Chapter 5: Damage Control
Author's Note: Prepare yourselves for another entertaining (in my opinion at least) exchange of insults between Brian and Lillian. Now it's Lillian's turn to attempt interrogating Brian. Will she make it? As a new problem emerges, they all have to place their disagreements aside, and get down to planning. But with Brian's stubbornness, will they manage to have a talk that will get them somewhere? Hehehe, without further ado, I shall let you read chapter 5!
Lots of love,
Nessie
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“Come on, Silvia, let’s go check on your crazy brother and that girl,” I heard Kellah’s voice after what seemed to have been over an hour of utter silence.
Silvia’s giggle was loud and clear from the corridor as well. “My bwothew isn’t cwazy!” she said perkily. At least someone here was having fun.
“I agree with Silvia on that,” I said to my aunt, as she stepped inside. “I believe I am perfectly sane.”
“Sane… I haven’t met many people who threaten to kill me and are rational at the same time,” Lillian said sarcastically. It was the first thing she’d said since I brought our talk to an end. At the sound of her voice, my head instantly lifted. I scolded myself for reacting so quickly, as if my body and mind were somehow connected to her. Esh.
“So, not much has changed, I take it. Did you like the food?” Kellah inquired.
“It looked yummy,” Silvia added.
“It was very good,” Lillian agreed, nodding. “Thanks.”
“We were thinking we’d go back so that Silvia can play with that girl she was. She was having a lot of fun.”
“And look at that! She gave me a doll!” Silvia chimed in, lifting the doll to my face. The long blond hair made me recognize instantly who it was. Rapunzel. Silvia had a thing about that fairytale since she was about two and mom read her the story at bedtime.
I ruffled her hair and nodded. “It’s great, Silvia. Go have fun.” Kellah pulled her towards the door and I muttered a “Keep an eye on her,” as she walked out again. So, once again, I was left babysitting Lillian. Great.
“You didn’t tell me why they sent me after you,” Lillian said.
“True. I didn’t.” I made sure I didn’t look at her. She shouldn’t get the impression she was important or anything. Because she wasn’t. Was she?
She didn’t do anything for a while, other than swift uncomfortably in her seat, probably itchy again. I could almost smell her impatience in the air though. “So…? I’m waiting over here. Care to enlighten me?”
I shook my head. “It’s going to be a long wait then,” I said sarcastically.
“What?” Her voice grew a little louder, her tone almost aggressive. This time, I lifted my head. Her eyes were narrowed and her face had turned a few shades deeper red than usually. “Hey, I told you about me, now it’s your turn!”
“No. It wasn’t some kind of exchange. You said it because you wanted to. That’s all.” I tried to make my voice sound distant and cold and for a second I wondered if I had actually succeeded.
She pushed her lips together angrily, glaring at me. “Fine! If that’s how you want it to be.”
“That’s exactly how I want it to be,” I snarled, crossing my arms over my chest. It wasn’t like I owed her or anything. She was still my enemy. Not my best buddy whom I shared all my secrets with! She was going to kill me and take my sister to God only knows where! Yeah, so don’t owe her anything!
She turned her back on me, staring at the cabin’s wall and all I could see from her was the back of her red dress and her wrists tied behind her back. I kept staring though and realized I was having a really hard time pulling my look away, even from her back. “You know, we need to figure out what we’re going to do,” I said, trying to make her look at me again. If she did I would at least kind of excuse myself for staring. Her face was so beautiful that it was only natural that I stared. The moment I made that thought I felt a mental slap against my cheek. Idiot! Your brain has to do the talking, not your hormones!
She only half turned to look at me, shooting me an angry glare. “It’s your problem. I’m the hostage here.”
I frowned. She was tough, I give her that. And stubborn. But I was more stubborn. “Then we can do that interrogation style. Where were you going to meet up with your… bosses?”
“I have the right to remain silent,” she said pigheadedly.
“Ha!” I barely kept a growl from rising up my throat. “You are not under arrest. You are a hostage. Does that ring any bells? Let’s say that I am a psycho who threatens to kill you.”
“You are a psycho who threatens to kill me,” she interrupted, giving me a cunning smile.
I ignored her and made sure I was looking at her with that half-crazy look that came so easily to my face. “So, I have the right to get that beautiful dagger of yours from my aunt’s bag and stab you. Since you’re going to heal yourself, it’s no big deal… Right?” I muttered ironically. To make the scene a little more realistic, I pulled the little knife out of the bag. Its blade glowed in the florescent lighting of the cabin and I saw her eyes widening and she tried to crouch defensively.
“I said that I can heal myself. Not that it’s my first choice,” she snapped, fear obvious in her eyes. I was a little taken aback at how that made me feel.
“Then… you better begin talking.” I did a little theatrical movement with the hand that held the dagger, at which she was constantly staring.
“I’m not sure.” Her voice was hesitant, as if she was honestly confused and fuzzy about the details. “They didn’t give me details, alright? They said they’d be there as soon as I got off that train. That they’d find me.”
“Oh great! Just great!” I said sarcastically, dropping the dagger on the floor with a clank and burying my face in my palms.
“That bad?” she said, sounding slightly sympathetic. She probably was more relieved now that the dagger wasn’t in my hand anymore as well.
“Worse than you can imagine. Anything else they told you? It’s crucial. Because… Seriously, how did you accept a job with so little information given?! Don’t you guys do some research and surveillance on your targets or something?” I was having a hard time remaining calm and was starting to lose my temper. I fisted my palms to hide their shaking.
The corner of her lip lifted a little to what could be called a grin, revealing a row of perfectly straight, white teeth. “You want to know how I work.” Her grin grew a little wider. “Look, I normally run some background checks to see who I’m working for and who I’m after. But those guys offered a lot of money and gave me very little time. I just had to take the offer. It’s one of those once in a lifetimechances, you know? You understand what I mean, right?”
“I’m trying to,” I murmured, nodding. “Guess it’s important for you, huh?”
“I could get away from hunting for the rest of my life with this pay. I could get a house and live happily ever after with no worries in the world ever again, if I played my cards right.”
“That much? They really want us dead then.” I sighed heavily, wondering if I should be proud we were so important, or get more despaired.
“Not the girl, just you. Why’s that?” she asked, the little bug of curiosity she seemed to carry with her coming back to the surface again. How did we end up having this kind of conversation again?!
“She’s… important.” The less information I gave her about Silvia, the safer we’d all be.
“I’ve seen children being kidnapped to ask the parents for something in exchange. But kill the relatives and take the child? It’s not like she’s some kind of royalty or anything. Right?”
“No, that, she’s not. Thankfully. I really can’t tell you what she is though. It will get you in more trouble than you already are. The less you know, the better at this point. Besides, I don’t trust you, remember? You… tried… to… kill… me!”
“So keeping me on a ‘need to know basis’ for my own good? That’s sweet.” The moment the words left her lips her face turned a bright shade of pink and she bit on her lip nervously. I chuckled at her blush and slight embarrassment. It was kinda cute.
I frowned at my thought and stared down at my hands for a while. Eventually, I looked back up at her. “Seriously, you need to know, just in case they didn’t mention it, what happens if you fail. Because you get the money and your happily ever after only if you do the job. But if you don’t…” I gripped the dagger in my fist and made a move on the air, inches from my neck, as if I was slicing it open. I saw her flinching. “And I highly doubt they’re going to use a dagger either.”
“So… what? If I stay with you, I probably will eventually end up dead, but if I go to them with empty hands I definitely end up dead? Well, good for. This may be the deadest dead end I’ve ever gotten myself into,” she said with a heavy sigh.
“Nice way to put it. I hope the thought that with me you will live a little longer will encourage you to help me figure out how we’ll escape the moment the doors of this train open and get the hell away from here with my sister and aunt alive and well.”
“I’m good at planning escapes,” she said, suddenly seeming more interested in the deal I was offering her.
“Glad to hear that. I’m open for suggestions then.”
“They can’t be checking every door, right?”
I slowly sucked in some air, trying to think how many they would have brought if they expected the bounty hunter to bring them just a child. Not more than two probably. I shook my head. “No. they can’t.”
“Is there, by any chance a way we could just burst out the doors and outrun them?”
I smirked. “I was counting on something smarter.”
“There are only so many ways when you want to escape, especially a train,” she noted.
“I figured.”
“Then what do you suggest, genius?” she asked, looking at me through those long dark lashes again, making me lose my train of thought again for a second.
I looked at her momentarily, clenching my jaw. “I am trying to think.”
“Oh, sounds like a good plan. If you had a brain.” She snickered under her breath.
I rolled my eyes and squeezed the handle of the dagger a little harder; my knuckles were beginning to turn white again. “I’m not the brainless bounty hunter who got tricked by her own victim now, am I?” I growled at her.
“This fight isn’t getting us anywhere. And it won’t help either of us make it out alive of this train,” she observed, her tone softening to almost a whisper. It made my stomach feel like it was a big tied knot and sent shivers down my spine.
I tried to remember the anger management lessons I had taken two years ago… They were just a jumble of pointless exercises about breathing and focusing on the positives. Like there were positives in being hunted 24-7. “You’re right,” I conceded.
“How about getting out from the train’s rooftop and I dunno, jumping onto the opposite platform? Could Silvia and Kellah manage that?” she suggested.
“Watching westerns much?” I mocked. “Would you try that in a super modern train station filled with security cameras? We’re just going to end up at the head of the station’s security. And that would totally draw some attention, I promise you.”
She breathed out and let her head touch the wall. “It’s no use. We’re dead.”
“You can do that, give up and die, but I will escape,” I said stubbornly.
“Maybe we should ask Kellah. She must have some idea. She seems to be the more level headed of us two!”
“Kellah? She’s human!” I said, snorting.
“Uh… Hello? You’re human too, smartass.” I looked at her, clenching my teeth. I had screwed up. Me and my big mouth!
“Yes. That’s true. I meant an old woman… So maybe we should leave the crazy talk and go back to the escape talk?” I said back, peddling and trying to convince her so we’d drop the subject.
“Anything you want to share?”
“No, I still haven’t come up with any ideas,” I said.
“Brian…” She looked at me with that look that screamed how guilty I looked. “Maybe you’d like to tell me your secret now?”
“No. I’m human, I’m hunted. End of conversation.”
“You’re really direct when you want to finish something, aren’t you? Not a very good liar either.” she said matter-of-factly, chuckling.
“Can you zip it? I’m trying to focus.” I really did try. But no matter how much I searched inside my head, I couldn’t come up with a good escape plan.
“And I will repeat my question. Maybe. Kellah. Has. An. Idea. Let’s ask her.”
“No!”
“What makes you so negative when it comes to your aunt? And what’s your problem with her job?” Lillian asked, looking me straight in the eyes, in that way of hers that didn’t allow me to look away or think straight.
“For the first one, I honestly keep wondering the same myself. Now concerning my job… His problem is with dogs, not dog trainers. A dog barked and growled at him when he was two and since then, he hates them,” Kellah said, chuckling as she walked in.
I shot a furious look at my aunt and I could feel my face warming up. I was trembling out of annoyance, but at the sight of my little sister, I slid the dagger back in Kellah’s bag. “It did not just bark and growl… it bit me. And dogs are awful anyway. They bark and bite and lick anything and everything.”
Silvia hopped on the bed and started brushing her doll’s hair with her little fingers, singing some song about flowers. Mom would know it and would have sung along. As for me… yeah, not so much.
“That dog really traumatized Brian,” Kellah whispered to Lillian as if I wasn’t able to hear them. I was sitting right next to my aunt!
“All dogs are horrible. I can’t understand how you can stand them,” I muttered and huffed at them both.
I could see a smile forming on Lillian’s lips and she winked at me. I narrowed my eyes and observed a ghost that was glaring at Silvia. I really hoped he wouldn’t try anything. “I realize how interesting that conversation may be, but I really think we have something more important to talk about at the moment,” said Lillian, her voice suddenly growing serious.
“Huh? What?” Kellah asked, suddenly interested in what Lillian had to say. I glared at Lillian but she stuck her tongue out at me and just like that, she brushed my warning off.
Infuriating girl!
“How we’re escaping from the guys who are after you when we try to get off of the train.”
“How… what? Brian! What is she talking about?” Kellah’s blue eyes sparkled worriedly and she looked a little paler. It was one of those moments when she looked really old, older than her actual years.
“They will be waiting at the station. And since she didn’t get the job done as they wanted, she is in as much danger as we are. And Miss I-Can’t-Figure-Out-A-Plan wanted to ask for your opinion,” I admitted, wishing all my negative thoughts could just get to Lillian and fall on top of her head with full force or something.
“That’s really kind of you, Lillian,” said Kellah, giving Lillian a thankful smile.
Lillian shrugged then smiled. “No problem. Girl power and all.”
“I don’t think your girl power will be able to help in that,” I said, wanting to make clear the fact that I was not involved in asking for her help. I didn’t want my aunt being mixed up with anything as a matter of fact. But since she was with us, I’d probably have to endure it, huh?
My aunt’s eyes widened and her lip became a thin line, an expression that was plastered almost constantly on her face since last night. “As a matter of fact, I believe I can help.”
Lillian’s face lit up. I just sighed and waited for the stupid idea to get out. Silvia hugged her doll and leaned on Kellah’s arm, observing the ghost of a child who was playing with a stick that had a feather hanging from its edge with the ghost of a cat. I was glad she hadn’t noticed the angry ghost glaring at her next to Lillian.
Kellah explained her plan excitedly and Lillian seemed more than satisfied with the idea. Even I was beginning to think that this may actually work. She didn’t do badly… for a human. Silvia kept ignoring the adult talk and played with her doll in the meantime, moving away from Aunt Kellah and sitting on my lap.
I had been up for eighteen hours straight and keeping my eyes open was becoming more and more difficult. My eyelids were becoming heavier and heavier until I had to shake my head and pinch my hand to make my eyes open again. Kellah was asleep and Silvia in my lap was counting sheep, in the wrong order I may add, as she was convinced that the numbers went like this: Three, five, two, one, six, seven, eight, four, nine, ten. Then she was starting all over. Her counting seemed to have more effect on me though, than on her. Until it turned into mumbling and then she became completely silent; her little chest lifting rhythmically as she breathed in and out. I lifted her and tucked her under the bedding, removing her shoes. I tried to put her doll aside, but she was gripping it tightly and I was afraid that she would wake up if I tried again. I let my head lean on the metallic railing of the bunk, hoping the cold would help me keep myself awake.
“Why don’t you just sleep? I doubt I will manage to go anywhere. Just trying to get down from the bed would make me fall headfirst on the floor,” Lillian said. Her voice sounded soft, like a lullaby, urging me to close my eyes even more.
“I… can’t… sleep… and… leave you… unguarded…” I said between yawns.
“I can take care of myself,” she said and in the darkness I could see her grinning.
“That…” Yawn. “Was…”Another yawn. “The least… of my worries,” I said sarcastically.
With the last strength I had left, I climbed up the bunk where Lillian was and crossed my legs on the blanket, facing her and looking straight into her eyes; at least I was, the moments when my eyes were open.
“Need a pillow?” she offered, pushing the pillow in my direction with her knee. I took it, but didn’t dare to let my head touch it. I could barely keep myself awake the way things were. A pillow would just make everything worse. “Didn’t have much sleep the last couple of days, did you?”
“No… I…” Yawn. “Didn’t. Aren’t you… sleepy?” I asked. My voice was surprised, under the sleepy slow tone that was all one could hear at the moment.
“A little. Still holding on,” she said perkily.
I nodded, not knowing what I was supposed to say to that. I wasn’t in the mood to talk really. Lillian moved herself towards me; all I could make out in the darkness was the outline of her red dress and her head. Her ebony hair seemed to be forming some kind of halo. The moonlight behind her made it seem to glow a little.
“You’re not as bad as you try to make yourself look, you know that?” she said softly and I felt her leg touching mine. I didn’t feel like pulling away. As a matter of fact, I didn’t feel like doing anything.
“Whatever,” I said sarcastically.
“You may say whatever all you want, but I can see deeper than you think. You don’t have a heart made of stone even though you would like us all to believe that.”
“Okay, sure,” I gave in, unable to really object at the moment. “But it’s not made of what stuffed animals are either.”
She laughed. Her laugh was soft like the sea breeze and I couldn’t help but smile sheepishly. Her face was coming a bit too close to mine. “I wouldn’t take a vow about that one,” she murmured in my ear, causing chill bumps to rise on my arms. For a second, the roles had been reversed. I felt more like the guy tied up with a dog leash than the one making sure Lillian wouldn’t escape.
“Why don’t you just sleep? It would make my life much easier,” I said, trying to drown out yet another yawn and the sweet scent that was coming off of her skin clouding my mind.
“When I said I’m going nowhere, I meant it. You don’t have to worry about me. Now that I know you and your family, I could never…” she whispered softly. She was looking at me through her thick lashes again; in the moonlight they looked even longer and more impressive. Like an angel, Lillian began to sing softly. I didn’t even get the chance to say anything, because I was already falling into a peaceful sleep.
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