The Gods Among Us

Chapter 28: The Note

Alieen:

"Darn it," I say after searching all my pockets. Of course, since I'm still wearing my pajamas, I don't have many pockets to search. "My phone. My phone! I was in such a rush, I must have left my phone back at the apartment! I hope I don't miss any important calls."

I stop at a red light before taking a left turn. As I drive all around the city, searching for Leia, I can't help but wonder where she could have gone.

"She took some of her clothes with her," I think, "So she must be staying somewhere, but where? It can't be too far away. She didn't take either of the cars so the place she's staying at would have to be within walking distance. Unless she took the bus! Darn it! If she took the bus, then who knows where she could have gone!"

I drive and drive around, keeping a constant eye out for Leia. I almost get into a few accidents but I simply apologize and go back to searching.

"Where are you? Where are you? Ahh, Leia, why did you have to run away like this? What do you have against A? Maybe it's my fault. Maybe I should've listened to Leia a little more instead of just inserting A into our lives as I did. As much as I hate to think this, Leia is right. We don't know anything about A, including why he is being hunted or why he had power. Was A some kind of secret government experiment that escape from a secret facility? Is that's why he being hunted? Or maybe A discovered something from space? Like a meteoroid? A meteoroid that traded his memory for his power? No. No way. I've been watching too many movies. Thanks, Mat."

While turning onto a narrow street, I look left and right for Leia and finally see her! She's wearing a large coat and beanie with a scarf. As she walks down the street, she swings a small suitcase. A small Anakin Skywalker suitcase. I would recognize that suitcase anywhere.

"Leia," I scream, driving up to Leia and opening the window. Leia jumps when she sees me. She starts to run away. "Hey, wait! Ah, darn it!"

As much as I don't want to, I park the car halfway on the sidewalk and halfway on the street. I then get out and lock it before running after Leia.

"Leia," I yell again. Leia ignores me and keeps running. She turns a corner and disappears. I turn the same corner but stop. The corner leads to an empty street, with no Leia anywhere.

I turn my head up and yell.

"Leia," I cry. I should be thankful the street is empty. If I yell like that on a busy street, a few people would be staring at me and wondering. Turning back around, I take a step toward the car when all of a sudden, a pair of hands grab me. Even before I could scream, I am quickly covered by a black mist.

The black mist disappears, the arms let me go and I fall onto the ground. Only, this isn't the ground. Judging from the surrounding windows and the top of a tree, I would say I'm on a rooftop. Flipping around, I see the shadowy figure from before, standing before me.

"Hey," I say, crawling back and putting up my hand. "What do you want? What do you want?"

"Did you not read the note," the shadowy figure asks.

"The note," I repeat. "Wait, what note?"

The shadowy figure shakes. His fingers are twitching. Without any warning, the figure jumps into the air before punching the rooftop. The whole rooftop shakes as he punches it. He pulls his hand out from a hole. Upon seeing some pieces of the rooftop on his hand, he shakes them off.

"The note," the figure repeats, "The one I gave you when I took you away from him."

"That note," I say. It takes me a few minutes but I finally realize what the figure is talking about. "The note! The one that said I need to get away from A because he's a danger!"

"Exactly! Why are you still with A? Why did you defend him last night? I almost had him!"

"No. No, you didn't. I remember clearly what I saw last night. A had you by the throat. If it wasn't for me, who knows what A would have done?"

"I would have figured something else," the figure yells, his arms swinging wildly. "You need to stay out of this! You and Alfred and Matt!"

"Me," I repeat. "Alfred? Matt?"

"Yes," the figure shouts. "All of you. All of you just need to stay out of this. You don't understand what is at stake here."

"All three of us," I repeat. "Not all four of us?"

"What? What? No. I mean, yes! All four of you need to stay out of this. Leia too."

As the figure screams this, she is shaking, and despite not seeing any, I'm sure she's also sweating.

"Leia," I say, stepping forth. "Leia. It's you, isn't it? You can lose the shadow or the mist or whatever that is, but that's you. Isn't it?"

"No," Leia shouts, pointing a finger at me. "No. I am--"

I gently and calmly grab Leia's finger and pushes it down.

"Leia," I start, "It is you."

Leia growls before sighing. She steps back and shoots out her arms. As she does, the shadows that cling to her disappear. They run into the rooftop before vanishing.

"No way," I say.

Layafette:

"Hey Alieen," I say, crossing my arms as I look around. I sneak a peek at Alieen as she holds her hands over her mouth. Her eyes are wide as she stares at me. I sigh and lower my shaking head. "As I said, there's more at stake here than you know."

"Wha--Wh--What," Alieen manages to say before I put up my hand. Alieen sees my hand and stops. She just stares at me.

"Alieen," I say, "I know you must have a thousand questions, but for now, for now, I just need you to listen to me. For what it's worth, if our friendship, and the last two years, mean anything to you, then, please! I am begging you! Please, get away from A."

It seems Alieen had snapped out of her trance. She lowers her hands and starts talking.

"Leia," Alieen starts, "Our friendship, and the last two years, mean everything to me. You are one of my closest friends. The second I saw your bed empty and some of your clothing gone, I literally drop everything and ran to find you. I'm wearing slippers!"

Alieen points down and shows me her dirty blue slippers.

"Leia, under normal circumstances, I would listen to you without so much as a second thought, but this is not a normal circumstance. Leia, you need to tell me what is going on. What are you? What is A, and why is he so dangerous to Alfred, Matt, and me? What is going on here?"

The questions are stabbing me in the heart. I turn around and walk away. Walking up to an air conditioning unit, I pull back my hand before punching through the sheet metal.

"Leia," Alieen shouts before running up to me. Grabbing my hand and examining it, she looks at me. "Your hand. It's--"

"Fine," I say, taking over. "My hand is fine. Come on. How many times have you seen me and A fight?"

I pull my hand from Alieen and walk away.

"Alieen, there are things I can't tell you. At least, not yet."

I keep walking. I don't change direction or slow down. I just keep walking toward the ledge.

"I have to go now," I go on, "But know this. If you or any of the guys, and I'm not including A, need my help, ever, I'll be there. See ya."

"Wait," Alieen says.

I walk off the ledge of the building. I fall but only for a second. Bouncing against the wind, I take off and fly into the sky.