The calling

4. There's trouble

I wake up to the sound of Matt whispering my name. “He he, there you are.” I look at his face and he looks worried. “It’s kept you up all night, hasn’t it? I sit up, rub my eyes and say: “Yeah, kind of. I don’t know if I should tell you this but I went to visit him last night.” He looks shocked and I quickly explain what happened. “He taught me some things. You’re not going to believe this.” I take some feathers out of my pillow and place them between us. I take a quick look al Matt and see he’s staring at me. I close my eyes, concentrate and let the feathers float. Matt’s mouth falls wide open. “Awesome right!?” He’s taken aback. “Wha… ho…” He can’t find his words. After stammering for a while he says “How?” I just smile. “that’s not all I can do. Come I’ll show you.” We stay in my room for a bit while I show him what I can do. After that we chill a bit in the forest, which is basically my backyard. Matt stays for dinner but has to leave after that. I want to go back to my father and learn more, but my mom won’t let me out of the house without a good reason. I grab some stuff and tell here I’m going to Claire and that she should probably not expect me home until tomorrow. I give her a hug and a quick kiss and set off.

It’s getting dark when I arrive at the lodge park. I am walking to my father’s cabin when I walk into Jack from school. “Oef! Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t see you there.” Jack says, quickly apologizing. “I didn’t know you lived here” I answer. “Yeah well, it’s the only thing I can afford.” He answers as he quickly walks off. I’m a bit startled and turn around and walk on. I reach my father’s cabin in a few minutes and knock. No answer. Huh, he said he’d be here, I think. I walk around the cabin and sneak a peak inside. All the lights are off. This is strange. I walk back up to the front door and check to see if it’s open. It is. I open the door and walk very quietly. It’s a complete mess inside. Paper everywhere, chairs thrown to the floor. There must have been a fight in here. I start looking through some stuff in the kitchen when I hear a sound near the front door. I make a knife float and send it flying to the door.

“WHOW! Hold on, it’s just me.” I hear someone say. I recognize the voice. It’s Jack. “What are you doing here?” I ask him as he slowly stands up. “Well, I saw where you where going and needed to follow you.” Why would he need to follow me? “Why?” I demand. “Why did you need to follow me?” “Because I know your father…” He answers. I am completely gob smacked by this.  “How?” is the only thing a say. Jack walks up to me and speaks. “That thing you just did there. I can do that too. It’s one of the many things we can do.” He walks to the other side of the table. “Your father knew my father. I knew you lived here so that’s where I went. Not knowing that your father wasn’t here until he showed up a few days ago.” I take a moment to gather my thoughts. “He knew your father? Where is your father now?” I ask. He looks down at his hands. “He was killed for what he is. I just got out in time or they would have killed me too.” We both fall silent. After a couple of minutes I ask: “Who killed your father? is my father in danger too?” “The bad people did” he answers. “But I don’t think you should trust your father. I heard he got in with those bad people and that’s why they are looking for him.” Well now I’m scared. Don’t trust my father? Bad people? “What bad people?” I stammer out. Jack looks around and asks me to follow him. I follow him as he walks outside, closing the door behind me. He speaks quietly as we walk. “There’s this organization that causes havoc all around the world. Your father is part of that organization. My father was too, but he got out. That’s why they killed him. I know it.” We both let that sink in as we walk on. I realize he’s taking me to his cabin. “We should be save here for the moment” he says as we walk through the door.

Now I’m really scared. Not safe? Who are those people and is my father really a part of that? He hasn’t told me anything about that. I sit down at the table and put my head in my hands. A million thoughts go through my head as I sit there. I can hear Jack behind me and look up. He’s gathering stuff and putting it in a backpack. “What are you doing?” I ask him. He answers me without stopping. “Packing some stuff. We must leave. They know where I live and they will come for us.” This startles me. “Leave? I thought we were safe here?” I say looking really confused. Now Jack looks up at me, his face serious. “They have eyes everywhere. They know you’re with me and that makes it not safe. You know a place they won’t look for us?” I think about that for a moment while he continues packing. My favorite hideout spot. Nobody other than me, Matt and Claire know about this spot. “I know a place” I say. “Good” Jack answers “You just lead the way.” 

Suddenly Jack turns off the light. “Get down!” He whispers. As I get down to the ground, I can hear people talking in the distance. “s**t, they’re here already. Come on, we need to go. Now!” the voices grow louder as we make our way to the door and sneak out. It’s pitch-black outside and I can’t see a thing. Jack sees me hesitating and takes my hand leading me away from the cabin to the main road. “You know where to?” Jack asks. I nod my head and point in the direction we need to go. “I’ll follow you, but we need to stay off the road.” We head off, staying just within the tree line, close enough so we can see the road.