Chapter 84
Old Friends
The interviews were fruitless. Hunter never got any clear answers on where Joshua was, or what the visions were, or anything about murders. Not to mention his mind was constantly preoccupied by what Nick had spouted at him, about Death and the list. His mind just couldn't make sense of it. Reluctantly, Hunter knew he had no choice and released the survivors, giving them each a contact card. The only person kept in the police station was Detrikov, to talk about the 'illegal business' set up in the old building.
Outside of the station, Nick let out a breath of relief. He did not like being on the opposite side of the coin, and now being out of there was perfect. He watched as David and Dorothy immediately dispersed, while Richard walked aimlessly down a street, fading into the rain-filled distance. He wanted to say that they should stay together, but he knew it was fruitless. They had stayed together in the old building, and look how that had turned out. Lukas and Dominika departed with a faint goodbye, and just like that Nick was alone with Derrick and Grace, who were talking quietly at the police station wall, and Jeremy and Chloe.
He turned to the worried looking couple, stepping towards them. Jeremy looked up and smiled wearily. Somehow, despite all that had happened, his smile still reached to his eyes. "Hey." Jeremy greeted. Chloe nodded slightly.
Nick looked at Chloe and then back at Jeremy.
"She's fine, really." Jeremy answered the question that was on Nick's lips. "Just… in shock. That's what the police said. It's understandable really. Lisa was… she was our anchor, so to speak. For all of us."
"But we have more anchors." Nick said, crossing his arms. "Each of us has a different kind of anchor."
"But Lisa was the main one, y'know." Jeremy provided, lightly stroking Chloe's hair. "She and Joshua. They worked so hard to save us. To save strangers. They told us about all of this, made us understand. They were the guiding light, and now Lisa's gone and Joshua's who knows where…" Jeremy shrugged, his words trailing off.
"We got Richard." Nick tried weakly, knowing exactly what Jeremy was about to say.
"Yeah, but look at him." Jeremy waved at the direction Richard has disappeared to. "He's a broken man. I don't think he's going to be able to help us, not until something gets him in his right mind."
Nick just nodded, his eyes flicking upwards to the black clouds rolling over the skyline.
"What happened to his nose, anyway?" Jeremy followed up.
"Ah…" Nick caught Derrick glancing at them and then away, obviously listening to the conversation. "He and Derrick got into an… argument."
"Derrick…?" Jeremy looked at the older brother. "Him?"
Derrick turned around and paced towards the three, Grace in tow. "Yeah. Me."
"Oh." Jeremy smiled again, offering his hand to the much bigger man. "Nice to meet you. I'm Jeremy. This is Chloe."
Staring at Jeremy's hand suspiciously, Derrick took it and shook once before letting go.
"I'm Grace." Grace put in, stepping around Derrick, fingering a loose curl of hair shyly.
"Hello." Jeremy nodded. "Do you-"
"They know." Nick confirmed. "I told them. Well, I told Derrick, anyhow."
"He told me." Grace answered the unasked question. "But we have an iron-clad plan, right? That's what Der says."
Nick opened his mouth to answer and saw the glowering look from Derrick. He faltered slightly before smiling. "Yeah. We have a plan." Nick quickly cast a look at Jeremy, who understood immediately. They were just saying it to keep Grace from worrying. At least, until they actually had a plan.
The group was silent following Nick's words. Derrick shifted uncomfortably, wanting to go. Just when he was about to say his goodbyes, Grace stepped forward and put a slightly shaking hand on Chloe's shoulder, surprising both Derrick and Chloe equally.
"Are you okay…?" Grace asked, her mouth flicking up in a small smile. Chloe looked at her with wide eyes. "You look... depressed…"
"She's, ah…" Jeremy ran a hand through his hair. "She's had a hard day."
"That Lisa chick." Derrick said bluntly, crossing his arms. "You gotta deal with it."
"Der…" Grace complained lightly at her brother, tugging on his sleeve. "Don't be so mean."
Derrick just shrugged. "It's the truth. Shit happens. We get over it."
Once again silence followed, and once again Derrick was about to leave before Chloe spoke.
"…I thought they would focus on themselves." Chloe whispered, looking at her hands. Jeremy looked at her, surprised. She had barely said a word since Lisa's death. "I thought that… that they would have to focus on themselves. They were on the list too. I didn't think… I thought the moment that they were on the list, all they cared about would be themselves." Chloe choked on her words, eyes glittering. "But they came to… to try and save us… they thought we were next and they came to save us… They were on the list and I was so convinced they wouldn't care… but they did and… and Lisa died because of it… It's my fault… I should have just stayed…"
"It's not your fault." Jeremy said, kneeling in front of Chloe. "It couldn't have been. If anyone is at fault, it'll be me. I should have asserted myself, forced you to stay here with the group."
"It's no-one's fault." Nick put in. "An unfortunate… tragic mistake. But it's happened now. And Derrick was right, even if he was… hard about it." Derrick snorted. "We got to deal with it; we need to get over it."
Chloe stared at Nick before nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess."
"Besides," Nick managed a tiny smile. "You got your baby."
Chloe blinked, surprised. "But I haven't told-" she turned to Jeremy, but he just shrugged, as clueless as she was.
"Well, unless you are feeling extreme pain in your stomach. You keep stroking your stomach."
"Oh… I… didn't realise…" Chloe blinked slowly.
"So, are you?" Nick asked.
"…yeah." Chloe nodded. "It's Jeremy's." She said firmly, almost defensively.
"You're pregnant? Cool!" Grace seemed to forgo all shyness and gazed at Chloe in wonder. "I want a kid sometime, be a mommy." Nick looked at her, surprised, before he caught Derrick's intense glare. Nick quickly looked away. "What are you going to name the baby?"
Chloe opened her mouth to answer, before shutting it again. Finally, "We don't know… we don't even know if it's a boy or a girl yet."
"If I ever get a baby, I'm going to name her Serena, or if it's a him, I'm gonna name him Mark." Grace said with a bright smile. Behind her, Derrick stiffened noticeably. He lightly touched Grace's elbow.
"Come on, Gracie, let's go."
"Okay." Grace nodded before turned to Nick. "Can you come with us?"
Taken off guard, Nick looked at her. "What…? Why?" He didn't mean to sound rude, but nevertheless, Grace didn't seem bothered.
"Der-Bear is so boring to talk to sometimes. You seem interesting to talk to." She grabbed his arm, pulling him close as if he were some kind of toy. She looked up to Derrick with wide, expectant eyes. "Can we? Please, Derrick?"
Derrick wanted to say, no way, but looking into those wide eyes, he crumbled. "Okay, fine." He looked into Nick's eyes. "Just walking. Assuming he wants to, of course. He hasn't said if he wants to."
"Yeah, that's fine, I don't have anything… uh… planned." Nick trailed off as he looked into Derrick's hostile glare once again. "Just walk with you." He said firmly. Derrick nodded, almost invisibly, in approval.
"Let's go." Derrick strode ahead, hands in his pockets.
"Der-Bear?" Nick questioned, looking down at Grace. She beamed.
"Yeah. He's a big cuddly bear underneath that hard exterior. You just got to get to know him."
"Let's go." Derrick repeated, his cheeks ever so slightly flushed. Grace nodded, practically dragging Nick along by the arm.
Watching them disperse, Chloe chuckled, causing Jeremy to look at her.
"What?"
"She reminds me of you."
"Me?" Jeremy pointed at his chest. "How?"
"Far too innocent for her own good.
Joshua opened the glass-panelled door, the chime tinkling, announcing his entrance. It was an old clothes shop. There were no so-called 'modern' clothes around. No high-end trainers, no hip designed T-Shirts with logos. Most, if not all the clothes, were second-hand, but all were pristinely kept. Joshua looked around, a smile playing on his lips. He hadn't been here in ages.
"Well, give me a god dang heart attack," And old voice said from the counter. The old man put his glasses, attached by a chain, on his eyes, as if to get a closer look at the approaching Joshua. "This is a blast of the past if I ever did see one."
"It's good to see you too, Howard." Joshua leaned on the counter, the smile turned into a grin. "How's business?"
"Y'know how it is. So many people want high-end bits and pieces. But I get a few customers a day. People still appreciate these old things, you know?"
"I know." Joshua nodded. "How're you doing these days?"
"Living with my ol' shop." Howard sat down in his chair with a small huff. "Waiting. When you reach my age, that's what it comes down to. Waiting for the end."
"Ain't no end for you, Howard. You're going to live forever, like some sort of human turtle." Joshua walked around the back of the counter, sitting on a spare wooden chair.
"You're too kind to an old man. So, Joshua, why the visit? Come to steal some more of my clothes?"
Joshua just chuckled. "Not this time. I think, for the first time ever, I'm actually going to pay for your clothes."
"I am actually going to have a heart attack if you keep up these surprises." Howard put a hand on his chest in mock pain.
Reaching into his pockets, Joshua pulled out some money that he had taken from his bank account. It was a bank account rarely used, made just after he turned sixteen. He had taken some odd jobs in shops and needed a place for the money to go to. Having never actually lived in a house or had any other reason to use the money, it had just sat there. Giving the old man almost one hundred dollars, Joshua stood up and stretched. "Consider that for the stuff I stole way back as well."
Howard just nodded. "I'm pretty certain this doesn't cover it, but it'll do for now. What do you want Josh?"
"I think you know." Joshua peeled off his shirt, showing it to Howard.
"You still wear those?"
"My favourite." Joshua scrunched up the shirt and threw it into a nearby trash can. "But it's covered in all sorts of things that aren't gonna wash out. So I need a new one."
"I think I have one lying around somewhere…" Howard got up and paced around the back wall, his hands flitting through perfectly kept shirts. Finally he took a dark crimson one out, the white faces of drama on either side. "Here we go." Howard gave it to Joshua. Joshua immediately ripped out the labels and pulled it on, buttoning the new shirt on. He rolled his shoulders with an even widening grin. "Lovely." His grin disappeared and Joshua stood in front of Howard. "You know… I told you stories about my mother?"
"About how you wanted to meet her and rip her face off?" Howard chuckled once again. "I remember very vivid stories about how you wanted to meet your mother. Including a rather entertaining one about stringing her up by her legs and beating her with her own arms."
"Well, ignore all that. I don't want to kill her. Or even beat her with her own arms." Joshua looked up to the ceiling. "She was the most wonderful mother a son could want."
"Ah." Howard blinked under his glasses before standing up and surprising Joshua by embracing him in a hug. Joshua didn't protest, and leaned into the old man's shoulder.
If Phillipa was Joshua's acting mother back when he was growing up, Howard was his father. It started when Joshua needed clothes and saw a likely target, sneaking into the usually empty store and stealing the clothes. One day he caught Howard watching, but not stopping him. Howard simply laughed before going back into the shop. The next day, Joshua had gone to him and sat down, simply saying, 'Tell me a story'. Howard, seeing his own grandson, complied, never once questioning where Joshua had come from. Eventually Joshua had revealed his life, bit by bit, on his own. And Howard had listened, felt sad, and comforted the boy.
Now, Joshua found himself weeping into Howard's shoulder, feeling every bit the thirteen-year old boy again. All the emotion, all the pain, finally shared with somebody. He wasn't miserable, he wasn't frustrated, he wasn't broken, he was simply expelling all the sadness and tears out onto somebody who would listen, somebody who would care.
"She's gone…" Howard ventured lightly, patting Joshua on the back.
"Yeah she's… she's gone…" Joshua nodded, trying to wipe the tears away with the back of his hand.
Howard just nodded lightly. "It's okay. It will be hard, but it will be okay. When I lost Maurice, I was so… so miserable. I only realised far too late that I should have simply appreciated her memory, not get lost in the memories of her."
"I know that…" Joshua smiled and pulled away from Howard, wiping the last of his tears away. Howard was the only person Joshua could freely express himself to. "And I will appreciate her memories." Joshua took a breath before sitting down. Howard sat down also, ready to listen. "I… Miles is… he's gone too…"
"Oh…" Howard frowned, knowing the boy that Joshua had raised from hand. He had supplied many a blanket, and even clothes in the latter years of Joshua's visits. "I am so sorry, Joshua."
"Don't be. He was murdered by a bad man." Joshua smiled weakly. "And that bad man is gone now. He was happy, in the end. He accepted it. So young but… but so strong. It was hard for me, but I've… dealt with it now."
Silence followed for the next few minutes before Joshua stood up, brushing himself off. "Well, it's been nice seeing you again Howard. I'll try to come by again. Give you a gravestone or something." Once again, the grin was back on Joshua's face. He waved goodbye and left the store, the bell tinkling again.
Watching the young man, Howard pushed his glasses up and wiped his eyes. "He wasn't the strong one, Joshua…" Howard muttered, lowering the finger to see it was wet. "You are. By God you are the strongest human walking this earth, with that there's no doubt."
A/N: Thanks, as always, to PrincezzShell101 for your review.
First off, I kind'a made a big mistake XD I said Detrikov was handcuffed… which would be impressive, seeing as he only has one hand. I'm going to keep that big mistake in, as I always do with big mistakes, because it'll be funny to look back at it later. And it also teaches me: "don't make stupid mistakes, you fool!"
So, a lot has changed since the last chapter in terms of planning. I've now roughly planned every chapter, and I can confirm that TWO people will survive this story. Yup, you heard me right. Only two. Two from everyone in the new list. And I even have everybody's deaths planned out, and let me tell you, I got wet eyes from a few of them. Hopefully I'll achieve one of my missions to make one of you cry (In the good, emotional kind'a way)
'Till next time!