Asleep *FINISHED!/COMPLETE*

*Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

My mouth gaped open as I froze, staring at my brother’s face.

My feet became glued to the crosswalk as shock rippled through me, with only my head turning as he moved past me without so much as a glance in my direction. Either he didn’t see me or he didn’t recognize me. My heart fiercely hoped it was the former.

He was older than the last time I had seen him. His hair graying only ever so slightly near his ears, but his face was unmistakable. I had dreamt of that face countless times over the last 13 years, holding onto hope that he was still out there and we would be a family again one day. Even if that family was just the two of us.

“Callen.” His name spilled out of my mouth as a whisper so quiet, only I heard it.

Suddenly there were horns blaring and the sounds of the world around came rushing back, slamming into my mind and waking me up out of my stupor. My feet were moving back towards the direction I had come from before I even fully realized what I was doing.

“Callen!” I called as I ran towards him. He started to turn in my direction at the sound of his name, but only made less than half a rotation before I slammed into him, wrapping my arms around his neck. He picked up my weight, as the only other option would have been to let my force drive him to the ground. My feet hung in the air as I held on so tightly, I thought it would take the jaws of life to pry me away.

Turns out all it took were the two other men he’d been walking with. Just as quickly as I had wrapped myself around him, I was torn away from him, my face slammed into the ground, and my hands tightly held behind my back. My wrists ached as their hands bit into my skin, and my shoulders throbbed through the adrenaline at the force they’d used to shove me down.

“Callen! It’s me!” I yelled from the pavement. The fear of being held against my will was rising up and strangling my voice, causing a churning in my stomach that ached beyond measure.

“Sir, do you know this girl?” one of the brutes called to him.

Callen bent down to look at my face, showing creases on his forehead as he eyed me with mild concern. Confusion seeped from him more than anything though, and my brain tried to grasp at what that meant.

“No,” he spoke softly to the man towering over me, “I don’t recognize her.”

It would have hurt less if he had actually slapped me across the face.

“What’s your name?” he asked me, still crouching to the ground. I felt so small and helpless as he leaned over me, casting a shadow that felt bigger than life across my face.

He asked me my name. My name. My mind was reeling and I had to force myself to swallow down my emotions before I could answer him, and for some reason that I didn't understand, I lied.

“Maven.” I half spat at him, infuriated and hurt that he didn’t know who I was. How could he just forget me?

I was struggling to reign in my emotions, and I’d rather give him the name of the girl from the fireplace than my own. If he could forget me so easily after leaving me in that hell hole for most of my life, then maybe I could forget him too. If he really didn’t know who I was now, then maybe he didn’t deserve to know.

As soon as the name left my mouth, his eyes snapped up to the other buffoon who was standing next to him with his arms crossed and eyes tight. They exchanged a curious glance and focused their attention back on me.

“Maven… That’s an interesting name. It’s quite unique.” He gave me a smirk that held not an ounce of kindness, sending a shudder through me. “I think I would remember if I had ever met someone with a name like that before…” My brother trailed off at the end of that last sentence, something in his voice sounding knowingly suspicious.

I laid there still struggling against the man’s hold, my ire rising at Callen’s complete indifference to the pain he was causing me. “You should really stop wiggling around so much. It’s clearly not going to do you any good,” he commented as if he were amused and bored at the same time, and I glared at him with as much disdain as I could muster.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe this wasn’t my brother. I was only 5 when he left me alone at the orphanage, and 10 by the time he stopped visiting all together. My brother had been so warm and kind and caring, and I couldn’t understand how this could be the same person from my childhood.

I glared harder, my jaw locking as I grit my teeth and thrashed with more determination than before. He started to chuckle at my feeble attempt, filling me with rage, and I pulled my neck up with as much strength as I could muster, then spat right in his smug face.

The man standing up growled at me and raised his hand over my face as if he might hit me, but Callen stopped him with a barely perceptible shake of his head. He kept his eyes closed from where my spit had peppered him, and gestured for something with his palm facing up. The man handed him an embroidered handkerchief and my brother calmly wiped his face, before turning his brown eyes toward me with a strange, acidic smile.

“What’s your last name, Maven?” He emphasized the name, clearly questioning the validity of my given identity.

Normally I was a great liar. I had developed an ability to convince anyone of anything at a very young age, helping me survive many of Stone’s interrogations over the years, but he wasn’t buying it.

All my alarm bells were going off, my anger quickly evaporating into fear. I had to get out of this situation. I looked around frantically from my place against the ground and saw no one. No help in sight.

How on earth was no one showing any concern for the small framed girl being manhandled on the sidewalk in the middle of downtown? These men acted as though they didn’t have a care in the world over prying eyes, zero concern as to what this may have looked like to a bystander.

They acted like they owned this sidewalk, these streets, this town - and I got the sickening sense that nothing could touch them. The less stubborn side of my brain tried to get me to hold onto the fear I felt, knowing I had stepped into something even more dangerous than what met the eye. But fear wasn’t something that ever drove me to do, or not do, anything, and I mentally renewed my strength, letting determination override my terror. Maybe that was irrational, but I was a fighter. Always had been and always would be, even if the world continued to try and break me.

I glared up at him with new steel in my eyes, refusing to answer.

“Your last name, girl?” he said again.

I could feel that he was losing his patience, and hearing his voice again had my mind reeling. It was so familiar, but so foreign at the same time, lacking the warmth my memories held. This was in no way any version of the reunion I had imagined over the years.

I tried to see what I could feel from him, desperate to find a thread of recognition or remorse within him, but I couldn’t get a good read on what he was feeling. Something was…. off. It was as if I could feel this darkness swirling around inside of him, blotting out all the pieces that felt warm and familiar, sending a new ache into my chest and stifling any hope I’d had for my brother to be the brother I remembered.

“Your. Last. Name. Girl.” He bit out the words, his impatience and anger coming off him now palpable.

“Cross.” I spat, finally. Don’t ask me why I gave him Maven’s first name and Jase’s last name, but it just popped out of my mouth before I could give it another thought.

For the time being I had no choice but to accept that this was not my brother. I didn’t know who this man was in front of me, but he wasn’t my family and I owed him nothing. Not even my real name. And maybe it was out of pettiness and hurt that I lied, or maybe it was some sort of primal instinct for self preservation, but I said it with confidence and wouldn’t be telling him otherwise.

Now Callen outright laughed, and I caught the man standing exchange a glance with the one still holding my arms, a flicker of recognition passing across their faces. Not only did they know I was lying, but their whole demeanor shifted at the mention of the last name I had given. Fear tried to rise in me again, and I suddenly wanted to be as far away from this place and this man as humanly possible.

“Alright, get her up.” Callen said to the man twice my size. He responded by hoisting me up off the ground by my pinned arms in one fluid movement, as if I weighed as much as a child’s doll.

“Let’s get her back to the office. Use your Shade if you need to,” my brother said, now speaking as if I didn’t exist. As if I were property. I tried to process what was happening as I searched for a way out of this.

I didn’t know what the hell he meant by ‘use your Shade,’ but I wasn’t going to stick around and find out, and there was no way I was going to let these assholes take me anywhere without a fight.

“Oh, hell no!” I screamed. “I’m not going anywhere with YOU!” I poured as much disdain and anger into my words as possible and threw them at him, my body thrashing with as much force as I could muster given I still didn’t have full use of my limbs.

The other man who hadn’t touched me as of yet went to grab one of my arms to help hold me, and when he made contact with my skin, I screamed out in pain. His touch sent a shock through me, and something that felt like fire tore through the right side of my body, the pain of it causing darkness to edge in on my vision.

“Rigs!” my brother, who had already started walking away, stopped and whirled around on the second man. “I didn’t say to cause her pain! Just quiet her.” he demanded, his words laced with an extreme aura of authority. He was clearly the boss here and apparently too precious to get his own hands dirty, never having actually touched me himself.

“What the hell was that?!” I gasped, glaring daggers at the man apparently named Rigs. “Don’t touch me again, you asshat! Get away from me!”

I bucked again, throwing my weight around even though it was no use. “Help!” I screamed, willing anyone passing by to intervene, but no one even spared me a glance.

I started to panic as desperation to get away clawed at me. I realized then that my legs were at least free, and I fought harder. I began kicking wildly, causing Rigs to falter a step back. I attempted to yank my other arm out of Oaf #2’s paws, thankful for the slight distance from the bigger, crazier one of the two, and screamed even louder. Surely someone would help me! This was insane!

“RIGS!” Callen called from up ahead, anger icing his voice as he lost his patience completely with the scene we were causing.

My eyes went wide as Rigs turned his darkened gaze on me with new fury, and he reached out through gritted teeth to grab me again. I pushed back on my heels knocking the man holding me backwards a step, but not enough to make him fall or loosen his grip, ultimately doing nothing to slow Rigs as he grabbed for me again. I closed my eyes tightly as I braced myself for the painful fire that would follow when he locked his meaty hand around my arm, but it never came.

This time his touch caused a wave of what felt like water to wash over me, like I’d been encapsulated in jello, and an eerie calm settled over me. Every tense muscle in my body relaxed and I felt a small, foreign smile spread across my face. Suddenly it was like everything was right in the world, and I felt a warm peaceful sensation settle over me.

“Mmmm… jello is niiiice,” I said, my voice sounding small and far away.

“Much better,” Rigs muttered and I looked up at him with gooey eyes. I liked this man. I wasn’t sure that this was what doing drugs felt like, but if it was, I think I liked drugs now.

Happily, I began to walk willingly towards the building with my brother, although the men still held my arms. Not that I’d do anything if they weren’t. All my muscles felt warm and gooey, relaxed. It was almost hard to walk, but every step felt good. Everything felt so good.

As they pulled me through the entrance to the office building, the mousy woman from the reception desk eyed me curiously.

“Hello, ma’am!” I laughed and tried to wave as we walked by, forgetting about my still pinned arms, which only made me laugh harder. The men struggled to keep hold of me as my body became dead weight, every muscle feeling heavy with the weight of whatever this jello potion was. As I went limp, I laughed even harder over the sensation, my eyes watering with how hilarious they looked as they grasped to keep hold of me while I melted to the ground.

I sank down towards the floor as they finally lost their grip on me for a moment, causing my knees to hit the tile with a thud. The moment they lost contact with my skin, I gasped loudly. In an instant, everything went from being somewhat blurry and out of focus to crisp and clear.

Panic flooded my chest as I took in my surroundings, trying to figure out how they had gotten me here so fast. It felt as if I’d lost time, and my brain struggled to remember the moments that had passed since Rigs grabbed me again.

Every instinct I had was screaming at me to run, but by the time the thought finally took hold, I had only managed to make it a few small steps before something hard and cold hit me from behind, and everything went black.