Chapter 10: Fingertips
The knock continued, this time we all stared at each other perplexed. Who could be knocking at this hour? It was very peculiar.
The knock continued, “General Manager.” the guy who knocked said. We know not to trust anyone especially somebody who just knocked on our door at this hour.
I opened the door gently and suspiciously. Enzo was holding his gun inside his jacket, just to make sure. The Manager was standing alone outside our door, he was in his tucked in polo, slacks and slippers. His eye bugs were clearly seen from his rimmed glasses. His hair was balding, in my guess he may be around 40 years old. He stared at me with complete dissatisfaction. He was holding a note which looked very suspicious just like his presence.
“Somebody came in and wanted to give this letter specifically to you.” the General Manager said handing me the letter. I slowly took the letter from his hand and examined it closely. It was still warm, I can almost feel the hands who gave them to the Manager, I just hoped those hands belong to a good person not an evil one with tattoos on their necks.
I smiled at him, “Thank you.” I said in a polite manner. The manager kept his straight face, he just walked away and I looked as he trailed off, he never looked back, not even once.
I examined the letter closely, it looked ordinary but I bet there was something gruesome inside it. I observed it very well; the envelope was like any ordinary envelope which you can buy at a store. I noticed that there were no writings which can be found encrypted, no address or from who was it from, just a plain, sealed envelope. But something was bulking inside it which made it more peculiar.
Enzo hid his gun inside his jacket once again, “What is it?” he asked. He sat down on the foot of the bed and made some room for me, I eventually sat down to share them the letter.
I sat beside Enzo while examining the letter more, “A letter, from somebody.” I said. We all passed the letter so everyone could have a glance at it. All of us were interested on what was inside of it. What could be inside it that it has to be delivered today at this very hour, can’t it wait in the morning?
Bryce took the letter and shook it to get a feel of what’s inside, it didn’t make any noise. He couldn’t really guess what was inside unless we open it which I was very eager to do so. Enzo took the letter next, he sniffed the letter, but there was no significant reaction from him.
“What could be inside?” Enzo asked. Just like Bryce, he shook the letter as well, getting a feel of what was inside it.
“I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s small.” I said, my mind started to linger on what the item could be, part of mind thought something dangerous was inside, but I doubted it because nothing dangerous that could do damage to us could be that small.
“Does it say who is it from?” Devin asked. He took the letter from Enzo to study it. He looked for clues or markings on it to indicate whom it belonged to.
“I don’t know? The manager just gave it to me.” I answered back and took the letter from Devin. There were no secret writings or clues on the envelope and I find that very strange. I tried getting a feel on what the item could be.
“Let’s just open shall we.” Enzo impatiently said. I did notice that it was taking us too long just to open the letter.
I opened it carefully, I took the item out which made the envelope bulky first, the item was wrapped on cloth, and it had blood markings on it. I was shocked. I opened it slowly afraid to see what’s inside. Bryce, Devin and Enzo anticipated closely behind me as I reveal what’s inside the cloth. The thing inside was covered in blood. I don’t know what it was; it’s upside down or something.
“What is that?” I took the item from the cloth and had a closer examination; I turned it around, looked at it closely and involuntarily shrieked. I threw it on the carpet immediately; I wiped my fingers clean with some tissue from the table. The boys were shocked as well. The thing inside the cloth was a fingertip complete with its nail on it. It was disgusting and creepy to look at. I unintentionally hugged Devin from my horror, and my eyes widened from what I just saw. Who would do such a thing?
Bryce took the cloth and wrapped the fingertip to hide it; he was brave to do that. I can’t stand holding somebody’s piece of body no matter how small it was.
Everybody was starting to calm down, “What the hell was that?” Devin said. We were all shocked, even Enzo who looked like a gangster was frightened by what he saw.
Nobody felt like answering, I took the letter out for some answer; it wasn’t really a letter, more like a note. A note written on a crumpled old paper, the penmanship was gross; the writer used a leaky fountain pen which caused blob of ink to roam everywhere.
‘Give us your brother in exchange for this girl at exactly 2 am today at the front of your motel.’
I looked at the time, that’s an hour from now. My mind suddenly started crunching in assumptions, could I really trust the writer of this note? Whoever wrote this has a lot of courage demanding my brother. I don’t see the authenticity of the note, but I think it’s pretty real. I don’t think someone was planning on pranking us especially this cruel.
A picture came with it. It was a 3R picture with a white border printed in glossy paper. The picture itself wasn’t really encouraging to look at.
Enzo came closer examining the picture as well, “That’s Nancy.” Enzo said pointing at the girl in the picture; she was tied up inside a cell where there were rats and her food were scattered on the floor. It was dark and wet, only a dim light bulb and the moonlight lit the room. I felt sorry for her and her condition. Who could do such a thing?
“Lavander, what does that mean?” Bryce asked. Surely he was scared, who wouldn’t be scared of being traded off to some men who might do cruel things on you, especially after seeing that they are not afraid to cut a piece of you off.
I went by his side and gave him a hug, “No, no, we won’t trade you.” I said comforting him. I was honest; I won’t let them take him, not in my lifetime.
Enzo interrupted us, “Well you should. That’s Nancy we’re talking about.” he said. He raised his voice and showed some dominance. He should have stayed quiet, all he can do was run fast, Devin and I can easily stop him with a flick of a finger.
I stood up for my brother, “Well he’s my brother.” I said back, I raised my voice as well. I wouldn’t let him be the dominant one in this group, not yet. I needed him better before I can let him lead. Basing from his actions right now, I’m starting to doubt some stuff, he should have think first before raising his voice to someone he barely met.
“She’s a Purple.” Enzo said in agony. He was forcing his point, and yes he does have a point but I also have a point myself.
“Stop it you two!” Devin said breaking our little fight down. He was better at breaking stuff down, usually I would start the fight, and he’ll be there stopping it.
“Let’s think of a plan where we could save both Nancy and Bryce, nobody’s trading anybody, understand?” Devin continued. Both Enzo and I fell silent. We sat down on the bed together but I was still quite angry at him.
Enzo started calming down, “He’s right, I’m sorry.” Enzo said, he was embarrassed at not thinking it through. He should have closed his mouth first before talking, but part of me thinks that it was not his fault for raising his voice, Nancy was important as Bryce was.
“I don’t get it. Why would they want Bryce that they are willing to trade him for a Purple?” I said. That fact confused me. I took a pillow and started thinking, there must be something with Bryce that was so important.
“I don’t know he must be special.” Enzo said. With that, it looked like he regretted saying we need to trade Bryce off. If he was an important piece then we wouldn’t let the opponent get him, no matter how hard they try.
“You’re not a Purple, only the first born can be called a Purple and yet they want you, are you special?” Enzo asked, I forgot that he doesn’t know yet that Bryce could perceive the future.
“He can look at the future, like a fortune teller.” I said, but he was not like a fortune teller. Fortune tellers use cards and crystal balls while Bryce uses only his talents, not on purpose.
“Oh, that is big.” Enzo said, he fell silent for a moment, thinking.
Bryce looked at both Enzo and me, “So what’s the plan?” Bryce asked, obviously he doesn’t want to be traded off. His concern was also my concern.
Everyone looked at one another, it’s like we’re in a group for a science project and nobody wants to give any suggestions. I can tell everyone was thinking but it will be an hour till we begin the transaction, we need plans now.
I started bringing in ideas such as fighting to the death or just forget about Nancy, I know Enzo won’t approve of that. I even thought of baking them pie and asking them politely. I just can’t work under pressure. I remembered the time the janitress asked me a question, that didn’t end well.
It’s funny how I noticed the little things when I’m thinking, I observed the walls which turned off white with the years it had passed through, I speculated how that little stain on the carpet got there. My brother’s life is in line here and all I can think off are walls and stains. I looked back at Bryce, Enzo and Devin. They seemed useless right now. ‘Think’. I told myself.
Bryce raised his hand. We all looked, “I have something.” Bryce said. He immediately broke the silence within the room. I never thought that Bryce will be the first one to talk; I guess he had more leadership in him than the rest of us.
“What do you have?” I said.
Bryce stood up and walked right in front of me, “You have the ability of a persuasive voice right?” Bryce asked.
“What’s a persuasive voice?” Enzo asked. I guess he’s not familiar with it, I’m not either. I don’t know how to reply, I just hope Bryce could explain.
“It’s when you can control people with your own mind using words, I know you can do it, I haven’t seen you literally do it, but I know you can.” Bryce said. I could now relate to what he was talking about, it was persuasive voice speaking when I tried controlling the janitress and the hall monitor back at school.
“Well, I’ve tried it once, well that was it. It’s harder than you think.” I said. I recalled the incident back at school.
Bryce had that sad puppy look; head tilted down, eyes almost tearing up and he had that deep sigh. Just by saying that I have disappointed him, I felt sorry for him, he is my brother, try as I might I will do this for him.
I went closer to him and hugged him, rubbing his back to let him know everything will be okay, he hugged me back, everyone felt the love. It just hit me right now that I can’t lose my brother; he was the only family I had.
“So what’s your plan then?” Devin asked, he didn’t want to break this great family bond but our time was short for drama.
“Well, you can use your persuasive voice in them in order to get what you want, If anybody has better ideas, you could just throw it out there.” Bryce said. It was a good plan but not strong at all, there were lot of holes in it. I could remember when I tried to use my persuasive voice with Agent Cooper, It didn’t worked on him, it might not worked on whoever we were expecting too.
“Beats me, let’s think of plan B if ever this plan might not work.” Devin suggested. He was smart, Plan A sometimes fail so there must always be Plan B.
“I say let’s just shoot them, I have great sniper skills, the manager might have a shotgun in his office, they always have one.” Enzo willingly suggested.
“That looks like a great plan, so talking first before violence.” I said. I’m not entirely confident about the plan we have cooked up, but it’s the best one we have.
“We should get going, once we’re done with those guys we better hit the road, so I suggest we’re leaving this motel now.” I suggested.
Everyone else nodded and agreed with the plan we have, I looked at the clock once again, we used up a lot of time. I was getting really worried about that.
Devin, Bryce and I started packing, while Enzo lay down on the bed, he was thinking, I guess. It’s been weeks since he last saw Nancy, the idea of seeing her again might have gotten his adrenaline pumping and right now he doesn’t know what to do. He closed his eyes to rest.
We all went outside and placed our bags inside the car. I went to the Manager’s office to pay our bill while Enzo tried the back door of his office so he can sneak around to look for guns. I didn’t hesitate to open the door but what I saw next shocked me. The manager lying dead on the floor, there was a massive pool of blood coming out of his head. I went outside and threw up the food that I barely ate today. Devin saw me and he ran up to me as fast as he could.
“What happen?” Devin asked.
I pointed at the Manger’s room, he walked by and opened the door, and saw the manager’s dead body lying on the ground. He was shocked as I am. He closed the door tightly.
Devin ran up to me, “We better hurry with this thing. Whoever did this is here.” Devin said.
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I don't have a question so here's a random trivia instead: Did you know that Kleine-Levin Syndrome is a disorder that causes people to sleep for weeks at a time waking only to eat or go to the bathroom. Google it.
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