Chapter 3: Addicted to the Thrill

From one night in Deborah’s house I ended up staying four more. Deborah and I really hit it off as friends. She took me to a department store to get a couple of clothes so I wouldn’t have to wear that filthy Detention Center uniform. I never told her about why I was wearing that the day I saved her, nor did anything come up about Ninjas at all. I didn’t dare question it though. Truth was I didn’t want to talk about any of it. I guess I was scared that if I told her I’d lose the closest thing I had to a friend. I did however tell her small things about me like my favorite color and music genre. I learned the same things about her. I even got to meet her younger sister Demi who comes to stay with Deborah on week days. Demi was about thirteen years old and was fairly similar to her sister. She was reserved but could be bold when she wanted to and cared for others without thinking twice about what they thought of her. I admired that about the both of them. Sometimes I let what others think get to me, even if I didn’t show it on the outside.

            It was the morning of day five that practically changed my life and unfortunately both Deborah and Demi’s too. I remember waking up on my normal comfy couch and seeing Demi eat her usual cereal breakfast. I stretched and looked at the time on the T.V. It was 7:45. I decided to get up, not wanting to look like a bum in Deborah’s house, and greeted Demi as I entered the bathroom to take care of my morning routine.

 

“Demi don’t you have to be at school by 8:30?” I called over to Demi as I brushed my teeth.

 

“Yeah but Debbie’s driving me today since she doesn’t have work!” Demi called back. I spat out the mouth rinse.

 

“Oh ok cool! Did you study for that Science test today?”"I asked. There was silence as I washed the sleep off my face. I chuckled slightly as I reentered the living room."“You’d better start cramming before your sister finds out.”   

 

“Before I find out what?” Deborah said coming out of her room and grabbing her bag and car keys. I looked over at Demi giving her a you’d-better-tell-her look. Demi let out a sigh.

 

“I didn’t study for my science test today.” Demi said rinsing her dishes. I walked into the kitchen and picked up an apple from the fruit drawer in the refrigerator.

 

“And why didn’t you?” Deborah asked handing Demi her messenger bag. Demi took it reluctantly and rolled her eyes with annoyance.

 

“Because I know the material Debbie!” Demi whined. Deborah unlocked the door.

 

“Yeah that’s what you said about the last test Demi…See you later Ria!” Deborah called. I waved from the entrance chewing on my apple. I sat on the counter eating my apple and thinking about what I was going to do next. I had been putting off thinking about this for the past few days. I knew perusing my innocence would put Deborah and Demi in danger but I had to do something, being a fugitive was even more dangerous for the both of them. Another issue was where do I start? I had virtually no one to help me.

            Taking a deep breath I decided to do something productive with myself. I decided to train. I went over to the center of the living room and sat in the lotus position. It had been a while since I had done ability training. My ability was basically controlling the element of darkness. I could turn an area pitch black with my mind, I could harvest dark energy and use it against others and I could channel the dark energy into a weapon for better use. Kristine on the other hand, had fire. Our family was full of element controllers. Some repeated and others were unique like mine. My father and Kristine shared the same element, so my father would teach her different tricks he knew. I had no one. My mother had died giving birth to me so I never got to meet her, but my step-mother was wonderful. She was a natural Hybrid, meaning she was the offspring of a Ninja parent and a human. She would teach me more martial arts moves and I would try to find ways to incorporate my ability in them.

            I squeezed my eyes shut thinking of my step-mother that was currently in Florida. She would’ve helped me. She would’ve done something to prevent this from happening. My emotions stirred and started to rise in anger. I began to remember those nights before my step-mother, and even those from when she wasn’t home. The hatred in my sister’s eyes that never seemed to go away and the anger in my father’s that he constantly denied. I felt my hands surrounded with dark energy. I reopened my eyes to see both hands consumed by the black fog leaving them barely visible. I moved them closer together and focused on mending the energy together to create a ball shape. I slowly pulled my hands farther apart to make the sphere bigger. As the thoughts from my past flooded my mind, more dark energy was fed to the ball. The emotion being channeled into the ball felt good. I felt powerful and invincible. I could prove my innocence by myself and prove to Kristine and my deceased father that I was capable of fending for myself. A sadistic smirk spread across my face.

 

“Ria?”"I shook my head and closed my hands causing the black sphere to disappear into black fog again."“What…What the f**k were you just doing?”

I took a deep breath and looked up at a very scared and confused Deborah. I ran a hand through my hair and got up. Deborah took a step back away from me. I looked at her hurt. I wasn’t something to be scared of was I?

 

“Deborah calm down…” I said raising my hands in surrender. I took a step forward and Deborah took a step back.

 

“How can I calm down? You’re the one making a f*****g black hole in the middle of my living room!”

 

“First off it was a ball of compressed dark energy, which if you had to put a name to it I guess it would be more of a shadow ball. Second, it wasn’t that bad; it wasn’t like I was aiming it at something or whatever.”

 

“I don’t care! The point is that I didn’t know you could do anything remotely close to that!”

 

“Oh so you’re yelling at me over something you didn’t know about? Are we showing a little fear for the unknown now Deborah?” I asked sarcastically. Deborah shook her head in disbelief.

 

“What? No I’m not!”

 

“Really? Well I would think so, ‘cause I mean you’re freaking out right now-”

 

“Well of course I’m going to freak out I just saw you make a…a-”

 

“A ball of compressed dark energy...”

 

“Whatever! Point of the matter is I wasn’t prepared for it!”

 

“Well it’s a Ninja thing what do you expect? We’re known for being unexpected.”

 

“That was part of being a Ninja?!”

 

“Yes…yes it was and I would love to explain it to you if you’d calm the f**k down.”

 

“Calm down?” Deborah repeated as she actually did calm herself down. She took a seat at the dining room table and regulated her breathing. I slowly took the chair opposite of her.

 

“Okay are you calm now?”

 

“Yeah…I think I am.” Deborah said nodding and holding her heart.

 

“You think? ‘Cause I don’t want you to freak out on me again alright? I don’t enjoy being freaked out upon ok…it makes me feel like a freak.” I replied. Once Deborah was actually calm I explained everything to her. The reason I saved her, the set up of jobs and the categorization of abilities.

 

“So how can you tell what Ninja has what ability?” She asked intrigued now.

 

“Each group has a color and that color represents the color of their dragon.”"I explained."“So for example the specials category has the color gold, and since I’m under specials, my dragon’s main body color is gold.”

 

“Oh okay, I see what you’re saying, now what about the others? What are their colors?”

 

“Sight is red, mind is blue, sound is purple and touch is green.”

 

“Well what about me? I have black and white.” Deborah said taking off the elastic bandage wrap from her wrist.

 

“That is where things get a little complicated.” I said worried how Deborah would take the news about Kristine’s plan. I knew she wasn’t a natural Hybrid because Demi was definitely a human and in the case that a Ninja and human were to have more than one offspring, all would be natural Hybrids. I explained Kristine’s plan and how it had affected the humans as well as how it got me sent to the Detention Center. Deborah’s expression changed dramatically throughout my explanation. Her intrigued face turned hard and angry. Her hands balled up into fists on the table. I would hesitate to continue but every time I was going to stop she nodded for me to continue.

 

“Well that explains a lot.” Deborah said when I finally finished. She looked away from me and down to the table. I reached my hand over the table and touched her arm.

 

“Deborah, are you ok?” I asked concerned. Deborah took a deep breath and nodded with her eyes closed.

 

“Yeah…just you know how I’m a psychologist’s assistant and hoping to get my Doctoral one day for psychology?”"Deborah asked. I nodded remembering her telling me that before."“The whole reason I made that choice was because I was brutally rapped before. It was back when I was still in my third year of college studying to be a lawyer. I was walking to the train to get back to my house from a night class I had to take. It was really dark out and cold. I was walking when without a single warning I was pulled into a van. I had no idea what was going on when suddenly I felt everything being taken off and I was blindfolded. The next thing I know I’m crying begging them to stop and they just wouldn’t. I never saw who or anything for that matter because of the blindfold but the next thing I knew, I was in the hospital with doctors yelling to each other about a blood match for a transfusion. After that I couldn’t function right and my family noticed that. I didn’t want to be touched or anything, I couldn’t walk at night and was petrified of the dark until my parents took me to see a psychologist and got therapy. I decided then that I wanted to help people in situations like mine. Even though I got better I still couldn’t look at this dragon on my wrist. I thought it was a tattoo that they gave me or something but when I would ask others to remove it they didn’t know what I was talking about. They couldn’t see it. So I just decided to forget about it all together by just covering it…you know?”

 

“Out of sight…out of mind.”"I simplified. Deborah nodded smiling that I understood. I placed my hand on her shoulder."“I’m sorry that happened to you Deborah.” I said softly. Deborah shook her head.

 

“As horrible as it was, I’m glad it happened. If it didn’t, then I wouldn’t have found my passion in psychology.” Deborah replied with a smile. I admired how she was able to let go of her past and see the horrible stuff as a blessing. The phone rang in the background, pausing our discussion. Deborah went to go answer it. I remained at the table thinking if I could ever do what Deborah did. What if I went through something like that? Would I be able to turn the situation around? Or would I just end up drowning in my misery, pushing it all to the back of my mind just to feel happy? If there was one thing I learned about myself that day, it was that I was still stuck to my past.

 

“Ria we gotta go! Hurry and get changed.” Deborah said frantically putting on flip flops. I bolted up to get changed.

 

“What’s going on?” I asked as I pulled on a pair of pants in the bathroom.

 

“That was the hospital, Demi is unconscious. They said it seems like she was attacked.”

I froze. I instantly looked in the mirror and knew Kristine had something to do with this. Did she figure out who I was staying with? Did the team smell my scent on her? This was not going to end good at all.

 

“Ria are you almost done?” Deborah called. I quickly grabbed a thin hoodie and followed Deborah out the door. In the car I tried to borrow some of Deborah’s make up to make me look somewhat different incase one of Kristine’s workers were at the hospital. When we arrived I walked swiftly with Deborah on my left and my hoodie sleeves down to cover my dragon. Unfortunately when I was told covering your dragon literally irritates a Ninja’s skin that was no joke. I felt like there was poison ivy growing from my arm.

 

“Deborah, how does my makeup look?” I asked as we entered the E.R. Deborah looked around franticly for an idle nurse to point us in the right direction.

 

“Ria this is no time to worry about your looks.” Deborah harshly whispered to me. I rolled my eyes and decided to let my hair up but have my long bangs cover my face for safety. Deborah finally found a nurse to tell us where Demi was. We were pointed in the right direction and inside found a doctor reading Demi’s chart. The doctor had short reddish hair that fanned out to the side and glasses. When she looked up at us I noticed her shockingly green eyes, but something about her looked familiar, too familiar.

 

“Hi there I’m Doctor Hernandez, and you are?” the doctor greeted. Deborah shook her hand.

 

“I’m Demi’s older sister, Deborah Robles.”

 

“Nice to meet you Ms. Robles and…” The doctor trailed off waiting for me to introduce myself. I wasn’t sure what to say so I just faked my name.

 

“Oh uhh…Rita Matthews…I’m a family friend.” I lied. The doctor shook my hand.

 

“Pleasure to meet you Ms. Matthews.” Doctor Hernandez said with a smile that Deborah and I both returned. As the doctor walked passed us to check Demi’s monitor, Deborah gave me a questioning look. I waved her off and broke the silence.

 

“So doctor, can you tell us what happened exactly?” I asked looking over at Demi. She had a cast on her leg that was now elevated and gauze around her head. She had a huge bruise on her left cheek. My hands balled up into fists inside my hoodie pockets.

 

“Well from what I was told, Demi here took a serious beating. Her leg was broken in two places, and she took a serious blow to the head. Judging by where she has the wound I would say she fell over from either a great height or with a metal object. She’s been unconscious for a good hour or so now.”

 

“Will she be okay?” Deborah asked with worry.

 

“Oh yes definitely. She’ll have a few weeks with that cast on her leg but other than that she should be fine. I do however want to keep her here for observation for a few days depending on how she wakes up.”

 

“Um, Doctor, someone’s here to see you.” said a nurse from the doorway. Doctor Hernandez turned to the nurse.

 

“Can you tell them to wait please? I’m with a patient’s family.” She said politely. Before the doctor could return her attention to us, the nurse spoke again.

 

“It’s your brother.” She said nervously. Doctor Hernandez let out an annoyed sigh.

 

“Uggh what does Aaron want now?” the doctor said annoyed. She excused herself before leaving the room. I looked over to Demi and felt anger rise through me. How the hell does Kristine see this as efficient? I thought to myself. I then noticed the IV bag next to Demi’s hospital bed. I nudged Deborah and pointed to the bag.

 

“What? What about it?” She asked.

 

“That’s IV, not blood. She didn’t lose enough for a transfusion.” I whispered making sure the doctor or anyone else couldn’t hear our conversation.  Deborah looked at the IV bag then at Demi.

 

“They didn’t finish…why?”

I shrugged.

 

“I don’t know…maybe someone intervened.”

 

“Do you think they’ll come back to finish the job?” Deborah asked worriedly.

 

“They shouldn’t. From what I remember, victims were randomly selected not targeted.” I assured her. Deborah nodded taking Demi’s hand. I rubbed Deborah’s back and tried to be a good friend.

 

“Rita can you get me a Snickers bar?” Deborah said with a smile. I nodded handing her, her bag. She gave me a dollar and I was off. I walked out of the room and started looking for the doctor or a nurse to help me find the vending machine. As I turned a corner I saw Doctor Hernandez with one of the team members that put me in that damned Detention Center. I quickly turned back to tell Deborah when I bumped into a nurse.

 

“Oh God I’m so sorry.” I said in a fake accent in case the guy remembered my voice. The nurse gave me an annoyed look.

 

“You can’t be just roaming about ma’am” She said.

 

“I know…I’m sorry. I was just looking for the vending machine.” I said still holding the accent.

 

“It’s just around that corner ma’am right at the end of the hall on the left hand side.” the nurse said then stalked away. Damn it life hates me right now! Doctor Hernandez and that guy were right around the corner. I knew something looked familiar about her. I took in a deep breath and remembered I needed to get the Snicker’s bar for Deborah. It was the least I could do. Being a trooper I went down the corner and passed by them staying as far away as possible so he wouldn’t catch my scent. I casually walked to the vending machine and imputed the dollar in the machine. Pressing the buttons for the Snickers bar I tried to play it cool. I looked at the two down the hall from the corner of my eye. They were still talking. I turned back to the vending machine and saw the Snickers bar waiting for me at the bottom. I squatted down and reached for the candy when it clicked in my mind that Doctor Hernandez and that guy were related. The nurse had said it was her brother, and she had said his name was Aaron. Oh God this isn’t good. I never had such bad luck in my life. 

 

“Hey are you okay?”"a male voice said from behind me. I turned slightly to see if it was just a male nurse but it was him. At that moment I was contemplating how I could impair him without causing too much attention ‘till he spoke again."“Are you stuck or something? ‘Cause you’ve been in that same position for a few minutes now.” He said chuckling.

 

“Ummm…nah-uh I’m fine.” I said trying to make my voice sound somewhat different. I knew the accent wouldn’t work because Doctor Hernandez would know it was fake. I quickly grabbed the Snicker’s bar and got up trying to move away.

 

“Are you sure? I mean my sister’s a doctor here, I’m sure she can give you a quick diagnosis.” He said following me. I never looked at him once on our way back to the room.

 

“Nope…I’m all good.” I said turning into the room. Aaron stopped following me from there.

 

“Yes you are.” He said seductively. Aww S**t… I thought to myself as I ignored his comment and walked into the room handing Deborah her Snickers bar.

 

“Oh thanks Rita.” She said getting the hang of my lie. I silently thanked her and smiled. I decided to take a seat in the corner of the room away from both siblings. Deborah continued to speak with the doctor.

“So someone saved her?” She asked relieved that I was right on my assumption. Doctor Hernandez nodded with a smile.

 

“As it seems.” the doctor responded.

 

“Does the police or anyone know who it is?”

 

“I’m afraid not, but maybe when Demi wakes up we can see if she remembers who it was.”

 

“Great, thanks Doctor Hernandez.” I spoke up trying to make her go away so I could tell Deborah my desperate need to get the f**k out of there. However I had no such luck that day.

 

“Yeah, thank you so much…is it alright if I was to rush home and get my laptop so I can wait with Rita for Demi to wake up? I have an online class to check up on.” Deborah said grabbing her purse.

 

“Sure it’s no problem at all, if you need help logging into the WIFI here just let me know.” Doctor Hernandez replied with a smile. Deborah nodded thanking the doctor.

 

“Rita, can you watch Demi until I get back?”  Deborah asked me. I looked up to her and pleaded with my eyes away from the doctor.

 

“You know what Deb, why don’t I go get your laptop for you?” I suggested praying that Deborah let me leave. She looked at me funny and simply just shook her head.

 

“No it’s okay I’ll go get it, just watch Demi for me.” She said as she left the room. At that moment in time I realized that the universe officially hated me.