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ameliawarnerr · 10 months

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Criminal Haven

Read chapter 1 here

Chapter 2: Emotions? How About No

—The Leader—

Darkness' revelation brings fresh questions to the table. Some of which I could answer right now but I rather not think of them yet and draw conclusions– not without discussing them with Jake.

I glance at him, searching in his face if he's thinking the same. The expression he gives me as he looks down at me tells me that we are indeed thinking the same thing.

“Who is he?” Hannah breaks the silence, her tone has become that of a tired worker. She longer hides her wince as new information keeps surfacing. For her, it might be exhausting. For Jake and I, it is everything. The scheming, the truth and the lies, the masks and the uncoverings– we can never alter our minds out of this catacomb of games.

“He contributed to finding you.” He explains, vaguely. But I think he has not read much of my and darkness' messages. I think he realises that too as he sighs. He pulls someone's emptied chair– Richy’s, I think and places it facing both my and Kai’s chairs.

I add, “He was the most cooperative person, believe me.” I turn to Hannah. “If I were you, I’d thank him.” I curl my lips into a natural smile.

She stares at me, blankly, standing in the middle of the room. She looks as if she doesn't understand what I am implying. She's suffering from unimaginable things, I understand that. I feel that better than anyone else. Considering her condition, I won't ask much of her in whatever escape plan we might come up with. But that doesn't mean she’ll be excused from endeavouring as little as saying a thank you.

‘Say it.’ I mouth to her. My natural smile turned into a threatening one, unintentionally, but I can't deny that it has worked every time.

Her eyes dart to Jake who cannot see my face. I don't know if he encouraged her to do it or not but she whispers, “Thank you.” to the walls as I keep my glare pinned on her.

Go easy on her, I remind myself, mostly because Jake would prefer the same thing. I turn almost too quickly realising how much Jake is interfering in my smallest decisions.

Kai acknowledges her gratitude as he nods to the floor.

I make a mental note: he can be helpful but he's awkward accepting compliments or gratitude. That concludes why it was necessary for me to compliment me and for the same matter, Hannah to thank him. He already believes it my fault that he's here. I'm not afraid to accept that he is. But if he blames the part he played in Hannah's search, he might as well believe that he did it well.

Jake is looking at me strangely. I ignore directly looking at him exactly like I ignored Richy’s defeated figure dropped into a corner, his legs pulled to his chest and his head on his knees.

This isn't like solving a mystery through texting. This is real life and I cannot be vulnerable to one person while being persuasive to someone else on the different chat window.

I have to mention the mindset where my mind weighs more than my heart. That is the only way to get things done. We can be vulnerable when we are safe.

I inhale a deep breath, hardening my posture. “If we really want to get the hell out of here,” I speak loudly, ensuring my voice reaches Richy in the corner. I continue, “We’d need to stick together. Doesn't matter if you hate each other. Suck it up and bear it.”

I’m on my feet when I take a turn towards the door. Richy’s head turned in my direction. I realise, it's not only him. Everyone's looking at me.

“I don't really expect anything from you. Don't want to help? Don't. Just don't get in my way.” I announce, loud and clear. Though expecting the opposite of what words suggest. “Questions?”

Dead silence.

“Need a ten to think?” I provoke.

Kai is the first (and probably the only one who would) raise a question. He begins by quoting me, “Don't want to help? Don't.” I remain composed as he continues, “More like don't want to follow? Then, don't. But you know, whoever leads the way out of here, others will follow him or her.” I break into a smile, realising what he's bringing to others' attention. “You're just initiating to make sure that we follow you.”

I stride towards him as I quote him, “Initiating.” I stop by the chair I was sitting on and place my head on it. “That’s right. I am initiating. And if anyone else had the balls to do the same, they would have. But no one did. I guess that justifies why you should follow me.”

“Well, you couldn't have initiated it if he didn't uncuff you.” He gestures to Jake who is about to interfere. But that looks weak on my part. I appreciate it but I don't need it.

“That's a petty argument.” I cut in before Jake could. I shake my head at Jake as I pace towards Kai.

“Reasonable enough.” He refutes.

Stopping behind his chair, I break off a shim from the chair and use it to unlock his handcuffs. I intentionally pulled the shim from the part of the chair which was reachable in handcuffs.

Jake is by my side in a matter of seconds, probably because he doesn't trust Kai yet. But I do, to a certain extent which tells me he would not physically hurt me. He's just pissed.

“Now,” I talk loudly again. “Anyone up for breaking down that door?” I point at it with one finger.

—The Hacker—

From the moment she called reading Dan and Jessica's conversation illegally an exciting event, I knew she was trouble. And she only keeps proving it again and again. Sometimes, I admire it. Sometimes, it throws me to the edge.

Like right now. I understand what she was aiming for. There's no way out if we operate like five individuals without a common link who we all trust at some level. But she didn't hesitate once before uncuffing this guy none of us knows enough to trust.

Hannah, MC and I stand back as Richy and Pierce hammer their shoulders against the door. They continue thrice without pause but the door doesn't budge. They take a moment.

Kai glances back at me. “Why isn't he helping us again?”

This is why I prefer to work alone (and of course, this preference doesn't apply to MC). I don't like being questioned. “Is the door broad enough for the three of us?” I reason, very calmly.

They continue at it, knowing they are the two least trusted people in our group and raising nonsensical questions wouldn't change that. After six minutes, the door broke.

Neither of the guys step outside. Instead, they step aside, catching their breaths and stealing glances outside the door. MC is the first one to shift to the door. I grab her hand at the threshold. She glances at me as I step outside the door before her. “After me,” I tell her. She complies.

I glance in both directions. The corridor stretches so long in both directions– it seems endless. They are almost identical except there seems to be a little light coming from the right. Little by little, everyone's out in the corridor.

“Which way is it? We should go to the right. There's light coming from there so it isn't a dead end.” Hannah comments, her voice growing anxious.

“Should we break into two groups or something?” Kai suggests as no one addresses Hannah’s opinion because she's making a rookie mistake– being hasty and going with the obvious choice.

I think of Kai’s suggestion but I can't come up with a possible reasonable arrangement of two groups without separating me and MC.

“No.” I answer.

“So we choose one? On what basis?”

“We’ll come up with the basis if you stop asking questions.”

He glares at me, pissed. Then, he glances at MC and looks away. Everytime I say something to him, he looks at her as if reconsidering arguing with me for her sake. My eyes fly to her as well, wondering if she noticed it. But she's distracted and hasn't said anything after stepping out of the door.

She's shifted towards the left corridor. While everyone looks around, she looks down at the floor. I walk to her, she crouches down and picks something up. I bend to see a note in her hand at the same time she springs up. Her head collides with my chin.

She looks up, annoyed as I hide my smile. “What are you, glancing down at me? My guardian angel?” She takes a tiny step back.

“I’d prefer being called a partner.” I retort. “Although, I do feel bad for your guardian angel.”

She shoves a hand at my chest, walking past me but stops. I follow her gaze– everyone looks at us questionably, clearly not having as much fun as us. She clears her throat, the first time getting awkward.

“What does the note say?” Kai asks.

“What does the note say,” she echoes mockingly or …playfully?

I peer at the note as she read, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood/ And sorry I could not travel both.”

“Robert Frost.” I say, immediately.

She nods a couple times. “The road not taken.”

“What’s that?” Hannah asks. I remember our conversations via emails and literature wasn't one of the topics ever. Come to think of it, we had nothing in common.

“A poem.” MC and I say I'm unison.

Kai jumps in. “Didn’t he take the less travelled path?”

Both of us nod. Richy adds something for the first time. “Well, how did he decide which one was the least travelled?” He looks at no one in particular.

“The less travelled one was more grassy.” MC answers.

“So in our case, the less travelled one would be the left one, right? Because it's dark and could be a dead end or something.” Kai remarks.

“So can be the right one.” Hannah weighs in.

“At least it has the probability of having a window.”

I contemplate the poem, analysing from word to word. I remember each word clearly. “No,” I cut in. “We are taking the words at face value. The message of the poem wasn't to travel a less taken route. It was to make a decision carefully.”

MC looks at me, creasing her brows. “Then, we are at square one again.”

“No, we are not. Half of us thought about taking the less travelled path which means that is exactly what he wanted us to think.” I point out.

“Which means,” MC points at the way from where a tiny ray of light penetrates. “That's where we need to go.”

“Exactly.”

We start following the light. I can sense the others are not entirely sure of this but they will begin trusting us as we’ll give them hope by getting nearer to the way out.

A small smile emerges on MC's lips as we walk behind others. “You a literature guy?” She gives me a side look.

“You have no idea.” I tell her and then, I add, “We need to talk.”

She nods. “We do.” She whispers. “The only way that a lunatic could know about Kai is by having access to my messages. You had access to my messages. You're a hacker.” I smile, knowing we were thinking the same thing again.

“We are up against a hacker.”

“One who's pissed off. Can you think of anyone?”

I inhale. “I could think of a thousand. I've screwed many guys in the same field as me but none was as strong as to have all of us here.”

She considers it silently.

“We have another thing to discuss.”

She thinks for a moment as she arrives at no answer, she looks at me, “What thing?”

“Unlocking his handcuffs when you know a hundred ways it could turn out as a bad idea.” I don't beat around the bush.

“I needed to show him that I trust him to have him do the same. And I don't like being looked down upon.”

“I know you won't stop doing risky things just because I tell you not to. And I won't tell you that. Just promise to give me a heads up before you do something like that again. Deal?” I say, softly.

“Deal. But you have to promise not to talk me out of my stunts.”

“Deal.”

She offers her fist and I bump mine against it lightly.

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*Not edited*

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I wanna thank @lyon-amore and @itsnotzka for helping me figure Darkness' character. The reason this chapter took me as long as it did is because i was having trouble with Darkness' character because I forgot most of him.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

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