Monday, January 27, 2014

the problem

Who am I?
I stop and stand still for a second
I´m pushed forward, I see nothing but darkness
I look back, I look ahead of me
it feels like nothing, a bunch of wasted effort
I dont see anything ahead
everything´s too tiring and my energy is gone
motivation is gone, it was never there 
the sense of responsibility, of commitment is not enough
I am lost, more than ever before
I am alone and the problem is that I won´t move, I dont want to 
it makes no sense, nothing makes sense anymore

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Double Life: Take my place

A/N: lately these posts have been very short, huh? btw this part is one of my least favorite, it´s necessary but it´s not a good one for my characters but ofc it´s in the story b/c it has to be

Saku: thx for your comment on the last post. I´m glad you liked what the twins were doing haha also I thought you´d seen that of Aaron, but then, all these parts started to happen after Josh started to talk to me so I guess in a way a few other things were added in these ones. Thank you very much for reading and commenting. I really appreciate it, way more than what I can express with words
*****


“Didn’t Nicky warn you that these woods were dangerous?” a clear, melodic, malicious voice said, he didn’t even had to open his eyes to know who she was but he did open his eyes
“She did warn me of the snakes, Mrs. Strasberg” he said in a calm tone. Nat chuckled
“I can almost see my Nicky in your words” she smiled a bright smile
“How is she? Is she coming back to school soon?” he asked calmly
“Ha! As if you didn’t know… She spoke to you, didn’t she?” she asked, josh didn’t respond “you did give her my message but she told you not to be alone… I haven’t had an opportunity to catch you alone… you two made me create a rumor…” she shrugged
“It was you”

“Yes –Nat sighed- I knew that gossiper would go to you soon, and I knew it´d make you sad, our Nicky´s reputation getting destroyed that way. Thank you for that, I truly appreciate you defending Nicky like that, the guy deserved the punch” she wrinkled her nose
“He didn’t create a rumor… I guess some adults never get over that... It was nice to see you but I have to go now” he stood up and undusted his pants
“I need to talk to you” she took a step closer to him
“I’m sorry, maybe some other time” he tried to walk away but a man came walking his way. josh looked around, he was wishing he hadn’t gone so close to the river, it had been stupid of him, now that was the only way that was free but he was sure he couldn’t get closer and even less cross it, he contemplated running between Nat and the man when she spoke

“Did you ever see the item Nicky carries in her boot?” she tilted her head, his eyes expanded slightly “ah, I see that you´ve seen her dagger, I have one, well, a couple, too” she said, he stared “did you ever see how good aim she has? Even with a moving target, it is really amazing. Did she ever show that to you? –she waited for his reply but he didn’t answer- well, anyway, I’m not as good but I’m good enough… I´d have to throw a few if it´s a moving target but, one at least would make it” she shrugged
“Congrats. I have to go back now” he tried to go again
“Oh, why? I could use your company”
“Thanks but I don’t want yours”
“You´re going with us” she said blocking his path, another man walked towards them, they produced guns from their leather jackets
“You´re kidnapping me”
“I’m just taking you out for a ride, you´ll be back” she smiled, josh took out his phone, she pointed a blade to his throat as the men aimed their guns to his head “no phone” she said, one of the men came to take it from him, the other tied his arms behind his back
“You have no idea whom you´re messing with” josh said as the two men pushed him forward. Nat laughed
“I know you more than you now yourself, young Arlington” she spat his name

Josh heard his phone ran for the third time. He’d been sitting for a long time. Someone came to remove the blind he had over his eyes
“Your brother will think you´re still mad at him” Nat said as she pushed the ignore button of his phone, then she went in a door.

When they had arrived the two men had made him sit on a chair where they tied his legs to it and his hands behind it, the place looked like a wooden cabin but from where he was it looked like an office, there was a desk with a computer, in a corner there was a coffee maker and some old magazines on a coffee table. The phone on the desk rang; one of the men answered it
“She´s not available” he said and then “well, come and see how happy she´ll be to see you then” and after that “yeah, I thought so” he hung up
“Who was it?” Nat came out of the door she´d gone in
“The driver” the man said, Nat, scoffed as she dialed a number
“Hi, Nicky –she said in a cheerful tone- how are you? I’m sure you’ll be happy to hear my visitor´s voice –she said and put the phone close to josh’s mouth. Talk, she whispered, then, say hi, he didn’t, so he slapped him hard, her rings marking his skin
“You bitch!” he snarled
“Do you recognize him? Ah, but that wasn’t for you, don’t worry, he´s got a mouth though!... maybe I should´ve put him to walk, I bet you would’ve recognized that, I forgot –she said coyly- I´d love for you to come and say hi, I won’t let him go before you come!” she had a disgustingly cheerful tone
Josh was to remain there until the girl returned, at least that way Aaron would notice he wasn’t there and they could try to find him, his grandpa with all his influences could find him, maybe they could help Nichole, he thought frowning, he knew she had never wanted anybody to know about these people
“Don’t worry” said Nat glancing at him, she was on the computer now “She´ll come in a while, I had to make a precise plan, she always listens to my messages on Friday around this time. You will go back before anyone misses you”


“…Don’t worry, he just came a few hours ago –Nic heard Nat´s voice mail- we´re close, I couldn’t pin-point you but I know you´re somewhere near… Do you remember this wooden cabin we stayed in a few years ago?...” Nat left an address. Nichole sighed heavily and tilted her head up with her eyes closed. She´d had to catch another train… the wind blew, a few leaves fell on her face


A door banging made josh look up, he´d been silently looking down for the hour and a half that he´d been without the blind. He saw Nichole coming in, she had dark rings under her eyes, and she looked paler and thinner. She was wearing an old leather jacket, her boots and her midnight blue gloves, her hair tied in a braid, she walked with her head held high, very graceful, her eyes cold while she walked straight ahead as if she had the upper hand not like josh had imagined she´d look. When she passed right in front of him, her eyebrows furrowed a fraction as she took in the forming bruise in his cheek, she quickly looked to Natasha who shrugged making innocent eyes at the girl.

“Take him home” she commanded to the woman
“We need to talk first” the woman replied in a calm voice
“Take him home safely now” Nichole ordered with authority that made Nat blink, the woman sighed
“Nic…”
“Don’t make me repeat myself” the girl took off her gloves
“I can’t have you going away again” Nat said to the girl´s back, she had changed her course, going to a window instead of to Natasha, the girl didn’t reply for a moment
“Take him back safely. We do have a lot to talk, you´re right about that”
“Fine” Nat motioned to the two men to take him
“Untie him, he´s not your prisoner” Nic faced Nat who sighed
“I’m sorry –she said to josh as she untied his hand from behind him- but I needed her to come and talk to me” she let him untie his feet

“Are you taking my place now?” he asked Nichole with concern. He saw her sigh a tiny sigh and then she shook her head. “Nic?” he furrowed his eyebrows, after that first glance she hadn’t looked at him
"I want to be here now" she said in a quiet voice, then turned away.

“Only the driver is to take him to the same place where you kidnapped him” she said to Nat, disregarding him, she put on her gloves again. Nat nodded. The girl bent her leg up and took her dagger from her boot
“Don’t doubt in using it against anyone who attempts to harm you –she instructed as she gave her dagger to josh- I’m ok, nothing will happen to me here –she added- silence helps me, ok? –she stared at him, he nodded- go now, please” she walked away and entered the door Nat had entered before. The room stayed in silence.

“Time to go home!” Nat said cheerful, it was creepy how she could change her demeanor so quick
“Are you going to harm her?”

“NO! I wouldn’t do that! –Nat gasped- she wouldn’t let me”

Friday, January 24, 2014

Double Life: rumors, lies and bits of truth

A/N: I dont like the tittle but then it´s what best shows what this one´s about haha 
I wish I could stay here forever, writing -sigh... 

Saku: thank you for your last comment, I knew you´d like the twins together even if your fav twin wasnt doing so good. I like your idea about scenes of the twins together. Oh, also about Nic being a contradiction, it´s true, Im glad it´s showing in that way, she is being contradictory like that with how close she wants him mmmm I was thinking on a side-story about that, like further explanation on why that was happening but we´ll see haha -thx for reading
*************************

Nichole got off the train in the busiest stop. It had been about a week since she had last turned her phone on, she braced herself to listen to the many voice mails she was sure she had, she ignored most of them, they were threats and pleads and attempts to bribe her to go back, many others concerning josh and their supposed fight. She frowned, now that she knew about the shared past she and josh had listening to Nat speak of him made many emotions burst out of her. She was sure Nat knew josh, how could she pretend like she did, making it sound like she cared but clearly he was in their revenge plan and that knowledge stirred contrasting thoughts, he was on the vengeance plan which meant they could harm him. They were just waiting for her to return, by staying away at least for the moment she was preventing any harm to happen to him but she wasn’t sure how she felt about it, again she was being the object, the thing that protected him, never her choice but even now, what would she choose, she had wondered that for a  while now, it was the first thought in her mind in the morning as she woke up after sleepless nights, as she´d been doing she tried to ignore those thoughts with a small sigh as she heard the voice mails, there was one that caught her attention


“You´re causing me a lot of trouble, Nicky, I have to congratulate you, you´re more skilled than what I thought… I wonder what you´ll think of this… you see, I can’t keep making this look like you´re absent because you´re sick and Karl doesn’t want it anymore. I know –she had said in a motherly tone- that there are many things that you don’t understand but I do know that you care about your education, you´re one of the best at an important school, you know that´s great… you don’t need any effort just pass but you do it anyways, you care but, dear, if you don’t come back, you´ll lose all that –the woman had sighed- everything –now the woman´s voice was cold- all your things will be taken out and thrown to the trash… you might not care of many things but I do know you have great regard over the papers… those will be burnt, Val will do that… you have until tomorrow at this time, three in the afternoon, to prevent that from happening” the message ended. Nichole closed her eyes, her forehead had a crease. It wasn’t important but it was important to her. “My paintings” she whispered “my memories” she opened her eyes, turned around and got in the next train without even checking where it was going.


“The room´s empty” Val said to the phone, she heard Natasha sighing on the other side “she didn’t show up this week either”
“Obviously” Nat said with a cold voice “I´ll be there in a while”


“So much in a rush you are that you couldn’t wait to meet us in the SCR” Aaron teased the boy that was coming towards them  
“Right –the boy scoffed- I’m actually headed to the girl´s dorm”
“You do know they won’t let you in, right?” josh chuckled
“I have to help take a box of books to the library and other boxes out of guess who´s room?”
“Who…?” the twin´s said at once, Aaron with curiosity, josh with concern
“None other than creepy Nichole”
“What? Why?” the twins spoke at once again, now both equally surprised
“I gotta carry the stuff because that´s part of my punishment, make it as janitor” her rolled his eyes
“Wasn’t she sick?” Aaron spoke, josh just stared
“I don’t know about that but the rumor says she got knocked up by this guy of one of the towns, one that used to come here with her, her family denied her support, so she left”
“Really?...” Aaron gasped
“Who told you that?” josh spoke at the same time, their words overlapping
“Michelle heard it from the dorm sup when she was talking with Nichole´s mother”

“I thought Nic didn’t have…” Aaron started when josh interrupted
“michi hates Nichole, you can’t believe her”
“I wouldn’t believe her but Lex´s closest friend told me she told her she´d seen her bringing a guy to her room”
“Really??!” Aaron exclaimed
“Yeah, and your roommate –Brighton nodded to josh- told me the same…” Brighton concluded, Aaron looked at josh with surprise written on his face, josh only lifted both eyebrows
“Do you think that´s true?” Aaron asked josh with surprise but the other boy answered
“maybe she didn’t even know who was her baby daddy and that´s why she left –she shrugged- I hate to make it as janitor but I’m glad to take out that disgrace´s stuff out” Brighton said with a tone of superiority that quickly dissolved to a cry of pain when josh’s fist connected to his jaw making the boy tumble to the ground

“Josh, what the hell?!” Aaron exclaimed going to help Brighton who quickly stood up and squared his shoulders taking a defensive stance
“Ah, yeah, I forgot she was your little ho. Seems like she didn’t get enough from you and she went to look it from someone else” he spat as he made a round motion over his stomach. Josh was about to throw another punch but Aaron stopped him and pushed him away
“It´s not worth it!” he growled to his twin who had a clenched aw. Brighton laughed
“ah, I see, so maybe the little one was yours –the boy laughed some more- did you say you wouldn’t take care of it?” he got punched again, this time by Aaron
“Keep your mouth shut and go away now or I’ll show you real pain” he grabbed Brighton by his shirt
“This doesn’t end here” the boy said but left. Aaron turned to josh

“We just got in trouble” he said josh only glanced his way “ I know you cared for her, but it´s not like you to be this way, that´s my role, josh” he tried again, josh pursed his lips this time
“Josh –Aaron sighed- what´s going on?”
“He´s lying”
“How do you know… the dorm supervisor said it…”
“She´s lying”
“Why would she do that? Besides, I don’t think Lex would, you’re friends with her and your roommate too, they saw…”
“They were the ones sneaking in that night, they shouldn’t talk!” josh said angrily

“How do you know josh?” Aaron asked after a moment of silently staring at his twin. Josh closed his eyes, sighed and opened them again
“I was the one they saw” he confessed to a wide eyed Aaron “besides, I took you to her room, is it even a surprise to you?” he scoffed
“Josh –Aaron blinked rapidly- I was right about the shampoo, you spent the nights with her”
“I slept and took a shower in that room, I told you about that”
“Josh?” Aaron narrowed his eyes
“Rain made me stay there sometimes”
“That´s how she knew –Aaron muttered as realization hit him- some times, josh?” the twins left silence stretch between them

“josh, what he said about the…” Aaron made a round motion over his stomach
“There´s no kid, Aaron, are you stupid?” josh snarled
“How could I know? You became like her, all mysterious and always around her, never saying anything like you had something to hide!” he raised his voice
“You don’t know what you´re saying!”
“Well, go on, tell me, where she is or why she left, she must have said something in those times you slept and took showers in that room” Aaron made air quotation marks
“I don’t know where she is”
“You know something, don’t you think I didn’t notice you and her looked at the other as if only you two were in the secret”
“I don’t even know what you´re saying”
“You do”
“You make no sense”
“You´re just like her now, or worse, you hit a guy for a gossip, you got drunk and stole her papers, you were even skipping classes... Maybe it´s better that she left”
“Shut up, Aaron!”
“Why do you always fall for the weirdoes or needies, josh?”

Josh cursed out loud before walking away from his twin who cursed back at him and walked away in the opposite direction

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Double Life: Picture of you

A/N: I wanted to go ahead and rant about how miserable my life is, possibly doing so in a wannabe poem form... I had the first lines in my mind but then... that´s nothing and that´s all, so why to go ahead and use the little time I have to think about that so, instead of that, I decided to go ahead and post another tiny bit of DL, one that wasnt really intended to be in the story until after it was done, why? because Im still not able to let go of the characters so in my mind their story is still going and this part is meaningful for that part of the story hahaha also I missed seeing those two together.

BTW, Saku, thx for the comment on yesterday's post, I liked it. Also, it made me think more of Karl, I think I´ll fix his part of the story ´cause if I dont do anything about it it might stay a bit of a mystery somehow but I´ll see about that. Also, -again- thank you for reading, I appreciate it.

***** 


“Follow me” josh walked to the back of the girl´s dorm building. He pushed the emergency exit
“Whoa!”
“Shut up” he quietly said and started to go upstairs. When they reached her floor he said “her room´s the one at the end of the hall… it must be locked. How do you plan to open it?” josh chuckled at Aaron´s wide eyes
“After the way you dragged me here I thought you had a plan or something!”
“Or something? How would I have something? –he almost laughed- you said to come so I brought you”
“We need a key, josh” Aaron rolled his eyes
“Ah, sure, wait, I have my copy right here” he pulled his keys from the pocket of his jacket, the one that Nic had given him; he hadn’t wore it since he last saw her. Something metallic fell. The twins moved their glaring eyes to the floor, and then with equally wide eyes they looked up to the other. A key had fallen; it had a string tied to a tiny strip of paper. Josh bent to pick it up, there was a note on it.
You might find it useful. Nic” at the end of the note there was a tiny arrow signaling to turn it over, he did, Aaron took the key and read “tweedle dum would love to have this” Aaron narrowed his gaze
“So, she did give you a key to her room” he said still with narrowed eyes
“I didn’t know” josh shrugged and chuckled at her strange ways.

“She´s so lucky to have the room to herself” Aaron commented as they stood in the middle of the room “Do you know where she could have her info?”
“This was your idea, you look for stuff” josh scoffed
“I’m not going through her stuff” Aaron took a step back
“Your idea, I brought you, you do whatever…” josh laid on her bed, one leg up, the other on the floor, one of his hands covering his eyes
“Are you planning to sleep now? Geez you´re such a bad drunken guy”
“I’m not drunk” josh said flatly
“Right”
“You had more drinks than me”
“I have a higher tolerance…”
“Are you proud of that?” josh scoffed again

“Get up and help me” Aaron lightly kicked the foot that josh had on the floor, josh didn’t move. The room was silent for a few moments until josh heard Aaron muttering to himself
“Somewhere safe –he hummed- where would I put something like that?”
“You´d give it to me” josh chuckled
“You’re not helping… -he grumbled- Where would you put it?” he asked after a short moment
“Where no one would find it, perhaps somewhere locked” josh yawned
“Yeah! Help me find a drawer or something that needs a key” Aaron said, josh didn’t move but he didn’t expected his twin to do it, he just started opening the drawers of her dresser then the ones of her desk, the cabinets in the bathroom and finally her closet. Not one was locked. Aaron stared at the room, turning slowly to see it all.

“Josh! Come here, I found something”
“What?”
“Come!” Aaron urged, the boy reluctantly got up and went to his twin´s crouched form in front of the closed, he scooted down too, Aaron was looking at the side of the closet
“What is it?”
“This is the only locked drawer; there must be something in here”
“Closets don’t have drawers on the side” josh pushed his twin´s head forward
“Feel here, there´s a keyhole” he took josh’s hand and directed it to the furthest side, closer to the wall. Aaron was right, this time it was Aaron who smacked josh’s head “try the key”

When they got it open, they stared at the big collection of papers classified in folders; it looked like a file, with random letters on them to distinguish one of the other. Aaron took out the first one labeled “A.C” and opened it; they splayed the papers on the floor where they were sitting. Immediately josh recognized the person drawn in them
“Ashley” he mumbled
“Long hair doesn’t mean he´s a girl, it´s a guy, you dumb face”
“That´s his name, she told me” he clarified when Aaron looked at him incredulous
“Really?” he gasped, josh only nodded. Aaron passed the many pages randomly, stopping in one “this one looks familiar” he said with furrowed eyebrows
“It´s in the library, on the hallway where she broke your nose”
“She was obsessed with this guy, look how many there are!”
“Put them back” josh said, instead of that, Aaron took the thickest folder, it was labeled “F,N,W”
In that folder there were paintings and drawings of trees, the forest, leaves, flowers, clouds, the moon, birds and other animals. Josh recognized some of the drawings

“This is Paisley” Aaron said somewhat excited
“Yeah” josh agreed quietly
“What do you think f,n, w mean?”
“Forest, nature and water” josh pointed to pictures of the forest, animals and rivers to show it. Aaron stared at him for a moment
“A.C is…?”
“Ashley Cooper”
“So… -Aaron looked at the labels on the folders and took another- J.A must be you –he grinned, josh said nothing, instead he just put back the two other folders. Aaron opened the J.A folder and as he predicted, drawings and paintings of Josh were in there
“This one´s quite thick too” Aaron commented as they observed images of josh in class or laying on the grass or smiling or focused on a notebook or playing the guitar. There were also several drawings of his eyes and his smile, his hands and back, even of his sleeping form
“I think you had a stalker” Aaron bumped shoulders with his twin who rolled his eyes
“These- he pointed to many of the pictures- were done after I got asked  if I minded and these –he pointed to the ones of his eyes and some others- seem to be the sketches, the drafts of what she used for that project, don’t you recognize them?”
“Only you would, man. How do you even know that?” josh shrugged and passed the pages. There were pictures of Lizzy´s art gallery, of Paisley, of Aaron walking the dog out, of the Arlington family, of the twins, of Maggie in the breakfast table, there were a few pictures of the holiday they spent together
“I don’t think we´ll find an address here” josh said starting to pick up the papers
“Yeah” Aaron agreed but he went quickly through some more folders

“There´s nothing here” Aaron concluded after looking once again at the papers.
“No” josh started to pull out the folders out of the drawer they found
“What are you doing?”
“I’m taking this”
“Why?”
“She wouldn´t want to lose it”
“Her family should pick it then”
“They won’t”
“Josh… These things are not yours, let them alone”
“psshhh don’t tell me you care about that” josh rummaged in the girl´s closet for one of her messenger bags. He put the folders in two of them

“Shouldn’t you?” Aaron asked with furrowed eyebrows, josh shrugged “no more parties for you josh” Aaron sighed taking the bag his twin gave him

Monday, January 20, 2014

Double Life: out of mind

A/N: after such a long time... I woke up late but my eyes felt ok enough and I´ve been dying to post something and though this is bits and pieces...transitions... I wanted to put it something once again. Damn...dont wanna go to work lol
 ****



“Where are you Nicky?” Natasha muttered as she observed Nic´s bank account records, it was all the same as it had been for days, years even. “Nicky, give me something…” she murmured as she checked Joshua’s phone records, she had to find the girl, a new mission was issued, if it didn’t get done soon Karl would intervene and who knows what would happen if he knew she was missing, moreover, her not reporting it was already putting herself in danger but she had to find the girl before giving any report. Nat went over every call, every text, every number in josh’s phone record, she was convinced he had to know something, they had been too close, too close too quick to not know but then Nichole knew well how to keep things to herself. Ashley had never known anything about her other life maybe Joshua didn’t either.

Natasha had searched the places where Nichole had gone when she´d received the texts and calls she´d made, it was a wide range that the signals covered but it was a parameter. The girl had been travelling fast, to separate places, too many places to look and she couldn’t put all her personnel to look for her specially without getting some word told to Karl.

She´d also tried to pin-point the girl through the e-mail she´d sent to the infirmary at Burgeoys and to Val, how could she had sent that from Nat´s personal account, she marveled at the girl´s ability, she wondered how and when she´d learned to do so, it was not something she´d been taught and she was already so good as to make it impossible to hack her computer. Nichole had always let believe Nat that she had access to it but now that she dug further she learned that was far from the true. “It´s private” was the message she got before a virus had infected her computer and then two more… so far that gave her a reason to keep trying to access there, if the girl had made sure to protect it, then it was worth seeing.

“Nicky, Nicky, where the heck are you?” Nat scrubbed a hand over her face when her phone startled her, her heart beat faster once she answered it.

“In short, you´re telling me it’s not possible to find Nichole?” Karl said with exasperation
“I think she does not want to live according to our plans anymore”
“First step is to find her –Karl went right down to business- go to the boy, they´ve been seen together and she spent New Year´s with them, he has to know something”
“What? No!” Nat was startled
“Yes”
“How…?” he wasn’t even supposed to know Nic hadn’t spent the time at the camp. Not even she knew where the girl had gone, yet, Karl knew
“The question is why you didn’t inform me of that? And how do I know it’s not the same now?”
“I didn’t know where she was! How could you?”
“I am the one to get answers here, Natalie” he said sternly using a name she hadn’t been called in years
“I’m sorry, it´s just… I couldn’t find out where she was then and it might help …to find her now” she lied
“It was a conversation I had with the boy´s father”
“But he doesn’t know you and Nichole are related”
“Of course not! Do you think I’m stupid?! It happened, that´s all that matters. The boy must know something, go to him” he commanded

“You didn’t say a thing about it”
“I have nothing to report to you but it is your job to do so! Find my daughter and bring her back, no matter what!” he growled and hung up. Natasha sighed heavily. It wasn’t over, he´d still make her pay one way or another, he only needed to have her finish this, he needed her to find the girl, it could be worse if she didn’t find her soon. The good part of the inopportune call was that now that he knew she had more resources, she could even use the boy, he´d send her to him, the bad part was that even if she won in their hide and seek game, it was almost certain that the girl wouldn’t come back willingly.


Nichole knew she was smart, even if she didn´t, Ibsen´s journal had told he she´d been designed to be smart and quick but so far after days and days of having ran away she still didn’t know what to do exactly. Her dilemma was if to prove and confirm everything, to demand an explanation from Karl, Natasha and even Alexander Arlington or if to just disappear, start over, be someone else… maybe, she thought, I can’t decide because I always let Karl and Nat do the thinking…. If I just disappear I´ll always wonder about this and if I stay I might get caught in all this again –she sighed.

She was moving one again to another location; she’d been using the public transportation, blending in the crowded hours of the morning or afternoon. As she rode a train she wondered about Mary Ann’s theory of Karl killing all the crew that participated in her making, shed said only the head, the Arlingtons were missing… for sure Karl would stick to his plan until he achieved his goal, he was like that, he´d been that for her mother, he´d been that for Camille, he´d been that to her a long time ago… determined to get the what they wanted, what they needed, a man of his word…


“Josh, what happened to Nichole?” Aaron asked leaning closer to his brother. They were the only two remaining on the table of the crowded place. As Nichole had asked of him, josh hadn’t been alone much, even after almost two months. He’d been surprised that Aaron hadn´t asked sooner. This Saturday he was out with Aaron and his friends, all of them were somewhere, not sitting, dancing perhaps. Aaron had declined Michelle’s invitation to dance

“She´s sick”
“What does she have?”
“How would I know?”
“Josh…” Aaron threw him a look “everybody knows you were close” he said. Josh took a sip of his drink to avoid commenting “she´s not in school is she?” Aaron prompted and took a sip of his own drink. Josh shook his head
“Is she in a hospital? Have you tried to contact her?”
“I have no way of doing that” he sighed
“She texted you last time, when we picked her up…”
“Yeah” his voice wasn’t heard through the loud music
“Then? Call her” Aaron said in a tone that said he was stupid for not doing it sooner. Josh finished his drink and chuckled humorlessly
“She doesn’t want me to call her” he confessed without thinking, his mind had started to get foggy
“Come on! Just call her; I can see that you want to”
“Do you think I haven’t tried that? She said not to call her”
“So, she´s not sick?” Aaron’s eyes expanded, josh chuckled
“I don’t get sick” he quoted the girl but Aaron had no way of knowing this, so he just took the drink from josh’s hand who chuckled some more
“Do you know where she is?”
“Nope”
“Do you know her address?”
“Nope”
“If you knew, would you go?”
“She wouldn’t like that” he chuckled again
“What are you man? A coward?”

“How are you going to find her?” josh asked as he took the drink again. Aaron looked at him with focused eyes
“There must be something in her things, in her room, we have to go see” he suggested
“What’s with you and getting in her room? You won’t find anything”
“How do you know?” Aaron challenged
“Fine, we´ll get in” josh stood up after a while of staring at his twin and started to walk out
“Wait!” Aaron put a hand on his twin´s shoulder “now?”
“You want to see it, I’m showing it to you” somewhere in his foggy mind josh knew he wasn’t his normal self but he couldn’t make himself care about that
“We can’t leave the guys here”

“Our car´s not the only one … they can go back just fine”