The Sonorous Timer

Chapter 49 - Shane's Deal

Exactly at 2 pm I was gonna meet up with Shane. My problem was leaving the house without Isaac noticing. I just hope he takes long showers. It was too late to turn around now anyway. The rain never really stopped, it only variated from dripping to pouring. And because of that, I took one of Isaac's jackets, which I hope he's okay with. Hopefully, he won't even notice that I left the house. If I'm lucky, I'll be back before he's even done with his shower. As long as Shane doesn't extend our 'meeting'.

Shane lied. He told me that the way to where we were gonna meet, was a short walk, it really wasn't. I had to walk for forty to forty-five minutes or so to get there. "You looked tired," Shane chuckled. I could hear that it was a mocking chuckle since he obviously knew how far I had to walk. I sat down in a free chair by a table that stood in the room we were in. "Don't worry, it's not my house. Only a meeting place," he said. "I don't care," I glared at him. "Woah, no need to be rude now. I'm just trying to help you," he said, leaning both his arms on the table. "Right, that's totally why the first thing you told us was that you weren't helping us." Again, he let out a chuckle. "You're right. I should've never have called you," he answered, standing up so that his back straightened. "Please, just tell me what you know so that I can leave," I sighed. "Manu, where is he?" he asked. "Still in the house," I muttered. "Uh, what?" he sounded surprised. "I said that he-" I started. "I know what you said!" he cut me off. "Why do you care?" I asked as I got up from the chair. "I don't." "Then what the hell of a reaction was that?" I asked curiously. "Do you trust me?" he questioned. "What?" I frowned. "Do you trust me, Elaine?" he repeated his question. "You're a stranger," I pointed out. "Answer my question." "Okay, I don't trust you, Shane." "Good," he slightly nodded. "Why's that good?" I frowned once again. "Because if you would have, you would've been an idiot." "Can we please just talk about Elijah?" I asked. He took a deep breath and nodded.

"Right here," he pointed to a spot on a map. "Elijah's there?" I asked. "In this very moment, yes." "The spot is moving!" I gasped. "That's because he's moving," he told me. "Hell no, that's not real," I shook my head. "Then how do you explain that, huh?" he asked, sounding a bit frustrated. "You must've faked it somehow," I argued. I refused to believe such voodoo. "You believe that they exist and that you're in some evil circle together with a random sexy boy... yet you don't believe that a map can follow a person?" he scoffed. Did he just call Manu sexy? "Yes, yes I did, Elaine." "Stop that creepy shit of yours!" I stammered, backing away immediately. "I'm not a mindreader, I just knew that's what would catch your attention. And do you know how I knew that?" he asked as he moved closer. "No," I slightly shook my head. "Because you're like Manu now. He told you to think like him, didn't he? Well, his thinking is wrong this time. He's not superstitious, so that means you're not superstitious either. You're not Manu, you're Elaine... remember that," he walked even closer. "He didn't take my superstition away, it was never there." "Is that what you tell yourself?" he spoke in a teasing manner. "You're creeping me out, Shane." He scoffed as if he was losing his patience with me. "The map is as real as we are, but don't get your hopes up. It's no guarantee that Elijah's alive just because he's moving. It might as well be them who's moving his dead body."

There's something different about Shane, something I don't understand, not yet at least. I've never seen his face, not even when there were only us two alone. He always made sure that the hoodie of his covered his face. Sometimes, I could get a glimpse of some of his face, but not enough to know what he looks like. From what I had seen though, he has a scar on his lips, a dark one. I couldn't quite get myself to understand what was off about him, but it for sure was something. Something about him that makes me feel insecure and it always leaves a feeling that I shouldn't trust him fully. "Will you help me, Shane?" I asked, trying to sound confident. He slowly turned around and leaned back with his hands against a counter. "Maybe," he lowered his voice. "What's that supposed to mean?" I frowned. I could see his lips now, they were formed into a sideways smirk: "Only if you help me as well."

I got caught up in my own little bubble, my own world. What Shane said, it brought out a whole lot of thoughts, that's why I drifted away. "Are you in, or not?" he interrupted my thinking. "What is it that you want me to do?" I asked directly. "Right now, nothing." "So you want me to owe you a favour basically?" I cleared my throat. He slightly nodded: "Pretty much." "How bad are we talking?" I swallowed oddly. He let out a weak scoff: "You need to stop dwelling so much, make the decision for God's sake." I took a deep breath before I stepped closer: "I'm in." "You've said it now, there's no going back. You understand that, right?" he asked. "Of course," I nodded. He tightened his grip on the end of the table, so tight that his knuckles went white. "Then it's a deal," he said. "How will you help me?" I asked. "They sent one of their dirty workers to get Elijah, I could stop that. However, you'll have to move away from the city for some time. They sometimes tend to extend a person's lifetime when the person is far away." "To where do I go?" I asked desperately. "That's for you to find out, Elaine." "What about Manu? I can't leave him," I pointed out. "When I get Elijah, you'll have to leave, no matter what. So I guess you'll just have to hope that he'll return before I do."