"Holy sh*t." Alan Mackenzie cursed himself the fourth time that day as he tried saving his already burnt bread, burning his hand a bit in the process. H didn't have the time to cover it up though because Lawrence came in exactly at that moment to give them a shout-out for not working fast enough. Lawrence was a rough supervisor, to say the least. But he was also one of the few people ready to offer him a job, given his recent endeavor, so Alan didn't like to complain much.
"What the heck is wrong with you, man? That's the second bread you burnt today." he shouted. Gilly pressed her lips in a line, nor sure if she could help him out of this one. She had claimed to have stumbled upon him yesterday when Lawrence had caught him rinsing spilt coffee form his hands.
Alan knew he was busted this time. Sure, Lawrence was a bit thick, but he wasn't that stupid. "I'm sorry sir. It won't repeat again." he said, keeping his tone as remorseful as possible. And in a split second, he decided. "And a day off. Sir." he added, not chancing a glance at him. "It has just been a month since you joined here and you already want 'a day off'? And that to on such a busy day?! Have you lost your mind?" His voice sounded a lot harsher in the closed up food van, but Alan stood his ground. "I have worked everyday for the whole month sir. And I've also worked for double shifts during the weekends. I'm not able to focus and what if I set the van on fire the next time? " he asked the last bit especially sounding a bit innocent.
Lawrence wasn't always this rude. When they were free, he would laugh along with them making nasty or lame jokes. And the Mexican veg role he had made for him when he had just joined was an instant hit with him and the customers too. But dealing with mean and ignorant customers made him grumpy and he would vent out his frustration on them. All one had to do to keep your job intact was to not raise for the bait.
Lawrence was looking thoughtfully at him. Then he grunted, "Fine, but you lose this day's money and yesterday's too, for spilling coffee and being cheeky." he warned. But Alan hardly cared as he took down his apron, hurriedly hugged Gilly and a surprised Lawrence goodbye,took his coat from the hanger and took off.
Alan pulled his coat tighter around him as a cold wind blew across. This fall had been especially cold and the winter was expected to be the worst. And things hadn't been exactly easy for him since the incident. His father had disowned him, making it clear that he would not be supporting him in any manner form now on. That he was not welcome. That there was no place for a thief under his roof.
He had expected nothing less from his dad either, he wasn't Mr Tate. But what infuriated him the most was that he had forbade mom and his brother Eric from visiting him, as though he had a right to choose for them. But they had obliged, though he had heard Eric shouting somewhere far.
It was the Tates who had been there for him again. Judy helped him get in contact with a good lawyer and Max had waved of his penalty, without his knowledge or permission. Max always presumed too much, Alan thought infuriated with his friend. But even with all their assistance, he had to use up all the money he had been earning at the beyblade facility, which was a lot, given how generously Judy used to pay him.
Since he was still underage, he had moved into a small dingy room with a older school mate of his, who had been convinced only after he had offered to pay three fourth of the rent. A few set of clothes and some money to buy books for the next semester were all he owned at the moment. And he could neither afford to save the amount of money required to pay Max back without starving himself.
Max, Max, Max, the one person who had been occupying a lot of his mind space lately, though it wasn't his mistake this time. The blade breakers had once again won the World Championship,a feat only a few teams could achieve. One top of that, Tyson had yet again raised up as the world champion, a feat achieved by fewer less. Max had been at a live show for celebrating the same and there had been a shot out. No one knew what actually happened after that. The blade breakers suddenly seemed unavailable for all of media and the rumour mill got as creative as it could get.
"Kai dead and the rest injured."
"Kai hospitalised and the rest kidnapped."
Tyson dead, Ray dead, max dead, Tyson injured, Kai injured, Ray injured Max injured,... the combinations only kept increasing, yet no one knew what really happened. Mr Dickenson was unavailable. The mayor was unavailable. No one who was even slightly influential in the beyblading world gave a statement on the issue.
And Alan was worried sick about his friend. Of course, he had his number, a Max was only a phone call away, as he used to jokingly say, but was it true anymore? What if Max was really hurt or worse and his friends picked up the call? They knew him as nothing but a thief, and that was not a good place to start off. And what if Max is alright, but isn't interested to talk with him? What if he had bailed him out only for old times sake and wanted nothing to do with him from now on? The possibilities were endless.
It was when he was crossing the road that he received a call. It was from an unknown number. Alan frowned but picked up the call anyway, "Hey, who's this?" he asked casually. He didn't receive any answer, must be a prank call, he thought annoyed before deciding to cut the call. It was then that he heard the sobs and realised that it was a call from Japan."
His guts tightened with dread, "Maxy, is that you?" he shouted. He also came in the way of a car too, getting a earful of slurs for not paying attention while road crossing.
The sounds of horns blaring, slurs and Alan apologizing got enough of Max's attention to stop crying. "Alan, are you on the call? Where are you? And what was happening back there?" he asked concerned. Alan's heart was beating hard due to the car freight. Yet he brushed it of. "Nothing serious... Are you all right? What of the other boys? What happened at the show really?" he asked collecting himself.
Max gave a watery laugh. "You know, the usual, a few press conferences, a few shot outs, fewer attacks and a lot of anxiety." he sarcastically replied. "Max, I'm being serious." Alan pointed out seriously. "And are you crying? " he further added, on realising Max's tone.
Max didn't need much prompting afterwards. Alan tried staying strong for Max, but he couldn't help but feel thoroughly shocked after every major situation." He was at a loss of words when Max completed. "So, how are you dating there? " he finally asked.
"To the world, we're fine. Nothing to panic guys. We're all there for each other. We're constantly keeping an eye on Kai, etc, etc. But in truth, all of us feel just so exhausted Alan. Probably we are all waiting for one of us to break down. All of us are just being too stubborn to show weakness first. Kai seems to have finally rubbed in on us too." he said laughing. Alan found it hard to imagine sweet Max to be so emotionally unavailable as Kai, he had to smile at that thought.
A few minutes passed before Max started again "I'm sorry I burdened you with all of this... Calling you was a spur of the moment." "I'm glad you did it Max, I wasn't sure where we stood in each others' life, given our recent.. meet. But we don't have to talk about it now. Sometime later, maybe when things settle down." he suggested. "Yeah, sometime later would be great. Bye now." he said before disconnecting the call.
After seeing the interview Max talked about at a nearby eloctronics showroom, he went back to his room. He seems to have lost his appetite along the story. His work load was catching up to him lately, yet he felt like a huge burden had been lifted off him. He freshened up and crashed on the couch, after making sure his roommate had a key of his own. The dreams he had were sweeter than usual.
******
"Hey Ty. Wake up." whispered someone in Tyson's ear, shaking him slightly. Tyson groaned as he lifted his head from the bed. His back was aching after sleeping on a chair for two days continuously. It was Susie. And it was on seeing her did all his memories of the night before come back to him like a jolt.
His hands, which were still entangled in Hillary's, squeezed it hard, just to feel her pulse against his fingers. It sounded way stronger than yesterday's. Some colour had returned to her face and the swelling on her shoulder did seemed to have inflated.
Susie looked tired, her eyes looked strained. Tyson remembered that she was on duty the previous night, obviously lacking sleep. "What's wrong?" he asked, looking worried. "No, nothing's wrong." she immediately clarified smiling slightly. "It's just that Hillary would need some clothes of her own when she asks up. Since the ones she was wearing aren't... fit for it. So I thought of you could take me to her home, so I could bring her some fresh clothes." she informed.
Oh, her house... In the mess that followed after he reached the hospital, he had completely forgotten about the state her house was in. Burglared, torn, and wrecked. He informed her of the state the house was in. Susie just pressed her lips on realising just how much Hillary had been risking by refusing to cower before that assassin and inform them.
Susie offered a hand in helping him clean the house too. Tyson agreed to freshen up quickly. He informed Max, who had been sleeping on a table pressed to a wall, where he was going, only for him to offer a helping hand too. So, the three of them set to go the Hillary's house after informing Ray and Kenny, who assured that they would keep an eye on both of their friends until they returned.
Tyson spent the rest of the day in bringing the house to its original state, with Susie and Max being wonderfully helpful. They didn't talk much, just a silent agreement to keep themselves busy to brood to much on what had happened in a time of two days.
It was late in the afternoon when he found it. He had been arranging scattered papers in the study room, most probably the place where Mr and Mrs Tachibana worked. Max and Susie had just then decided to have a break before heading back. The entire house was cleaned, all the things that were in good shape had been put back into their places, the glass shards cleaned, the house locks reinforced, the house looked just was it would normally look.
He knew he shouldn't have snooped around but the papers had really caught his attention. They were official government papers of adoption. The adopted child was a female of two years. The date of registration was of twelve years before and the column dedicated to couple offering to adopt the child was signed by Mr and Mrs Tachibana. Tyson sucked in a harsh breath in surprise, in shock. He had never known that Hilary was an adopted daughter. Hillary had never mentioned it before.
He reread the paper again and again until he was sure that he wasn't misinterpreting anything. But just before he could think of what he had seen, Max came in to offer help. No matter how much he was tempted to do it, he couldn't bring himself to show Max the papers, not when he was half sure that Hillary herself didn't know of it. Tyson soon put the papers in the table drawers and left with him to go back to the hospital. Susie bid them goodbye at she went her was to her room.
******
It was a dark study room, with the only source of light being a table lamp. An elderly man, silver haired in his late seventies was seemingly going through a few files. A knock on the door.
"Enter" came a cold voice.
The man who entered was lean and taller than the person on the chair. But the was he walked, the way he bowed in front of the other man clearly stated who was incharge there.
"Hope you remember your responsibility, Boris. What news do you have for me? Is the Marceus's paying for messing with 'The Hiwataris' ? "
A menacing gleam sparked in the taller person's face. "Of course, sir. They will regret for even trying to get revenge against you. Well, supposely there is nothing left of them to begin with." a wicked smile spreading across his face.
A murderous laugh echoed from his master. "It seems that your capabilities could be trusted again, Boris. Well done. But do not forget the very reason you are here, running such petty errands." he sneered.
Boris flinched slightly, but continues to remain submissive. "Of course, sir. The boy is alive with no permanent injuries."
"I don't care. I didn't ask you for it. Answer me only when you're questioned, Boris. And remember your limits. You're dismissed for now." The man ground his teeth in shame and obediently left the room.
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Words: 2573
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A/N: Hey guys!! Sorry for not updating the last week. I was a bit busy over studying for some exams and I was apparently stuck on how to write this chapter, though I knew where I wanted the story to proceed. I appreciate all the comments you give me and I am open to more(though keep the swearing to a minimum).
I was hoping to reduce the number of chapters posted per month from four to two as I need to start getting ready for my 10th finals. I will continue posting a chapter every alternate Monday for the next few months.
Could anyone help me get a better story poster? I really don't know nor do I have the patience to do them with exams approaching. The one I have put up for now doesn't match the story much. So if you could do it yourself or if you know someone who could, please leave a comment here or message me privately.
I am very very very very happy for the responses this story has gotten in just the past one week. Thank you so so much!!!. To be honest, I hate writing A/Ns as much as I hate to read them. So do not expect me to remind you all the time but, keep commenting and voting !!!
Happy reading!!
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