Broken Past, Good Path

I know because I've cried.

                                                                                One year later…

                                                                                In late November

                The business classroom located at the small, downtown campus bordered on freezing as the heat had refused to work properly. The students remained in their thick winter jackets doing their best to pay attention to the professor. Icy blue eyes darted back and forth from the window that overlooked building and sidewalks that had a fresh layer of fluffy, white snow on top of them, to a notebook that lay open on a table that Morgan Dylan sat behind. An elective class in business would not have been a choice of class that she would have chosen for herself but it was a simple price to pay to be able to go to school and live away from home. Besides, Morgan found the classes to be more enjoyable than she thought she would. She was finally away from the stuffy Victorian home she grew up in which gave leave for her to breathe and put on a few smiles now and again.

                Noah, who had followed her to the small downtown school, leaned over, nudging her shoulder with his. He had on the same playful smile that he always wore. In the last year, his growth spurt had hit and he now towered over her.

                “Snowball fight after class?” Noah asked, looking out the window past her. Morgan smiled, raising her eyebrows in interest.

                “Loser has to make dinner,” Morgan countered back with a whisper.

                “You are on,” Noah replied, settling once more on his seat. Besides continuing to be one of her closest friends, Noah was also her roommate. They had found a decent apartment a few blocks away that they have been sharing since the beginning of the semester. It wasn’t more than fifteen minutes later when the class ended and the pair rushed out to an open spot on the school grounds. Morgan gathered all the snow she could, packing it into little balls as she kept an eye on her opponent. “Be prepared to eat my snow,” Noah yelled across the field. They sprung into action, creating deep indents in the layer of snow. Morgan flung her snowballs only to miss. Noah’s snowballs, however, did not miss. It didn’t take long at all for Morgan to call a truce, snow dripping off her hair and clothing. She shivered slightly as the cold liquid melted through her clothing, creating goosebumps on the skin underneath. “Let’s go home,” Noah laughed, taking his own coat off, and draping it over her shoulders. They walked side by side down the empty streets, abandoned by the locals due to the cold, towards their apartment. Noah made fun of her, telling her how much she looked like half a drowned cat. Morgan stopped in front of a large glass window of a jewelry store, thinking of a comeback to defend her honor, coming up with nothing instead.

                “Why are you so good at everything?” She questioned, turning to look at the jewelry. Morgan, since her ninth birthday, never liked the look of large gems or diamonds. Rather, the simple jewelry like the silver chain with a lone pendant stood out to her. She was about to protest when she was shoved roughly.

                “Get out of the way!” A low voice that sounded more like a snarl sounded right in her ear. For a moment, she felt like she was suspended in the air, hanging on an invisible line, as she looked to see who had forced her into such a position. She came face to face with a chiseled face and grey eyes that haunted her. The shattering of glass brought a gasp to her lips, tearing her eyes away from the grey eyes to the glass window that she had just been standing in front of. The glass sprayed over her and broke the spell that held her, and the person who haunted her in midair. Morgan crashed onto the sidewalk, her body stiffening with the impact as the man with the piercing grey eyes fell on top of her like a blanket. She began to hyperventilate, her mind going blank except the weee, weee, weee of the burglary alarm from the store breaking into her empty mind and the tranquility of moments before. “Are you ok?” The man who had landed on top of her was brushing the glass off of them, an urgency in his voice. However, the voice was too far away for Morgan to hear, to grasp, to understand. To her, it sounded like a low grumble of a slowed recording videotape that was too jumbled to make any sense of. She was shaken once, then twice, her mind beginning to catch up to the present moment. “ARE YOU OK?” The voice asked uneasily, concern filling the loudness of the voice that Morgan deemed unnecessary. It was on the edge of panic, really, in Morgan’s head. His hands were continuously shaking the glass off and her, which Morgan instantly pushed away as she snapped back to reality. What had just happened? Morgan wondered, her eyes searching the glass of the jewelry store once again and then rolled back to the grey eyes. And what is he doing here? “We need to run. Now.” The man grabbed her hand, pulled her up, and without giving her a split second to catch her breath he pulled them into a run down the street. Morgan’s heartbeat crazily in her chest as her mind tried to make out what had just happened and why, after all this time, Bradley Thomas was back in her life.

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                Bradley Thomas ran down the downtown streets that he had surveyed so often in the past few months, the adrenaline pumped his legs faster. The nature of the situation had come upon them so quickly after never having seen a sign before today that there was really someone trying to kill the person he was protecting, that he was in a daze himself. But he had saved her, he told himself as Morgan’s hand held his tightly. He half pulled, half dragged, his charge as quickly as he could while keeping his eyes out for any danger. For the first time in ten years, it was his first time witnessing the seriousness his father and boss had constantly told him about.

                Bradley didn’t slow until they reached the apartment building where Morgan currently resided. As he pushed them inside, he felt some resistance from the hand he was holding for the first time. He tugged the hand with annoyance into the elevator, dropping it once he had pressed the button to the correct floor. He blocked the exit with his entire body, his eyes watching for any other signs of danger until the doors rolled shut. Without moving he took out a phone dialing a number.

                “I have the gold, sir. We are unhurt.” With those words, he ended the call, tucked the phone back into his pocket with a rising uneasiness stirring inside of him. When the doors to the elevator opened again Bradley took his time to scan the hallways to make sure they were clear. When they reached Morgan’s apartment door she came to a stop in the middle of the hallway, her icy blue eyes setting on him with distrust.

                “How do you know where I live? What is going on?” Her voice rose around him, breaking open the uneasiness that he felt rise inside him earlier.

                “Get inside first then I’ll explain.” Bradley set his piercing gaze on her, gesturing to the door. Morgan did not budge.

                “Why should I go in there with you?” Morgan questioned, the detest she felt for him evident in her voice. Bradley remained silent and still for longer than he should have allowed, thinking about the best course of action.

                “Maybe because I just saved you from being hit by a bullet and the fact that you are still a target should scare you?” Bradley answered finally, his voice sincere. He watched with a little satisfaction as Morgan registered his words, moved to her door and took out the keys with trembling hands that revealed how she truly felt. Morgan unlocked the door, entered her apartment, and let him trail behind. After Morgan closed and locked the door, she turned back to Bradley again with unamused eyes.

                “Now tell me,” Morgan stood in the small, empty-looking foyer that Bradley was seeing for the first time. “How did you know where I live? What is going on?” Her accusing blue eyes searched his own.

                “It is a long story. May I call my partner first?” Bradley asked unabashedly. Morgan’s eyes turned into annoyed glaciers of ice. “She is in charge of your friend, or perhaps you do not care about him?” Bradley mentioned with irritation, watching the glaciers start to melt a little.

                “Noah,” The name came off of her lips with a panicky shake. Morgan charged at the door that Bradley was now defending.

                “I’m afraid I cannot let you leave yet.”

                “Get out of my way! That is my best friend!”

                “My partner is bringing him! Would you let me call her?” Bradley wrapped a strong arm around her midriff, preventer her from going anywhere while he pulled a radio out with his free hand. He spoke into it quickly after pressing the talk button.

                “We just got in the elevator.” Olivia Hodgen’s voice came over the receiver, loud enough for Morgan to hear. She stopped struggling in his grasp but her body swelled and shrunk repeatedly as her face became increasingly red. Her cool, icy blue eyes hardened into glaciers once again as they met his sturdy grey ones. The door behind them rattled and opened.

                “Morgan!” A male’s troubled voice washed over them. Bradley and Olivia turned and pushed away from each other. Bradley removed himself to his partner’s side, regarding the pair who were now wrapped tightly in each other’s embrace. “Are you ok, Morgan? What is going on?”

                “I’m fine. I do not know. He refuses to tell me. Are you unharmed?” Morgan asked, peering over her friend who looked little different from the snowy field they were playing on earlier that day. Bradley stood next to the door, his eyes revolving around the two and the small apartment, unable to decide what to look at. Noah turned, outstretched his hands in a protective stance between him and Morgan.

                “Will you tell us what is going on now?” Noah asked, bitterness in his voice. Bradley looked on silently while Olivia moved forward, her arms outstretched in a friend and an I-mean-no-harm gesture.

                “I will explain everything. Let’s just relax and take a seat. What do you say?” Olivia’s eyes locked on Noah’s. She was doing her best to diffuse the situation. Noah slowly lowered his arms and pushed Morgan to the living room. Bradley followed the group after a minute. Olivia began the recant of how they all managed to get to this point. “You probably remember me… from high school and… ten years ago…” Olivia started. Bradley took in Morgan’s eyes as they widened in shock. “I’ll count” Olivia portrayed her nine-year old self at the moment they began to play hide-and-seek at Morgan’s ninth birthday party, twirling her long blond hair in between two fingers.

                Bradley listened as Olivia explained how they were all recruited by Morgan’s dad to watch over her during their high school days. After graduation, they were instantly hired and trained, just as many of their own parents had been to protect the Dylan family. As Olivia spoke, Bradley remembered grimly the old days when his father would never be home. He was always too busy with the Dylan family.

                “Essentially, we are here today because your father ordered us to watch over you,” Olivia finished. The room was filled with hostile silence. Morgan and Noah ingested the news with blank faces. Bradley watched as Noah turned to Morgan with a mixture of questioning and pitiful eyes. Bradley’s face turned dark as Morgan pushed herself off of the sofa, walking away with Noah following not far behind.

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    Noah Walstead followed Morgan back to her bedroom, recognizing the anger in her elegant way of walking and the fire in her eyes that was melting the glaciers she had built up, allowing for tears to drop onto her delicate looking cheeks. He frowned, hating to see her like this. He waited patiently inside her bedroom, his eyes swiveling from left to right, as they watched her pace the length of her room. She wiped at angry tears that Noah wanted to dry up himself. He looked around the room, finding it obsolete of family photos or anything personal.

“Why can I not be free of him, Noah?” Morgan finally confided in him, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. Noah gently sat on the bed beside her, patting her shoulder for comfort.

“I suppose he cares for you in his own way,” Noah said. Morgan clucked in disagreement, standing once more. “He did a lot to make sure that you would be safe,” Noah added.

“He wants to keep me a prisoner under his rule! Do you have any idea what it is like to believe you have been freed to only realize the shackles were invisible?” Morgan eyed him wearily. “No, I guess not,” She turned away, faced the wall with slumping shoulders. “Forgive me, Noah. I just need some time alone,” She said in a softer voice. Noah stood.

“I’ll leave you for now,” He frowned, left the room slowly, and made his way back out to the living room where Olivia and Bradley remained glued to the positions they were in before he had left with Morgan. He eyed them blandly, taking a seat on the sofa with a drag of his hand over his face. “Take a seat. Make yourself at home,” Noah offered with a hint of uneasiness. Olivia and Bradley both took up seats across from him.

“What was that about?” Bradley questioned first, his eyes traveling to Morgan’s bedroom door.

“I am not sure why you care… or why I feel that I should tell you… Morgan wants to be free from her father. She believes her father does not have any feelings for anyone… including her. She also thinks it was her father who killed her mother…” Noah spilled.

“But that isn’t…” Olivia blurted which was hushed by Bradley immediately. Noah eyed both of them.

“If you know anything, I encourage you to tell Morgan immediately,” Noah insisted, feeling that he might have revealed too much for getting little in return.

“Tomorrow morning, we will have a meeting with two more of us. Now that they have revealed their intentions, one of us will have to remain with you at all times,” Bradley informed. Noah was shocked and was sure that it reflected on his face.

“Why me?”

“Because… you are too closely connected with Morgan,” Olivia replied sharply. Noah thought for a moment, nodded, and sighed.

“I’m ok with anything if it means protecting Morgan. However, she will not agree to being protected,” Noah said as they all looked at the bedroom door that was now emitting an austere vibration of strings from a violin.