Second Wind

The sky looked weird. Thick clouds and bright sun met at one point. Even though it was just a phenomenon, I felt there was a bad sign around myself.

Ryu and I had discussed our objective. He was still able to talk while driving in hurry. His idea sounded smart.

A small red building came into view from here. It was a restaurant where Ryu worked. It had a large board written "Paradining". It also had a great parking lot in front of its main door. Several cars stayed there. Some dense trees adorned its corners. Overall, it looked pleasant.

This jalopy got closer to the restaurant. Ryu drove to another parking lot located at the back of this restaurant. It was actually a specific area for the employees to park their vehicles. However, it looked very bad with lots of big trash.

Ryu and I got out of this car after it was parked properly while Will stayed in the car. Each of us had a tiny walkie-talkie.

Ryu had explained his plan in depth. We all understood every step. But, this had a high risk. A small mistake would destroy not only the plan but also our existence.

I felt embarrassed wearing this dull jacket and a blue T-shirt with some holes in it while Ryu looked manly in his security uniform. We moved to the back door of this restaurant. It was connected to a lit kitchen.

This was more shameful when a flock of kitchen workers stared at me. They were willing to stop their tasks for a while to see me who was being dragged away by Ryu.

"Another stealer, huh?" one of them spoke with cheeriness.

"As you can see," Ryu responded.

"Wait! I thought you're off duty today," said another guy.

"Indeed."

"Then, why you're here?"

"I missed something last night. And, I found this stealer. Letting Clint know about this might get him to consider a cut of my pay."

"You're really sneaky, Man!"

"Yeah, you're so sneaky!" said four other guys at the same time.

"I can help you if you want!" another person volunteered.

"No. I don't need any help," Ryu confirmed.

"Oh, c'mon! Of course you need!" said the man who talk to Ryu at the first time. "Besides, you're not on duty today."

"Yeah, Bob is right!" said all the workers. "Let us help you!"

They all approached Ryu and pushed him away. Two people held my arms and one guy pressed on my shoulder. They took me down a hallway. The others followed us. Ryu just watched me and shrugged. He took out his walkie-talkie while walking away.

These workers looked very excited. They joked and chuckled along this hallway. As Ryu said, they're so childish.

After several steps, we arrived in front of a room. Its door had a word that said "Manager". They led me into this room. A well-dressed man sat at the middle side. He was surprised to see us enter this place in droves.

"What's going on here?" said the well-dressed man.

"I caught a stealer, Mr. Clint!" said the one who was holding my right arm.

"No! You didn't!" the person who was holding my left arm disagreed. "I'm the one who caught this guy!"

"No! It's me!" another person yelled.

The same words appeared on another worker. It kept repeating in the different mouths. They debated till their manager, Mr. Clint, was infuriated.

"Enough!" he scolded.

Everyone was silent on the double. We all looked at Mr. Clint. His face turned red now.

"Why do you bring him here?" he asked in a furious tone.

Most of the workers gulped. No one dared to answer him.

"Back to work!" Mr. Clint commanded. "Now!"

They stopped holding me. All of the workers left this room. The only ones who remained here were Mr. Clint and me. This started becoming awkward.

"So, how many times have you stolen the food?" he questioned.

I just kept quiet. I didn't want to answer him.

"Well," he continued, "it's not a problem if you don't like to have a talk."

Mr. Clint leaned closer to a small telephone that was at the end of his desk. It didn't have a handset. He pressed a button and waited for a while.

"Jack here," a man spoke from the telephone.

"Hey, Jack! Please come to my office," Mr. Clint commanded.

"Copy that!"

Mr. Clint turned off the telephone. He didn't look at me anymore. He resumed doing his stuff on his computer.

After around two minutes, a guy knocked on the door. He entered this room after Mr. Clint said, "Come in!"

The man looked sturdy. He wore the same black clothes as Ryu. A nametag said "Jack" attached to his shirt chest. A black baton and a pair of handcuffs hung from his waist.

"What's the matter?" Jack asked Mr. Clint.

"A stealer," said Mr. Clint while pointing at me.

"I got it."

Jack approached me and pulled me out of this room. We moved and retraced this hallway. Jack and I stopped in front of another room that had the word said "Security" on its door.

We entered this room. It was so narrow with a lot of lockers and racks. It had a small desk and two chairs facing each other.

There were three other men wearing the same black clothes in here. They stood at the back end and had chitchat.

"Took off your jacket!" Jack commanded.

I did what he said. I took off this dull jacket and placed it on the desk with awareness.

He picked up the jacket and checked every part of it. He was very thorough.

"Hands up!" he demanded.

I raised my hands as high as I could. I felt tickled and ashamed when he groped my chest, back, stomach, hip, and waist.

Jack was surprised when he touched my pants left pocket. He felt something vibrate inside. He took it out straight away. He was amazed after he found my walkie-talkie.

"I guess you're not a common stealer," he said.

I didn't reply and just took a deep breath.

"Who are you and what're you planning?" he interrogated while showing the walkie-talkie to my face. "Answer me!"

His voice scared me. However, I had to tell him nothing.

"Mark, do you copy?" said someone from the walkie-talkie.

I identified that voice without a doubt. It's Will, who kept saying, "Mark, do you copy?"

Jack was annoyed. He brought the walkie-talkie closer to my mouth.

"Answer this!" he commanded.

I didn't want to speak. I moved my feet and attempted to run away. However, Jack's response was very fast. He caught me with his left hand before I reached the door. It was beyond my thinking.

He put the walkie-talkie on the desk. He pulled and placed me on a chair. He handcuffed my right wrist with the chair stile. This totally immobilized me.

"Mark, do you copy?" Will continued speaking through the walkie-talkie.

Jack took back the walkie-talkie. He brought it closer to my face.

"Answer!" Jack insisted.

Nothing I could do except do what he desired. I took the walkie-talkie and pressed its PTT button.

"It's Mark. I copy," I talked to Will.

"We're at the parking lot now, waiting for you. Over," he said.

Jack exhaled. He told me to say, "I'll be there."

"Okay, I'll be there. Hold on a second," I spoke with a small voice.

"Copy that!"

Jack snatched my walkie-talkie without delay.

"Get ready, guys!" he shouted to the three men behind.

"Stay here!" he cautioned me.

Jack and the three guys equipped themselves with various security items. They looked like soldiers. It was hard to believe the security in this restaurant was too overact.

"Let's move!" Jack commanded.

He opened the door and went out with my walkie-talkie. The others followed him. They left me alone in this room.

I tried to remove these handcuffs. Even though it was just my right wrist that was shackled, I was still unable to release it. I never imagined how moron I was.

A few seconds had passed. The door was open abruptly. It's Ryu. He entered this room with a small key. He quickly approached me and removed the handcuffs using the key.

"C'mon, let's go!" he demanded.

I picked up the dull jacket. We left this room together and ran to the backside of this restaurant. Another back door was waiting for us. We attained it and went out straightaway.

Ryu and I spilt temporarily. He ran to the right beside the wall while I got into the jalopy. A lot of leftovers were filled inside here. It made this car become so stinking. I wouldn't like to think much about those.

I just started the engine and kept my eyes on Ryu. However, what was in front of my sight told me a disparity. I thought Ryu would watch the parking lot. In fact, he was kissing a girl who wore the restaurant uniform. He closed his eyes and kept smooching the girl. I didn't have any idea if she was his girlfriend; but now, I understood why he insisted on working at this weird restaurant.

Ryu kissed her for around two minutes. They finally stopped. The girl left Ryu and walked into the restaurant through the back door. Ryu approached this car. He got in and sat next to me.

"Let's go!" he commanded.

I drove out. Nothing fishy around here. We left this place and went home. I couldn't drive in full of quickness, but it didn't rule out the possibility that we could get home on time.

"I thought you'd watch for Jack and the other guards," I asked Ryu with disappointment.

"I did," he disagreed.

"Really? What I saw was you're rubbing a girl's butt."

"Well, honestly... we didn't need to watch that silly Jack. He only knows how to use his hands, not his brain."

"So, you lie about your own plan?"

"No, I don't. You can see the proof, can't you? We succeed to take this food."

"Alright. But, I want to know who that girl is."

"Why so curious? Are you envious?"

"No way! I just want to know if she is your girlfriend."

"No. But, she's a nymph sent by God to enter my heart. She—"

"Okay, enough," I interrupted.

Ryu chuckled. Sometimes, he talked nonsense. But, that wasn't the main point. As he said, we succeed to steal the leftover food. It was the important thing.

His simple plan was working. Maybe it was because he'd been working at that terrible restaurant for so long.

Remembering it wasn't arduous, because the main attack was just a small distraction. He knew the kitchen staff was so childish. When he talked about salary, they would turn into some kind of monkeys. It gave a chance for Will and him to disassemble every garbage and take the leftovers behind the restaurant. The walkie-talkie was more or less to rescue me inside the building, because Ryu knew much about the characteristic of those guards, including Jack.

What I was amazed at was that Will could trick Jack with a deep voice. For his age, it was almost impossible to be done.

We arrived home at 11.20 am. I parked the jalopy at the back while Ryu and Will brought all the leftovers into the house. I entered the house after a few seconds.

"Let's move him!" I commanded.

Ryu and I held Uncle Steven. We lifted his body up.

"You guys, fill the coffin with this trash," Ryu demanded.

We went upstairs while holding Uncle Steven. We brought him to his bedroom, left him alone in there, and walked back downstairs.

Amanda, Lucy, Caroline, and Will kept loading the coffin. Ryu and I ran back to the car to change clothes. We went back into the house and helped the others with the coffin.

Nothing more was left of this junk. We closed and locked the coffin. We were ready for the second wind.

Hilbert and Victor returned after a few minutes. They came with another man. He looked tough, just like Victor. Three of them approached us.

"We need two people to come with us," Hilbert demanded.

"For the funeral?" I enquired.

"Yeah."

"Why not all of us?"

"It's the policy. Neither you nor I can do with that. Maximum two people, shouldn't be more."

"Me and Richard," said Amanda. "We'll come with you."

"Alright then," Hilbert agreed.

Victor and the other guy came near to the coffin. They took it with the flowers out of this house and placed those inside a black hearse.

"Let's go!" Hilbert commanded.

"Watch for them, please!" Amanda told Caroline.

"You can count on me," said Caroline.

Hilbert walked away. Amanda and I followed him. We got into a black car that had Dockerney logo. Victor drove the car. We left this place in five minutes.

This car was very nice. It had comfortable seat made of fur. Its audio was playing enjoyable classical music. The engine wasn't piercing although this car moved in rapidity. It was the best vehicle I'd ever sat on.

We'd moved for twenty minutes. Many trees and buildings had been passed. The road that was initially deserted turned busy. However, it folded back into noiselessness after a few minutes. It was odd.

Victor decelerated the car. A gigantic building stood majestically at the far right distance. Amanda and I were stunned when we stared at the big "D" letter with a dollar symbol attached to the top of a building. We lastly arrived at Dockerney Company headquarters.

My watch showed 11.55 am. It was very near to lunchtime. Somehow, I didn't feel hungry at all. It was probably because of this absurd state.

Everyone got out of this car, except Victor. He continued driving to park this car after we walked to the big main door.

Amanda and I followed Hilbert into the building. It was very wide in here. The decoration flabbergasted me. It looked very posh. I often imagined when I could live in this kind of building.

We kept walking until we reached another smaller door behind this building. It had a small polished board beside it. Hilbert approached it and put his right thumb on the board. The door was unlocked after two seconds.

We resumed walking through this door. Our shoes stepped on a narrow rocky lane after a few paces. An expansive terrain encircled us from both sides. It had plenty of grass with some flowers and tombstones. This was clearly a cemetery, which belonged to Dockerney.

Four men stood at the edge. They're moving the coffin filled with leftover food to a well-prepared grave hole.

We speeded up our steps and approached those guys. The coffin had been placed in the hole. It also had a tombstone written Uncle Steven's name and the date of birth and death. The white flower arrangement stood beside the stone.

Everyone faced the gravestone. Hilbert took out a small book from his pants pocket. He delivered the words of that book with a pleasant tone. In fact, he read a single prayer for the funeral ceremony. He finished it in around five minutes. Those four men started burying the coffin cautiously. Amanda and I picked the white flowers after the burial. We placed those in front of the tombstone. The others also did the same thing. These all took a lot of time.

"Let's go!" Hilbert demanded.

He moved back to the building. Amanda and I walked behind him. Those other guys went away. Everyone left this cemetery.

A young lady came near Hilbert. She gave him a bottle of white wine.

Hilbert continued moving. Amanda and I kept following him. We exited this building and went to the same black car as the previous one.

"Get in. We'll go back to your house," Hilbert told us.

"Thanks," Amanda said.

He gave us a ride. It was so amiable.

Amanda and I got into the car. Like previously, we sat at the back while Hilbert took a seat next to Victor who would drive this car. Everyone was ready.

Victor started the engine. He drove very slowly, opposite the earlier. He seemed to be doing it on purpose. That was so annoying.

We left the headquarters at two o'clock. Its structure and the field vanished from our sight. This car was moving more and more slowly.

Hilbert opened the glove compartment. He took out a plastic box, opened it, and showed it to Amanda and me. Five sandwiches lay down inside this box.

"Take some," he offered.

Amanda accepted. "Thanks."

Amanda took one sandwich and thanked him. Her mouth moved toward the sandwich. This sight made my belly growl. It pushed me to take one of those sandwiches; else, it could harm my stomach. Hilbert also took one sandwich. He gave another one to Victor. We all had a late lunch together in this car.

It had been thirty minutes. We were still halfway home. It was getting humdrum. Somehow, Victor enhanced the car speed out of the blue after five minutes. This was really bizarre, even though the road conditions hadn't changed at all, it was still crowded.

The wheels of this car kept rolling. Some trees and small buildings appeared in our view. Each of them turned bigger. This car had reached Mendalthan.

Victor stopped the car beside a bush. All of us got out of the car. We finally arrived home at a quarter to four. It was a very long trip until my butt went numb.

Everyone had been waiting for us. Jimmy and Galton were here too. They all gathered in the living room. Some of them sat on the sofa while the others stood watching us.

We approached them. Victor stood next to a TV. Hilbert gave the wine bottle to Amanda. He planned for a simple post-funeral reception.

"You have some glasses, don't you?" Hilbert whispered to Amanda.

"I do," Amanda reassured.

She went to the back with the wine bottle. She was surprised for a moment before heading to the kitchen. However, it didn't make Hilbert and Victor suspicious at all.

Galton took out a paper from a bag on the table. I glimpsed it. That was a "Death Certificate" written on the paper. He gave it to Hilbert.

"Here it is," said Galton, "the death report."

Hilbert read the paper. He observed each sentence on it while nodding gently.

"Okay," he acknowledged.

I walked to Ryu. He looked so relaxed.

"Have you used the anti-drug?" I mouthed.

"I have," he spoke in a soft way. "Don't worry, everything is good."

"Okay then. Now, we just need to wait for them to leave."

"Yeah."

After a few minutes, Amanda came here with eight small glasses of white wine stood on a wooden tray. She placed those on the table.

"Ms. Amanda, could you come here for a while?" Hilbert demanded.

"Sure," she said.

Hilbert took out a phone from his pants pocket. The phone was great. It can be unfolded into a big size. It also had a pen in the middle of its screen. He took the phone and gave it to Amanda.

"Please sign this," he told Amanda.

I couldn't see the detail of its display. What my eyes could catch was a bright white screen. I felt something bad. However, Amanda didn't seem to mind signing it. After she was done, Hilbert took the pen and kept back his phone.

Each person held a glass of wine, except Lucy and Will. Everyone knew they were too young to drink alcohol.

"For Steven Cavergon," said Hilbert, "a parent of great children."

"Divorced parent," Amanda corrected.

"A divorced parent of great children," he repeated.

We all finished the wine in one gulp. Hilbert and Victor put the glasses on the table.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Hilbert spoke with a little smile. "God bless you all."

Victor stepped back. "Let's go!" he commanded.

They both went out and left this area after a few minutes. No more stranger was here any longer.

"I'm impressed you can control your anger," Jimmy admired Amanda.

"Thanks," she said.

"What did you sign before?" I asked her.

"Some kind of document," she replied with confidence. "Perhaps their company cooperation file."

"Wait, you don't know what thing you signed?"

"I know what I did. I just skimmed it. I didn't have time to read the whole file."

"It's okay," Caroline consoled. "Everything's done. Nothing to worry about now."

"Okay," I agreed.

"And then, can we have one more cheer for the nice plan?" someone spoke behind, from the kitchen.

It surprised me a little bit when two guys appeared. Those were Uncle Steven and Eddie. They both approached us with two small glasses filled with plain water, two empty glasses, and a bottle of white wine used before.

Everyone was so glad. Some of us chuckled. Else, including me, just smiled.

Eddie poured the wine to into all glasses. Each person took one. Lucy and Will held the glasses filled with water.

"For all of us!" Uncle Steven exclaimed.

"For all of us!" we repeated his words together.

We all had a drink. It tasted better than the previous.

"Anyway, where's Dr. Pomit?" I inquired.

"He's left," Caroline answered.

"Did he get mad?"

"Initially so since we've used his drug. But, he looked happy at the end."

"Why?"

"He didn't tell us the reason. I guess it's because his creation is successful."

Listening to that made all the worries extinct at once. No more nightmares would haunt us. It could be mentioned this plan was triumphant.

We succeeded to solve our trouble by running away. However, it didn't mean we were free from every next nuisance since Uncle Steven was the grand-troublemaker in this house. Nobody could expect what problem he could do for the next moment.

"I don't know what I hafta say," I told them my mandatory words with vigor. "But, thank you, everyone. I appreciate everything, glad to have you all. Without you guys, we might have ended up in their prison. Once more, thanks to all of you. And... I don't know how I can repay you."

Jimmy chuckled, "Well, how about... free drinks for every day?"

"Every day? Seriously?" I disagreed.

"C'mon, they deserve that!" Amanda supported him.

"Alright!" I relented.

They all guffawed at my unalterable nature. Amanda was right. The free drink might not matter at all. I understood this gladness was more worthy. It owned every smiling moment and mended each melancholy we'd walked through together. And, the free item, whatever it was, could never replace that.