Perised

Chapter 30

I have no idea what to do next. How am I going to get out of this one? Maybe I should just fake it, make up a story or something. Does Mac remember how I made him fall asleep? Oh, mind tricks! I can create a story where Zack messed with our minds! But, how do I perform it? Or, what's the story anyways? Maybe I should just go to bed?

After walking into my bedroom, and minutes of thinking about my story, I hear Joe and Luna coming down the hall, and I feel anxiety kicking in. I really hope they'll go for my story... Joe mumble something to Luna and then the doors open and close, more mumbles and when, suddenly, I hear footsteps running down the hall, a door is opened, followed by a loud 'Fuck!' I guess they checked Zack's room... Luna's mumbling something '.... Ok, I'll check her room.' Instantly I fake being asleep. Luna opens the door and asks 'Hannah, you here?' 'mmmmh?' 'Thank God you're here, Zack's missing. You know where he went?' I rise from my bed 'What? no, sorry, all I remember is that I heard Zack calling my name from his room and then I'm blank.' She mumbles 'shit.' She thinks for a second and says 'Ok, we gotta go check Mac, you coming?' I nod and rise slowly. As we enter the kitchen, Joe tries to wake up Mac. He struggles, 'I can't wake him up, it's like he's drugged or something.' 'Let's try this...' I fill a glass of water from the tap and throw it at his face and he instantly wakes up. Joe looks relived while Luna says, 'Welcome back.' He grumbles, 'what happened?' Joe answers 'we don't know, Zack's missing, though...' He grumbles 'shit' and rubs his eyes; however, he widens his eyes and says, 'wait a minute... Hannah, you drugged me!' Trying to put on my best poker/surprised face I answer 'What?! No, I didn't!' He rises, but his legs are still weak, so he stumbles a bit and sits down in a chair and proclaims 'No, you started to flirt with me, giving me a massage and stuff until I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my neck when everything turned black.' I place my hands in surrender in front of my chest and say 'I swear, I didn't do that at all. I only remember Zack calling my name, me entering his room and then I'm blank.' Joe rubs his forehead 'He probably fucked with both of your mind and escaped... we'll never find him now...' I sigh, silence follows. After a while Luna says 'well, we could try, though?' Joe rise from his chair, and answers 'He's better at hiding than me, believe me, I've been looking for him for years, but he just disappears like dust.' I say, 'He did tell us that he worked for Henry though, and that he works for the Dark Beings.' Joe takes a stand 'No fucking way! We're not tracking down the Dark Beings, we're doing everything to keep them away from us and now you want us to locate them? Leading you right to them?' I shrug, 'We could make a trap you know.' He exhales in frustration and walks out of the room. Luna takes a step towards him 'Joe, he knows who and where we are.' He brushes us off 'Then we'll just find a new place to hide...' and walk out of the kitchen. Suddenly we hear the piano playing.

****

Me and Luna were hungry, so we borrowed Joe's transportation medallion and got some food. When we came back to the mansion Joe sits at the kitchen table with a pile of papers, maps and books in front of him. I ask 'What'chu doing?' Still studying the papers, he answers 'I'm looking for a new place to hide. Maybe we should just go back to the bunker, Zack doesn't know about that one... He does know the area though...' He looks like he's deep in thought, Luna says 'urgh, the bunker is so crammed, aren't there any other place we could rather go?' He doesn't answer, he just continues to study the map.

Mac waddles into the kitchen. He hasn't got control over his feet yet, so, he has to lean into everything to hold him up, just like a toddler learning how to walk for the first time. He finally guides his way to the kitchen table and dump down besides Joe. He picks out his pack of Camels, puts one in his mouth and searches for the lighter. He lights it and just before he's about to light the cigarette Joe rise in a eureka moment and knocks Mac's lighter out of his hands as he says, 'I got it!' Mac mumbles irritated 'fucking jerk' as he struggles to bend down to grab the lighter from the floor. Joe continues 'There's this small city where I know a guy, he might help us. Maybe we shouldn't isolate ourselves, maybe it's a better idea to blend into the crowd. What do you guys say to that?' Luna looks skeptical. Joe stare at her, 'You have to dye your hair mousy gray or blonde, though.' ¨Que?!' she asks frustrated. He ignores her protest, looks at me and says 'Well, you're already blonde so I think you'll be alright...' Mac breathes out a cloud of smoke and asks 'What, are you the Nazi or something?' Joe rolls his eyes and says 'No, we're just going to this Scandinavian country. And most of the population is blonde or mousy gray haired, so when Luna shows up with that big blue hair, we'll be noticed, and you know we can't do that...' Mac shrugs and Joe turns his attention towards Luna 'You ready to dye your hair?' She pouts, he continues 'Aw, come on, it's not that bad?' Her eyes turn into big, beading cat eyes and her pout escalates. Joe looks like he's got a bad conscious.

****

We stole some hair dying products and well, me and Luna, we're in the middle of dying her hair. Mac and Joe, they're attendance evaporated because, apparently, dying hair was 'a girly thing.' Therefore, they went into the living room to chill, Joe plunks on the piano, I guess Mac is smoking as usual. I've never dyed hair before, and neither has Luna. Apparently, she says her blue hair is natural, which well, is obviously a lie. As I open the package, I inform her 'So, the instructions say that we just blend the dye and rub it into the hair.' Luna nods and I start blending the pigments together. I use the small brush and try my best to even out the dye in her hair. 'Ok, so now the instructions say to wait in approximately twenty to thirty minutes.' 'ok' I wrap a plastic bag over her scalp to keep the dye working its effect. Mac suddenly walks in with a bag of chips and as he sees Luna he snickers 'Wow, you look fancy!' 'Càllate!' He laughs as a response and says, 'Can't wait until I see the result' he grabs a handful of chips, throw them in his mouth, chew with an open mouth and walks out of the room.