Illuminati

Illuminati 8

Illuminati 8

I'm knocking on his door. It's the only person that I know I can get to right now. It's the only person that I know that could listen to me right now. I knock on the door at that moment to see him. He's standing behind it. It's Joaquin.

"What's wrong?"

I'm tearing up. I just ran out of my apartment to get help when Quest stopped moving. I didn't know what else to do.

"He...he's..."

I'm hyperventilating. I can't breathe. Joaquin pulls me into his muscular chest. He doesn't have a shirt on. He just holds me there and for a minute I feel like he is calming me down. It's something about the way he holds me close that just makes everything in this moment alright.

"Calm down OK?" he tells me, "Now breathe. I need you to talk slow and I need you to let me know what is going on."

"It's Quest. He's dead."

"Quest is dead?" Joaquin states shaking his head in disbelief, "How! What are you talking about?"

"He's in my apartment. They killed him Joaquin. They fucking killed him."

Joaquin immediately grabs the phone.

He calls the cops at that moment.

The whole time he's on the phone with the cops I am standing next to the fridge. I'm breathing heavy. I didn't know if I should be getting Joaquin involved with this. I didn't know if I should be getting the cops involved with this. What choice did I have though? They had just killed my best friend in the world. I wasn't thinking straight right now.

I just left them, running out of the apartment as fast as I could to get help. I ran down the flights of stairs all the way to Joaquin's apartment.

Joaquin is just as nervous as I am, "Wait here."

That's when I see Joaquin turn around. He runs into his room and he comes back with a gun. I look at the gun and before he even puts bullets in I know exactly what he's going to do.

"No. Wait. You can't go back up there."

I literally chase him into the hallway. Joaquin doesn't put on shoes. He doesn't put on a shirt. He just has his gun and some basketball shorts. The look on his face is something I've never seen before. He hated Quest but right now Joaquin was just as upset as I was.

"I'm just going to check it out, OK?" he tells me, "Stay here."

"I'm not letting you go by yourself."

I'm not taking no for an answer. Joaquin seems like he isn't willing to wait until the cops get there either. He has this look on his face that is telling me that he is going to find out what happened to Quest one way or another.

We make it up the steps. The door is open. The lights are off in the apartment still. There is a cold breeze that sweeps through the hallways.

Joaquin shivers. He might be nervous. He might be cold because he doesn't have much of anything on. I lean into him, securing my hands around his shoulders. He looks into my eyes really hard before clutching the gun so hard that I can see the strain in his fingers.

"You ready?" he whispers to me.

I want to say no but the words don't come out of my mouth. Instead I nod like an idiot. All the while my palms are sweating and my heart is beating faster than a Rock Metal drummer. I find courage somewhere in this though because I find myself actually leading the way. Truth is I really just don't want Joaquin to get hurt and I'm thinking maybe it wasn't a good idea to have told him what was going on.

We get into the door. We walk into the darkness.

I flick on the lights. My heart is in my stomach at this point when the whole condo illuminates. I jerk back, grasping at Joaquin when I swear I see a figure light up.

"Nothing..."

Joaquin looks around. He's right. There's nothing. No one. No Illuminati members in creepy masks filling the room. No Quest either.

The weird thing about it was that there was no sign of Quest.

It's the morning by the time I'm done with my interview at the police station. I storm out of the police station and I'm being chased by the detective.

"We're just trying to get information here..." the detective states.

Joaquin is in the waiting room. He's managed to find a shirt but honestly not much else. He's been waiting out here for hours and I don't want to have him waiting anymore.

"Let's go," I state.

"Are you sure? Is it over already?" he asks me.

"It's pointless. I can see how they are looking at me. They don't believe a fucking word I'm saying. They think I'm just making this shit up."

"Did they at least file a missing person report?" Joaquin asks me.

"He's not missing. He's dead."

Joaquin looks at me as though he's struggling with the idea for a minute. It's not as bad as the look the detectives in the police station were giving me. You should have seen their faces when I told them that I was a member of a secret society and that secret society was trying to control my life. They looked at me like I was a fucking maniac.

I try to storm off though. I know the only way I can get back is with Joaquin but I hate how he is looking at me. I contemplate taking a taxi back to my condo but truth be told I don't want to stay back there. The only person I know to stay with would be Joaquin.

We head back to his house and I notice Joaquin is blowing up Quest's phone. Quest clearly isn't arguing. I'm standing in the threshold looking at Joaquin.

"What part of dead don't you get?" I ask Joaquin.

"I'm just trying to help."

"There's nothing you can do."

Joaquin shakes his head, "I need to understand your story again. You came home and these strangers were in your apartment. They killed Quest because of something you did."

"They aren't...strangers."

"You knew them? Good. Why didn't you tell the cops who they were?" he asks.

I shake my head. He didn't get it. I told the cops a little bit more than I told Joaquin but the truth was I didn't know much. I couldn't understand much of anything that had happened.

"Not exactly," I tell Joaquin.

Joaquin looks over at me. I can see a real concern in the way he is staring at me.

"I'm confused..."

"I can't tell you everything," I state, "They might be listening. I know they have my apartment bugged. They might have ME bugged somehow. They could be listening at this very moment."

"Who?"

I look around. There was so much glass in this high rise. We were high up but he didn't have curtains. What if someone had a telescope. They could see right through all these glass walls. They could read our lips. They could see what we were talking about. What if they knew that I was getting Joaquin involved? Would he be next?

I couldn't lose Joaquin.

I couldn't.

Just at that moment I grab Joaquin. I hold him. I hold him tight.

"I can't lose you," I tell him, "I can't put your life in danger."

Joaquin pushes me back. He doesn't push me off of him but he pushes me back enough so that he can look in my eyes. By now I look like shit and I know it. My eyes are tearing up. I look desperate and stupid.

"Listen to me," Joaquin states, "We are going to get through this. I just need you to trust me. I need you to talk to me and make sense."

"You'll believe me?""

"Of course. I love you..." Joaquin responds.

Him saying those words brings down a wall. I cared about Joaquin as well. Deeply. He was the man of my dreams. He was that unattainable beauty that a million people craved but somehow I was lucky to get. He was that podium. He was the kind of guy that you sold your soul for. I owned him. I know that now more than ever. The way he looks at me let me know that he meant it when he said he loved me. He meant it with every part of him.

It just made me realize just how powerful the Illuminati was.

"I can't tell you much. I think they hurt Quest because he was getting too close. It was the middle of the night and I left him in my bed because I was thirsty. They were waiting for me. They were waiting outside and they heard our entire conversation from before we went to sleep."

"Wait. Quest slept over last night?" he asks me.

I was so concerned with the details of my story that I almost forget who I'm telling my story to. Almost immediately I see Joaquin's heart break through his eyes. He stops holding me and takes a slight pivot away. I can tell he's trying not to show emotion right now but it's coming through regardless.

"I'm sorry," I tell him.

It's the only thing that I can think to say.

"Did you guys..."

"Do you really want to know the answer to that?" I ask.

Joaquin is thinking. It hurts because I know just how desirable he is. It's not just outer beauty either. Don't get me wrong, Joaquin was a 12 on a scale from 1-10. It was his inner beauty as well. Joaquin was such a good fucking person. I knew that he would make me happy. I knew that I would never want for anything with him. I knew that if Quest wasn't in my life I would never ever look at another man. No other man could ever compare to Joaquin...except for Quest and that was a whole different reason. Quest and I had...history.

"No..." he whispers luckily, "What happened when they came?"

"He was injected. It was a delayed response and he died. Right on that floor."

"Are you sure he is dead?"

I nod.

"Yes. He's dead."

"OK. I'm going to reach out to a private investigator," Joaquin explains.

"No. No one else needs to get involved."

"You already involved the cops," Joaquin tells me, "If they can't find him then we need someone who will. I'm going to hire someone. Until then...you can stay with me. Until we find out what happens to him you can stay with me."

Joaquin comes over and grabs me. He holds me at that moment.

"Joaquin...I need to tell you why they were really mad. These people who I'm involved with..."

"The people who you don't want to name?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Tell me."

"Quest and I were planning on leaving together."

I can hear a change in Joaquin's breathing. It gets heavier. He doesn't move off of me though. He comforts me even though he doesn't have to. He comforts me even though I betrayed him and most likely he is aware that I had sex with Quest.

None-the-less Joaquin nods at that moment. He takes a deep breath.

"Ok..."

"You're not mad?"

"I'm steaming but when you love someone there isn't stipulations on that. I knew you and Quest had something going on. I knew that it would be a struggle. I chose to continue falling for you. I chose to want to fight for you. I haven't changed my mind about that," Joaquin tells me squeezing me even tighter, "And I never will."

Just at that moment both our phones ring. It's a message. It's a message from Quest.

My heart turns when I see the message being sent.

"Oh my god..." I state.

"You got the message too?" he asks.

I nod.

I open up my phone and read the text message coming from Quest's phone number.

I JUST WANTED TO REACH OUT TO EVERYONE AND LET YOU GUYS KNOW THAT I NEED SOME TIME TO MYSELF. I'LL BE TAKING A LITTLE SHORT VACATION BUT I'LL DEFINITELY BE BACK. SEE YOU GUYS SOON.

I look down at the message. I look at Joaquin.

"It's not him. It's not FUCKING him..."

"I believe you. It's OK. I believe you," Joaquin states.

I wonder if he really does. He takes me to his bedroom to lay down and he just stares at me as though he is really concerned until I fall asleep.

It's later that day when Joaquin wakes me up.

"Hey I have to go into ICM. I have a studio session."

"A studio session? Now?"

"Mr. Appleton hooked me up. He wants me to start recording music...solo..."

I shake my head. Mr. Appleton huh? This didn't sound right. None of this sounded right.

"Quest is missing..."

Joaquin shakes his head, "Quest isn't here though. I talked to a private investigator. They are looking into it. There's nothing more I can do. I want to help I really do."

"So you just going to leave?" I ask.

"If you want me to stay I'll stay. For you..."

I look at Joaquin and I know that if he were to stay it would only be to offer support to me. He was a singer. All he knew how to do was sing. I knew that this was his dream.

"It's more to this. Joaquin look at the timing of this. Quest disappears and then all of a sudden the management team is interested in you doing a solo project."

"What do they have to do with my music?"

"Everything."

"What are you talking about?"

I want to tell him that the Illuminati made him who he was because his mother was a member. I just knew that Joaquin would confront his mother though. I wasn't sure if I was ready to go down that route. Not now at least. I had to be smarter now. I had to make better decisions now.

"Never mind," I state.

"Are you sure?" he asks, "Listen I'll call Appleton and tell him that I need some time. Me and you need some time until we figure out what is going on with Quest. I don't want to leave you alone anyway..."

It's clear he's changing his mind and realizing what is important. It's nice to know that Joaquin would put his dreams on hold for me.

I stop him though.

"No wait. I have to go to ICM anyway."

"Now?"

I nod.

"Yeah. There's someone I need to speak with. Someone I need to speak with about Quest."

I find Prairie in a studio in the ICM building. He's with the group LIGHT, which is another boyband group that the company manages. I should know that I'd find him there. The boys are a little bit more pop then my group but they are definitely well familiar with me when I walk into the recording studio. They even stop the session in order to greet me but I have no interest in making small talk.

I walk right past the members of the boy group and grab Prairie up.

"YOU DID THIS!"

Prairie usually has this little cocky ass expression on his face. He doesn't have that expression right now. He turns to me and he seems really bothered when I yoke him up in the way I'm doing.

"What the hell are you doing interrupting my session?" Mr. Mahn states.

I ignore him.

I grab Prairie and punch him. I punch him straight in his face. The members of the boy band immediately have to break us up pulling me off of him. Prairie's face is bleeding.

"Wait. Wait I want to talk to him," Prairie states.

I'm surprised as everyone else that Prairie says that but none-the-less he follows me out into the hallway. When we get out into the hallway he gives me this annoying smile that makes me want to punch him in the face again.

"He's dead."

"Who?"

"You know who..."

I'm breathing heavy. I want revenge. I want to hurt someone. Anyone. I'm literally going crazy at this point and I know I sound crazy to the people who are walking past. Prairie must realize this because he opens up a little storage closet for us to go into.

When we get in the room I just feel that presence. It's that sickening feeling that I felt last night when they came into my house. I just feel like we are not alone. Prairie looks at me and I just don't trust anything about this guy anymore.

"Talk to me."

"They came. They killed Quest last night."

Prairie sighs.

"I'm sorry about that."

He doesn't seem to be sorry though. He has no emotion. He's saying it as though it means nothing to him. He's saying it as though he's saying that the sky is blue. I don't fucking get it. I don't understand it.

"You knew they would..."

"I didn't know."

"YOU KNEW."

I take a step towards him. He throws his hands up.

"I had an idea," he finally admits shaking his head, "You talk too much. All you had to do was marry Joaquin. He is the perfect man. Why wouldn't you just go along with the plan?"

"It's not that simple."

"LOOK AT HIM! That is a gift. I'm not even gay and I'd switch teams if Joaquin gave me a shot. He's completely in love with you. The One-EYE granted you a gift and you didn't appreciate it."

"Did they force you to do anything?"

"Nothing I'm not willing to do," Prairie tells me, "Do you know where I was before the Illuminati came into my life? Do you know WHO I was before the Illuminati came in my life? No? You don't do you? Exactly. No one knows. That's the point. There is a plan. That plan is greatness and we all have to play our parts. It's your fault that Quest is dead."

I slam him so hard into the wall that I hear his back crack a little bit.

He squirms in pain.

"How fucking dare you" I state.

I want to hit him. I want to rip out his pretty hair and disfigure him. Then we'll see how useful he would be to the fucking EYE. I hated Prairie. I hated the Illuminati.

Prairie has no sense of empathy. He laughs right in my face.

"Don't you get it? You belong to us. We own you. Don't you understand that?"

"I want out."

Tears are rolling down my eyes. They took the thing that meant the most in the world to me. I release Prairie. He was just a puppet. He wasn't pulling any strings. Like a puppet he seems to have no heart either. As I cry he just looks on as though entertaining a show with wide wooden eyes, strings and a perfect smile that never fades or twitches. Prairie had no humanity.

Would this be me?

"There's only one way out," he tells me, "There's only one way we'll leave you alone."

I run out of the closet at that moment. I run right into Joaquin. He must have been looking for me. Joaquin sees Prairie and I leave the storage closet and me crying and I know that Joaquin is more than confused on what's going on.

"Hey..." Joaquin states, "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine."

Joaquin isn't shy to look at Prairie who is standing there looking dumb, "What were the two of you doing in the storage closet alone?"

"Relax. I'm not trying to sleep with him. I'm not Quest," Prairie states.

With the mention of Quest, Prairie laughs. It's a cold laugh. He has no fucking emotion. None at all.

"Trust me. I know that. But he's upset so I want to know what's up," Joaquin states.

Prairie looks at me. I look at Prairie. His smile gets wider.

"Are you going to share with Joaquin why you are crying?" Prairie asks.

Prairie is daring me. He's daring me to tell Joaquin something. I want to. I want to out Prairie for being the spineless puppet he was.

Instead I just shake my head, "We were just gossiping."

Prairie nods at that moment, "See. Nothing to see here. I'll catch you guys later. With Quest on vacation I think we should maybe consider the fact that he may not be into this group like the rest of us. I know the perfect person to replace him..."

Replacement? They were talking about replacement already?

"We aren't replacing Quest," Joaquin states.

With that Prairie shrugs, "Whatever..."

He walks away at that moment. Joaquin and I watch him walk away. Joaquin looks in my eyes and I know that he is suspicious. He's so suspicious.

"What was that about?" he asks me.

"Nothing."

"You need to trust me," Joaquin responds, "Something weird is happening and I'm not going to give up until I find out."

"Did something else happen? Do you know something?"

"That investigator I found..." Joaquin starts, "Says that Quest got a plane ticket to Italy earlier this morning."

"That's not Quest. They are plotting something."

"I believe you. I just need to know who they are. You need to help me so that I can help you," Joaquin states.

Joaquin had no idea. They'd do the same thing to him that they did to Quest. He had no idea what he was getting himself involved in.

Just at that moment someone walks by. Someone familiar.

"This way."

We turn and realize who it is. It's Princess.

We follow Princess down into the basement of building. As soon as we descend down there Joaquin looks over to me and asks me the question that is burning into him.

"What's going on?" he asks.

I shrug.

We get down to the basement and Princess takes out her keys. She is completely silent. She is acting really funny. When we get into the room she turns to us.

"If anyone is bugged, they won't be able to hear us down here. These walls are really insulated. They'll break up the signal."

"Who is they?" Joaquin asks.

"You didn't tell him?" Princess asks me.

I shake my head.

"No."

Princess nods, "Good. You might have just saved his life from them."

"Again. Who is them?"

Someone answers that I don't expect. Someone standing in the room.

"The Illuminati," the person with Princess states.

I'm shocked when I see who it is. It's Ashley. When she sees me, I realize she has been crying. Did she know about Quest? Why else would she be crying?

"Why is she here?" I ask, "Why the hell did you bring us here with her?"

Princess shakes her head, "Memphis relax. Ashley is one of us..."

"What? The Illuminati?" Joaquin asks laughing at that moment, "Are you guys fucking serious? Is this some sort of joke?"

Joaquin is laughing. He's the only one on the room laughing. The rest of us are taking this dead serious. I look over at Ashley. I had seen her pray before. How could she be a member of the Illuminati? She was so religious.

"I'm a member of the Illuminati," Ashley states, "Yes. And like you. They've controlled my life. Princess and I have been working on a way to get out. Somehow."

I wasn't alone. More people wanted out.

More people wanted to leave the Illuminati.

"You guys are serious..." Joaquin states.

"Dead serious," Princess responds, "They want to run things. They want to use the group to run things."

"Memphis they gave you Joaquin in the same way that they gave me Quest..."

Joaquin seems confused, "Excuse me? Gave..."

Joaquin had no idea what was going on. I didn't want him to learn like this.

"They manipulate everything," Ashley continues, "Entertainment, news, politics. The signs are everywhere. Joaquin and the group is supposed to make it big. And our path is use them to run the world..."

"What the fuck is she talking about? Listen I just want to sing," Joaquin states.

"He's not ready to hear all this," I state.

Ashley is aggressive. She's way more aggressive than I know her to be. I look over at Princess. Princess is shaking her head. Whatever happened to her must have been bad because she looks so scarred. She looks almost like a battered woman. I know the feeling after having Quest taken away from me. Ashley is different though. She doesn't seem sad. She seems angry.

"He needs to be ready. Joaquin is what all this is about. You think they wanted to control you, Memphis? You were just a tool. A tool to control Joaquin."

"They told me..."

"Everything they told you was a lie," Ashley tells me, "From the beginning. I was there. I set it all up. I made the calls. I made the threats to the doctors."

"Doctors? What are you talking about?"

"You don't have cancer, Memphis."

"I know I was cured."

"No Memphis. You never had cancer. It was all fake. That's how the Illuminati works. You sold your soul for nothing."

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