He stopped dead in his tracks and his eyes widened to the point I thought his eyeballs would just pop out of its socket.
The guards, however, still did not stop and right before they touched me, Uncle Ben raised his hand and thankfully that stopped them.
"A-A-Ashley?" he stammered unable to speak. He was too surprised for his own good.
"Yes, Uncle Ben," I said urging him to continue.
"What are you doing here?" he finally managed to ask.
"I was just about to leave when I saw you and your friend hanging out, and I thought I come by and say 'hi', but these people started running towards me!" I lied easily.
I have a slight feeling that the men who were chasing me recognized me but as soon as they wanted to either complain or say something, Uncle Ben cut him off.
"Oh... Okay. Sure. In fact, we were just about to 'hang out' right?" He said glaring at the man beside him. The man who was still in shock after what happened frantically nodded his head mainly out of fear.
I narrowed my eyes at Uncle Ben since I knew exactly what was going on. He was a murderer. I saw it with my own eyes, I saw him killing another man and he was about the kill this man, if not for me.
"Amazing! I never really knew that you lived here Uncle Ben," I told him.
"Yeah... Business makes you travel around a lot you know?" he said laughing nervously. If only he knew that I already knew what 'business' he was talking about here.
They say looks can be deceiving and they sure as hell were right about that! Uncle Ben may look sweet and innocent but once you see the realities of life, you get to see the devilish side of him, and it isn't very pleasant...
I could already see that Uncle Ben was associated with some gang or something like that, cause I don't think someone would go killing random people just for the fun of it. I'm sure he makes quite some money out of this so-called business of his.
"You want to go grab a cup of coffee, Ashley?" he asked trying to change the topic desperately.
"Sure," I told him.
"Great! You'll be coming with us right, Fred?" he asked turning to the man he was about to kill minutes ago.
"Actually, I'll just be leave-" he started to protest but Uncle Ben gave him the death glare that shut him up.
"I'd love to," the man finally said hanging his head in defeat.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's head to Starbucks!" I said cheerfully- maybe a bit too cheerfully since I didn't want them to notice the bitterness in my voice.
They both nodded simultaneously and followed me silently- Uncle Ben secretly giving death glares (what he thought I couldn't see) to the man, who was following me shaking nervously and gulping every time my uncle glared at him.
"I heard about your mom, Ashley, but don't forget that she was my sister as well. I know what all you guys must be going through..." he trailed off.
"Yeah, it has been pretty hard lately. But to be honest, Dylan is taking it very well. I wouldn't believe him for a second if he comes and tells me that he's ten years old only. He's actually really mature for his age," I said feeling proud of him once again.
"Oh, what about you and John? How are you taking it?"
"I'm doing great, but I can't say much about Dad, though," I said looking down.
"Ashley-" he started.
"I know that she was his wife, uncle! But he can't go like a depressed man for ages, can he? For heaven's sake, he lost his job!!! And he still isn't working hard enough to get another job!" I complained not caring if he was a murderer for once. I really needed someone to talk to, and he was my only option. Besides, no matter what he did he was still my mom's brother. Yet, I have no clue how they could be related.
Mom was always the sweet, caring, and gentle one. She used to hate it when dad taught me how to fight. She used to be so pissed off and used to go days without talking to us, but Dad used to make it up to her one way or another.
He used to bring her flowers or send her a love note every single day. He used to manage to make Mom smile every single time! At the end, she used to give up and once we all were done hugging she used to go make a grand feast.
She was an excellent cook. One of the best in the country, let me tell you. She was amazing! But I guess, now we'll never taste her food again.
Thinking about her makes my heart tighten. It hurts so much to know that she's gone... the one who raised us, the one who loved us, the one who was always there to listen to us when we were sad... She's gone.
"Hello? Earth to Ashley!" my uncle called out laughing. How could such a heartless person be laughing? After taking away the lives of hundreds of people, who knew what else he did.
"Yup, I'm still here," I chuckled going with the flow.
I saw the man behind me looking around and got a feeling that he was looking for an escape.
I smirked and kept going with the conversation so he could find enough time to escape.
"So, Uncle Ben, what business do you do around here?" I casually asked knowing that this question will scare the heck out of him.
"Oh, I.. Um, I.. I," he stuttered not making eye contact with me.
"You what Uncle Ben?" I asked innocently. From inside I was doing a little victory dance. Oh yes, I was enjoying this very much. He may have been nice to me in my past that now this is what he does- kill people. I wasn't going to let him do that for any longer. It was nice to see him squirm around, desperate for an answer. Well, his bad.
To hell with the Uncle Ben who loved me like his own. Right now, all I cared about was getting revenge for those who lost their lives because of him.
Could my life be any more complicated?
"I am a businessman, I keep traveling around but I've heard that we'll be staying here for quite some time. Two years to be a tad more precise," he told me. Wow, that was fast to come up with a lie like that.
"Oh," I said my mouth forming an 'o' shape. Just after that, we walked into Starbucks, still deep into conversation.
"What about you?" he asked once we ordered.
"Nah, Dad came here since he thinks that it will be easier to find a job here. Maybe Dylan had to adjust a bit, but I've heard he's got friends and all so I'm glad. Me? I'm the same, here or there," I told him laughing a bit at how pathetic I am.
"Nice," he said listening.
"Where do you live-" I was about to ask but got interrupted.
"Hey!" Uncle screamed his eyes scanning the room.
I smirked since I knew exactly what happened.
"Where did he go?!" he asked through gritted teeth. "The guy beside me, I mean."
I acted all innocent on him and just plainly shrug my shoulders. I knew exactly where he went. In fact, had signaled him to leave right before we entered Starbucks. Uncle was too busy thinking of a lie that he had forgotten about him.
"He must have remembered some job and left," I suggested.
He tried so hard to suppress his anger but was failing miserably, but he nodded his head firmly anyways.
I finished my drink quick and tossed it into the bin.
"Well, I better get going.. I've got school tomorrow. And please do me a favor and tell dad that I was here with you. In fact, if you can, please tell him that I was with you for over five hours. Just to catch up with and whatever," I pleaded.
"Will do. Got into some trouble?" he asked.
"Deep trouble," I answered shaking my head before grabbing my bag and getting ready to leave.
He laughed slightly shaking his head.
"I'll tell him. Bye, Roxy," he told me waving. It took all I could to not lash out at him right now. No one except my family calls me Roxy- no one. And Uncle Ben isn't a part of it now. I wasn't going to let a murderer call me that. It's what sweet people like my brother call me.
"Bye," I replied with a teensy bit of venom in my words. Let's just hope he didn't hear the bitterness in my voice.
And with that I head back to where my bike was parked, which was all the way back at the bar.
The walk was long and peaceful, something I really seemed to need at that time. I needed some time to sort things out in my head.
The fact that my uncle was a murderer, maybe a gang leader, and dad acting really pissed for quite some time now was messed up in my mind.
After a few minutes of stressing out, I grew annoyed of it and groaned while pulling my hair. Having enough, I just enjoyed the light breeze in the air.
Thirty minutes later, I arrived where my bike was parked. There was a lot of cheering going on inside now that it was even dark. Out of curiosity, I went in.
The bar was loaded with twice as many people as there usually are at evening. Only a few were sober, making it difficult for me to get through.
There were twice as many people as there usually are! It felt amazing! And more people means more money.
Not thinking twice, I quickly signed up a form.
Yes, I know my ribs still hurt, but it's only one match... right? I'm going to try my best to knock him out before he does any more damage to my ribs.
Also, there are way more fighters and people who bet (three fourths of whom I don't know).
All I could tell from what I could see right now was that today was going to be one interesting night...
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Hello everyone!! Good news:
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