Beyond the Bounds

Chapter Fifteen

"Uh, I'm Eleanor Vega," I slowly stood up and dusted off my thighs, even if they weren't dirty. "I'm an old friend of Jasper Lockwood. It's just quite of an emergency." I lied.

"Oh love, as much as I want to, I can't just give away her address."

I wanted to kneel down and beg; I wanted to clasp my hands together and raise them up to her. But I cautiously knew that it would make me look like a complete fool and eventually prevent her even more from providing the information. "Please. Please help me. I just seriously need to get to her."

She consistently declined for a while but eventually gave in when I didn't back down. She redirected me to #15 Lington St., One Village, Manila. I gave her a sincere thank you and we both parted ways. As I searched for a tricycle to help me reach the address, I couldn't help but notice an article on the newspaper stand I passed by. On the front cover were mug shots of familiar faces that I find uncomfortable recognizing: Jasper's kidnappers. On top of the photos was the title: Three men caught hiding in a normal house after trapping 18-year-old boy in a dungeon-like room. A dungeon? What an exaggeration. I scoffed but bought the newspaper anyway, just in case his grandmother needed any sort of proof.

No matter how hard I tried to push the thought away, I kept thinking of the pain brought onto his poor grandmother. Losing a child is one, but thinking she also lost a grandson? It was too difficult for me to visualize the way she gained knowledge about Jasper and his mom. She had to learn about it while having no one, not even a husband, to share the misery with. It's her right to know Jasper's still alive, even if we weren't entirely sure of his safety.

I arrived in front of a one story house that was labelled with the number 15. My heart started to grow heavy and I was unsure why. Maybe I was afraid of what her reaction might be? I wouldn't know what to do if she started to break down crying in front of me. I wouldn't question why, however.

I got out of the tricycle, paid, then walked towards her front porch with heavy feet. I took a deep breath in before knocking on the wooden door. I gently knocked thrice, unsure of what to expect.

An old lady shorter than I am greeted me by the door with a confused expression on her face. "May I help you?" Her voice was weak and hoarse. I gulped with nervousness. "Uhm hello, I'm-"

I was stopped mid sentence when a person walked in on the scene, right on time.

"Grand, is everything alri-"

He also froze when he saw me. He was as surprised as I was.

It was him.

He stood behind his grandmother, perfectly neat and tidy and selfishly happy. The way he had his white shirt on and his hair up in a perfect quiff told me that he was showered and groomed. How dare him.

"Ellie?!"

My body started to feel remarkably cold. I suddenly felt utterly betrayed. It was the kind of feeling where your heart drops and you're left with a cold, empty void. I shot my gaze straight into his soul and shook my head in disappointment before I turned around and ran away. I fled the place—taking my path on the sidewalk—even if I had no clue where it would take me. At this point, knowing where I'd end up was the least of my concerns. All I wanted was to get away—to be free from this. I gripped the newspaper in my hand tighter and tighter as it was the only one I could take my anger out on.

The pain wasn't physical anymore. It was the kind of pain that dug through your heart and made sure it ripped out each vein, each artery attached to it. Just to make sure you died right then and there.

How could he do this?

I could already spot the next block when I heard footsteps dashing towards me. I tried speeding up so he'd fail to catch up. "Ellie!!!" He shouted my name like he needed me, when obviously, he did not. He constantly ran after me, even if I didn't want to be chased. "Ellie!" He screamed once more.

When he apparently caught up to me, he grabbed the back of my arm and hugged me from behind, making it harder for me to get away. I resisted vigorously and with full force pushed away from his tight embrace. I faced him. "How dare you??? I was so worried that something might've happened to you again, that's why you're gone!" I clasped my fist tight, trying to fight the tears in my eyes, "You could've taken at least a minute of your life to tell my mom your leaving or even just 5 seconds to leave a damn note!"

"Ellie-"

I yelled louder, "Stop calling me that!!!" My voice threw him off track. "I was angry at myself! I was blaming myself Jasper!!! Didn't you think of that???"

His eyes were filled with sadness and guilt. But all it was to me were lies. I would never expect myself to come to this point where I was itching to smack him. "I- I just didn't want to be affiliated with you anymore."

"Excuse me?" I scoffed and stepped back, completely taking offense. "After I've fed you? After never leaving you for at least a month?" My voice was nothing but outraged.

"Not like that." He looked straight into my eyes, "I just didn't want anything terrible to happen to you if they ever caught me again. Maybe you'd forget about me if I did so." He was awkwardly holding his hands together, as if he didn't know what to do with them. "And by then, maybe the feelings I have for you would lessen. It would save us both the pain, right?"

It was obvious that he wanted me to agree at this point. But I don't. I didn't. How could I? How inconsiderate and selfish could you be to disregard someone's feelings like that? You can't simply decide to take action on how you believe a person would feel. "That's so insensitive." I voiced out my own thoughts as I gripped the newspaper tighter.

"Ellie, I just wanted you safe. If ever they saw me with you, they would not only target me, but they'd come for you as well. We don't know where they are right now. Those people are good at hiding you never know—"

"Well then here you go," I threw the newspaper article at him, "I gave your SD card to the police and they caught them. They're in jail now. All three of them. You're fucking welcome."

I didn't even wait for his reply. I instantly turned my back on him and ran away as the tears crept up my eyes, once again. I didn't want him to watch me as I broke down. I refused to allow him to see me weak again. I didn't want him to have that power over me. Or perhaps, I didn't want him to know that he did.

I considered myself incredibly weak to be weeping repeatedly. But this time, I believed I had all the reasons to. For a while I could still hear him calling out my name. I could hear the tinge of heartache that came along with it. But I didn't care. I was running agilely and the tears were rapidly streaming down that I couldn't take notice of whatever was happening around me.