AVERY
People probably thought I was crazy. I mean, why wouldn’t they?
Who came out of a restaurant, dumped the food they just bought in a dumpster, and boarded the next taxi they could find and fled?
Me. That was who.
The food wasn’t of any use to me right now. Lord knew that after seeing that video of Cyrus being attacked by those men, food was the last thing on my mind. I was filled with worry. The kind of worry that ate at my insides, bones, and my mind.
I sobbed at the back of the taxi, my shoulders shaking with the force of my tears. The video replayed over and over in my mind. Him being attacked, shot and taken away was the worst thing I had ever seen in my life. At the end of the video, the man on the news had said that ‘an animal in human form had been taken captive’.
He called Cyrus an animal in human form. My Cyrus.
But had I not said the same to him anyway? Even if I didn’t say it to his face, I thought it. That night when I ran away from him, I called him a beast in my head. I called him an animal too. And Cyrus wasn’t an animal. He was just like everyone else. Just special, with a beast inside of him.
He wasn’t the beast himself.
As the tears subsided, anger started to simmer inside of me.
How dare that man call him an animal in human form? How dare they attack him like that? How dare they just pick him up and take him captive? Who did they think they were?
The man on the news had said that they had taken an animal in human form captive which meant that he knew the people that had attacked Cyrus. This proved that they were humans. The people that had attacked him that day, it had been obvious that they were like him. Lykaes.
God, I couldn’t believe I was thinking this. That I was actually calling him a lykae in my head, but I couldn’t run from it anymore, could I? Not when everyday, it was starting to become clearer and more obvious that that was what he was, and denying it, was plain stupid. Especially with so many evidences in front of me.
The man that attacked him that night, they had known everything about what he was. And the way they tried to shame him and make him feel bad for having anything to do with me at all, filled me in that they didn’t usually have business with us humans.
It only filled me with more fear that the people who had taken him captive, were humans, not lykaes. How had they known about him? What could they possibly want with him?
God. I hoped Cyrus was okay. I hoped that he was still strong and fighting for his life because from that video I saw, he hadn’t been moving.
Shit.
In all my hurry to get into a cab and with my emotions all over the place, I had completely forgotten to tell the driver where I was going. Yet we were moving. What was his deal? Why hadn’t he asked me?
“Um..” I said to the driver, sitting up in the back seat and looking out the window. “Where are we going?”
“You haven’t given me an address, ma’am.” He said, giving me a sympathetic look, “And you looked like you needed a minute or two to get yourself together, so I figured I could drive around for a bit until you tell me where we’re going.”
He was so thoughtful and so nice that I wanted to burst into tears all over again. My God. Since when had I turned into a crybaby? Was it not just last week that I was just in a cab like this, crying as I went back home from Cyrus’ place?
It struck me that the tears were never caused by him. They were never as a result of his actions, or him hurting me. They were always as a result of the actions I knew that I had to take that were definitely going to hurt me or like now, that I was hurting for him. For everything he had gone through, and everything he was going through.
In the video, it had been obvious that he was drunk from the way he was staggering and even though he wouldn’t have been able to fight the number of men on the screen, I was sure that the fact that he was drunk contributed.
Why was he drinking anyway? Could I have anything to do with that?
My heart hurt. I needed to get to him.
“Do you know any company with the name called Daschers?” I asked the man.
“Eh.” He scratched his head, “Not sure I’ve heard about that one, but I could search for it on my app. See what comes up.”
“Alright. Do it.”
He parked off to the side of the road, unplugged his phone from where he had been charging it, and pulled up Google maps on his phone. I knew that I should give him some privacy or whatever, but I was too worked up to not stare at his screen as he searched for the company.
“Here you go.” He said, turning the phone a bit so that I could see too.
Three companies with similar names had come up but only one had the exact name. The way it had been on the side of that car.
“That’s the one.” I told him, pointing at the screen.
He quickly pulled his phone away before I could break it, because I was sure that with the way my finger tapped on the screen with so much force, it could definitely break.
“Sorry.” I muttered, “I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to worry about.” He said with a small smile, “Daschers. That’s your destination, is it?”
“Yes.” I confirmed, feeling like a fool.
“Alright.” He plugged his phone back in and pulled away from the curb where he had parked, entering the road.
As he drove, I thought, I was so lucky to meet nice people. Not many people could be as accomodating as the recent taxi drivers I had used. Some of them proved difficult to deal with sometimes. I usually just assumed that they had been having a bad day and tried to be more understanding.
The driver pulled in front of a huge white building. I shoved my face into the window, staring up at the place. It was so… White. So hard to describe. It also had the logo DASCHERS on it.
“This is it.” The driver said to me when he parked.
“Yeah, I can tell.” I murmured. “Here. Thanks.” I shoved the money into his hand, not really looking at him. I was too busy staring at the building.
The plain white of it stood out amidst the other coloured buildings. It made it seem bland but also easily identifiable.
I got out of the car and I felt ridiculous all of a sudden. Okay, now that I was here, what did I intend to do?
What was my plan? Was I just going to storm into the building and ask them why they took Cyrus?
The driver pulled away, leaving me and a few other people standing out there in the street. They were all walking, going about their day, but if I continued standing out there, then it was going to get suspicious.
But what would I do if I went in there? Would I tell them that I watched a footage of my boyfriend being taken away and I wanted him back?
They might just lock me up in there with him, because it was obvious that they hadn’t taken him with them for a tea party. They obviously were his enemies. And if they found out that I was a friend to their enemy, then I would automatically become their enemy.
And that wasn’t smart.
The only way they would allow me in, and even converse with me, was if I was on their side.
An idea suddenly struck me.
I could pretend like I was going to be of help to them. I could lie to them that Cyrus had attacked me too and that I had barely escaped with my life. I could tell them that I knew a few things or two about him and that it could be of help to them. I could convince them to allow me see him.
It could all work out. I only had to act.
My stomach roiled, threatening to upend everything that I had taken in today. I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to lie and act like I didn’t know Cyrus. I felt a pain, almost physical at the mere thought of doing it.
Yet, I knew that it was the only way.
I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t that bad. That this was the only way to see him, to make sure that he was okay, and to possibly help him. I was doing this for him, not for me.
Besides, that was all they were going to be. Lies. I wouldn’t deny knowing him or anything that I felt for him for any other reason.
Satisfied with myself, I pushed my shoulders back and walked towards the huge black gate, in contrast to the white house.