. This Saturday, however, she compensated for her early awakening the week before by sleeping in until 2 in the afternoon. By the time she got up, Chris had already gone to the movies with his friends and come back.
"Well if it isn't the Sleeping Beauty herself," joked Chris as Asha staggered down the stairs.
"Shut up, pipsqueak," she snapped.
"You've got bed head," continued the 10-year-old, never taking his eyes off his video game.
"Chris, be nice," scolded Mrs. Thompson as she entered the room. She looked at Asha and sighed disapprovingly. "Asha, I need you to get ready. Logan's coming home this afternoon and we're going to have dinner with the Cales, okay?"
Asha groaned. She would rather go back to school than have dinner with the Cales. However, the look of conviction in her mother's eyes ended all arguments. "Alright… I'm going back upstairs," she moaned.
"Make sure you look nice for you smoochy-woochy, Logan," called Chris after her.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," replied Asha, stifling a yawn. She got her door and paused outside it when she heard Cade's voice drifting from his room. He was talking to Natalie, and sounded extremely stressed.
"I can't tonight, Alie, I promised my mom I'd have dinner with her buddies," he said, then there was a long pause, to which he replied, "How about you come have dinner with us instead, huh Alie? It can wait one night. I promise I'll go with you tomorrow night. I'll even get Billy and Hannah to come with us, just to be safe, okay?" Another pause. "You will? Thanks, Alie, you know how my mom gets when I miss her dinners with the Cales, the snobs." Pause. "Yeah. I love you too, Alie. When this is all over we're going to get far away from here, okay? We'll get out of the country, and we'll be safe forever. We'll go to the Bahamas. Does that sound nice, Alie? …I'll see you tonight. It's a black tie occasion, if you know what I mean. Thanks. Bye."
Asha darted into her room as he put the phone down.
…Get out of the country?
TBC
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=D