Chapter Twelve: As Time Goes By

We didn’t lay there long, as Pain reminded me that since he hadn’t come back with me, it meant that Fang would be sent out next. I remembered what Fang had told me back in that white room, “I was engineered to be the perfect hunter. And you, my dearest pudding head, are the perfect prey.”. I shuddered at the thought of him coming back. If anyone could find a way to kill me, I was sure it was that madman. Pain and I quickly made our way towards the city, and stopped once we reached the tree line that lead to the road into the city. “Wait, I don’t have my coat, or my hat. I can’t just go out there like this. It’ll draw too much attention.” Pain looked over at me and smiled wryly, reaching into his suit jacket. He pulled out my coat and hat, folded into a nice neat square. He held it out to me, and I quickly took it and laid it out on the floor. I puddled down to the ground under it, and rose up into it. There were a lot of wrinkles from being folded so small, but it felt good to feel it around me again. I had kind of grown attached to it in a way over the years. “I kept it when I took you in. I don’t know why, I just had a feeling I should. Looks like it came in handy after all.” I nodded and place a hand on his shoulder, “Thank you, little brother.” He was slightly surprised to hear me call him this, and also a bit embarrassed. His face turned red and he turned away from me quickly. “It’s no big deal, really.” He muttered.

  As we walked through the city, Pain took in the sights with the awe and wonder of a child. I realized then that he must have been stuck in that facility for most of his life. It made me wonder how much of my life I had spent there. “So, where does this Lee-Ann live, anyway?” Pain asked, a mocking tone in his voice when he spoke her name. “Just a few blocks up. When we get there, stay behind me until I introduce you. She might be a bit shaken up at my leaving, and I promised her I’d come back. I didn’t say I’d be bringing company.” He nodded and kept walking alongside me, hands in his pockets. He’d left his gloves in the forest, and we didn’t want to risk him brushing up against someone in the packed city streets and causing a scene by accident. When we reached her apartment complex, I motioned for Pain to get behind me. He did so, and I made my way inside and to her door. I knocked three times and waited, half expecting her to be at work and not at home at all. To my surprise, the door opened and she stood there in her pajamas, staring at me. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one surprised.

“You…Is it really you this time? Or am I dreaming again?” She asked, her voice shaky and her body trembling. I removed my hat to show the mask beneath, to show that it was no dream and I was really back. Tears began to flow from her eyes slowly, and she slapped me hard across the face. I’m sure slapping my metal mask hurt her far worse than it did me, but I was taken aback nonetheless. “Where the hell were you?! You promised you’d come back! It’s been THREE WEEKS! I’ve been worried sick! I had to call out of work because I was too exhausted from not sleeping, waiting for you to come back, or for Jack to come bursting through the door again. And then three weeks later you have the audacity to just show up at my doorstep? I don’t know if I should hug you or hit you, but right now I'm leaning towards the latter.” Her words stung, I never expected her to respond this way. But wait, three weeks? That couldn’t be right; I was only in that facility for a day or two. Wasn’t I? “Lee-Ann, What do you mean? I’ve only been gone a day. I would’ve came back right away but I was kidnaped.  But  I got out and I'm back now.” She looked at me with anger, confusion, and sadness all swirling around on her face. “A day? I know what three weeks is; I can read a damn calendar! And what do you mean kidnapped, by who? Why? How did you get out? What the hell is going on around here!?”

Pain poked his head out from behind me, and raised his hand as if asking to be called on in class. “Uh, I think I might be able to help clear things up a bit.” Lee-Ann jumped back, not expecting another person to pop up from behind me. “Who is that? Why is his hair pink?” Pain sighed and pushed me aside, standing in front of her. “They always have to mention the hair. Look, let us in and I’ll explain everything ok? You can trust me; I'm a friend of his.” He said, pointing to me. Reluctantly, she stepped to the side and motioned for us to come in. She closed the door behind us and we all sat down at the table. “Ok, you said you’d talk, so talk. What the hell happened?” Pain tapped his fingers on the table impatiently and looked over at me as if to say, ‘Really? This is what you came back for?’.

“Just tell her.” I said, a bit eager myself to find out why I was gone for three weeks when I only knew of two days. He sigh and rolled his eyes, then began to speak, “Look, I kidnapped him and brought him back to the facility where they made us. Apparently, I overdid it a bit and he was knocked out for a while. Two and a half weeks to be precise. Though he didn’t fully wake up till the last day on the third week. That’s why you don’t remember being there for more than a day or so.” He looked over at me, and I looked at Lee-Ann, we were both shocked at the news we had heard. “Wait a minute, if you kidnapped him, then why the hell are you here?” Lee-Ann said, confused and still a bit angry. He looked at her sternly and then began again, “I’m getting to that, ok? We…worked out our differences after Fang let him out. Speaking of which, we should probably get out of here, this is the first place he’ll look for you. Not really clever on your part big brother.” He had a point, as much as I hated to admit it. Such a predictable move would lead me right where Fang wanted me. Lee-Ann waved her hands in the air in a ‘time-out’ motion. “Whoa whoa whoa, who’s Fang and why is he after you? Will someone please tell me the whole story here?” I stood up and took her hand in mine, grabbing her coat from across the room. “Later Lee-Ann. Pain is right, we need to get out of here; it’s not safe. I’m sorry for dragging you into all this. I didn’t mean for this to happen. But we’ll get through it, I promise.”

She looked at me with sad eyes and took her coat from my hands. “Yea, you promised to come right back too. We know how that went.” Her words stung, but she was right, I hadn’t exactly had the best track record for keeping promises. I broke her trust and Pain’s and yet I was still making promises. I decided then and there that no matter what, I wouldn’t break this promise. We were all going to get out of this alive, and that was final. Pain took a pair of her winter gloves and slid them over his hands. Luckily his small hands fit into small women’s gloves easily. “Hey, why do you need winter gloves? It’s cold, but not that cold.” Lee-Ann said as he put the gloves on. “Trust me lady, you’ll be happy I have them on.” He replied snidely. “Alright enough you two, we have to go. I’m not sure where though.” Lee-Ann suddenly jumped up and turned to me, “There’s an old steel mill outside the city from years ago. It’s abandoned now, but I'm sure there will be plenty of places to hide. I know the way; I used to hang out there as a kid.” I motioned for her to take the lead, and we followed her out of the apartment complex. As we stepped out onto the city street, I felt an eerie chill in the air. Somehow I just knew. Fang was coming.