Syndedeménos (Connected)

CHAPTER 19

After Pygmy returned, Aquila immediately signaled for Keenan to follow him. According to his memory of Aquila's words, Keenan assumed that after this he would not be in this room with the others and be taken to another place called "below". Which meant Keenan didn't have to deal with Thalia much and the plan relieved him.

Keenan and Aquila got up from their seats and followed Pygmy who was still outside and hadn't entered the dining room yet. As he came out of the dining room, Keenan saw someone he had never spoken to during his time in the building. Mary called him Zack.

A man who was about twenty years old and had a punk style with undercut hair that was dyed green with half of it black and earrings on the left and right of his ears.

Zack was smoking on the side of the motorbike with a box in the back seat as a place to bring food. Keenan's observation of Zack so far wasn't too bad compared to Pygmy being too noisy and Mateo watching him too much. Zack looked cool, didn't meddle in other people's business, didn't overdo it, and got along more easily with the kids.

When he saw Aquila coming out of the dining room, Zack immediately stubbed out his cigarette. The cigarette was dropped onto the concrete floor, then stepped on several times with a slipper. Without speaking, Zack walked towards Aquila casually -put his hands in the pockets of his baggy knee-length pants-. When Zack found Keenan looking at him he didn't really care. His style shows that he didn't mind if he never dealt with other people even if he lived in the same place.

"Pygmy and Zack. You two will be replacing Mateo to keep an eye on him. For the time being you don't have to come up here if you don't need it."

"We're not going to the playground, are we? Why is he so happy like that?" Keenan thought to himself while giving Pygmy a skeptical look who immediately clenched his fists and smiled when Aquila gave the order.

Aquila didn't give any weapons to either Pygmy or Zack. Keenan thought back to the plans that seemed to change. It was as if Aquila had forgotten yesterday's incident where she pointed a g*n at Keenan. Keenan was more confused because there wasn't the same pattern in every Aquila's actions.

What plan was she actually thinking of? Or was the plan suddenly changed because of Thalia's arrival? Are they not on the same side?

Keenan's thoughts continued to run as his footsteps followed Pygmy from behind. Pygmy's footsteps were not big like Keenan and Zack who have quite long legs. But Pygmy always walked the fastest among the others. He chose to walk vigorously until his speed was more than twice the walking speed of a normal person.

Keenan's observations of Pygmy behavior need not take long. Keenan could immediately conclude that Pygmy was a child who seeks attention from those around him. It could be seen from his speech that he always involved himself and always wanted to be involved in other people's affairs. In addition to his behavior that still looked immature, Pygmy really followed Aquila's orders and seems to be the one who delegated special tasks from Aquila. Judging from Aquila's belief in Pygmy, Keenan concluded that Pygmy was a very loyal person.

If Keenan could quickly recognize Pygmy characters, he could also recognize Mateo's character that easily provoked emotions. Not only once Keenan found Mateo looking at the children wide-eyed. Apart from being big, Mateo's behavior also made children never want to interact with him.

Keenan didn't really care about Haylie because she didn't have anything to do with watching him. All Keenan knew was that Haylie always did whatever Pygmy said. This has shown enough who had more authority and therefore Keenan didn't feel the need to interact with Haylie.

Apart from interacting with Mary because the girl's attitude was similar to Karen, Keenan was only curious if he would interact with Zack, the man who was walking beside him casually. Keenan didn't know whether Zack could give him any information or not, but as a male, it seemed that Zack was the most friendly to all of the people in this building.

Keenan's plan became easier to realize after knowing that he would be watched by Pygmy and Zack. Even though Aquila's plan made a profit for Keenan, Keenan couldn't give the same happy expression as Pygmy. Many factors made Keenan doubt whether his plan would work or not.

Before Keenan could launch his action, Zack unexpectedly looked at him as the distance between Pygmy and himself was quite far. Keenan and Zack were still in the middle of the parking lot while Pygmy had already passed through the emergency exit until the sound of his footsteps was not heard again.

"You are very lucky that Aquila led this kîdnapping, not someone else."

Zack's husky voice sounded neither as playful as Pygmy nor as threatening as Aquila. He just said it casually, as if he was talking to a classmate.

"What do you mean?" Asked Keenan, looking back at Zack's flat look.

"To do this task, she had risked losing her normal life. She already knew she would lose everything."

Do you think I didn't lose everything?!

Keenan's emotions were ignited enough to reply to Zack's words. But as usual he had to hold back his words so he waited for Zack's words to finish.

"I know Aquila won't allow me to say this. But she was thinking of a way to keep you from acting stupid so we don't hurt you. And the last thing we're going to do is we'll pull you back here no matter how painful it is. Even if you try to run away by persuading us, pretending to be sick… hmm what else Aquila has said?" Zack counted Aquila's words one by one while muttering and fiddling with his fingers.

Hearing that his plan was being told by Zack, Keenan felt himself becoming more and more stupid. It was true, Keenan had thought about pretending he had fallen down the stairs and waiting for the people watching him to fall asleep. Keenan also knew that Aquila would predict his actions. But being reminded like this before he did anything annoyed himself.

Zack was still struggling with his own memories while Keenan looked around him. Keenan once questioned himself about why everyone here looks happy. Zack's words may not give the answer directly, but Zack had told Aquila's mindset that Keenan had never thought of before.

The oddities after the oddities that he had arranged in his mind all this time seemed to have been answered by Zack's words. The pieces of the puzzle that he had been keeping for so long could now be glued together.

Happy children. Telling that Karen is fine. Provide a more comfortable place. Try not to hurt. Lost everything.

Everything that Keenan had compiled has given a picture of the inconsistency of behavior shown by Aquila. There was something that Aquila was hiding so that if she told Keenan everything, then Aquila would lose a lot and imagine her anger, it could be the life that would be at stake in this plan.

Getting a glimmer of information about Aquila actually made Keenan even more doubtful of himself. Finally he dared to question why he didn't actually try to escape and instead followed Aquila's plan.

Maybe my reason for running away wasn't as big as Aquila's reason for keeping me away, doesn't it?