Trouble in Tiltown

Reunited once again

I awoke to a security guard yelling at us to wake up from our uncomfortable sleep. I jumped down and saw the guard standing in front of our cell. Jerrick sat up from his bed as he rubbed his eyes before glancing at me then to the officer.
"You got a visitor." He says as he disappears from our view. Then, in comes a girl. A familiar face.
She tucks her red hair behind her ear before looking up, "I'm helping you guys out of here." She says.
"Kat?" I breathed in surprise. Jerrick rushed up to the cell doors, holding the bars.
"I'm so sorry." She apologizes as she looks at Jerrick, her eyes watering at the sight of Jerrick.
"It's not your fault but we do need your help." Jerrick replies.
Kat nodded, "Of course. As soon as I found out that Elouise got murdered, I knew I was on the wrong side." Although I knew about my sister's unfortunate ending, it came to a surprise every time I heard it. I walked away to hide the pain in my face, allowing Jerrick and Kat to have a conversation.
"We need to stop James. He has Laurence and West's family. James is dangerous." I heard Jerrick whisper to Kat. It stayed silent for a moment until I hear Kat's voice speak up once again.
"West is safe, right?" She questions Jerrick. I squinted my eyes as I kept my head low, standing in the corner of the dimmed cell.
"He needs our help. Can't you trust me?" Jerrick asks.
"Yeah, of course. Anyways, I'm here to bail you guys out." She says before I hear her footsteps distance themselves from the hallway.
I turn to Jerrick who sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes.
"Why is she so suspicious of me?" I asked him.
"She's just scared. I mean, aren't we all?" He replies.
"If we are going to help each other, we have to trust each other." I tell him as he nods quickly. Soon enough, a police officer came up to us and let us out of the cell before we changed back into our normal clothes.

As Kat drove us to my home, my eyes stayed glued to the woods as Jerrick and her talked the whole time.
"Did you hear the update about Elouise?" Kat asked him. The name stabbed me in the chest suddenly. Each time, something my stomach turned, making me feel nauseous.
"Update?" Jerrick inquired her. My eyes stopped observing the woods and focused in on Kat.
"The officer found a glowing red chip in her neck. The strange part is that they didn't give out the information publicly." She explains to us.
I leaned in between the two of them, "Then how do you know?"
"James told me. He acted kinda panicked about it, I didn't understand why." She answers. Jerrick and I exchanged looks as if we both were thinking the same thing. A chip in her neck, just like how I found a chip in my friend's neck.

As I entered my home after Jerrick and Kat left, a note was left on my mattress. I rushed to it as my eyes scanned the words.
"Meet me outside your 'home' at midnight. If you fail to show, then you lost your chance at any kind of happiness or relief. - James."

I glanced at my watch, seeing it was only noon. My hands scattering through the junk on my desk, I grab ahold of another pocket knife and things I'll most likely need to defend myself. Once I finished with my mental checklist, I plopped down onto my bed. Closing my eyes for a moment, I hadn't realized just how tired I was until a moment became hours instead.

I sat upright quickly, checking the time on my clock. It was just five minutes until midnight. As I grab my pocket knife and head outside, awaiting James's arrival, my stomach moans in hunger.
I glance down, "Shut up, not now." I whispered to my obnoxiously loud stomach.
"You're looking a bit unwell, West." A voice announces from the woods. I throw my knife up and watch James emerge from the woods, slowly.
"I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much." I defended. His eyes scan me from head to toe, his facial expression disagreeing with my claim.
"Anyways, I'm giving you a choice. You can have your family, your real family." He pauses.
"Is this a trick?" My eyebrow raises with suspicion.
"Not tricks at all. I'll lend you over your real family, only if I get to keep Laurence." He offers me the deal officially.
"Why do you want to keep Laurence? He's just a teen boy." I scoffed.
"Because I know that if I give him over, I'll be at square one all over again. He talks too much." He explains. As we stand in silence, he waits for me to think about it before he begins to become impatient. To see Amber and Scott again, that's just too good.
"I ain't gonna wait all day. You make up your mind right now or else-
"Yes! I'll take your offer." I interrupted him.
He widens a grin on his face, "Great. Follow me." He orders as we walk through the woods.

Once we get inside, he leads me to the beds where Amber and Scott were.
"No chip. These are the real deal." He says as he takes off straps off of them. My eyes watered at the sight of my family. As I observed the room, I spotted Laurence who laid asleep in a nearby bed. James took notice of this and scowled at me.
"You best remember our deal." He strictly reminds me.
My eyes snap back to James, "I do." I spat back.
"It'll take a while for them to awaken, but they will." He smirks cockily. I lift Scott into my arm and hold Amber in my other one, leaving without another word.

As I gently place them on the mattress, Scott's eyes flutter open slowly. I feel my eyes burn as tears drop from them while he awakens finally.
"Hi Scott." I greet him, shakily.
He rubs his eyes, "Is that you, Dad?" He questions.