"Ch- Charlotte's in danger!!" Vick shouted; startling me "Charlotte? Who is that!? What did the note say!?" I shouted back. I immediately snatch the note from him and read the sentence "Meet us at Pfluger Bridge at 8:00 P.M or we'll meet Charlotte instead"
Charlotte? She's in danger!? I quickly turned to Vick, but he was long gone. He busts through the restaurant doors as he sprints to the right side. "Ella! What happened!?" Fernando shouted. "Vick's in trouble. Just let him be, please" I say to him. I know I shouldn't be siding with Vick and telling Fernando, but I'm going to only because Charlotte's life is on the line.
You might be a bit confused now. Ella? No, it's just a fake name. I'm Emily. I used the fake name Ella so Vick wouldn't recognize me as Emily when he helped the gang kidnap me. I also wish I hadn't intervened when Charlotte was taking Vick in because now I look familiar to him. But, never mind that. Vick just told me something I didn't know. Was he forced into crime?
Why didn't it say that in Wikipedia? Did he say that in the court case? No, maybe he's lying to me so I would feel bad for him for committing all those crimes. For some reason, part of me makes me want to trust Vick. He actually seems like he's gone through it all. Maybe he really has changed.
I thought about it for a moment until "Okay, it's okay, I'll let him slide, haha!" Fernando says. "Yeah," I replied. No, what Vick did was wrong. He cannot change the past; he cannot change what he did to us. Being forced or not... he still did it. I promise to you Vick that I will kill you and make you suffer like the rest of us. You'll watch as I snap every limb on your body in half, and crush every bone in your body. And then, I would've avenged my family's death. I can live happily ever after.
TRAUMA OF '89
VOLUME 1, CHAPTER 6, VICTIMS OF 89'
YESTERDAY
Meet April. She was the last victim of Vick Cross and managed to escape from him to inform the police of Vick and his gang. "Good morning, Emily," she says to me as she walks down the hotel hallways with me. "Good morning," I say back. Veronica and Priscilla wave at me as I wave back. Meet Veronica. Veronica was the second to last victim of Vick Cross. Meet Priscilla. She is my childhood friend and has been with me since day one. Finally, met my husband, Phil. This is the team that I've created to take down Vick and begin his suffering.
We're all in my and my husband's hotel room planning what to do. "Okay, let's begin," I say "Starting tomorrow we will all be occupied with something to do. Veronica, you will be spying on Vick after his shift tomorrow, seeking his information. April, you will be spying on Charlotte, seeking information from her. Priscilla, you will be visiting Vick's family and asking them questions we will need for this mission. Phil, you will begin to act like a casual visitor to the restaurant just to talk to Vick. And finally, I will be connecting to Vick at a new job Vick applied to yesterday. You guys got that?" I explained and asked. "Yes!" The team shouts.
"Veronica, before you and April start your tasks, I want you guys to go manipulate Charlotte, and try to get her to lose trust in Vick" I commanded. "Okay," Veronica and April replied. I smiled "Okay then, starting tomorrow, we will do our tasks"
PRESENT DAY
April is walking towards the clinic to meet Charlotte. I told her to try to hit Charlotte with everything she's got to make Charlotte despise Vick. April enters the clinic where Charlotte works, finding her standing there in the waiting room. "Woah, found her already," April says. She walks over to Charlotte and decides what to say. "May I help you?" Charlotte notices her right away.
April immediately responds "It's Vick"
"What about Vick?" Charlotte asks. "He's... he's dangerous" April puts on a stunt "He's plotting something against you, Charlotte. And before you know it, he's gonna do awful things to you"
"How do you know that? Who are you?" Charlotte questions with an irritated face. "He... he did this to me a few days ago at work" she lifts her right arm to show her bruise on her forearm "and this" she lifts her other arm with a huge band-aid. "Oh no, are you okay???" Charlotte raises her voice. "Yes, I am. But, he's back from prison and he hasn't changed one bit. I didn't even know it was Vick until he started hurting me" April's tears fall from her eyes, making it more believable.
"Let's take you inside for a clean up and we can talk more about it" Charlotte grabs her hands. "No" April responds "I came here to warn you. I can't be caught with you or he'll hurt me" April runs away. "Wait!" Charlotte shouts as she kicks the door open. April was nowhere to be found. With Charlotte's face worried and concerned for her and April's safety, I'd say we did a great job. April watches Charlotte from the distance behind a water fountain. "I'm sorry... Vick" she says.
A car suddenly honks behind her as she quickly turns around to find "Veronica" she calls out. April turns to find Charlotte nowhere to be found and then heads into the car. April sighs "Did you get her good?" Veronica chuckles. "Yeah, I did" April answers. April sits there with a concerned face, which worries Veronica "April, what's wrong?"
April didn't answer but stared out the window. Veronica asks one more time "April, you can tell me anything. What's wrong?"
April faces Veronica "Do you remember what I told you back then when we first met? When did Emily first start this little alliance?" April asks. "Yeah," Veronica responds. "And you remember that Vick was forced to do all those crimes?" April asks again. "Yes, but why does this matter?" Veronica questions.
"Because..." April thought to herself for a moment "Vick didn't mean to do any of those crimes. He wasn't in control. He was forced and threatened by the criminals. I don't think he deserves to die because of that"
"Well, he still did it" Veronica stated "Besides, why would you rat him out in the end after he saved you anyway?" She asked. "Because I knew that he wouldn't be able to get out of the situation anyways, and he'd be sent to prison no matter what. It doesn't matter, okay? He saved me, and he saved those people back in the warehouse" April explained.
Veronica sighs "I don't care"
"Huh?" April uttered.
"He still did it. Even if he saved all of them, he was too late. Our hate for him will never change" Veronica says. April looks away out the window, still with a concerned facial expression.
HOTEL, LATER
I'm sitting on the bed in the hotel with my husband. I just finished telling him the news about Charlotte, and the detail I never knew about Vick. I never knew he was forced into crime, maybe if I knew that I would've never done this, I thought. But, no, he still did the crime. He still did it even if he didn't have a choice. I'm mainly just worried about Charlotte. Who were those people? What do they want with Charlotte and Vick?
"Even though Vick was forced into crime, he still hurt you. I will never forgive him for doing that to you" Phil said as he hugged me. "Thank you for understanding and supporting me, babe" I replied. A knock was heard on our door. I get out of bed, check through the peek hole, and open the door. April, Veronica, and Priscilla are here.
"How long are we gonna be here? Is there a limited time we can stay in a hotel?" Veronica asks as she enters the room. "I'm not sure, but we're gonna stay here until we're finished with our job" I reply.
"What happened to Vick and Charlotte?" Phil asked Veronica. "We found Vick and Charlotte at the park. I think after the note, Vick is trying to protect Charlotte now, staying with her at any moment. Even when she was going to the bathroom, he waited outside for her. But, Charlotte looked like she was distancing herself from him, so I think we did good" Veronica explained.
"What else? Anything important they talked about?" I asked. "Well, he said that he's gonna listen to the note and go to Pfluger Bridge at 8:00" Veronica answered "That's about all" she stated. "Okay, what time is it?" I asked. Everyone checks their phone "7:20" they replied. "Okay, we're gonna follow Vick to the bridge and listen to their conversation" I planned.
Later, we arrived at the bridge. "There he is," Veronica pointed. "What's he doing?" Priscilla asked. "Waiting, obviously," Veronica answered. Vick leaned against the railings while staring at the river. He checks the watch I gave him. We're hiding beside the bridge. Who are those people? Maybe they're Vick's old friends or, maybe they were the ones who forced Vick into crime? Suddenly from the other side of the bridge, a gang appears walking towards Vick. Vick turns his head to the gang. The gang reaches Vick "What do you want?" Vick asked. He forms a fist "How do you know me?"
"How do we know you? We made you who you are today" the gang leader says with a smile. "What do you mean? Are you… Haney's.." he tried to speak. "Haney's gang, yes" He replied. "I thought the police got rid of you guys! I thought I-" Suddenly, the leader punches him in the face and he falls to the ground in pain "Shut up and do as we say" he grabs Vick and drags him onto the bridge. They walk away to the other side.
"What do we do?" April asks. I thought for a moment, what if Vick was truly innocent? What if he really was forced to do all of his crimes? This proves a lot more about him. It almost makes me feel bad for Vick. Should we help him? Should we continue our mission to kill him? "That's what he gets," Phil says "If they kill him and torture him, he deserved it for hurting you guys"
April continued looking at Vick with a concerned face "Should we do something still? This just proves that he was innocent all along" she said. "I… don't know" I responded while standing up. "What if they force him to do more crime?" Priscilla pointed out "Maybe they'll beat him and force him to kidnap and kill more"
I stood there without a clue what to do. If he does start killing again, we're gonna have to do something about it. "We wait," I said "We continue to follow Vick tomorrow and if he does pick up someone random on the streets, then he's at it again. That's when we're gonna strike"
"Okay, then. Let's go" Phil got up with me and grabbed my hands. We walk back to the car and I turn around one last time to see the gang gone.
TOMORROW
I begin my shift at work as soon as I step in "Hey! Ella!! Welcome back!! Come to the kitchen, I'll teach you how to cook real quick! Come, come!" Fernando greeted me with excitement. I looked around the kitchen for Vick, but he was nowhere to be found. I look in my phone at the tracker and find him still at Charlotte's house. I close my phone "I think Vick is gonna be late" I tell Fernando. "Ah, it's okay. I'm not gonna fire him, he seems like a nice guy, hahah!" Fernando responded. Vick enters the store with a suit on and his hair slicked back. I quickly became flabbergasted by his outfit "What-" I said out loud by accident. "Vick! Hahah! You look good, Vick!!" Fernando greeted him and rushed to him "What did you do with yourself!?"
What did he do with himself? Why is he dressed all fancy? Didn't he used to dress like that back then? Is today the day he'll get back into crime?? Vick walks into the kitchen with Fernando. Fernando tells him that he should be the cashier to attract attention "Hahaha!" he laughed. Vick and I lock eyes "Good morning, Ella," he says to me. "Good morning," I say back "Why are you dressed like that?" I ask. "Today is date night," he answered. He heads to the cash register and greets the customers. I got reminded of the past when he and I looked at each other. He's dressed so fancy and so nice just like in 1989. It's disturbing to me. "Ella, time to cook!" Fernando says. All I could do was continue eyeing Vick "Be careful there, don't fall in love, hahah" Fernando laughed. I won't. I will never fall in love with this man, even if he's gone through hell.
Later after cooking, I go on my break. Vick was moved into the kitchen to help prep the food for the customers. He seems to be struggling with cooking as I hear him groan. I walk to him "Hey, handsome" I put on an act. "Hi, please don't call me that, I have a girlfriend" he replied. "Girlfriend? Charlotte?" I asked. "How do you know her?" He asked me. "You said her name out loud yesterday, remember?" I answered.
"Yeah, she was in danger from a group of criminals" he added "We don't have to worry about that anymore, I got it taken care of"
"Oh, how so?" I ask him. He stops his hands "Ssh" he responds. What? Did he just shush me? I almost wanted to laugh "Stupid, okay. Do you need help or what?" I say. "Yeah, I do. Thank you so much" he said to me.
It's 5:30. Our shift is over. Veronica will be on her way to follow Vick today. I check my tracker and find Veronica parked outside. Vick waves goodbye to everyone, including me "Goodbye, you guys. I had fun" he says that every day before he leaves, except yesterday of course. He walks out of the restaurant and walks toward the right side of the sidewalk. He continues walking until he reaches a park; Mayfield Park. Veronica parks her car and steps out. She calls me as I pick up the phone "Hey, what happened?" I asked.
"I'm following him right now," she said as she followed Vick on foot while staring at her camera to avoid suspicions. "Where is he right now?" I asked. "In front of me," she said. While Veronica was staring at me on her phone, Vick suddenly stopped in the middle of the path as he checked the time. Veronica looks up and realizes, quickly hiding behind a bush "Shit!" She shouted at the same time. "What!?" I ask her. "Vick! He stopped!" She shouted quietly at me. "Lady, you okay?" A kid asks. "What!? Yeah!" Veronica shouts.
Vick slightly turns to Veronica, noticing her presence. He turns back and continues walking. "Okay, he turned back" Veronica hops out of the bush and follows Vick's trail. Vick walks in the woods through the paths as he gets blocked by trees. Veronica quickly rushed to catch up to him, but he was nowhere to be found. "What the-" Veronica questions. "What? What happened?" I asked.
She looks at her surroundings, not finding him anywhere. Where did he go? She thought. "He's gone" Veronica replied. Suddenly, Vick speaks "Hey there," he said behind her. She screams "Oh my God!!"
"Sorry, I startled you. You startled me first" Vick apologizes. "It-" she stops talking. She looks Vick in the eyes as fright consumes her entire body. Her legs and arms begin to shake as she has difficulty breathing. "You okay, ma'am? I just wanna know why you've been following me" Vick stated. "V- Vick" she uttered.
"How do you know my name?" Vick asked with a curious face "You're one of the gang members, huh?" He assumed. I talk on the phone "Veronica, did you find Vick yet?" I was on speaker. "Did you find who!?" Vick shouts.
TO BE CONTINUED....