I shouted out of desperation as the backhoe loader was only a few feet away from flying into the sky.
"What do you mean, hold on?! There is nothing to hold onto!"
"Then hold onto me!" Lexi roared back at me with good intentions, but I couldn't help but blush at her words.
It was only normal that I got aroused by girls around the same age as me who would drop those cliché catchphrases from various television shows.
Initially, I did not exhibit a particular interest in individuals of the opposite sex. Nonetheless, due to my heightened level of development relative to my peers, I possessed an understanding of boundaries and anatomical areas that should not be touched.
Due to my considerable intellectual capacity, I inadvertently plunged into the river below as the backhoe loader transitioned to the subsequent section of the dividing bridge.
I wasn't really worried about Lexi because I could already see her father's helicopters dancing around in the sky, nor was I worried about myself.
Why wasn't I scared for my life? Because I am a good swimmer, and I had already taken the item the robbers wanted to steal.
During that period, I held the belief that the idea was impressive; however, I can now assert with certainty that it was a naive decision on my part.
Puff—!
I fell deep into the water and quickly regained control of my body as I started swimming in the river.
Wave after wave passed, but I still kept myself underneath the water without raising my head to catch a breath.
As I approached the coastline, I glanced upward only to be met with an unfamiliar stretch of beach lying ahead. Yet, before I could discern my location, I suddenly found myself encircled by uniformed military personnel.
I immediately looked at the pen Michael Jackson used before he died and noticed it was fake, as it had a red flash alert.
And that is when I realized how stupid I was.
'I should have kidnapped Lexi!'
I might have thought that at the time, but I couldn't do something as kidnapping at that time, even now unless the situation forces it.
I walked out of the water with my hands raised in the air, showing that I wasn't going to disagree with the judgment before me.
However, that's when I understood why people say that the military is evil, as I felt maybe a thousand volts of electricity dancing around in my body.
I passed out after a few seconds of suffering and woke up straight in juvenile prison, as the Kronos family probably didn't want to deal with a thief like me.
The prison guard took pleasure in explaining the situation I was in, and that's when I heard that Lexi was the one who saved me from spending my life in prison.
I spent a duration of two years incarcerated among individuals whose behavior I found to be unpredictable and undesirable, and with whom I have no desire to associate in the future. This particular experience is one that warrants further exploration at a later time.
After getting out, I turned over a new leaf, as I stopped depending on stealing as a means of income and didn't even try to look for Lexi.
I was embarrassed!
Gambling and scamming people became my new life. In all honesty, it was more profitable than stealing.
However, a few months before I turned eighteen, all my evil doings came to a stop, and there was also the fact that I was banned from almost all gambling houses.
It was when I was doing one of my favorite scams in Los Angeles, like any angel would do.
"As I look into the realm of the spirits, I hear the voice of your dead fiancé calling out to me," I said with tears streaming down my cheek.
My hands grabbed the shoulders of a pretty Japanese girl with black hair. We were in a club, but not even the DJ was playing music as he listened to the sad story.
I took the microphone that was in between the liquor cups and sang in the girl's native language;
"眠りについた僕のまわりを"
You would not believe your eyes if ten million fireflies
The tears on the girl in a party dress increased as she hugged me, spilling the cups on the glass table. "Hic, Hic, Hic, that is right! He used to call me firefly because I lit up his world!"
Since she was giving me money for my fake psychic abilities, I couldn't tell her that her boyfriend was alive and using other girls like her.
Following a brief period of feigned effort, I convinced the young woman to release her hold on me by tapping on the table, indicating that it was a suitable moment for me to receive compensation for my interactions with deceased entities.
The girl didn't hesitate to hand over ten grand to me in one go, and I immediately whispered in her ear;
"He's like, "I'll always love you and I'll make sure you find someone just as awesome as me who will stick with you till the end." "
She immediately burst into tears, and my two sexy lady friends escorted her out of the club as she seemed unable to handle the death of her fiancé.
The moment she left, a nearly handsome man sat and threw more than thirty grand on the table, challenging my talents;
"In my hands, I offer you all my wealth and possessions in exchange for your extraordinary talent for deception. Should you prove unsuccessful in revealing my true identity, rest assured that I will not hesitate to unleash my wrath upon you for incorrectly labeling me as an Asian criminal to my beloved. Remember, I am a strong and dignified black American through and through."
He was right about me being a fraud, but at this point and time, I would beat the shit out of him since I was bitten by the Gemini firefly bug.
With a confident smirk, I took the money he had put on the table and said, "Your name is Changeez Fernsby from Iran. You don't know anything about your birth parents, so you dislike your home country. You grew up in an orphanage, and your grades were as ugly as your face. You came to L.A after high school, and after becoming a construction worker, your life has been going well here."
The man stayed silent as he tried to figure out why I knew so much about him.
Truth is, thanks to hacking the alien satellites, I knew everything about everyone in Axol Club, even their dead ancestors.