Don't even think of going back

“We’ve got a lead!” My Dad exclaims with a strong breath. He slaps a file down on the wooden table as I rub my eyes and proceed with a loud yawn.

My cereal bowl shakes a bit from the impact, and I peer up with my half open eyes at my father's determined face, so full of pride and anticipation.

"What?" I ask, my voice so low and raspy. I regret saying anything. My throat feels like sandpaper, and I reach out for my glass of milk whilst my Dad hurriedly starts flipping the file open in front of me, with slightly trembling hands.

I cross my legs on my chair and sigh with my head still hazy with sleep and my eyes, unfocused. For the whole night, I've been thinking about Jace and his friends, Healers, and their motives.

As these thoughts are racing in my mind, my Dad snaps me back to reality with his fingers and I face him now with wide eyes.

"What's with you?" He asks, his brows furrowed. But before I can make up an excuse, he shakes his head quickly in dismissal and pushes a photo forward in front of me. "This is what we found."

"What's this?" I rub the sleep off my eyes and stare at the photo in front of me until my brain finally wakes up and it feels like someone had just poured ice down my shirt. I whip my head up to face my Father, where he is trying hard to suppress his excitement. "Is this...."

"Yep.... That's our lead."

I look back at the photo with knitted eyebrows. The person staring back at me did not have golden eyes, or ash blonde hair, but deep set hazel eyes instead, with dark brown locks of short curls framing his forehead.

"Wha-how...." I mutter, picking up the photo. My father clears his throat and places both his hands on his belt.

"Some of his belongings were found at one of the crime scenes, and he has evident motives."

"What motive?" I ask, still in a state of disbelief.

Dad shakes his head, as if to convince himself of something. "I can't say Arden.... I shouldn't even be telling you all this in the first place." He musters up an amused chuckle. But all I can do is swallow thickly and set the photo down.

"Dad...." I start. "Why are you doing this?"

"Hmm?" He raises his dark brows at me with vivid curiosity and slight confusion.

"I mean, aren't the Healer guys like helping us? They're exposing things that you should be focusing on."

He narrows his eyes slightly, and pulls out a seat at the dining table to sit beside me. "Arden... I don't think you understand. These boys have destroyed properties, hurt people and hacked into major databases. What they're doing is illegal."

I bite my lip and look away from my father's intense gaze that meant business. "But I just feel like you may not be getting the whole story..." My voice trails off quickly and I clear my throat loudly.

To stir away from any suspicions on me that I know is slowly starting to form from my father's detective intuitions, I quickly save myself. "You know, I just want you to do the right thing! Catch the right people- So you can get that promotion."

His face lights up and he smiles warmly at me. "Don't worry, Arden. I have a good feeling about this case!"

I mustered up a light laugh, but not noticing how his face had dimmed down quite a bit. "But sweetheart, you have to be careful now. Don't come back too late from school. They were last seen near here. They beat up some innocent men.”

I blink a few times before slowly tilting my head up to face my father. He has a grave expression, one that proved his title as a father. One that showed he would move mountains to protect me, and would hunt to keep me safe.

"They are not good people, Arden." I swallow the lump in my throat and direct my gaze forward where I force myself to keep quiet, suppressing everything that I so desperately want to blurt out.

They saved me. They can't be bad.

Whatever kind of stigma I’ve held against Jace and his friends have diminished now that I know their true identities, but it still doesn’t stop me from questioning their motives too.

“I’ll have to get to work, Arden. You can take the subway right?” Before I can even reply, he’s already out the door.

I sigh and yawn once more.

“Wipe that drool off your face, Arden.” Grandma evinces from her room and slowly moves to me.

“Oh…” I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and get up to sling my bag over my shoulders. “I’ll be going now Gran.”

I quickly bolt out the door as I check my watch, knowing full well I’m going to be late once again.

I run into the school just as the bell rings, and I’m met with Blair who shoots me an amused look. She’s wearing high knee Chanel boots with her uniform and a custom Gucci tie instead of the school’s, making her uniform look like it can be on a runway.

I pant, bending down with my hands rested on my knees to catch my breath. “Am I- am I alive?” I clutch my chest as a sharp pain punctures me.

“You might as well be dead if Miss D decides to show up early today,” Blair answers nonchalantly. "You know how moody Miss D can be. Despite her name I don’t think she’s getting any D’s you know, she really needs some action I reckon. One day she’s fine but then the next day she’d have a stick up her ass or something."

Blair reaches into her backpack and hands me a bunch of papers.

“Here, these are the notes I took for you when you were at the infirmary. You can decipher the handwriting yourself.”

I sigh in relief as I reach out to take them. I look up at her with a smile. “You’re the best you know.”

“Of course.”

I chuckle and hurriedly grab my books from my locker.

"Oh, why didn't you tell me your dad was taking on that Healer case?" Blair asks. My body freezes up every time I hear that name, and I must have some bewildered look plastered on my face because Blair raises her brows. "Is it confidential or something? Cause' he was on the news last night."

I swallow thickly before replying. "I don't know, it's just not important to me," I lie.

Blair stifles a snort, and crosses her arms. "Not important? This is like the talk of the town now. After they caused YGP pharmaceuticals to close down, they're all everyone's talking about. Even Buzzfeed did an article on them this morning. Some girls are even fawning over them without even seeing their freaking faces!"

I shrug. "I don't get what's so big and bad about them. They're just exposing what should be exposed. I mean, I get how they're big. But how are they bad?"

Blair brows are raised. "You’re the last person I’d expect to defend them.”

I sigh. "I don’t know," I say dismissively.

"Arden, how about we go to the gym tonight," Blair suggests, her tone cautious as she seems to insinuate how much exercise I need, considering I’m already half dead from running from the subway only 5 minutes away from the school. “You seem really stressed out these days.”

“Oh yeah? With my broken bones and all that?” I say sarcastically.

"You only fell on your face Arden," She rolls her eyes.

I give her a death stare.

She huffs a defeated sigh. “I’ll order pizza tonight.”

“That’s more like it!”

“Just come over by six,” Blair says whilst rolling her again eyes.

Suddenly, the school bell chimes a second time, signalling the first class of the day to commence.

"I’ll see you at my place tonight. Call me!" Blair forms a 'phone' with her fingers and places it beside her ear as she makes her way to her class.

I throw a thumbs up and we part ways.

With a sigh, I head the opposite way into English. I keep my head down the whole way, with the guy's hazel eyes melted into my vision. He looked familiar. The photo that Dad showed this morning, was almost like the universe was playing me. I’m 99% sure that Healer is Jace and his posse, but who was this random kid showing up in the mix?

Suddenly, my head is collided with something hard as I realise I'm already at the doorway. I finally look up to my side where he stands. I widen my eyes, as Jace towers before me, with a gray hoodie shadowing his face.

I stare at him with wide eyes. I want to acknowledge him as Healer, call him Healer and tell him about what I had found out this morning from my father, but I know this isn’t the place to do it.

Instead, I bring a hand to my head to feign pain. "Owwwwwwww." He only blinks a few times at my slow and exaggerated reaction as I rub my forehead softly with my eyes still gazing up at him. "You're not going to say sorry?"

A side of his lips quirk up but he looks away, and heads into class. Once again, ignoring me. I trudge along behind him with a permanent scowl etched on my face. I see Naomi sitting on a seat near the front waiting to greet me, but I only slip in silently into the seat behind her.

I can sense Naomi turning around on her chair, bursting to inform me something. But I’m already fully aware that Jace Archer is in the room.

I quietly take in the several reactions from each student that enters afterward, with many of the guys adjusting their position, and girls looking down at themselves like they're disappointed at their choice of wardrobe for the day.

Well it's not like everyday you see Jace Archer sitting in a classroom.

The teacher finally enters, and I swallow thickly as her eyes scan him from behind me, under her thick rimmed glasses. I don't look back, though.

"Well, I guess you all can continue working on your project with your partner," She says suggestively. I clench my teeth as I see many people beside me switching places and moving to work with their partners.

My cheeks turn a deep shade of scarlet as Matt approaches me. "Can I take your seat? Reece is my partner." I quickly whip my head around to see Reece looking at me with anticipation.

"Huh? Oh-um.... Yeah sure." I slowly collected my books from the table and stood up so that he could sit down.

"Thanks." He flashes me a warm smile, but all I can muster up is a nod.

While I stand awkwardly beside his desk, and just as the class was about to settle, Jace speaks up.

"Take me out of this project." His voice is demanding and more like a command than a favour. Miss D crosses her arms, and everyone's chatter dies down.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," She replies with strained eyes. "You haven't shown up to class for nearly the whole semester. If you don't want to fail this class, you have to participate-"

I can see her bluff because in reality, Jace should have failed the class ages ago. But because of his status and the amount of money his family has invested in the school, these are all empty threats to him.

"Let me rephrase. I won't be in this." I hold in my breath, and close my eyes, with a creeping and nauseating feeling to swirl in my stomach.

I try to bury the embarrassment and slight annoyance at his approach to this situation. If he wanted to spend his time being Healer and saving people instead of working on the project with me, he could have just told the teacher in private instead of causing a scene here.

He kicks his chair back loudly, and I allow my eyes to trail his back as he makes his way out of the class.

"You are Arden's partner, if you have any sense of responsibility-" Miss D is cut off by him.

"Don't talk about such shitty things like responsibility in this school."

He has his back to the class, but he turns his head slightly so that his carved jaw can be seen along with the movement of his lips as he speaks.

He leaves, and I can’t help my feet unconsciously wanting to follow him.

“What are you doing Shields. Sit down.” The teacher stops me in my tracks with her stern tone. “We’ll compromise.”

I swallow thickly, my eyes still lingering at the doorway where Jace- Healer had left.

After all my classes and it’s time to head home, my body is already aching again from the heavy day as my legs trail the path to the bus stop, where the sun has hidden itself behind the clouds, casting colder winds and a dimmer sky.

I pull my hoodie up, as I spot the stop from a distance and speed up my pace. With my worn out sneakers grinding on the dirt and concrete before me, I take out my phone to text Blair.

Suddenly two gloved hands clamp over my mouth and my mind begins to go overdrive.

Another pair of hands lift my legs up from the ground, putting immense strength and pressure on them so that even flailing and thrashing them around would hurt me. My hands are swiftly tied together by a figure garbed in all black, with a full face mask that only casts his eyes into view. But barely, since he doesn't look up.

The air beneath me seems to puncture my sides, and heightens the fear piercing through my chest. The feeling of being off the ground with no foundation scares me. I can just be released and fall on the dirt, or be dropped off a 10 storey building- I don't know.

Screaming is not partially much of a challenge. However, muffled shrieks go unheard when nobody's around.

My eyes roam desperately throughout my surroundings. I take in the the scenery, engrave the car plate number that is parked nearby into my brain- whether it's useless or not; I imprint the street roads and intersections into my mind also before a blindfold blocks my vision, now ridding my sight along with any other control I have over my movements.

I have established that my captors are only two people, but two people with intense strength and God knows any other weapons at their beckoning.

I begin counting footsteps as they start carrying me off somewhere. How far are they taking me? I can only count on my hearing now. There are distant sounds of cars honking in the vast unknown territory, and the smell of cigarettes and the stench of garbage fills my nose, suggesting that I may be in some alleyway.

I don’t remember even seeing any security cameras around, so they must have planned to kidnap me in a blind spot.

I lean back against what I'm predicting is a van since there are no seats around, and the doors slide shut with a bang.

All I can do is wait. The moving motions of the vehicle, sets me into a hopeless mindset.

I can't see anything, do anything, but can only await what's to come. And this fucking terrifies me.

I knock my head back on the hard confining doors of the van, feeling the blood rush to my head, giving me a headache from all the screaming I've done. I groan, a noise that no longer sounded human.

Am I... Going to die?

I can't help but let that thought pass my mind for the split second, before I shake away the fear. If I believe I can survive, I will. False hope has saved me quite a few times. I muster up a large breath before releasing another scream that even pierces my own ear.

Suddenly the van slows, and comes to a stop with a halt. I widen my eyes under the blindfold and hold my breath before hearing the sliding doors open. I open my mouth wide, but before I can utter a sound, something sticky latches on to my mouth, taping it shut.

"Don't be so scared." The voice is raspy and deep, and the stench of cigarettes and smoke fills my nose, along with a whiff of cologne

Don't be scared? You fucking kidnapped me, son of a bitch.

I jerk my head around blindly, making unspeakable growling noises. He lifts me up with an arm supporting my legs, and the other, my back. I keep my tied hands forward in a ball, whilst I attempt to thrash my legs around, not making it easy for my captors. Another pair of hands hold my legs down and they begin to transfer me out of the car.

"Stay still." A different voice command. His breath lingers in my ear for a while, before I jam my shoulders roughly to my right, where he seems to be. "Stay still," He growls.

I can't help the pathetic squeak that seeps through the tape as they proceed to travel up a set of stairs. The loud screech of a metal door opening makes my blood run cold.

I am set down on a metal chair. I hear a few movements and footsteps fading away, and a door closing. One of them ties my hands roughly with a sturdy rope to the back of the chair and the other’s hand hovers on my cheek, before swiftly ripping the tape off carefully.

"Okay, now tell us everything you know about Healer." I widen my eyes. What should I be more shocked by? The question or the source of the voice.

"Tell us now." The robotic and monotone speaking is creeping me the fuck out. They seem to be using some sort of technology to mask their voices but this only confuses me more as I’ve already heard their voices anyway.

This could mean that they’re scared I might figure them out somehow.

Should I have?

"I... I don't know...." I lie, my voice hoarse like sandpaper. Maybe they're like ‘anti-healer’, out to get them, a rival gang trying to get information out of me.

It’s clear that a group like Healer would have many enemies on their tail, not only the police but rich conglomerates who may become their next targets.

"Who is healer?" The robotic voice commands, with the buzzing hum of the tone sending shivers down my spine. What I need now is to have my sight back; A crucial sense that may help me figure out a plan to get out of here.

"I-I’ll tell you if you untie the blindfold."

“That’s not happening.”

I bite my lip before saying in a low voice, "My family will be looking for me. My father’s a cop.” I try to sound threatening, but I’m failing quite miserably as one of them scoffs.

The sound of typing on a phone can be heard. I guess if they can conceal their voices with some device, they would have other devices to easily unlock my phone too at their beckoning.

He begins to read my messages aloud.

Blair: Where the hell r u

Blair: You bitch. I can’t finish the whole pizza by myself.

Blair: Actually I can, so you better come before I demolish this myself.

Blair: I swear to sweet jesus I am dragging your fat ass to the gym with me tomorrow if you don’t come.

I almost wince from the messages sent, pissed that they’ve gotten ahold of my private and quite frankly- embarrassing messages.

"What should I tell her?" The voice challenges.

I gulp, but raise my chin up higher. "If I end up getting dragged to the gym because of you assholes, I’m really going to get mad."

Usually in a situation like this, I’d be dead scared, recalling horror stories from my Father of the kidnapping cases that would end up in tragedy. But somehow, this all feels ridiculous and annoys me more than anything.

He doesn't say anything but starts typing on my phone instead. "Hey!" I yell, trying desperately to wiggle my way out of the chair. After he's done, he reads my response- or rather his response.

Arden: lol I don't think I'll be able to come. Maybe next week! The bus was delayed and I'm like so tired.

"I don’t even say ‘lol’?" I argue with a scowl.

"Read your previous messages. Don't you think that term is overdue now?" Even though the voice is monotone, I can almost sense the hint of amusement behind it. “You also use ‘like’ a lot.”

"Bastard..." I mutter bitterly, looking away.

"Hey." One of them snaps his fingers at me, and I jerk my head back up, the sudden gesture scaring me as I’m still blindfolded.. "Answer the damn question."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Answer now," He demands again, obviously back to the seriousness of things. "What's next huh? Maybe I should text your family now: ‘I'm not happy here anymore, I've run away to China? Or maybe, it's suffocating living here, I'll end my life-"

“Do it.” Despite the rising anger bubbling inside me, I suddenly realise that they have every chance to physically hurt me right now but haven’t chosen to do so.

"Are you sure?" He asks menacingly, agitated at my lack of fear.

“They won’t believe you anyway,” I say quietly. “They know I’d never leave them.”

They go quiet, and I scoff. “And I’m not Chinese you racist!”

I hear them begin to shuffle their bodies, like they're in discomfort, as I say this. They actually seem to be frustrated and even more on edge than I am. Suddenly I’m suspicious of their identity.

The fact that they have to conceal their voices and how they’re not physically hurting me is strange. They want to know what I know about Healer and they somehow know about my exchange with the Healer gang.

I smirk.

"You guys are Healers aren't you?"

Before they can reply, I hear the metal doors open with a bang, their several muffled voices becoming louder with every step.

“What the heck is going on here.”

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing!”

My mouth opens in shock. I don’t need to see to know who’s speaking.

Jace and Kai.

___

Errr kinda reckless guys!

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