Grace's Path

Chapter Two: On the Video

My Father and Hun left my room ten minuted ago. Once they had gone, I had sat on my bed with my mouse hovering over the video with my six year old face as the thumbnail. Taking a deep breath, I double clicked and waited.

Darkness surrounding. Deep breathing. A crash.

“What was that?”

A woman’s voice was heard through the darkness.

“I didn’t hear anything, babe.”

A male voice sounded.

An evil chuckle pierced the silence before a really young girls’ voice was heard and a time lapse of a year, showing a little girl with big blue eyes and bright red hair, no longer than her ears, ran up to the person holding the camera, tears dripping down her face.

“It’s okay, baby.”

Oroku Saki’s voice.

“Daddy, where we go?” the little girl whimpered and reached up, making grabby hands.

The camera was set down, facing Saki and the little girl he held in his lap.

“We are going to learn to protect ourselves. I can’t always protect you.”

“Okay.”

“Come on, I’ll show you.”

Saki grasped the tiny hands and gently pulled the little girl to the elevator.

Another time lapse and the girl on screen, kicking and punching dummies flying at her, looks to be about fourteen years old.

“Higher, Grace. Aim for between the eyes.”

The girl gave a battle cry and punched the dummy between the eyes, the stuffed head being dismantled.

“That’s enough for today. Congratulations Grace. You are a true ninja.”

“Thanks Father.”

 

“That’s it?” I whispered and frowned. “That can’t be all of it.”

I restarted the video, closing my eyes and listening to the sounds. The first male voice sounds nothing like the second voice and the female voice is only heard once. Closing the video, I opened the other one with the news reporters’ face on it.

“I am outside the home Casey and April Jones, who reported their five year old daughter was taken from her bed,” the news reporter spoke into the microphone before the cameras turned to whom ‘Casey’ and ‘April’ might be.

“We just want our daughter back, please.”

April looked like she was about to cry, while Casey held onto his wife.

“The couple claim to have heard a noise but didn’t think too much of it. The next morning, Mrs Jones went to wake her daughter up to find her bed was empty.”

I paused the video there and grabbed a piece of paper as well as a pen.

“One, the Jones’ claim their daughter was five and was taken during the night. Two, the opening of one video is in the dark. Three, most images of the little girls in the videos are five years of age,” I whispered while writing. “Something doesn’t add up.”

My door opened and Andy walked in, his left hand wrapped in a bandage, locking the door.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Hun happened.”

“Andy, I didn’t mean for anything to happen.”

“It’s not your fault but you need to leave.”

“What why?”

“Something big is going to happen and I don’t want you to be here when it happens.”

He grabbed my jacket and threw it at me.

“Where do I go?”

“Anywhere from here.”

I grabbed all my drawings and put them into a plastic sleeve before placing the sleeve into my waterproof backpack. Andy grabbed some of my stuff and folded them into the bag also. Once it was zipped up, I swung it onto my back and felt Andy grab my shoulder.

“Head into the sewers. They won’t find you there.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine. Here.”

He gave me a piece of paper with an address on it.

“I called ahead and a friend of mine agreed to take you in for a while.”

I smiled at him before a loud, persistent knocking sounded.

“Grace, open up.”

“Hun.”

Andy pushed me towards the balcony.

“Wait, my laptop.”

Andy patted my bag.

“The USB is in there too. Now go.”

“I need to make this believable.”

I punched Andy in the face and watched as he fell to the ground. I rolled him back into my bedroom and closed my balcony doors.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, before turning around and jumping off the balcony, diving back into the water.

Emerging in the sewer, I hauled myself out of the water and leant against the wall, catching my breath. Once again, I scrunched my hair tightly until it was semi-dried. I got back onto my feet and unzipped my bag, pulling out the piece of paper.

Pizzeria Town. Take Junction Point sewer exit.

Blowing my bangs out of my eyes, I heaved the bag onto my back and pulled the bricks out of the wall, hoping my skateboard was back in its spot, which to my surprise it was. Frowning, I pulled it out and pushed the bricks back, before jumping on my board and powering up the rockets I installed onto it, creating a hover-board type of thing. Taking off, I followed the mental map towards the Junction Point sewer exit.

“Hey, my board!”

I turned my head and saw a shadow following me. Make that four shadows, all bulky looking. Turning my head back to face the front, I leant forward, putting more weight on the front. A drop-off was fast approaching, so I laid down on the board and clamped my hands onto the sides of it, diving into the water and swimming towards the Junction Point sewer exit. I heard four simultaneous splashes and looked over my shoulder briefly before powering up the rockets, making my trip to the exit faster. Breaking above the water I heaved myself out and got back onto my board, ignoring the fact that my hair was once again wet and rode towards the ladder leading up to the surface. Closing the sewer lid, I made my way over to Pizzeria Town and slipped in.

“Ah you must be Gracie.”

I jumped and turned to see a man who seemed to have a Japanese aura around him. He looked to be about thirty, give or take. I smiled and approached him from where he was standing behind the counter.

“Yes, are you Andy’s friend?”

“Yes, my name is Raiden. I hear you’re looking to stakeout somewhere for a while.”

I nodded and Raiden lifted the hatch, gesturing for me to follow him.