Beneath Your Lies

Chapter Two

‘’Sophia, wake up already!’’ I hear the familiar voice bringing me back to life. Derek shakes me as if I were a doll going to dress up. I squint my eyes to the light that’s facing me and then open them up to the brightness.

 ‘’I’m up! Stop shaking me.’’ I whine like a child. He tries to hide his sarcastic look but it’s obvious. I feel dumb even to myself.

I touch my forehead, completely clueless about what’s going wrong with me. My back feels numb and my ass hurts so badly – this sofa needs to go.

 ‘’My head hurts; what happened to it?’’ I look around. This is absolutely not a school, and I can imagine my classmates saying how lucky I am to have skipped the day.

 ‘‘You blacked out when I carried you,’’ I gaze at him as he continues, ‘’the behemoths disappeared. I killed them so everything’s all right.’’ I sigh in relief but then something he said caught my ears. ‘’What did you say? What are the behemoths? And why are they after us?’’

He eyes my forehead carefully. “We have to get you to a hospital to cover up the gash on your forehead. I’ll explain later.’’ He carries me again and drops me on the passenger seat.

Derek looks like he’s about to sleep in the car; he has black circles around his eyes and heavy bags under them.

We head for the entrance of the hospital and get in, helped by nurses and doctors. The hospital smell always disgusts me, and I don’t often go there.

‘’Are you feeling better?’’ the nurse asks after my forehead gets stitched to stop the blood from getting out my head; she has soft features and grey eyes, smiling at me like she knows me from long ago.

‘’I’m fine, thank you.’’

‘’You’re welcome, sweetie.’’

I catch sight of Derek, standing at the reception desk. I growl as my head begins to hurt, I can’t feel a thing; I am too exhausted.

I go out of the hospital room and sit in the waiting room, which is in front of the reception desk, and Derek doesn’t notice me until the nurse calls out my name, and he gives me a glance of worry and pushes back his hair, which seems to annoy him all the time.

Waiting for my brother to pay and fill out the papers, I watch the clock. It’s two p.m., and it’s so cold outside.

A loud noise makes me look to my left as a girl, my same age or maybe a bit older, sits on a wheelchair with blue daisies in her blonde hair. She has blue eyes just like me; she passes through and gives me a troubled look. Then she stops and turns her head back to me for a minute.

‘’You are facing death.’’ I stare at her; she has this poker-faced façade going on – this is beyond creepy and scary, and who is she? I don’t know the girl, so how could she know about me? It seems so strange. I get two warnings, what’s next? I try not to let my imagination run wild, that’s the last thing I need right now.

The girl leaves after that freaky thing she said, and I feel weary from these mysterious signs. Derek gets back and gestures me towards the entrance.

‘’Time for an explanation,’’ I urge him and I add, ‘’now.’’ He takes this into consideration.

“We have to go to my apartment so we can figure out why the behemoths are after us.’’

I was going to correct him and say that they were after me, but I decide not to, seeing Derek’s attentive look. He always ignores my questions or changes the topic, and I deserve the full story, not a bunch of people telling me that I am going to die.

We arrive back at his apartment, and Derek gets me food. If there’s such thing as food ecstasy, then this would be it.

I eat my meatloaf silently and slowly. Derek is eating frozen yogurt and staring at the wall right in front of him.

“You ok?’’ I ask. He nods his head yes and gives a reason: ‘’I’m just trying not to think about the hanging girl that was at the side of the road.’’ I shiver as the flashback of the girl shows inside my head, ‘‘I don’t get it, why are these horrible signs chasing me?’’

 ‘’You’re chosen,’’ Derek answers with certainty.

I cover my blanket around me as I whisper, ‘‘but why me?’’ This is really like some prank or a joke –  I find the note and then a girl tells me that I am bound to die; it’s like the world really wants me gone.

“The behemoths are after us to kill you, and it’s my job to not let that happen.’’ He looks straight into my eyes. I feel safe whenever Derek is around because his figure is so strong and solid, and nobody could pass him without being dead or broken in half.

My eyes land on the sword that is placed beside the bed. I keep observing its shiny tip and its handle. That thing must be really heavy to carry.

‘’Damn,’’ I say out loud, without realizing that my thoughts are escaping.

He looks at my gaze and then his eyes avert to the sword, and he smiles like it’s the most precious thing to him. ‘’It’s my glorious weapon, my life and my childhood.’’

How can a sword like that be his life?

‘’It must have meant a lot to you,’’ I conclude, but then continue, “but the thing is, I never saw you when I was young. Did you live in a shelter for homeless kids?’’ it looks like I am insulting him, but he can see my pure intention, and he sits back and his green eyes gaze at me.

‘’No, I was raised in an organization in Bulgaria called the hemmer-alia ever since I was a child. They gave me my first sword, which is the one you’re looking at.’’  He nods at the sword, which is hanging beside his bed. I was not allowed to touch any deadly weapon when I was a child, but realizing that your own brother didn’t have dinner with all of our family in a night at winter was just overwhelming, and really sad.

The creature appears, full of dark things printed all over its skin, shredded with things that seem like bruises but much worse than mine. It’s moving to me, haunting me, chasing me, and then its gigantic figure grabs me and chokes me so hard that I could swear I feel my neck snapping and my throat peeking out. I try to see what is surrounding me but I can’t.

‘’SOPHIA, stop it now!’’ I flutter my eyes open to realize it’s just a dream and that I am standing, rather than sleeping.

‘’What’s wrong?’’ I ask, feeling cold. He touches my nose and forehead, examining something that I haven’t known about.

‘’You were sleep walking and it was the scariest thing. You were mumbling unclearly, saying something about making them disappear.’’ I gaze strangely at him; it’s the first time I have ever sleep walked, which is weird and embarrassing, but I go back to sleep and forget it ever happened.

Derek and I go to the same place my dad was killed in and try to look for something that might lead us to the killer. I know that what happened isn’t an accident; it was something planned for, and, I mean, how did the truck even get in front of us? I remember that we were in the car and dad was driving safely, but then the truck that was passing us moved in front of us. There was something more to that, like the killer made this all happen intentionally. Could it be my dad’s so called ‘Assistant’?

Lysander Winchester. The man who was so jealous of my dad’s achievements in the business community department that on the day my dad got his appraisal certificate for working three years on the big project he had and doing an ‘extraordinary’ job, Lysander had that glare set on my dad; that glare was something mischievous. He had the smile of a rat, the one who made you want to punch the person you hate.

I never really knew him that much, but when I went to my dad’s office the other day, I met him.

 ‘‘Hey Sophia, how do you do?’’ he looked at me intently, as if he were looking for something in me.

‘’I’m fine. And you, sir?’’

‘’I’m as good as I’ll ever be.’’ There was always that envy, and from that day, I never stopped being suspicious. I even tried to warn my dad, but he wasn’t the type of man who thinks bad things about people. He always thinks of only the good about them.

“Sweetheart, he’s a good man and trust me, he’s not trying to ruin my career. Now let’s go buy ice cream.’’ He took me by the hand but I still couldn’t shake it off, that feeling of something bad about to happen.

I go back to reality now and realize that Derek found something. I run to him anxiously.

‘’What is that?’’ I look at the broken bottle he holds, which has a note inside. Derek’s expression seems confused.

Derek reads it out loud, “I see you’ve found your brother, little Sophia, but this isn’t the end. Your death will be by my hands, so have a nice 20 seconds of living. Believe me, it won’t last long.’’ As much as I feel uncomfortable, the ‘little Sophia’ gesture kind of annoys me; it makes me feel like I’m a weak person, which, of course, I am not. I’ll never be, and that’s a promise I made to dad. I will never give up as long as I live. I want the killer dead, now and today.

Derek patted my arm in a warm way that made me feel almost good but almost is never enough.

‘’Don’t worry about it; it’s just a stupid threat,’’ he soothes me.

I break out in an angry frenzy. ‘’Are you expecting me not to’’ I make a hand quote as I continue, “‘worry about it?’ You’re not the one who’s been tracked for stupid signs! We’re doing nothing about it; this is so wrong. I don’t want to live like this anymore. I want to slit and choke the life out of this silly immature killer; I will make sure he never exists, him and his stupid little notes.’’

Derek stands and doesn’t say a word. He sits down again, frustration evident on his face at my outburst.

‘’Sophia, don’t do anything reckless, I know it’s hard for you, but you’re different. You’re chosen to be the warrior,’’ he has a glint of pride over the fact that I’m the warrior. ‘’I believe you have the power, but you should know how to use it for the common good of the town, not for bad things.’’

Wait, what?

I gulp, ‘‘I’m not a warrior. I can’t be.’’

He nods. ‘’You are, and the king has chosen you.’’

‘’Who’s the king?’’ I ask.

‘’Sorry, I can’t tell you,” he sighs, pushing his hair back.

I feel something salty on my cheeks when images of dad come back inside my head and make my heart boil in anger. I dab them away mournfully.

‘’This is too hard,’’ I whisper, as I keep wiping my tears. I hate looking weak in front of Derek; to anyone for that matter, ‘’but I will do everything it takes to find him, even if I die.’’ I scowl in determination.

‘’I know. Calm down, rushing things isn’t the way to start looking.’’ So we keep looking for any evidence but we find none, and as hours passed by, we still don’t quit. It was our dad after all, even if Derek hated him; he’s still going to do it for me.

I see something really bizarre; there’s a dark pathway at the side of the park. It looks damp and really shadowy, which also alerts me of danger that could get us into more trouble.

‘’Derek! Derek, come here now! I found something.’’

He rushes up to me and I point at the pathway; leaves and branches, even spiders, bombard it but we don’t care. We’re both desperate to find something that will expose the killer, so we decide to go to it, walking like we have a secret. We still keep moving along and we spot a silver door and almost open it, but then something, or may I say, someone, stops me –  the long nails come back again, almost on my neck, but I delve into my defense mode, and nothing can stop me.

I take the clawed creature and flip its stomach open, the slimy substance dripping from its belly. I shudder in disgust as I finally kill it. My friend Leann would’ve liked this for her action comic book; the creature gives out a roar as it vanishes into thin air. I have no idea what that is, but I recall that Derek told me about the ‘behemoths’ and how they feed off humans.

As the thought of him is still into my mind, I see him lying on the ground, wounded. I rush off to him and grab the bag I carried in case any one of us gets hurt. I get out a bandage and wrap it around his bruised neck, and his eyes open wide and he quickly, without knowing he’s been lying like a dead human, springs up, but then lays down again.

‘’Ouch, what happened to me? My neck hurts.’’ He whines and frowns at me.

‘’The creature has beaten you up and you fainted, I guess. Your neck is bruised, but don’t worry, the bandage will heal it if you just press on the wound.’’ I instruct, but that makes Derek even more upset.

‘’Are you ok? Did the creature do anything to you?’’ he’s worried about me, which is adorable; it really feels like we’re siblings, and great ones.

 ‘’Nope, I took him out.’’ I say proudly, but he isn’t amused.

‘’Sophia, anything could’ve happened to you; why didn’t you just run? You’re not trained enough!’’ He yells with fury, his eyes piercing through mine as his eyebrows furrow at me.

I feel bummed because I thought we’d celebrate my first victory, but apparently not. I bite my bottom lip in anger.

‘‘I’m not one to run away like a scared cat. I fight; I’ve always been fighting my whole life.’’ I state, with my head held up high.

‘’I’m sorry, but anything could happen, and you’re making it hard for me to protect you.’’ He sighs and looks back at me, then continues, ‘’did you really kill the behemoth?’’

‘’Knocked his eyes out.’’ we laugh as we stand back up, feeling as strong as ever.

We continue walking. My feet are aching, but there’s no time for a pity party. We open the door as we get there, and there are twenty stairs in there – is this where the killer hid? I’d always have daydreams about how I’d kill him, and it excites me.

‘’Did you train on your own?’’ I ask, trying to make conversation as I walk up the stairs.

He’s trying to decide whether to tell me or not.

“The organization trained me to defend myself, and they taught me really weird cultural techniques. I kind of miss that, actually, but I’d do anything to protect you.’’

‘’That’s impressive.’’ 

He gives me that one small smile which is filled with gracefulness, and I am glad I have a brother like him, to be honest, but it’s sad at the same time, because I never knew about him.

After moments pass in silence, I ask again: ‘‘Did you have someone you love, back there?’’ I kick myself mentally for having to ask such a stupid, sappy question.

He has that sad expression, but it automatically changes to his usual defensive face.

‘’She was killed for doing something rebellious in her mission,’’ he smiles as he remembers the memories. ‘‘I was certain that she was the love of my life, but she’s gone now. She was not only my love, but she was strong and she fought for her rights –  she was my mentor. She’s been always guiding me into the organization, but the rules there are so strict, she couldn’t get out of it.’’

His tone changes to bitterness. ‘’These absurd rules. I’ve always hated them. Linda helped a poor kid while she was on this hunt mission, and she got killed for it because she didn’t do ‘good’ on her job. The creator was just a cold-blooded person, so he did the honor of killing her.’’ He’s frowning as he remembers his beloved woman.

I figure that Linda is his lover, but I still feel shocked at how heartless men can be – love is weird; you die for the one you love, and you’d do anything for the ones you care about, but I never understood it until I saw my mom and dad’s old memories together. It never fazes me; it made me feel alone, more or less.

 I keep an open mind about it as we walk up, and ten stairs remain.

 ‘‘Linda would’ve been so proud of you.’’ It’s the most truthful thing I’ve ever said in my entire life – I never knew her, but I feel grateful that she’s the one who found him and led him into a safe home. He gives me a small, quick hug and mutters a thank you to me. It’s actually really amazing how a brother could mean so much to you.

It was getting late, but it is worth it because we found it.

 We found the lair.