Altered Futures

Chapter 8 - Punishment

Sunday, January 8 --- 6:56p.m.

At Nafratearie's sentence, tears of joy filled their eyes. The other person pulled off their braided, black-haired wig to reveal a mass of blonde hair that reached just past their shoulders and removed their contacts, changing their eye color from grey to green. Sniffling, they used their long sleeved shirt to wipe their eyes, followed by sliding on a pair of white, plastic framed glasses that were in the cup holder between them and Naf. Their shirt stayed the same as it was before: a simple, long-sleeved navy shirt accompanied by a pair of jeans and sneakers.

It took Nafratearie a second to process what her eyes were seeing, but after the other person was done transforming herself back to normal, Naf recognized them and a smile spread across her face again. Her hunch had been right, thankfully.

"Grace! You saved me!" Naf said excitedly, giving Grace a hug from how happy she was.

"Why wouldn't I silly girl? You helped me out so many times it was the least I could do."

"I just...this can't be happening right now. Am I dreaming?"

"No, you are awake and we are going home. What happened to you?"

"The guy who kidnapped me used me as leverage so if his new slave disobeyed, he would hurt me."

"He got a new one after you? Didn't you say that when he made you that offer, he promised not to own any more slaves?"

"Yes, but I guess he went back on his word."

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"I know."

Soon, Grace started the engine and drove out of the parking lot.

"Shoot," muttered Grace. "Hang on a bit, I forgot to put your address in my phone so we don't risk getting lost on the way home."

Once Grace finished, the car continued down the road. The drive was quiet enough to hear the insects in the air flying around until Naf broke the silence.

"Why didn't you tell me it was you?"

"I don't know what kind of surveillance he has on that place and I don't want to get caught. I can only imagine how mad he would be at me, especially after helping you."

'Who would be mad at you?"

"You know who," Grace said, giving her a knowing look, before directing her eyes back to the road so they did not crash.

"Wait, so that was...?"

"Yep," Grace said. "Unfortunately."

"Oh," Naf said, looking down at her lap.

Even more puzzle pieces fell into place inside of her head. So that's who Edward's captor was. Despite having never met him before she had been his slave the first time, she had heard of him. At least now Naf understood why Edward's captor was so angry towards Edward: he knew.

Grace focused on the road and kept on driving until they finally reached the first stoplight they needed to cross. The red light shone down on the two of them. While they were stopped, Grace glanced at Nafratearie, happy to see her friend again. That was until she saw something a darker shade of red on Naf.

"Naf, what's that on your leg?"

Nafratearie quickly crossed her legs in a poor attempt to hide it.

"What?"

The light changed to green and since Grace had to focus her attention back to driving, or at least pretend to, decided not to question Naf about it. They were friends after all and Naf would tell her if something was wrong, right?