Obsession 2

Chapter 15- Vicious Cycle

Sadie and I have decided to head back to Texas, mostly because we don't want detectives showing up at Kai and Leo's places any time they want to; but also because we have to start focusing on finding Sammy. If he saw the cops snooping around Kai's place, it's likely he wouldn't come back for a while.

So maybe we can lure him to us.

"So this bridge...is it a real place in Japan? Or is it like...metaphorical?" Sadie asks as we take the bus all the way from LA back to Dallas.

I stare out the window at the vast nothingness of New Mexico as I contemplate her question. "I don't know. Maybe it was a real place, a long time ago. It's definitely metaphorical though. I think it symbolizes unity between the Yami and the Hikara."

"So how do you go about re-building a metaphorical bridge?" she asks.

"My gut tells me Sammy and I are the key to uniting the tribes of the Rokusai. Before I can worry about that though, I've got to actually find him. Something tells me he might know what we're up to. Which means he'll disappear until he thinks we've let our guard down."

After hours of riding, we finally make it to Dallas and Sadie's grandmother picks us up at the bus station. She doesn't ask us any questions, doesn't really speak to us at all. She seems upset or maybe even a bit annoyed, probably because Sadie disappeared without telling her where she was going. I guess I would've been upset too.

From what I remember of Sadie's grandmother, she was a very quiet, very meek woman. Her late husband was a marine and was always kind of a hard nose. He died about ten years ago and since that time, Grandma has come out of her shell. She's changed up her look completely, dying her once gray hair black, wearing makeup for the first time ever and dressing rather provocatively.

"I guess you and Mikey have worked things out?" she asks Sadie, finally breaking the silence.

Sadie, who is in the front seat of the car, turns and looks at me. "Um, no, grandma. Mikey and I are just friends."

"So you ran away to California and he's not even willing to court you?"

"Court me?" Sadie repeats in confusion. "Um, no, I-"

"We're trying to work things out," I interrupt.

"And once again, I didn't run away. I just went with Mikey to visit a friend," Sadie adds.

"Your mother has been worried sick about you," Grandma says.

"Yeah, I'm sure she has. She hasn't called me once the whole time I've been gone, but she's so worried," Sadie laughs sarcastically. "When does she plan to grace us with her presence again."

"She's in Tokyo until the ninth," Grandma answers.

"The ninth? But the ninth was Saturday," Sadie says. "Oh, you mean...the ninth of next month. Great."

Since Sadie and I reconnected a few weeks ago, we haven't had a chance to catch up. I have no idea what's going on in her life anymore when I used to know everything about her. Four years with barely any contact means we're basically starting over. 

And I'm fine with that. I'd love to have another chance with Sadie and as soon as I get Sammy squared away, I plan to start working on that.

That is, if she doesn't hate me by the time this is all over.

We go our separate ways for the night, her grandmother dropping me off in front of my house before returning to Sadie's mother's house next door. I notice the unmarked white van sitting on the side of the street just a couple of houses down. I guess that means Detective Crosby is watching me again. He probably thinks I'm being suspicious, covering for Sammy. I guess in a way, I am. I need to get to him before the cops do, and more importantly, I need to get to him before he hurts someone else.

I go inside and turn on the light in the kitchen. It's so cold in lonely in here now, when this house was once filled with so much warmth and love. There's no more meals being prepared, no family movie nights spent in front of the television in our pajamas, no more laughter.

There's just...nothing.

I sit down at the kitchen table, hoping that by some stroke of luck, Sammy will show up again, begging me to help him. I'm still not exactly sure what to do once that happens, but I'll never figure it out without Sammy.

"Sammy, if you can hear me, I need you to come home. I've figured out a way to help you, but you have to stop running," I whisper.

"I was never running from you."

I nearly startle out of my skin when I hear his voice coming from right behind me. I turn around, and there he is, looking like a young Bruce Lee. He's dirty, bloody, sweaty, he's panting as if he ran all the way here; but he still has that same dark look in his eyes, so I know he'll be resistant.

"We're both infected with the curse now, Sammy," I say, standing from my chair. "Only, it doesn't affect me the same way. I can control my urges."

"Yeah, for now you can. I used to be able to control mine too. Why would you deliberately do this to yourself?!" he asks angrily.

"Keep your voice down!" I whisper. "The whole state of Texas is out looking for you right now!"

"You can't help me, Mikey. Especially not now. You never should've infected yourself. Do you have any idea what it's like to live with killing someone?"

"No, I don't, but I don't have to. I know how to fix this."

"You think you know-"

"Just listen to me for one God damn second!" I snap in frustration. "Stop assuming you have all the answers! I know someone who has been through this same thing before. We've just got to figure out how to make this work."

"Make what work?" he asks, his eyes softening just a little.

"There's a bridge...right now, I'm not sure how to get back there, but...if we can get there, I can-"

"You've seen the bridge?" he interrupts.

I nod, meeting his eyes. "I don't know yet what all of this means, but I'm going to figure it out and I'm going to save you from this."

"Save me? You really think this will just all magically go away?" he scoffs.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Sammy. You will be given a choice to keep these new abilities or to let them go. If you choose to let them go, every wrong will be undone. Stephanie, Olivia, they get to go on with their lives as if they've never met you."

"Do you really believe it's that easy?" Sammy asks. "Is that what Kai told you?"

I nod, wondering how he even knows who Kai is. But he has been following me around, all the way out to Kai's place in California. Maybe he's done his research on what I'm doing and the people I'm hanging out with.

"I hate to break it to you, little brother, but nothing is ever that easy. Maybe it's possible, but I'd be willing to bet it'll take a lot more than fixing some old bridge to undo everything I've caused."

"All I'm saying is there's a way. And as long as I know that, I have hope that it really will be that easy," I reply. "Even if it's not easy though, I promise I'm going to do whatever it takes to help you."

No sooner do the words leave my mouth, the front door is kicked in, followed quickly by the back door. A swarm of police officers enter our house and surround us from every angle.

I raise my hands in surrender, giving Sammy a look. He hesitantly does the same.

"Michael, I have to say, you had me going there for a while," Detective Crosby says, entering the room. "I really believed you had nothing to do with what happened."

"What?" I ask, furrowing my brows in confusion.

"Take both of them in," he instructs the officers.

"Wait! What are you doing?!" I shout as two officers bound my hands behind my back. "Hey! Come back!"

I look over at Sammy and he smirks at me while he's being handcuffed. "I told you, little brother. But you didn't want to listen."

"Listen to what?!" I ask as they lead him away. "Sammy!"

Eventually, I'm led away as well and placed in the back of a police cruiser. I give up on trying to get answers for now. I mean, if I really wanted to, I could just disappear. But Sammy is going back to jail and if he's there, I need to be there too.

I'm taken to the police station and led into interrogation. After sitting at the small table in the center of the room alone for a while, Detective Crosby comes into the room.

I can tell by his body language that he's frustrated with me. He probably thinks I'm helping Sammy and while I'm definitely trying to, it's not working out the way I'd planned.

He sits down in the chair across the table from me, lacing his fingers together and putting his huge, bulging arms on display. "Michael, I don't appreciate being made to look like a fool."

"A fool? I don't even know why I'm here!" I shoot back.

"Because you keep telling me you don't know where you brother is, but you've been lying to me! You've been lying to me all this time!"

"I'm not lying!" I snap, losing my patience. "You can't just keep Sammy locked up. He can get out of anything. If you don't believe me, then put it to the test. Lock him up tonight, keep a couple of guards at his door. I promise you, he'll be out by morning."

"You obviously think I was born yesterday," he chuckles.

"No sir, not at all. But you have no idea what you're dealing with here. Sammy is dangerous. But you and I, we have the same mission here- to keep him from hurting someone else. Your way of doing it is wrong, mine is not."

"So what is your way exactly? Let him roam free and hope for the best?"

"You're wasting your time trying to hold him here. He will escape again and then what? You can keep chasing him, but you'll never catch him," I say, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest.

"You seem to know a lot more than you did the last time we spoke," he says, eyeing me suspiciously.

"I do. Sammy has been coming and going ever since he escaped. He's always gone before I can do anything, but I've been searching for answers, answers that, quite frankly, you're not even close to finding. And even if you did, you wouldn't know what to do with them. I don't want Sammy to hurt anyone else, so please...let me help you. Let me get to Sammy so I can help him. Once I have, I promise, I'll turn him right over to you and he will pay for his crimes. If you keep on chasing him like this, he'll keep running and we're only putting more and more lives at risk."

I can tell he wants to scoff at my offer, but really, what other choice does he have? He knows he Sammy will escape again and this nightmare will just repeat, a vicious cycle.

"Fine," he sighs. "I'm trusting you on this, but I'm warning you, one slip up and you're both done for."