Twisted Lines

Chapter 3: Safety Not Guaranteed

Chapter 3

After I gave John directions on how to get to my house I voiced my concern.

“John, they took my mom.”

He looked over at me. “What?”

“My mom, they took my mom.” The reality of the situation had sunk in.

“Took her where?”

“I don’t know!” I yelled. “They took her, just like they took my dad.”

“Shit.” He said. “You have no idea why?”

“No! Wirrow said he would kill the Anders. John, what if he killed them already? What if he’s torturing them, or what if he’s doing to her what they were going to do to me, what if—“

He hit the brakes and I jolted forward, the seatbelt choking me slightly. “God, once you talk you don’t shut up do you? Figures, you have spent like twelve years not talking. You must have loads to say.”

Anger surged through me. “Can’t you just take something serious in your life for one second? My parents were kidnapped!”

“I know! Look, we aren’t going to be able to come up with a plan to help them if aren’t thinking rationally about this. I’m just trying to lighten this situation.”

“This situation is impossible to lighten!” I argued. He was probably right but I was still angry. I was angry at Wirrow for taunting me, I was angry at Torkor for grabbing at my body.

“Well if you took that stick out of your ass, you would see that it isn’t. Whoa, Mute—”

And now I was angry at John. The anger grew impossibly so. I felt like my head would explode, I tried to calm down but it didn’t work. I had to unleash it on something. I bawled my fist and I did something I normally wouldn’t do.

I slapped John. Hard.

His cheek made a satisfying sound, and suddenly I wasn’t as angry anymore.

“Ow! Shit, that fucking stings—” He stopped talking.

“I’m so sorry!” I put my hands over my mouth. I hit him. Oh god I’ve never hurt someone like that before. Oh, that was a lie; I bit Timothy Gray all those years ago. I was still angry, though.

John was still staring at me in shock.

“What?” I asked.

“Mute, your eyes…”

“Are blue, yeah I know. It’s not like this is the first time you’ve noticed.”

“No—they’re…glowing.”

What?! I opened the mirror hanging above me and saw what John was seeing. “Oh!” my eyes were glowing. “How did this happen?”

“I don’t know! Before you slapped me you were normal, than after they were just…glowing.”

“Just glowing? A person’s eyes don’t just randomly glow, John how is this happening?”

John bristled. “You tell me!” I glared at him. “Whoa,” he said.

“What?” What now?

“When you glared…they glowed brighter. It’s almost like…the angrier you got the more they glow.”

“But they weren’t glowing before I slapped you.” I protested.

“No, you’re right.” He mused. “Slap me again.”

Was he serious? “No!”

“Just do it, Kori!”

“I can’t. I only did it because you were being crude.”