Disclaimer: The usual rules apply here. If you aren't legal in your area to be reading material(non erotic, mind you) about homosexuals and the activities they may or may not participate in, then please don't read. This story has been copyrighted and is not to be used elsewhere in any way without the express permission of the author (that would be me). For everyone else, enjoy!
Wayward People
Chapter Twenty Nine-"Half Truths and Whole Lies"
I couldn't go to school today.
Yeah that was it.
I just wouldn't go to school.
I couldn't go to school.
Not with Paul being there.
Man, this was all so messed up.
I needed to know what I was supposed to be doing.
Unfortunately, nothing seemed to be coming to me at the moment.
I couldn't go to school.
"What are you babbling about?" Max asked as he walked into the kitchen and picked up a piece of bacon, biting into it.
I hadn't really realized that I'd been babbling anything at all.
But apparently I was so shaken that it just kinda happened.
And can you really blame me?
I mean just yesterday I'd not only talked again with the infamous Dylan but was also pinned to my bedroom wall by my World Studies teacher.
None of what was happening to me lately seemed to make any sense.
I wanted to piece stuff together but I wasn't sure how I could do that if I didn't really know what was going on.
"Uh," I started.
I had to play it cool.
I didn't want my brother worrying about me.
He was almost as bad as Troy when he was.
"I can't believe you skipped school yesterday," Max said, having a seat at the table and setting his plate down. "You went to go see Troy, didn't you?"
Among other interesting things that had happened yesterday.
"Man I'm glad I'm not allergic to anything," Max replied. "Troy was in bad shape."
"Yeah," I replied.
I was trying to come up with something normal to say but I didn't really know what to say.
"Mike....what's wrong?" Max asked.
Damn.
I was trying to avoid him getting worried about me.
"What? Nothing," I replied, sitting up, trying to seem like I was perfectly fine.
He flashed me a skeptical look.
"Don't even try it," he replied. "Spill."
I think that must have been some kind of key word because that was all I needed to start blabbing.
"Troy doesn't want his parents to know he's sick for some reason and then I talked to Dylan and he wasn't any help and then Paul was going through Troy's room and he took something and made me pretend like nothing happened and I'm worried something bad is about to happen."
Can you believe that all came out at once?
Max just stared at me chewing his bacon, probably trying to decide whether or not I'd lost my mind.
"What?"
I got out of my seat.
"Nothing, just forget I said anything."
"Whoa, whoa whoa, wait," Max started, hopping out of his seat to stop me. "Sit down Mike. I wanna know."
I sighed and obliged my brother's request.
I didn't know what good talking about it would do.
Especially when I wasn't entirely sure what was going on.
"Okay...who are Dylan and Paul? Some of Troy's friends?" I asked.
"Dylan is," I replied. "Paul is the guy who was over here yesterday."
Max stared at me blankly.
"Mr. Smith?"
"Yeah, I don't know why he told mom and dad that was what his name was," I replied. "Because it's not."
It suddenly dawned on me that James Smith very well could have been his name.
After all, I seriously doubted World Studies teachers across America broke into their students' homes and stole suspicious objects.
That was something a criminal would do.
And criminals made up fake names.
"Um Mike, what's going on?" Max asked.
That was exactly what I wanted to know.
Unfortunately there wasn't really anyone I could ask.
At least not anyone that wouldn't lie to me about what was going on.
"Look, I need to go to the hospital to see Troy," I replied.
"We have school," Max replied.
I knew I couldn't go back there.
At least, not to Paul's class.
It was too risky and I didn't want to face him.
I stood up, ready to go upstairs.
"Mike..." Max started.
"Max its okay," I replied. "Don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine."
Or at least, I hoped that everything was gonna be fine.
I went to school despite not wanting to.
I kinda got the feeling Max would actually rat on me to keep me from going to see Troy.
He'd only ever do that if he was looking out for me because he was worried.
And because I'd opened my big fat mouth again this morning and came across as sounding borderline insane, I knew that he was really worried about me.
Truthfully, I was a little worried about myself.
Not knowing what was happening around me wasn't a great feeling.
"Mike, are you okay?" Sienna asked.
We were at her locker.
She was looking over one of her books studying for a final exam while I was just trying to look as normal as possible.
Apparently, though, I wasn't succeeding.
"Yeah, why?" I replied.
"Well because you're acting like Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind," Sienna replied.
Wait, wasn't that that movie where the guy was paranoid and thought everyone was out to get him?
Hey!
"Sienna-"
"Mike, I know you're worried about Troy but you gotta come back to the world of the living," Sienna replied.
I wasn't that bad....was I?
"Hey, what do you think about Paul?" I asked.
"He's cute," Sienna replied. "And like twenty something. Kinda old, don't you think?"
I stared at her.
"What? Oh, no...no I mean...."
What did I mean?
I had to do it right this time.
I'd already screwed my chance up with Max.
"Does he seem like the kinda guy who could be hiding something?" I asked.
"I don't know," Sienna replied. "What do you mean?"
Again, what the hell did I mean?
Or at least what did I mean that I could say without sounding crazy.
"I don't know," I replied. "You know he came by my house yesterday."
"What?" Sienna asked, suddenly sounding a lot more interested in our conversation.
"Yeah, he said it was to drop off some homework-"
"And how he was always so nice to Troy?" Sienna spoke. "Oh my gosh, you think they're....like-"
"Sienna, that's not what I'm saying."
"Oh," Sienna replied, frowning. "Too bad then."
This was going nowhere.
Max thought I was crazy.
Sienna thought Troy was doing stuff with Paul.
These people just didn't get it.
And why should they?
This kind of thing just never happened in Wayward.
And when it did, it had to happen to me.
It seemed like that for all the unusual stuff that happened in this town.
Lucky me, I guess.
"Is this about your crush on Troy?" Sienna asked.
"What? Sienna I don't have a crush on-"
"Oh please," Sienna cut me off. "I'm a girl, remember? And one of your best friends."
One of my only friends she should have said.
But there was no use lying to her because she was right.
I cared about Troy more than I was willing to admit.
But right now I was trying to see past my attraction to him.
I was worried about his safety.
Hell, I was worried about my own safety.
There had to be a way I could help Troy and help myself as well.
"Hey guys," Evan spoke, greeting us.
Sienna looked over at him and then over at me sighing, annoyed.
"Shoo fly, don't bother me," she spoke.
Evan's smile faded as he looked over to me.
"I'll see you later Mike," Sienna said, leaving me alone with Evan.
I looked over at him as he was watching Sienna leave with a longing look on his face.
"I guess that's over huh?" I spoke.
"I wouldn't count her out just yet," I replied.
Evan turned to me.
"So, what's up?" he asked. "You alright? You look a little-"
"Paranoid? What else is new?" I sighed.
"Worried," Evan replied. "I was gonna say worried."
I sighed and ran my hand over my face.
If it was this obvious to everyone that I wasn't in the best of moods and they had no idea why, it would be completely obvious to Paul once I got to his class.
"Yeah well, you'd be worried too if you were dealing with what I was," I started.
"Worried about Troy?" Evan asked.
"I know you don't exactly trust him, but I don't think it's him I need to be worrying about."
"What?"
I looked around before looking back at Evan.
I wasn't sure whether or not I should be talking to him but I figured he was the last person to be denying people to talk to.
"Yesterday, after I left class, I went to go see Troy in the hospital," I replied. "He wants me to stop my parents from calling his. The only way they can is if I give them the transfer papers I got from Principal Vanderholt."
"He doesn't have their number programmed into his cell?" Evan asked.
That was something I seriously doubted.
"I get the feeling.....that Troy might be afraid of his parents for some reason," I replied.
Evan nodded.
"It's not like he's been around them much," Evan replied.
"Yeah well try telling that to him," I replied. "And then after that...I caught Paul going through his room."
"Wait a sec....our third period World Studies teacher Paul?" Evan asked. "No way!"
"I don't know what to think," I replied.
"Man...I can see why you'd be worried," Evan said. "That's a lot."
Yeah it was.
And unfortunately, I was the one having to deal with all of it.
"I don't know what I'm gonna do when I get in that class," I sighed.
"Well you don't have to worry about it today," Evan replied. "Paul's not here."
I stopped so fast Evan was still walking.
He stopped when he realized that I had and turned around.
"What?"
"Yeah...we have a sub-"
"I have to go then-"
"Wait, Mike-"
"Can't talk about it right now. I just have to go," I replied, rushing towards the back doors where the parking lot was.
This was bad.
I didn't know why it was bad.
I just felt like it was bad.
And now I knew that I definitely needed to tell Troy about Paul.
I'd had a considerably harder time trying to get to Troy today.
And that was probably because I was rushing instead of taking my time like a normal person.
People notice 17 year old teenagers rushing suspiciously down hospital hallways.
I'd managed to slip away from a doctor after he was paged for surgery and slipped into Troy's room.
When I got inside I was surprised to find him slipping his jeans on.
He looked up at me then went back to what he was doing.
"Is it done?" were the first words out of his mouth.
"Is...is what done?" I asked, looking around.
I don't know what I was looking for but I was obviously looking for something.
Troy couldn't tell because he'd started lacing up his sneakers.
"My parents? They're not coming right?"
I was still looking around.
"Mike? They can't come here-"
"We need to talk," I spoke, still trying to catch my breath.
Troy sighed and looked up at me.
"What is there left to talk about?" he asked.
"Let's start with Dylan."
"Look, I told you-"
"I talked to him yesterday."
Troy stopped where he was and turned around.
I decided that for once I was gonna play it smart.
"He told me everything."
Troy stood with his back to me for a few moments before he turned around to face me.
"You what?"
"Yeah....he told me about your friend," I started.
I didn't know what the hell I was doing but I just hoped that it was working.
Troy looked down and swallowed before he took a seat on the edge of the bed.
"Troy, stop with all the secrets and lies and just for once tell me what's going on," I said. "You're leaving soon anyway."
"It's....it's really complicated."
"I think for both our sakes, you need to tell me then," I replied.
Troy looked up at me and stared for a few seconds before he started.
"I....had to do it," Troy replied. "My dad made me."
What...the hell?
"I didn't tell anyone about any of it because you wouldn't understand," Troy replied. "I didn't want anyone to get hurt."
Okay, this wasn't at all what I was expecting to hear.
And I hadn't even really heard anything yet.
"Troy, what-"
"My father? He's.....not..."
"Troy, just tell me."
Troy looked up at me.
"I used to work for my father," he started. "I helped him get rid of whoever he wanted me to get rid of."
Get rid of?
What did he mean by that?
"I did it because he was my father and I was afraid and I thought I had to," Troy replied. "I hated myself every time afterwards but I just kept doing it. But then....then he made me keep tabs on...Brayden."
Brayden?
They guy from the story Troy had told me about after Pete died?
What did he have to do with any of this?
Troy stood up and walked over to the window.
"My dad wanted me to keep an eye on a guy's son. He told me that his father was an investor in his company and that he wanted to find a way to get him to do what he wanted."
"Wait...are you trying to tell me......you killed him?"
Because the way I remember the story, the boy died in the end.
Troy just continued to stare out the window.
"No," Troy replied. "I didn't kill him."
He turned around.
"But my father wanted me to," Troy replied. "But I couldn't because......I couldn't kill him because I loved him. And he loved me."
Okay wow....this was so much information.
I was having a hard time just trying to process all of it.
"Then how did he...."
Troy stared me in the eyes.
I could sense so much emotion in them.
"My dad he....he...arranged something," Troy replied. "And after that, I knew that I had to leave. I couldn't be a killer anymore."
A killer?
Troy killed people?
"Troy-"
"Don't you get it now, Mike? I couldn't tell anyone about any of it to keep all of us safe. If my dad finds out where I am-"
"A little too late for that."
Both of us turned around.
Standing in front of the closed door was Paul.
I hadn't even noticed him come in.
What I did notice, however, was the gun that was very visible on the side of his pants.
Troy stretched his arm in front of me and was glaring at Paul, looking ready to fight if he had to.
"You're such a boring person now Troy," Paul spoke walking over to us slowly. "I can't believe you like it in this miserable country."
"Paul...what are you-"
"Mike, don't," Troy spoke.
"Daddy's little gay boy. Ran off without a word," Paul spoke. "He's not gonna be too happy to see you."
I swallowed.
I didn't like what was going on.
I was afraid again.
And this time, there was a gun involved.
I felt like I was paralyzed.
Frozen where I stood, unable to do anything other than to just watch the situation unfold before my eyes.
"Gotta say, your school has plenty high standards when it comes to their security measures," Paul spoke. "I mean, admitting a contract killer as a student.....that's gotta be a new low."
"My father sent you?" Troy spoke, sounding extremely defensive.
"Long time ago, as I'm sure you know by now," Paul replied. "He wanted me to find you but not to do anything until he was sure no one would miss you."
That was why he pretended to be our teacher all this time.
He was waiting for when we got out of school so that he could bring Troy back home when none of us would think something was wrong otherwise.
"Most boring assignment ever, but I'm expecting a pretty sweet payoff now," Paul replied.
"Let him go, Paul," Troy said. "He doesn't have anything to do with this."
"Actually my name is Nick," Paul replied, snatching me from behind Troy. "And I'm afraid he does now."
Troy made a move towards him but he pulled out his gun.
"You just told him who you are, who your father is," Nick replied. "Not to mention he knows me plenty well. You know how thorough your father is. This ain't gonna cut it."
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Troy growled.
"Oh well you're in luck, because you don't have to," Nick replied.
Troy's eyes widened before he narrowed them again.
"Why don't you explain this mess to your father when he gets here," Nick replied.
"What's going on in here-"
Nick had turned his head briefly at the door opening, which was apparently all Troy needed before he sprung towards him, flinging him into the bathroom, which was right next to us, and moving a chair in front of it.
The nurse had been swung to the floor before Troy had done that but she'd gotten up, looking panicked and confused.
"Come on let's go!" Troy commanded, grabbing my hand.
"But-"
"We have to go now Mike!" Troy replied, pulling me into the hallway.
Before we left I'd seen that nurse going to open the door to the bathroom.
Troy rushed me down the stairwell and out to the parking lot.
He took my keys from me and got into the drivers seat in a hurry.
"Get in," he said.
I looked towards the hospital.
"Dammit Mike, get the fuck in!"
I didn't need to be told twice and I jumped into the other side of the car, barely having enough time to slam the door shut before Troy sped off.
"Hey, have you seen Mike?" Max asked, Sienna as she stood at her.
"No," Sienna replied. "He probably went to go see Troy."
"Again?"
Sienna looked up from her yearbook and sighed, tilting her head to the side as she studied Max.
"Wouldn't your brother and Troy make a cute couple?"
It was Max's turn to study Sienna, and he noticed that it almost looked as if she were off in her own little dream world, not even realizing he was there.
"Uh...I don't know," Max replied. "I mean, I guess it would be pretty weird. Troy's like....our brother."
"A hot brother," Sienna added.
"Troy's not even gay," Max said.
Sienna snapped back into reality.
"You don't know that," she said, shutting her locker and starting down the hallway alongside Max.
Max put his arms back and nodded his head from one side to the other.
"Well no, but I also don't want think about that," Max replied. "I only just found out my brother was gay last year, remember?"
"Oh Maxwell, this is the twenty first century," Sienna spoke, putting her arm around Max's shoulders. "It's time to broaden your horizons."
"Try telling that to everyone else in this town," Max mumbled.
Things grew silent between them until they both stopped in front of a random row of lockers about ten feet away from Evan, who was looking over his own yearbook.
"Why'd he buy one of those?" Sienna asked with narrowed eyes. "It's not like anyone wants to sign it."
Max looked over at Evan who looked up at him and Sienna.
"Yeah well the guy has his own fair share of things to look back on this past year," Max replied. "Some people are sadistic like that."
"Oh god, he's coming over here."
Sienna looked down at her yearbook trying to pretend like she was busy while Max just tensed up as Evan approached.
"What do you want?" Max asked.
"I thought maybe you guys were looking for Mike," Evan replied.
"Maybe," Max replied. "But what do YOU want?"
Evan looked over at Sienna who looked back down at her yearbook and then back at Max.
"He left in a hurry earlier today," he informed them. "I think it might have had something to do with Troy."
Sienna and Max exchanged looks.
"Is everything okay with him?" Evan asked.
"I don't know," Max replied. "But I'm his brother. I can handle it."
And with that, he glared at Evan for a few moments before starting down the hallway.
Sienna looked up at Evan briefly before leaving him as well.
The car was moving.
There were noises outside.
There was...something inside.
A noise....
Oh yeah, I couldn't for the life of me control myself.
I'd been trying to hold it in since we'd left the hospital, but I had started crying.
Not the all out moaning and wailing crying.
But silently to myself.
I was sad.
But mostly I was angry.
So angry I was crying.
I figured it was better this way.
I didn't know what I'd have to say to Troy until I got a little stream out.
From the corner of my eyes I'd notice Troy keep looking over at me every now and then.
I wasn't really paying attention to where we were going, but I didn't care.
I was too upset.
For now I just needed to be silent and just-
"Mike," Troy started.
"A killer, Troy? A killer!?"
So much for that.
Troy sighed and looked over at me.
"It's not....it's not how it sounds-"
"Oh really, because anything that involves murder is gonna sound fantastic when you put it a different way!"
I was talking while crying.
I was that upset.
I knew that it wasn't entirely a good thing to be yelling at Troy while he was trying to drive.
But he'd started to talk to me first.
Troy sighed and just continued driving for quite a few minutes.
In that time I'd started to stop the flow of tears in my eyes and my crying was mostly gone away.
I felt a little more calm.
If only just a little.
"Why?"
Troy looked over at me.
"What-"
"Why did..."
What did he mean `what'?
What fucking EVERYTHING!
"Troy, I just want the truth. I think by now I deserve that much from you," I started again.
Troy stared at me for a few more seconds before looking back at the road.
"My father owns a multi million dollar company in Canada," he started.
And I was going to listen.
"I don't really get everything he does or how it all works, but I know that it has to do with land trusts and securing real estate, upfront anyways."
So he wasn't a pilot after all.
Go figure.
"Everything was fine with him me and my mom until about two years ago," Troy continued. "One day my mom was just gone and a couple months later, I had a new one. Veronica."
That was the woman that I'd spoke to on the phone that day after school.
The woman that Troy had confirmed was a step mom.
Among other things.
"She and I never saw eye to eye," Troy replied. "I knew she was a goldigger and I hated her because I didn't have my own mom around anymore. Of course, that was when things got worse."
I noticed the tone of Troy's voice grew darker, as if he were recalling times he didn't want to revisit.
"My dad wanted me to learn the family business. As if there's really anything to learn about land trusts," Troy continued. "Of course, that was only the face of the company. I never realized how my father actually secured all of his business deals and arrangements."
Okay, this was starting to sound like it was getting somewhere interesting.
"My father had men do a lot of bad things to people....while I watched...."
"You mean-"
"Some people were killed. The lucky ones came away with missing fingers or...." Troy stopped.
There was a silence for a few seconds before he continued.
"It wasn't long after that before he had me working with the guys he hired to do that kind of stuff for him," he stated. "Sometimes we'd have to threaten people into giving up their properties by doing stuff like setting parts of their houses on fire or something."
I just looked straight ahead.
"Other times....well, other times we'd have to go a little further than that," Troy replied. "But I was always around for all of it. I only helped with what my father considered to be the little stuff....the torturing, kidnapping, arson. But I never had to actually kill anyone myself."
"But you said-"
"I know what I said," Troy replied.
He looked over at me and away before sighing.
"Brayden was supposed to be my real first assignment," he started again. "Dad wanted me to act like I wanted to be his friend, naturally. And then kidnap him."
Had me wondering how he died just then.
"Did you?"
"Kidnap him?"
Troy didn't reply and there was another long silence.
"Yeah," he replied. "Unfortunately, I did what my father asked me to. While he played his little intimidation games with Brayden's father, I was supposed to be keeping Brayden alive and give him back if things went smoothly. If things didn't...then I was supposed to......."
"I thought....weren't the two of you in love?"
I guess it wasn't a complete shock for me to finally hear from Troy's own mouth that he was gay.
I hadn't really thought much about it before when he said it as I was busy thinking about thee gun in my face.
I guess I always kind of knew.
I mean, I could sense that about him.
Not that he was gay, but that we had something in common.
Something neither one of us wanted to face.
"I did love him," Troy replied. "It ate me inside when I kidnapped him and tied him to a chair. I watched him for hours. He was dying in front of me and as much as I was afraid to have to kill him, I was more afraid of my own father."
What did shock me about Troy was everything else.
I couldn't believe what he was telling me.
It just didn't seem like any of it was real.
But as I sat thinking about it, it actually all was starting to make sense.
"He begged me, pleaded for me to let him go," Troy replied. "He told me that I didn't have to be afraid of my father. That we could run away together and that he'd help me. And.....I don't know...I thought that we really could be together."
I noticed that it seemed like Troy was trying to keep from crying just then.
"But of course my father was prepared in the event that I'd let him down," Troy replied. "As he later put it, I screwed up my first real task, but he had it taken care of."
"What happened?" I asked.
"I went to go get packed," Troy replied. "I let Brayden go so that he could ready. We were actually gonna do this big thing he'd talked about. But while I was packing, my dad came into the room and told me that I could stop what I was doing because Brayden was already dead."
There was another silence before Troy regained enough of his composure to continue.
"And the way he'd told me...like...like he was disgusted with me for even thinking about going away with another guy........" Troy spoke. "After that, I never heard from him again. I went to school just like always and nobody seemed to care that Brayden was even gone."
Just like Troy had told me.
"It was like he never even existed.....like he never made a difference in anyone's lives...teachers or otherwise," Troy said. "I could only take it so long before I realized that it was my fault he was gone."
"No, Troy-"
"I may not have killed him, but if I loved him half as much as I thought I had, then I would have protected him. I wouldn't have let him disappear," Troy replied. "And I just figured that if Brayden wasn't worthy enough for anyone, than neither was I."
If he could disappear, then so could Troy. One of those type of situations apparently.
"So you came here," I started.
"I had a friend find a way for me to seem like I was gone completely," Troy replied.
It took me a moment but I realized he must have meant.
"Dylan," I replied.
"Dylan worked for my father too," Troy replied. "He's a computer genius, but kind of a hothead. We always got into a lot of fights but still somehow called each other friends at the end of the day."
"Then why did you send him away?" I asked.
Troy sighed.
"Dylan still works for my father," Troy replied. "He doesn't have to do any of the gritty stuff that I was always involved in and being on the inside like he is means he gets paid well. He knew not to come here."
But he had showed up here.
And he'd pretended like he hadn't even known where Troy was or where he'd be.
I guess it was all fun and games to him.
But at the time I'd really wanted to know everything there was to know about Troy.
Now that I was hearing everything there was to know however.......
There was something else that I wanted to know, though.
"That call I got from your step mom......she said that your name was Alex," I said.
"It is," Troy replied. "Troy is my middle name. I don't like using Alex just because I always get the inevitable comments about the president and.....well, it's a hassle."
I could understand that.
Alexander Hamilton.
But all of this just seemed so overwhelming.
"So what do we do now?" I asked.
Troy sighed.
"We can't go back there," Troy replied.
"I can't just leave my family, Troy," I argued.
"No, but you have to call them," Troy replied. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something were to happen to them."
I looked over at him.
"You really think Paul...or Nick rather, would hurt them?" I asked.
"I believe that anyone that works for my father is capable of that," Troy replied. "And worse."
I didn't like having to be in this situation, but I couldn't really think about that.
What I was concerned with was my family and their safety.
If Troy said that they could be in danger, then I wanted to make sure that they were okay and that they were going to stay okay.
I took out my cell phone and tried Max's cell first.
I didn't get a response.
I tried my mom and dad after that but it went to voicemail.
"Nothing," I replied.
I wasn't sure if it was something I should be worried about or not.
I looked out the side of my window around at my surroundings.
I didn't recognize anything.
And we'd been driving quite a while and I hadn't really been paying any attention to where we were going.
"Um...where are we?" I asked.
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you," Troy replied.
And hearing him say it, I believed it.
I just was more concerned for my family.
What could they be so busy doing none of them answered their cell phone?
"I can't tell you how much I appreciate you getting a hold of Troy's parent's for us," mom spoke, taking a seat on the couch after handing Nick a cup of coffee.
"Oh it's no problem at all Mrs. Carson," Nick replied.
"Please, call me Evelyn," Mom replied.
Max leaned closer to his father.
"Why is he here again?" he whispered.
"I was concerned myself after Troy fell ill," Nick replied. "He and Mike are two of my best students and I know how close the two of them are."
"Yes, well they have been through so much together this past year," Mom replied. "It's nice that they've bonded like they have."
"I can understand that," Nick replied. "Which is why I knew that I needed to do what I could to get Troy's parents here just in case anything happened to him."
Max looked over at the clock.
"Mom, shouldn't Mike have been here by now?" he asked.
"I'm sure he's with Troy at the hospital," Mom replied. "Just like his teacher here told us."
Max looked over at Nick who flashed him a slight smile and then rolled his eyes, looking down at the carpet.
"Ah so you're from Canada you say?" Mom asked.
"Yes, Ontario, actually," Nick replied. "January was the first time I'd ever been out of the country."
"Mike said you from L.A.," Max said.
"Maxwell," Mom scolded him.
Max looked over at her.
"I'm sorry-"
"No it's okay," Nick spoke. "I talk about an old college buddy of mine from L.A, a lot. Maybe he just got the two confused."
"Yes, I'm sure," Mom agreed.
Max glared at Nick before getting up.
"Well excuse me, I'm gonna go start on my homework."
Max got up and started towards the stairs.
"You know, I should be getting a call from Troy's parents any moment," Nick said. "They're on their way here."
"Really? Well isn't that great," Mom spoke. "Isn't that great honey?"
Dad looked over at Nick before looking over at Mom.
"I think someone should tell Troy his parents are coming," he replied.
"Oh no need for that," Nick said, as my dad was gone for the phone. "It's already been taken care of."
Dad stared hard at Nick for a few seconds before sitting back down.
There was a silence for a few moments before Nick cleared his throat.
"You know, why don't I go and make sure everything is okay," Nick spoke, standing up and heading into the kitchen.
"What's wrong with you?"
"That guy doesn't seem just a tad bit off to you?" Dad asked.
Mom looked towards the kitchen.
"Yes it's a bit odd that he's a high school teacher at such a young age, but-"
"Evelyn-"
"He seems like a good man."
Dad sighed.
"What?" Mom asked.
He just said nothing until Max came back into the living room.
"I don't trust that guy mom," Max spoke.
"Oh please, the both of you are being ridiculous," Mom replied. "He's your brother's teacher for heavens sake."
"Oh...that's mine," Dad spoke, taking out his cell phone.
"Dad!"
"Mike, where are you?"
"Dad, listen to me...whatever you do you can't go back home."
`Mike, what are you-"
"I'm okay, Troy's okay, but you can't go home. Tell mom and Max that too-"
"Mike what....your teacher's here. He's trying to get a hold of Troy's parents."
"What?"
"Yeah-"
"Dad, I'm not joking here! You have to go! Now! Troy's parents, they're not people you want to be around, Neither is Paul...Nick..."
My dad looked towards the kitchen before slowly pulling his cell phone away from his ear.
"Evelyn, Maxwell I want you to listen to me-"
"Speak up honey-"
"Shhhhhh......listen to me," Dad continued, in a low whisper. "I need you to go to the car and get in. Don't ask any questions right now...just do it."
"I don't understand-"
"Okay, everything's set...they're on their way," Nick spoke, coming back into the living room.
Everyone looked in his direction.
"Is something wrong?"
"No just, Mike called from the hospital. He wants us to come see him so just tell Troy's parents to meet us there and-"
"I'm afraid that isn't gonna happen," Nick spoke, taking out a handgun and holding it up.
"Oh my god!"
Dad moved in front of Max and Mom, glaring at Nick.
"Who are you?"
"Just someone that wants to do the job I came here for without having to hurt anyone."
"Put the gun down....we can talk about this-"
"Oh I know...I'm just not interested in doing that."
Dad glared at Nick.
He didn't know what to do.
Until the doorbell rang and Nick looked up.
That was all the time he needed before he sprung into action.
He slammed Nick in the face with his elbow, causing him to fly backwards over the sofa and the gun in his hand to go flying.
"Come on!" Dad exclaimed.
Max ran to the door and opened.
"Hey, I was just gonna see if-"
"The car Sienna!" Max shouted grabbing her and running towards it.
"What?"
"I can't explain right now," Max shouted.
Max and Sienna got into the back seat while Mom and Dad got into the front.
They just missed being shot at by Nick who muttered a few curse words under his breath before taking out his cell phone.
"It's me, I lost them. But don't worry, they won't get very far."
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Personal email: crossingboi2004@yahoo.com
Copyright 2006