This was fun to write, even if it took a long time to do it. Let me know what you think about this Luke. He's definitely an interesting character and I love delving into his mind. The park is a real place and I suggest looking at pictures. It's really pretty!
Enjoy!
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**| Luke's POV |**
"Luke, will you stop chasing the ducks?" Silas asked as he tried to hold back his laughter.
I glanced at the ducks as they sent me their little ducky glares and squawked at me in righteous anger. They were not as amused as I was.
"Fine," I sighed. "How many more people are we going to ask about Sang?" We've been going at it for two hours already and I was bored, frustrated, and worried for my little brother. As the older brother, I needed to give him good news, I needed to take away all his worries and make this problem go away, but currently, I was failing.
Some big brother I was. Letting him wallow in silence for months. Letting him only exist each day rather than live. Nothing I did was enough for him and I needed to do something right. I even ate my vegetables without complaint for him but he didn't even notice. I suffered for no reason.
"A few more," Silas said.
I let him do most of the talking since he knew a little more German than me, which was next to none. Silas only knew what he picked up from North but their language when speaking together was Greek not German. We were lucky people around here knew enough English to have a normal conversation with.
I've always thought North tried to hide away his time in Germany by trying to forget he even spoke some of the language. If I were him, I would have tried to learn more, but everyone knew his experience here wasn't a good one.
I'm just glad there was someone here to act as a silver lining. I wanted to meet this Sang chick and give her a huge hug for being there for North when I couldn't be.
I looked around Stadtpark Lübeck. This place was massive! According to a plaque at the entrance, it expanded 120,000 square-meters with an irregular lake and smaller one near it. We were currently circulating the big lake, walking the different foot trails that weaved through the park, asking random strangers if they were regulars here and if so have they ever seen a girl looking like the picture Victor gave us. No one has seen her before.
Or they weren't talking. There were a few who glanced at the picture, did a double take, and then shook their head before taking off, not giving us a chance to call them out on their bullshit.
Random trees, shrubs, and flowers decorated the area. People played in the open fields, others strolled around and joggers made use of the nice weather to get a long run in.
Silas pointed at a man sitting down, leaning against a tree, petting a massive dog next to him. The dog stretched out, his head nearly covering the man's entire lap. I guessed the man to be in his forties, his build strong, skin fair, eyes blue. His large nose overshadowed a brown moustache that blended in with his beard. I wanted to rub at my clean-shaven face as I tried to imagine what I would look like with a moustache and full beard. Maybe I'll look like a viking. I think about my size. I would need to be huge and bulky like Silas and North to look like a viking.
Maybe I can be a viking for Halloween. No...a viking god. Yes, I liked that idea.
We approached the man and my eyes strayed to the massive dog on his lap. What kind of dog was that? Maybe Kota would know. He knew a lot about dogs.
I sped up my steps, taking point on this conversation this time. When a person was sitting down, Silas's massive build intimidated them even more than if they were standing.
"Hello," I said, flashing the man a friendly smile.
That's right. I'm a nice, American tourist. Nothing to fear. Just hand over the chocolate I see peeking out of the front of your breast pocket.
The man looked up and frowned as his eyes glanced between Silas and me.
"'Ello," he said, nodding.
"May I ask you a couple of questions?" I asked.
He gave us a suspicious look and when he glanced at me, I smiled down at the dog as if the creature were the most adorable thing in the world and not something big enough to bite my head off. The acknowledgment of his dog did the trick and he relaxed. The dog not growling at us also helped. Dogs were very intuitive and would know if we had bad intentions towards his owner.
"How can I help you?" he asked, his German accent making it hard to understand him completely. But after listening to different people talking all day, I was quickly getting used to the German accent. Most words spoken sounded throaty. I learned quickly that when they said sink and sat, they really meant think and that. Apparently, 'th' didn't exist in their language.
"I'm looking for an old friend of mine, Sang Sorenson. Do you know her?"
His beard shifted as he frowned. After a long moment he shook his.
"Nein, not familiar."
"How about if I show you a picture?"
He nodded and I grabbed the picture Silas held out to me. I bent down so I was at his level and held out the picture of the pretty blond chick on it. He looked down at the picture and frowned.
He grabbed it and brought it closer to his eyes as he squinted to get a better look.
Hope flared the longer he stared at it.
"Maybe? I see pretty blond around maybe once a week."
I glanced at Silas, hope growing at potentially having a solid lead.
"But bad news, that one."
And then the lead crashes and burns with all our hopes and dreams.
"This girl looks nice, innocent. Other girl, not so much. But both blond. And those green eyes. Never forget eyes like that. A pretty sparkling green. A gem. But this blond is too happy. Other blond, not so much."
"What can you tell us about her?" Silas asked, moving closer.
He shrugged. "I've seen her with those men. She talks with the Gangstern who hang around sometimes, other times she wanders."
"Gangstern? Like gangster?" I asked. "She's a gangster?"
He shrugged. "Don't know. I haven't seen those...tattoos on her skin like on theirs."
"Maybe friends with them?" Silas said, looking at me with a worried expression.
"They talk and laugh together. If she is a friend of yours, maybe not so good a friend?"
I frowned at that thought. If this chick was on the dark side, this wasn't going to go over well with North. He wouldn't accept her living in a world of danger and if she's as integrated as she sounds, she wouldn't want to change anything.
We couldn't help those who didn't want it. We still needed to find her and verify this information.
"When do you see her around?" I asked.
"All the time. I've seen her on different days, at different times. Sometimes, don't see her for a couple weeks, other times, each day."
"Are you here all the time?" Silas asked.
He nodded and patted his dog's head. "Yes."
"Will you call us if you see her again?"
The man shook his head. "No phone," he said.
I took a second look at him and realized something.
He was homeless. He probably spent his time here all day because he had nowhere else to go.
"Danke," Silas said as he grabbed my arm.
We walked away and I tried to figure out how to report this in a way that wasn't going to have North tearing the park apart.
"The gang, Silas. Are we looking for a bad person?"
"We don't know anything. She might not even be the right person," he said. I nodded.
We spent the walk back to the parking lot asking others but the man was the only one to give us any hint of possibilities.
Silas took the wheel while I hopped into the passenger seat.
"You're telling North his precious Sang Baby is in cahoots with a gang," I said, staring out the window.
Silas chuckled. "I don't mind being man enough to do that."
Ugh, a sucker punch to my manliness. Maybe being a viking god for Halloween was my only hope.
"Remember, when you tell him, make sure you're holding him down. Or locked in a room. He'll take off at any hint of Sang being somewhere and chasing North around Lübeck does not sound like a fun time. I'd rather be searching for German chocolate," I lectured Silas as he drove. He just smiled and nodded like the good Sparta soldier that he was. "And break it to him carefully. He gets too grumpy easily and this is a sensitive topic. I don't want him angry. It'll make it hard for him to get to sleep if you get him all worked up."
Silas chuckled. "Don't worry, Luke. I think I can handle North just fine. I'll break the news to him nicely. Now calm down before you get yourself worked up."
I stared at Silas long and hard, trying to believe him. I did, I really did. I've always been jealous of the relationship between them. They knew each other longer and they've been through more shit together. They understood each other perfectly.
Yeah, just a little jealous. Only a little.
"How'd you grow your beard so well?" I asked, effectively ending my depressing thoughts. One of my biggest fears was never being good enough for North, not being up to standard of someone worth being called a brother.
Silas sent me a funny look before focusing on the road. He rubbed at the scruff darkening his jaw and his lips curled up into a smirk. "Greeks see beards as a sign of virility. Spartans would shave off part of the beard as punishment for cowards and when in mourning a Greek would shave it off."
I glowered at him. "So what if you don't have a beard."
He chuckled, his dark eyes sparkling with humor. "It's a sign of effeminacy."
I gave him a hard look, showing my displeasure at such an answer. I was plenty man enough. I proved that the time I won a sparring match against North. I took his big butt down hard and it really was true what people say about tall people. The taller they are, the harder they fall. Maybe I needed to take Silas down too. I could do that.
I eyed his bulky muscles.
Maybe.