AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Much too vain too,” I joke.
“Touché, so what’s on the agenda this morning? Killing them all, burning down the house, or just taking over the world?” he teases.
“Breakfast.” I yawn, turning when the others troop downstairs in a rowdy group.
“That’s good too,” he replies. “I have a delicious sausage, cheese, and egg bagel.”
“Bastard,” I hiss as I get in line to be served what looks like sloppy oatmeal.
“It’s so good.” He groans, his mouth full of food. I know what he’s doing, he’s distracting me and keeping me with him, and it works. I’m in a good mood despite the situation and place, and I don’t feel as alone.
I don’t think it would be possible to be in a bad mood with Hale in my ear anyway. He intrigues me. He has this all-consuming aura about him. It’s similar to Gray’s, but something tells me Hale’s darkness hides underneath pretty smiles, whereas Gray wears his like a shield.
After breakfast, a lot of kids either go to work or just leave the house. I have no desire to do either, so instead, I explore. I know the layout already, but it can’t hurt to know the exits, and you never know what I might find in this twisted scavenger hunt of mine. Hale talks incessantly, and I reply as much as I can.
I reach a bathroom upstairs. It looks the same as the others… the exact same…
I don’t know why I rush inside, but I do, and once there, I almost rock back on my ass. Memories cloud my brain, ones I have to grasp like smoke, but they are memories, nonetheless.
Of a boy… standing before me, protecting me.
Holding me.
Comforting me.
It’s just flashes, but I know they are real.
The boy runs to me, wiping away my tears and looking deep into my eyes.
It’s Gray. I would know those serious, hard eyes anywhere.
Why is Gray here?
And why is this my memory?
Something about Gray always felt familiar and safe, and I never knew why I was drawn to him.
Is it possible I knew him?
If so, why hasn’t he said anything?
“Why is this place important to Gray?” I find myself asking, cutting off Hale’s story about the time he had to fight a bear.
There’s silence for a moment, heavy and loaded. “I don’t know, kid, but I’ve never seen him like this. Whatever that place is to him, it has him angrier than I’ve ever seen and more fucked up. Gray is not someone I would ever want to cross. That anger… I’ve only seen it once, when we were overseas and he was captured, and trust me when I tell you, it got many people killed.”
Leaning back into the wall, I stare at the spot where I can still see the young Gray, and I find myself asking questions I know I shouldn’t. “Tell me about him then, before… everything.”
“Well, that could take a while,” he jokes. “But Gray was pretty much always the same, fewer scars but always as serious and angry. He was a twisted-up kid when I met him in basic. He carried a lot of weight and a lot of scars, if you know what I mean. Anyway, it got better, I guess, when he had a purpose. He was good at fighting, but then he was captured, and it was just dumb luck that I was there when he was and got my ass captured too. Somehow, we got split up. They thought they had killed me, but as you can see, I’m very much fucking alive. But that’s my own story to tell. Gray? Our people left him behind, thought he was dead too. He wasn’t either, though, and when he finally managed to escape and kill his kidnappers… Well, let’s just say that he was never the same again. I don’t know what happened to him there, and I don’t think anyone ever will, but it wasn’t good.”
I inhale, and I hear him sigh sadly. “They called him Ghost after that because he was supposed to be dead. As serendipitous as it sounds, I reconnected with him when I found him working for the same agency that hired me, using that same set of skills that helped him survive in the desert. Talk about a small fucking world. You see, Zoey, men like us are good for one thing and one thing only—killing. We live for it. We exist in that darkness so others don’t have to, and Gray? He’s the darkest motherfucker out there.”
“I wonder if that’s why he won’t let anyone close,” I murmur, my eyes going back to the spot where the kid with Gray’s eyes held me.
“It’s okay, little doe, I’m here.”
The voice floats through my mind like a comforting embrace, but not from Gray now… from then. It makes me forget everything Hale is saying as I focus on it.
I reach for the memories until Hale’s sharp, commanding voice interrupts me.
