Dear Ryan Diaz

Chapter 54: Catastrophic

Julian's POV.
Julian: Okay, we've made it to our destination.
Tia: Are you guys almost here?
Jonah: Yeah, we found your car. We're gonna park right behind you, but just a few feet away.
Julian: Okay, so once me and Tia enter inside, we'll just wait at least for a few seconds and then you guys barge in unexpectedly, without him or her knowing, and then-
Jacob: We kick it's ass. Yes, yes, we know, Julian.
Ivan: We remember everything. We went over the rules and you texted us in explicit details.
Julian: I'm just trying to make sure with you guys, so that way we won't mess this up.
Jacob: Don't worry, we've got this.
Jonah: Alright, enough chit chatting. Go inside, the person is in with Robert.
Jonah: I hacked into the security camera and I can see them.
Julian: Here we go. You ready, Tia?
Tia: Always.
Julian: Make sure to be careful, okay?
Tia: I'll be fine, Julian. Don't worry about me.
Julian: I have to be. I can't afford to lose you.
Tia: You won't. Trust me.
Tia: I'm like fucking bulletproof, man. I can't die.
Julian: Uh, actually-
Tia: I didn't mean literally.
Tia: Let's just bring Robert back home where he belongs.
Julian: Right.
Me and Tia evaded the car and walked inside the compacted, district warehouse that the anonymous person dictated for us to go. As we entered inside of the building, we were at distance from each other and I took a site of Robert covered in handcuffs, while standing beside him/her. The leash was connected into it, so that way the person can almost treat him like some dog.
Julian: Robert!
As recklessly, I was about to guide myself over to him, but Tia had to grab my arm, instead of using words to stop me from going up ahead.
"You made the right choice to do that, Tia."
"Where's Barry? I thought you said it was going to be just you three."
Julian: He'll be here in a second. Don't worry.
"If you really assume that I'm dumb enough to hand you over Robert, without seeing Barry in front of me, you must not know me all that well."
Tia: Believe us, that's not what we expected.
"Then where is he?!"
Julian: He's-
Barry: Right here, jerk!
I apprehended an intimate voice behind me and Tia. We turned around from our backs and saw him uncover his confidence. How the hell is he here and how did he know about this plan?!
Ivan: What in the world?! What the fuck is he doing here?!
Jonah: He's not supposed to come. I don't know how he figured this out.
Jacob: Uh, you guys... Barry's car is legit right behind us.
Jonah: Guys, you must abort! I repeat, you must abort! We can't afford such risks.
Tia: How did you-
Julian: Why are you here?
Barry: I was on my way to go hang out with Jacob, until I started observing.
Barry: Yeah, I know everything now.
Jacob: Ah-hah! I told you guys that I heard something weird!
Jacob: I knew somebody was spying on us, but I didn't think it would actually be Barry.
"Wait a second, you're telling me that you tried to trick me into bringing Robert to you guys, without handing me over Barry?!"
"You were just lying about the trade!"
Jonah: Guys, you have to follow my order! You must abort.
Ivan: No, we can't. There's no time for that.
Ivan: We're already screwed.
Ivan: Jacob, let's go. We're gonna go fight this person.
Jacob: Hold up, I'm putting on these gloves.
Ivan: Hurry up, man. Our friends need us.
Jacob: I know that! I'm almost done.
"Now I guess I have no choice, but to do this."
It pointed a gun right through the left side of Robert's head, ready to pass a bullet inside his brain.
Barry: Wait, no! Don't! You don't have to kill him. He didn't do anything to you.
Barry: He's not the one that told the police about you, so he doesn't deserve to die.
Barry: Take me. Like you wanted. I deserve to die!
Robert: Barry, no! Don't say such things!
Barry: I'm sorry, Robert.
Barry: Thank you for everything.
"Get over here."
Julian: No, Barry! Stop! You don't know what you're doing.
Jacob: Here I go, bitch!
Ivan, Jacob, and Jonah finally entered inside and began fighting it with their metal gloves like planned.
Tia: Robert, come over here!
Julian: Hurry.
He was about to run up to us, but then he got punched in the gut of his stomach, which caused him to groan in pain.
Barry: Asshole! Fucking asshole! Don't touch him.
Jacob: Barry, move!
Julian: You alright, man?
Robert: Ugh, I think so. Man, that was like a living hell that I had to suffer.
Tia: I can understand that, Blackwood.
Julian: Don't worry at least you're safe now. Let's put you aside, so that way you can be far away from the person.
Robert: No, I wanna fight back for our friends.
Tia: Robert, you're severely injured. You need to lay off for this one.
A smoke bomb had appeared and then the rest of the guys were pushed into the ground. Few seconds later, something caught our attention that we didn't want to occur for this timeline, but it already has. Now it had Barry in its own hands and if we dare try to move close, it will have no problem bringing harm to us.
Jonah: Let go of my son! Right now!
"He needs to pay for his actions!"
Jacob: What are you planning to do with him?
"I'm going to make him suffer and then I'll kill him."
"Then there's one more target I need to take care of, which is Carter."
"I'll kill her as well. I just need to figure out how, since she's in prison."
Julian: You're not gonna lay a hand on those two.
"Well, I'm already touching him. Are you blind?"
Barry: Guys, it's okay! Just move on and forget about me. Go save Carter.
Barry: She deserves to stay alive more than I do. I ruined everything.
Robert: Why are you doing this, Barry?!
Robert: Why would you go this far for me?!
Barry: Because if it ever comes down to one of us that has to go through death, I'll always choose me.
Robert: Barry...
Jacob: You still don't deserve to die.
"God, enough sobbing over this man already!"
"He's going to die either way and the only thing you can do is move on."
"Peace out!"
Another smoke bomb happened right in front of us that caused our lungs to feel like it's burning, which made us cough. After the smoke has already been cleared out, those two were gone before we could get to them. Jonah, Ivan, and Jacob tried chasing through the smoke, but it's too late to catch up to them once they turned around to face us.
Tia: What the hell are we gonna do now?
*Back to Penny + her POV.
Penny: Thank you, sir.
Imar: Let me guess, that's caramel frappucino, right?
Penny: Jesus, what the hell do you want from me? And why do you keep stalking me?!
Imar: I don't stalk, Hart. Don't get all too excited.
Penny: I'm not! If anything, I'm annoyed by you.
Imar: Didn't I told you that we should just start over, without having meaningless fights?
Penny: Yes, but that doesn't mean I followed that useless rule of yours.
Imar: I didn't give you an order, Penny. I'm just doing what I believe is best.
Penny: Maybe for you, but not for me.
Imar: Hm. Whatever then.
Imar pulled out a book from her purse like it was necessary for her to do that. I observed as she read from left to right like she was concentrating on the words, phrases, and the storyline. It was almost as if she blurred the world out from existence and could only focus on this book she was holding with her two hands. Or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe I'm the one that's blurring out the existence around me.
Penny: Hunger Games.
Imar: What?
Penny: That's what your reading.
Imar: Oh, yeah. Well, uh, my brother loves this book, so I decided to take it from his bookshelf and try reading it to find out what's so interesting about it.
Penny: I love Hunger Games. I'm a huge fan of it.
Imar: Seriously?
Penny: Mhm.
Imar: Oh. Nice.
Imar: Do you like cheerleading?
Penny: Wow, intriguing way to change the topic so fast.
Penny: But to your question no, not really. I'm not a big fan.
Penny: Why?
Imar: I was gonna say maybe you should tryout, but never mind.
Penny: Why the hell would I do that?
Imar: Just trying to get to know you if you would like to participate or not.
Imar: I mean, is there anything else about you that you haven't opened up about?
*Penny's speech bubbles: Oh, believe me... there's a lot.
As much as I'm stubborn to admit this out loud, I have been broken over trauma and broken over suffering from behind bars. But at the same time, I didn't mind being all alone, walking through the dark shadows, even though I wanted at least one person to come up to me and ask if I was okay. Maybe I'm just heartbroken because deep down I want to be. It's probably the insensibility that I feel instead. Being a cold hearted person is a better path than to feel pain for me, so that's why I show on the outside that I'm not sadistic or some damsel in distress chick that needs a hero to save me. Even though I felt a struggle of misery, there will always be a flaming indication left behind my soul. And that one indication can lead to me bringing that pain back. My own power to believe is that I am not necessarily always led by people. I lead.