I AM HERE

Road trip done. Next up, meeting Detective Bria. Am I in trouble?

After that uneventful evening, I went back to the motel and slept my worries, dread, frustrations, and fatigue through the night. Of course, with a tiny trip to memory lane. All in a day's work. After I hit the bed, darkness immediately claimed me in its warm embrace. The memories start to flood me. This time, it showed me how I met Henry for the first time.

I was atop the tree when I felt someone put a handkerchief over my mouth and nose. My body instinctively made a gasp causing me to inhale the ammonia that has seeped in the handkerchief, and I fell into an unconscious state. The next time I woke up was on a soft plush bed in the middle of an unknown room. I had to close my eyes shut again because of the bright lights plus the glare of the sun coming through the window. When my eyes adjusted, I let it roam the room. It was a normal sized room with a queen-size bed in the middle of it and a small table on one of its side.

Where the hell am I? I tried sitting up but I couldn't. My hands were shackled on the bed posts. My ankles were shackled as well. That's when I started to panic. Why am I chained to the bed? Where am I? I need to get out of here. Even if I have to break a finger or two, I need to get out. I calmed myself first and assessed my situation. I try prying the shackles just to see how they fit my wrist. Tsk! Snug as a bug. How do I do this? An idea came to my mind. I tried breaking my thumb so that my hand can go through the shackles. It went through!

After that happened, I set my thumb again to its proper place and repeated the process with my other hand. It was damn painful but I needed to stifle my screams of pain or someone will discover what I was doing. After getting both if my hands out of their respective shackles and setting my thumbs again, I looked at what the situation my feet are in. This is going to be a tough one. I studied the shackles and saw a key hole. If there is a hole, there should be a key somewhere. But I doubt that whoever took me will just leave the key. If that's the case, I needed something small and sturdy to pick the lock. I searched the immediate vicinity of the bed. Nothing. They made sure not to put anything near me. I checked my clothes if there is anything I could use from it. I can see that my kidnappers didn't bother to change me out of my clothes, and I was glad of it because I found a bobby pin in one of pockets of my jacket. I bent the pin into a shape I needed to open these good for nothing shackles.

Once I unlocked the first one, I immediately did the second one and slowly rotated my feet to see if they're in good shape or not. Now that I'm free, I need to find a way out. I will not go through that door. They might have guards. I went to the window and saw there was no one below. Others would've climbed down on one of the pipes on the side of the house or maybe jumped from where they're from but I did the opposite and climbed up the roof. I did that to further assess if I'm in immediate danger or not, to familiarize myself with my surroundings to get a better grasp of where I should go, and to see if anyone was already alarmed. Plus nobody really looked up whenever they thought their hostage escaped.

I was already at the top of the roof when I was frozen in my tracks. A man was standing in front of me. Who is he? Why would there be a person at the top of the roof? My questions were answered when the man spoke. "You're good. Your parents told me all about you and your obsession with assassins. Tell me, if you were so obsessed with them, why were you caught so easily? Hmm? If I didn't arrive in time, you would have been either long dead along with your parents or you will treated like a slave by the murderer. You need training if you're ever going to be any good." He said the last part more to himself than actually to me. I just stood there, stunned at what he said. I mean, what?

"You're Henry Lloyd?" I asked dubiously. And what did he mean about training? Training in what? Assassinations? "You're an assassin? And you know who killed my parents? Who?" He didn't answer me immediately. He just stared at me like I'm some science experiment that he needs to judge at a school science fair.

"I'll only tell you the person I suspect as the one who killed them, IF you get my approval." Approval? I was so confused that I think it showed in my face. He must have seen him because he continued, "I need a successor. I need to train the next best assassin in the whole of Louisiana. Will you be able to follow in my footsteps? Or will you suffer, give up, and die like your parents? The choice is yours." I can't believe he seriously wants to make me an assassin. "Who are you?"

He smiled at my question knowing what I meant. "Tin Man." It was those two words that had me agreeing to what he was proposing. I stepped forward with my outstretched hand, ready to shake his when I suddenly felt a hand pulling me down. Before I knew it, I fell into the abyss.

I sat up from where I was lying, in cold sweat. What was that about? Who pulled me down? A shiver went down my spine because of that. I looked at my phone to check the time. It was 4 am. I got up from the bed because I know full well that I won't be able to go back to sleep anyway. I took a quick shower, changed into my casual clothes, wore glasses on top of my colored contacts, and a cap. I brought with me my bags and went down to the reception to check out of the motel. I'll start my journey back to Brundtland early so that I can find a place to settle in earlier. I drove for a few hours when my stomach growled.

Good thing I brought some ready to eat food from Henry's cupboard before leaving. I took out a few and opened the cans to eat them. I didn't need to use a spoon to eat what's inside. I slurped it all down like it's juice. When I was done eating, I put them in a trash bag I keep in the glove compartment, put them aside, and kept driving until I came upon a sign that says 'Welcome to Brundtland'. I drove for a while and stopped when I see a diner. Those canned food weren't enough to satisfy my stomach. I decided to park my car and went inside to eat.

The smell of spices are so pronounced in this place. I think I'm drooling. I went up to the counter and asked what they have. "We've got the best buffalo wings around these parts, miss." Well, I'll say it. This girl is pretty. Bright, crystal blue eyes, blue black hair that goes to below her shoulder blade, and a body to die for. Sometimes I question myself if I was supposed to have been born male. I think my stubbornness came from that. I shook my head and went to answer the girl. "Can I have two servings of those? Then what do you have for sides?"

"We've got fries. You can choose regular potato or sweet potato fries. For the drinks, we have only diet Coke and diet Pepsi in stock." I nodded and gave her my order. I went to a table by the window to wait for my order. While waiting, I took out my laptop and checked my email. I also started a search for available houses in town where I can rent in another tab. While I was doing that, a lady cleared her throat beside me. I looked up at her, silently questioning why she did what she did, and it seems she wants me to ask her vocally. I complied. "How can I help you, Miss?"

"Do you mind if I sit there? I don't like sitting at the counter and everywhere else is full. Can I?" She asked with sincerity. Why would I mind? I don't own the table and chair. So I said, "Sure you can. I don't own this table and chair, anyway." Then I gave her a smile. When she heard this, she smiled as well and turned to sit opposite me. From what I could see, she works for the local PD. Damn, I need to be careful with this chick. She's going to be one of the first people to suspect me if I make a mistake. And she's a beauty. God! I sound like a horny guy looking for someone to f**k. Then again, I could think that I'm admiring the beauty of these girls.

"Miss? Excuse me, miss? Are you alright?" Little Miss Detective asked me. I snapped out of my thoughts when she snapped her fingers in front of me. Wait, did I just stare at her? What was I thinking? "I'm sorry, wha-what was your question?" I answered, stammering. She just pointed to my side. When I looked, I saw the girl who entertained me at the counter. She was smiling at me and pointed to my laptop. My brain was sluggish at what she was pointing. That's when a click went on in my brain. I took my laptop off the table, closed it and placed it on the chair beside me so she could put my order in front of me. I said my thanks and she went on her way back to the counter.

I started eating the fries first because I don't want any of the buffalo sauce on my fries. I was happily munching on my food when little Miss Detective asked, "What's your name? I haven't seen you around here. I'm Detective Bria Coolidge of the local PD." I looked at her before answering. "June. June Lane. I'm from Louisiana. Got some problem back home so I ran away and decided to lie low here for a few years while taking college credits from the local college. I'm actually looking for a place to rent on my laptop earlier."

Satisfied at what I answered and further said, "I know a place where you could stay. But I have to warn you, the place ain't cheap." My eyes widened at what she said, I didn't need to find one myself. it came to me on its own. "Really? Thank you! Now I don't need to find one. When can I see the place?" I asked excitedly like a kid that just heard the news of going to the candy store. "We can go there after we eat." I just nodded and continued to eat my food when her order came. I saw that it only consisted of a grilled cheese sandwich and diet Pepsi. Will that make her full? Oh well. Everybody has different appetites.

I ate like there is no tomorrow. I really loved how the spices meld in my tongue, giving a kick every now and then. When I was finished, I washed it all down with my drink. I was so satisfied that I burped. It was so loud, everybody stared at me. I turned into a ripe tomato because if that. "Excuse me." Detective Bria just laughed at me.

"Shall we go?" I just nodded and followed her.