Burning Willow

XIV

He opened a minimized tab. "Funny cat videos?" he dead-panned.

I shrugged."They're cute."

Leaning over, I closed the tab. "There you go, tech-nerd." I joked. "Do your thing."

He started to work on my laptop, opening a bunch of stuff and typing in a code for a short program.

I guess when he said he wasn't going to install a virus, I shouldn't have trusted him that easily.

His phone suddenly rang, cutting through the silence.

His eyebrows tugged together when he saw the caller I.D.

He picked up. "Hello?"

There was so much commotion on the other end, I heard it even though the speaker wasn't on.

"Okay...Chase...I can't hear anything. Calm down!"

There were screams on the other hand. Loud, excited screams. Then more commotion.

Chase probably said something, then Daniel cursed. "You weren't supposed to do that!" He nearly yelled into his phone.

"Fine...fine, I'll be there." He cursed again before he ended the call.

Then he realised where he was, and he shook his head. "Sorry, I gotta go."

"What?" I got up. "Was that Chase?"

"Yeah, nothing to worry about."

"He sounded like he was in trouble." I said.

"When is Chase not in trouble?" Daniel retorted. He put his phone back in his pocket and proceeded to leave.

"Wait! I wanna come too." I said, before I could even think of what I was doing.

"What?! No!"

"But Chase is--"

"It's none of your concern. Trust me, you don't want to be involved."

I crossed my arms stubbornly. "Take me with you, or I'll go to the police instead and tell them everything I know."

I wasn't going to, ofcourse. Either way. I just hoped I seemed stubborn enough.

Daniel cursed. "Why are you so adamant?!" He yelled. "Fine! God, hurry up!"

I ran to my closet and took out the first thing I saw. Daniel left my room, and I quickly changed and put on my jacket.

Shoving my phone down my pocket, I ran down the stairs. Daniel was waiting by the entrance.

"Trust me," he tried one last time. "You don't want to come."

But curiosity and sheer will had driven me this far. Now I had to come.

I shook my head. Opening the door, I followed him out.

We both got into his car, and he immediately started the ignition. Backing it up, he stepped on the accelerator.

He was fast, but he still kept under the speed limit.

"Where is he?" I asked.

He didn't reply, instead choosing to step on the gas even faster. He led us through the outskirts of town until we came up to a large warehouse.

A lot of cars were parked outside.

"This...?" I asked. He nodded. He got out of the car and I followed, nearly running to the entrance.

It was an old abandoned warehouse, with two miles of empty ground on either side.

And judging by the loud music and the smell of booze, something was going down here tonight.