This is very weird. This is so freaking weird. As I stare at Vick from the kitchen, he seems to be smiling at the customers through his mask. Yes, you heard me, smiling. What the heck happened? He's wearing the same suit with a sticker that reads "Vick", and his hair is slicked back. It just doesn't fit the Vick that I've been watching for the past few days.
Where did this version of him come from? I know it's not good. The criminals probably bribed him with something to make him this happy because the Vick I know is not like this. When he greeted me earlier, it felt very real. Like he's really energetic; like he doesn't remember what he's gone through. Why does it bother me? It feels very uncanny.
TRAUMA OF '89
VOLUME 1, CHAPTER 8, INNOCENCE OF CROSS
I want to talk to Vick. The dishes drop in the sink as I turn off the water, taking each step to Vick. "Vick" I called out "How's it going today?"
"Hi, Ella" he smiled at me. "Vick, you're glowing" I laughed "What happened with you today?" I proceeded to ask. "It's Charlotte!" He exclaimed, "She loves me!"
Does Charlotte like him? Why? Did our plans not work? "Hahah, you got yourself a wife, huh!?" Fernando pats him on the back. "Not yet" Vick responds. A man walks into the restaurant "Hahah, Phil!" Fernando shouts. Phil walks to the front of the cash register "Hey, Vick!" Phil shakes his hands. "Wow, you got a lot of grip," Vick says. "Yeah, I've been working on it. I carry heavy things for a living" my husband responds.
For some reason, I don't think our plans will work anymore. I mean, it hasn't been working ever since we started. He's not saying any private information out loud, and he still doesn't seem interested in us. If we really want to achieve in killing him, I don't think making him suffer mentally will work. It's time for a change of plans. It's time to finally kidnap him today and take him far away.
"Okay, Vick. You can go on your break, eh, hahah" Fernando said. "Will do, thank you" Vick replied. Vick walks out as I signal to Phil to follow him.
"How may we take your order, Phil!?" Fernando asks. Phil notices my hands pointing towards Vick walking out of the restaurant "Oh, shoot, I forgot my wallet" Phil nervously laughs. "Okay, come back, Phil!" Fernando shouts. The door opens as Phil rushes to Vick, finding him walking down the sidewalk. Continuing his way down to Vick, Phil realizes Vick has gloves on, wondering what it's for.
A bell is heard as Vick opens the door to a bakery. Phil watches Vick from outside the window but then decides to come inside. Inside the bakery, he listens to Vick and the worker. "Hey!" He greets the worker. "Hello," the worker greets back. "I'd like a strawberry glazed donut," he says. Nothing suspicious is happening. Maybe the gloves are for eating the donuts, Phil thought. Suddenly, chanting was heard outside the bakery. A group of people are protesting, walking down the streets "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!"
The group held posters up with the words "Freedom", "Can't breathe", and "Black lives matter". "What's happening outside?" Vick asked. "A George Floyd protest" the worker answered while taking the donut off the shelf. "Who's George Floyd?" Vick counts his money in the wallet for the right amount as he asks. "Police killed him. A police officer pressed his knees down on Floyd's neck for around nine minutes" the worker hands Vick the donut with a napkin. "Oh, that's so cruel" he hands the money to the worker. "Thank you" Vick turns, spotting Phil at the corner sitting down. Phil quickly puts his head down as Vick walks right past him. "Nothing," Phil said out loud.
Later, I'm with everyone else in the woods practicing aiming with a pistol. The bullet travels towards the cans as I pull the trigger. I hit it. Veronica joins me and shoots the cans. Phil and the others watch from a distance as they come closer to us. "Is this all really necessary for one dude?" Priscilla asks. "Not really. Shooting guns just seems fun to me" I reply. "I see. Can Phil shoot?" Priscilla asks. "Hell no" Phil answers for me. I place the pistol down on a table full of other types of firearms. "I need to talk to you guys," I said. I think it's time to tell them what I've been thinking about; the new plan.
"I'm starting to get mixed feelings about killing Vick," I said.
"What!? What do you mean!?" Priscilla shouts, startling me. They look at me with a look of confusion "So we came here for no reason?" April asks. "Babe, why? Why are you backing out?" Phil asks me.
I am bombarded by questions. "I'm not backing out" I answer "I'm just…thinking. It's because Vick was being forced into crime. It wasn't his fault entirely"
"No, Emily, you don't know that. It could be false. It could be his plan. Look everywhere online, can you find a single article stating he was actually forced into crime? No" Phil gave me evidence as to why it might be a lie. I don't know who to trust anymore, myself or Vick. "But…" I tried to say "It all seems so real," I added. "I know it does, but he could be just acting, trying to get everyone around him to believe him so he can get back into crime" Phil explained. "Then why the note about Charlotte? Just to get out of work?" I asked. "Could be," Phil answered.
"I don't think so," April says "I was his last victim, but it didn't go well for him" she explained. "Yeah, because you escaped," Priscilla says. "No, I did not" April corrects her statement "Vick helped me escape last second while I was about to get put in the van"
"What?" I asked, "Why haven't you told us that?"
"You guys never asked" she answered "He took me to the police station and ratted out the gang"
"Did you say it in court?" Phil asks. "Yes, of course I did," April replies. Phil immediately asks "Then why is it not on the internet?"
"Maybe because it was the 80s. I don't know, but I know he doesn't deserve that and Emily is right if she wants to stop this operation. He did nothing wrong" April explained. I'm stunned by this new information. He helped April escape? Maybe he was innocent all along. This operation should stop. "No, you're lying!" Phil raises his voice over April "He took my wife's family away from her and kidnapped her! He manipulated her!! He'll never be innocent!"
"Phil, it's okay" I tried to speak. "No! We're not stopping this operation because you feel like he's innocent, we're continuing either way!" he continues to yell at April and me. I need Phil to calm down. Phil moves Veronica's hands out of the way while she tries to calm him. "Phil, stop! Enough fighting!" I shout. Everyone became silent "You know what, let's just follow him to the gang's place and we'll hear what they talk about, okay?"
Everyone calms down "You didn't have to yell" April steps away from Phil. "It's okay April, let's teach you guys how to shoot a gun" I pick up the pistol and hand it to April. Trying to calm down, Phil turned away and breathed slowly.
At around 8 P.M, Vick started moving on the tracker. I'm surprised he kept the watch for this long. I thought he would've thrown it away or accidentally left it at home. We drive to Vick and follow the car from behind. The roads became bumpy thirty minutes after driving. "Does anyone have any idea where we're at?" Phil asks. "We're near Lake Travis," I responded. We've been following them about a mile right behind their trail to avoid being spotted. Once we find the gang's place, we can call the police and take them down. A few more minutes later, Vick is shown to have stopped on the tracker.
"Turn off the headlights" Priscilla demanded. "What? We won't be able to see, though" Phil answered. "Just do it! Do you wanna get spotted by a bunch of thugs!?" she shouts. The lights turn off as Phil brakes to slow down. It's pitch dark, but the moon reveals the road only a bit. We get closer and closer to Vick and stop from far away. In the distance, we can see a warehouse, and a few cars parked outside. We hid the car behind a tree and made our way to the warehouse. Luckily, no one was watching the entrance, so we peeked our heads in the door.
We find Vick and the others. "We found a target and she's fucking hot!!" the man shouts. The other men joined in on the laugh, but Vick sat on the couch silently while watching. "Her name is Hailey," the man smiled. The other men start chanting "Hailey! Hailey! Hailey!!"
"Vick looks like he's not enjoying it with them" Priscilla comments. "I told you he was forced into crime. He's disgusted by them. Look at him. This proves everything, Phil" April explained. "Oh, so you're attacking me now?" Phil says. "Attacking? How is that attacking you?" April asked. "Guys, please. Not now, okay? This is more important" I stop the fight.
"You hear that, Vick?" the man says "You're gonna help us abduct a girl named Hailey. Or else we will take Charlotte"
"What??" A look of shock crossed my face as I froze at what I just heard. "Taking...Charlotte?" I whispered. "Don't touch her!!" Vick screams out; clenching his teeth while jumping towards the man. He attempts to land a hit on his face, but the other men tackle him down and beat him. I stared in disbelief as he gets his ass beat by the gang. I could hear April covering her mouth while whispering "Oh my God"
"Back away!" An older man shouts. He looks to be the gang's leader. "You know we've talked about what happens if you attack my group, hahah," the man says. His voice was deep and rough, it made my body shiver. Then, I realize who he is. "Haney" I whispered. "Haney? Who is that? The old man?" Phil asked me.
"Yes" my tears fall "It's him. The man who took me. The man who talked to me every day before my escape. He beat me"
I could see Phil forming a fist with his right hand "Haney" he whispered. "Then isn't that who we're really supposed to be after? Does this prove enough to you?" April whispered to us. "It does," I said, but Phil didn't agree "No"
"No?" Priscilla asks. Phil looks at us with anger in his eyes "Yes, it does prove that he was innocent all along, but does it really matter? Huh? He still fucking hurt Emily. I don't care at all. We're gonna kill both Haney and Vick"
"Aaah!!" Vick's voice echoes in the warehouse, catching us off guard as we jump. We look at the crack of the door as we watch Haney brutally stomping and kicking on Vick's body. With each kick, Vick screams in pain. We couldn't do anything. We sat there in silence watching Vick get kicked like a ball.
The screaming ends as Haney stands on his two feet, but Vick sobs while on the floor. We all watch and realize that he was never evil, but was just doing what he was told. His crying makes me feel sorry and guilty for trying to ruin his life. Everything goes silent as I cover my ears, not wanting to hear his crying voice in my head. Phil follows me as I run away from the door and behind a tree. "Emily, Emily! Are you okay!? Emily!?" He shouts.
I sit on the dirt, sobbing "No" I answered. "What happened!?" Phil asked. "Vick," I say "I spent the last thirty years preparing to meet him again; preparing to make him suffer. But, it wasn't his fault"
"No, it was his fault, babe," Phil says "He did that to you and he deserves hell. He deserves to feel what you felt. He deserves to get beat like that and get Charlotte taken from him!"
"Charlotte?" My face tenses in anger as I get up from the ground "You don't care for Charlotte? Do you want her to get taken? You want her to suffer so Vick can suffer!?"
"No, that's-" he tries to speak. "Phil, what are you becoming? Charlotte has nothing to do with Vick, Phil!" I shout. "Guys, come on. No more arguing" Priscilla says "This means we aren't really after Vick anymore. This changes the plan completely. Our main goal now is to take down the criminals and save Vick from those cruel people"
"I agree," Phil says "But we cannot save Vick" he also adds. "Phil, okay, stop" Veronica finally speaks. She faces me "I'm on Phil's side" she spoke, "I think we should take down both Vick and the criminals"
I'm speechless as the crew begins to fall all because I care for Vick now. Even though he killed my family, he didn't enjoy it. He didn't enjoy hurting those people he manipulated; he didn't enjoy hurting me. It was all the criminal's fault. Why is my team breaking up? Why aren't they agreeing with me? "I agree with Emily" April states. "Okay guys, let's stop. No more, please" I shout "Phil, please"
"Okay," he says. I reach Phil and pull him in for a tight hug, hoping to get him back on my side before I lose him "Please, babe. We can't kill him, he doesn't deserve this. We have to do something to stop the criminals only"
Phil hugs me back "Okay. I'm sorry, baby. We will" he joins back.
Suddenly we heard the door open and we quickly hid behind the tree. "Shit!" Priscilla shouted quietly. It's Vick. We could hear the gravel floor as Vick walked closer and closer to us. He passes us and finds our car hidden behind the other tree. He looks inside until turning our direction "Aah!" He screams.
"No, Vick! It's me! It's me! Ella!" I rush towards him "It's me" I say one last time. "Ella, what are you doing here?" He asks me. His face is bloody with bruises on his cheeks. "We saw what they did to you, and we wanna help you now," I said to him. "Help me with what?" He asked. I answer him "We wanna help you take down Haney's crew"
TO BE CONTINUED....