Reminiscence

Chapter .26.

A-I-D-E-N
I knew I shouldn't have come here in the first place. Cute chick equals Danger. Cute chick who wants to walk into a fucking mafia war with a stalker equals Get the fuck out of there and run.

"I see you're up." Renesse's long legs greet me as she walks downstairs. Well, not her long legs, her mouth greets me because her legs can't talk and- okay I should stop. I had slept in the guest room, which was a teeny bit dusty but not that bad.

"Yeah. Decided I'd made breakfast first before you got any ideas." I chuckle.

"Hey! Fuck you." She slaps my shoulder.

I smirk. "Gladly." Shit. Why did I say that? Now I sounded like a creep.

She smirks. "You sure you won't forget my name in the middle?"

This girl was naughty. Heat creeps up my neck and I just shake my head and get back to buttering my toast.

I hear her laugh behind me. All my shots always backfire. It's just my luck.

She grabs two slices and I watch her long fingers spread the peanut butter on swiftly. How does everything about her manage to look so mesmerising? She's making toast for fuck's sake. I shake my head and turn back to my own disaster of a breakfast. I'd accidentally poured honey into my glass of apple juice but if I dump it in the sink, she'll ask why, and if she asks why, I'll look like a fool so I have no choice but to drink the godforsaken thing.
Life is definitely looking up for me right about now. Woohoo.

I grab my plate and sit down at the counter. She does the same and sits opposite to me. She looks like she wants to say something, but is asking herself if she should.

"Uhh Aiden, I have to tell you something about the other day, but don't freak out please?" She says suddenly.

I swallow my overly-sweet juice and cringe. "Okay. I make no promises though,"

She takes a deep breath. "That day when I broke into your house and erhem, accidentally tased you, I was searching around for clues when you were passed out." She pauses and looks at my face.

"Yeah, I remember. How could I forget our touching reunion?" I ask my voice dripping with sarcasm.

She rolls her eyes. "It was an accident okay? Now where was I? Oh yes, I was searching around for clues and...when I was looking in this cupboard I found a gun."

I heard my jaw clatter on the ground. I don't remember a gun. "What?" I ask, dumbfounded.

"Yeah. An actual gun. With the bullets in it." She says and I hear her shuffle around in the cabinet under the counter she was sitting at and lift something heavy.

A gleaming killer machine greets me. I hear my second jaw clatter to the ground. Yup, I grew a second jaw in 2 seconds. Bite me.

"Okay, I don't know if I had anything to do with that or not, but I sure as hell don't remember it! Guess why?" I yell, panicking. Was it the honey-apple juice? I think I'm going to throw up.

"What did I say about not panicking?" Renesse rolls her eyes.

"It's necessary when there's an actual real three-dimensional fucking gun in front of you!" I'm sweating now.

Swiftly putting the gun back, she gets up and slowly walks to me, like I'm a deer and she doesn't want to scare me away. She cautiously reaches out and puts her hand on my arm. I look at her hand. The ink of the Trident tattoo gleams on her finger. I look back at her.

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be killed before I even know who my parents are."

She nods. "I understand. But you're freaking for no reason. This probably has nothing to do with Little Cunt."

What? Did she say little cunt? "Little what?"

She laughs nervously. "Uh, it's a name I made up for the number. Don't judge."

I spread my hands. "Okay."

I'm totally not weirded out.
She sits down next to me and grips my hand. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. I have a friend, Nazeef, he lives alone and well, he gets along with people pretty quick. He's pretty lonely and I'm sure you'd be welcome there." She says, but her eyes are sad.

I consider it since I actually want to live. But it feels like I should be the one who has to be there for her when she faces Little Cunt.

Dammit that word makes it hard to be serious.

I shake my head. "No. It's my memory, and I'll help you find out what happened to it."

She grins at me and squeezes my hand. I look down at our hands. "What's the trident for?" I ask, unable to contain my curiosity.

She laughs. It's not one of those fake laughs or those laughs that sound like a mutant donkey seal dying. It's an actual laugh. Haven't heard one in long.

"It's for my Percy Jackson obsession. I love the series so much, it's like a fetish." She admits sheepishly.

The name sounds unfamiliar, but well, my memory's gone so just about every name sounds unfamiliar to me. "Oh." Is all dumb me is able to say. Sometimes I really wish I could respond better than a sloth with jaw problems.
__________________________

Okay, I promised myself I wouldn't freak but I'm really good at freaking and I feel like I should freak right now. Yeah, this is a freak-worthy moment.

We're sitting Renesse's old car and driving to the spot under the bridge. She insisted on bringing the gun along in case Little Cunt decides to try something. I didn't object, mainly because if someone was going to blow a hole in my head I'd like to return the favour.

"We're about 2 minutes early, perfect." She says, parking the car in a dark corner. She turns off the engine and looks at me with cautious eyes. "You okay?" She asks.

I don't trust myself to speak because I'm afraid I'll say some weird crap that involved prayers in 566 languages. And I didn't even know 566 languages so that's a new low.

I nod and get out of the car. A cool breeze blows and ruffles my curly hair, making wisps blow across my face. I look around and see that this was the perfect place for a murder. Dark, cold, creepy and disgusting-smelling.

"Ew this place hasn't changed a bit since I last came here. It still smells like a dead mongoose's diaper." Renesse complains.

I do a double take. "Say what?"

She just waves me off, like signalling that I should just get used to her being weird.

Yeah that's going to take a long time.

I hear a rustle of leaves and my head snaps to the origin of the sound. It's a car, the glowing headlights blinding me. I feel someone grab my shoulder and jerk me back.

I turn to see a hasty Renesse pulling out the gun and shoving it in my face. "Take it and hide. They can't know I'm with you. If anything happens, don't even think of leaving without me. Shoot the cockfaces and please don't shoot me. Aim."

"This wasn't part of the plan!" I whisper furiously but take the gun and hide behind an old stack of cement bags. What had I gotten myself into?

The car's headlights turn off and the engine goes dead. It's so quiet, it's like the whole place is holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. Then the door opens and a black clad foot steps out. I crane my neck to see the person's face.

My heat stops. The man who stood in the darkness looked like me. He was me.