Elysium's Love Triangle (12 page)

There is a new fear in his head now.

It is a major one.

He is afraid that he is making a terrible mistake.

He fears that he has made the wrong decision about something.  I can’t tell what.

Suddenly reluctance
shows in his eyes
.

“Greg, are you okay?”  I ask.

He hesitates before answering, “Yeah, sure. . . We’re nearly there now.  It’s only another minute.”

I wonder why he suddenly looks like he wants to turn back.

The fear that he is doing the wrong thing just grows within him.

He pulls up to an aluminium gate.  It is outside a modern looking house that has been painted white.  The lawn is cut and there is a basket of plants on every window sill.

It looks perfect. 
Too
perfect.

The gate doesn’t open automatically.  Greg rolls down his window and speaks into a machine.  He assures whoever is inside that it is him. 

The sombre tone of Greg’s voice worries me.  His fear is getting greater all the time.

The gate opens.

I try to hide my nervousness, “Greg, where are we?”

“You should not have let them change you,” he answers, his voice almost cracking with emotion now.  “You should’ve stayed human.”

He stops the car and looks at me.

There is anguish in his eyes.  I’ve never seen them like that before.

I can’t say anything.

He continues, sounding so regretful, “He only became interested in you when you were changed.”

“Who became interested in me?”  I sound just a little hysterical now.

“Rejon, our leader,” Greg answers, his voice sad.

I am completely shocked.

There are people coming out of the house.

Ten of them, our age, a mixture of boys and girls.  None of them look friendly.

They are crowding around the car.

I glimpse a tattoo on one of their arms.

It says ‘Cezer’.

My blood goes cold.

I look back at Greg in disbelief.

I begin to suspect that he may not be as human as he seems.

His eyes, they aren’t our colour.  It doesn’t make sense.

Then I remember that the Mimickers can change their eye colour.

It takes me a moment to process it.

He is an Arachne.

He looks away from me, guiltily.

He looks like his world is fallin
g apart.  The boy
is
extremely
remorseful for bringing me here. 

I can’t believe it.

He has sold me out.

He’s one of them.

One of Rejon’s right hand men.

I look at the Cezers outside, just waiting.

A chill goes down my spine.

There is no escape, I realise.

I am completely trapped.

I am locked in a cellar.

It is a posh enough one in tr
uth.  A cabinet encasing old
wine run
s almost the whole way around it
. 

Most of the wines here must be worth a fortune.  When they first locked me in here I broke a few.

That was back when I thought that having a fit would make a difference.

It doesn’t.  They still won’t open the door.

Screaming doesn’t make a difference either.

The door is made of steel, locked from the outside.

I cannot open it.  I kicked it so hard earlier that I hurt my leg.

I think I’ve been in here for hours.  It’s hard to tell.  They took my watch after one kid suggested that I’d go ‘insane’ quicker without it.

I am sitting quietly now, in a corner.  I used up too much energy in the beginning.

I wonder if they’ll bring me food.

I wonder if Rejon will come and ‘chat’ with me soon.

They said
that
he wishes to
talk
to me.  This is why he wanted me brought here.

He doesn’t want to kill me, they assured me. 

No, he wants me to
join
them.

I told them that this would never happen.

A handsome kid with grey eyes, known as ‘Cairo’, threw me in here.

Tanya was out there.
 
She is one of them too.

She wasn’t very supportive of me at all. 

She suggested killing me when I refused to join their group.

No one else wanted that.

Rejon would decide my punishment, they all said.

Obviously after he has this chat with me that he so much desires.

There are guards at the doors.  I can hear them talking, muffled voices.

One of them is Greg.  I recognise his voice despite the low volume.

I nearly begin to cry when I hear it.

He told me, before we got out of the car, that he didn’t want to bring me here.

Rejon gave him two choices.

Watch me die painfully at school or bring me
here
for this ‘talk’.

Greg was only trying to save my life.

I believe him, his distress seemed pretty genuine.

I’m pretty sure
that
I can still hear it in his voice now.

Rejon used that boy’s feelings for me to manipulate him into doing his biding.

I am not looking forward to this chat.
  Rejon will surely be pretty angry when I refuse to join him.  I am afraid of what he might do to me.

Still, h
e shall not intimidate me into turning my back on my people.

I think of our group now.

Daniel.

It’s when I think of him that the tears finally come.  I
promised
him that I was safe. 

He knew better.

I want to hear his voice again, so much.

I can’t. 

Tanya took my phone earlier and smashed it on the ground.

There is no way to alert anyone that I am here.

It get’s hard to breath when I realise this.  The space seems smaller.

What if they kill me? 

I imagine some cop giving my Mom the news.  It is not a pretty picture.

She already lost my Dad.  I can’t even imagine what losing me too would do to her.

I am all she has left of him.  She said it just last week to me.

Dad was away at boarding school a lot, learning to be ‘exce
llent’ no doubt.  When he had a week
off he would spend
it
almost completely with me.  He’d spoil me rotten.  I always loved it when he came home.

I loved him so much, so did my Mom.  She was always happier when he was around, you could see it in her eyes.

I find myself thinking of Uncle Riley now, the one s
he has apparently moved onto
. 

He was only a teenager when I born, just like my Dad.

I have this clear memory of Dad working on some mid-term homework as Riley flexed his muscles in the mirror.  This happened a lot I think.  Riley always admired himself and often expressed the thought
that
he’d be a famous Actor.

He won class president.  I remember him bragging abo
ut it in front of my M
om that evening.

I wish Dad was here now.  He could always calm me down when I was scared.

I remember running up to the kitchen from bed one night, afraid that there was someone watching me.  I was sure
that
I’d heard a noise from under my bed.  I was convinced
that
it was the Boogey-Man, come to take me away.

Dad took a break from his assignment to make me
some
hot chocolate.

He told me that there was no such thing as the Boogey-Man. 

I remember Riley walking in soon after
this, boasting that
he’d
just
been made Captain of the Basketball team.

My Dad quickly changed his mind about the Boogey-Man. 
The Boogey-Man did exist, apparently.  His name was Riley Dark
wood, he said.  He was to be avoided at all costs.  If he catches you he may just put you on the ‘not-popular’ list he so nicely makes and shows to everyone at school.

Riley just smiled.  The words he said then, to my father, have stuck with me, “Get over it, Bro.  It’s not my fault you’re such a loser.”

I don’t think they ever got along that well.  They were always bickering like that.

I later told my Dad that he wasn’t a ‘loser’.  Uncle Riley must be confusing him with someone else, I said.  

My Dad had smiled at me like I was the most precious thing in the world then.

It almost calms me to remember it now.

This sense of ease soon leaves me.

Something here suddenly seems very wrong, different.

It takes me a few moments to realise that the talking outside has stopped.  This is what I have picked up on.

One of the guards has left, perhaps they both have. 

I jump up and walk over to the door, putting my ear against it now.

For a while I hear nothing.

Then a voice speaks.  My heart nearly jumps out of my chest at the sound. 

It’s Daniel.

At first I barely let myself believe it. 

I know his voice, though.  It is unmistakably him out there.

Greg is talking back.

Daniel sounds pretty angry with him.

I strain to hear.

I finally pick up on what Daniel is saying, “Let her go
,
now.”

Greg sighs, “You know, I saw a spider on the floor.  Should’ve known it would be one of you guys . . .”

Daniel’s voice sounds both stressed and stern, “Give me the key to that door and I will refrain from hurting you.”

Greg sounds at the end of his patience, “You don’t know the whole story, you ignoramus.  If you take her now Rejon will kill her, probably pretty soon too.  Is that what you want?  Her only chance is to join us.  That way she will be safe.”

I don’t want to join Rejon.

I begin banging on the door and screaming again.  This might spur Daniel on.  I don’t want Greg’s speech to change his mind about getting me out of here.

“I can’t leave her here,” Daniel sounds subdued.  “Give me the key.”

“Did you hear me?  She’s safer here,” Greg insists.

There is a conviction in Daniel’s voice now, “I won’t let Rejon harm her, Greg, I promise.  I will guard her every minute of every day.”

It takes Greg a few moments to respond.  His voice cracks a bit when he does, “Do you promise me you won’t let him get her?”

Daniel remains sure, “I promise you here and now, Greg.  He won’t get to her while I’m alive.”

Greg seems to be considering it.  His voice is soft now
, “Okay.  You better hold up your
end of this bargain Danny.  If something happens to her I will hold you responsible.  I will hunt you down and it will not be pretty, do you get what I’m saying?”

Daniel seems to get it, “Yes, and if you ever help Rejon to get to her again I will personally hunt
you
down.  It won’t be very pretty either.”

The key turns in the lock as Greg answers, “Understood.”

I jump in Daniel’s arms the minute I am let out.

I don’t want to ever leave this embrace.  Tears are still coming from my eyes.

Greg interrupts and insists that we get away from here quickly.  The other guar
d will be back in a few moments,
we don’t have a lot of time. 

I look at him, worried.  They will know that he let me go.  There is no way Rejon won’t punish him somehow for that.

I don’t want him to get hurt because of me.

What if they do something terrible to him?

I begin to fear for his safety.

He can obviously see this fear and addresses me, “I’ll be fine.”

H
e isn’t sure
; it’s obvious from his tone.

I don’t want to leave him to face Rejon’s wrath alone. 

Greg acts like he doesn’t hear any of my protests.  He just shows me and Daniel to a door at the back of the house, checking down every hallway before we go through.

He warns us
that
there are three Cezers waiting for Rejon out front.  We have to be extremely quiet once outside.