Freaks

14- Fun Reasons

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Aster sits on a hard blue seat in the police station, Jackson sits farther to her left, and Malakai to her right.

"I told you not to involve yourself." She whispers to Malakai, "Now none of this will make sense."

"Oh trust me it will. I know these officers, you get used to them when you see them a lot. You'd know the feeling." He swipes his finger over her knuckles, "Just stick with the story."

She sighs as a broad-shouldered man with a sleeved flannel and a tie, a shiny name tag on his chest that's written Daniel, and dark stubble around his jaw being his only welcoming appearance.

He points to the left, "I've called your parents Jackson, I've seen you once this week over that rumor." He turns to them, "As for you two, I'm not surprised. I don't need your parents to come and argue with you, I just need you to explain yourselves, we have a suspect on the loose after all."

They all look up at him like scared children. He pulls up a chair to sit backward on, facing them with his hairy arms crossed over the top, "We don't need to make a big deal out of this. I understand how Alice March is the overall suspect for killing her father, it makes sense. I understand the rest of you wanted to save Landon Wester," He turns his head, "But what I don't understand is why. How did all of it start? Give me some details."

"The warehouse." Malakai says in a hurry and Daniel raises a brow, "Me and Aster snuck inside it for fun and overheard them talking."

"Okay. And what about your little friend? Luke or whatever. Why wasn't he with you two?"

Malakai straightens his lips and turns his head to Aster, "Well, we were...sneaking inside for some...fun reasons." He smiles at the man, "If you know what I mean."

"Right." He coughs uncontrollably, "That's an update." He pulls out a notepad and pen, handing it out for someone to reach, "Can one of you write the street address if you remember it?"

Aster takes it quickly, her cheeks bright red and hot, she carries her head over it to hide.

Malakai continues, "There were a bunch of drugs there too. We found out later that Alice was selling the same kinds. We talked with Jackson because we knew they were friends, eventually, he told us he didn't want to be a part of her plan, he was afraid of getting killed if he left."

Aster tries to hand him back the notepad but he pauses, "Can you write down the types of drugs you saw?"

She shakes her head, "Possibly coke. Definitely weed. The basics. The rest I've never even seen."

Malakai chuckles, "You'd make our school empty if you found out who all was using them too."

Daniel nods and takes back the notepad, "I don't care about them. They're all victims at this point, to Alice and her father. I don't need names, once we get the drugs out of there, the problem will be solved."

They all agree with nods and Daniel taps his finger on the metal part of the chair, "So what's the reason for not calling the police? Especially when you found out there was a kidnapping."

"We weren't sure where he would be going. We didn't call because we didn't know what tricks he could play. We wanted our knowledge of it to be a secret until we found the safest way to get him. Plus Alice was also a threat, if her dad ended up in jail...we would've been goners."

Daniel cocks his head, "So...you got Jackson's side of the story, then what?"

"He told us where Landon was, which was that basement. We made our own plan to go save him, and also to try and stop Alice from killing Andrew."

"Alright." He stiffens his mouth and gets up from the chair, "If you two want to call your parents to come get you, have at it. Otherwise, I want the both of you here until we find Alice. The whole team's gonna be searching for her for a while, choice is yours."

They both share a glance and shake their heads, "They won't care." Malakai says, laying back in his chair, "I got all night."

Daniel returns the chair to its original spot, "Jackson, your mother should be here any minute. She said you're going to your grandpa."

The sappy boy nods quickly.

"I'm sorry you had to be a part of this mess. I see the good in you. Don't let me see you here again though." He raises his brows, "Got me?"

He nods again.

"Make it stay that way."

He turns away, into the hallway, trading paths with an officer who keeps a close eye on all of them.

Aster peers at Malakai with annoyance, "You're horrible."

He only looks at her and smiles mischievously.

...

The next day, morning rises with its bright orange sun and pink skies, it shines through the windows. At a certain point, it's up enough to shine right into Harper's eyelids and disturb her peaceful sleep.

It was the best sleep she'd gotten in a while, considering what she did yesterday. Especially what happened to her leg which she isn't aware of until she tries to sit up and stretch her leg, her feet no longer containing shoes, just socks. Then the pain of the stretch becomes more apparent and she sucks in air through her teeth.

She lays her head back down on the pillow that wasn't there before she blacked out. She turns her whole body to its side so she can wake up her eyes by fighting the light. She can see the coffee table is cluttered with trash, torn packages from bandages, and the bloody piece of torn shirt that was once over her leg...which reminds her.

She moves her head away from the light and searches the room, the front door is wide open, and it blinds her eyes more when she tries to look. But she hears Luka talking to his phone, eventually, she sees he's slouched over the railing of the porch, shirtless, it's too hot for shirts she supposes.

"Just text me or something Kai, getting worried." He presses the red dot before he blows a huff of exhaustion.

A half-burnt cigarette becomes noticeable in his right hand, he puts it to his mouth and places his phone in the back pocket of his black jeans. Harper can't tell whether it's more muscle or bone that contains his shoulder blades, poking out of his back along with the small ridges of his spine and the faint lines of his ribs.

He blows a cloud into the windy air, maybe it's not quite as hot as it's been all week, so why is he shirtless? No telling.

She continues watching him how she wouldn't normally see him, how he acts when he's by himself. He stresses his hand through his hair, trying to get it out of his face, but it just goes right back to bother him.

He's selfless. He's normal. Nothing is confusing about him. He's not any different than the others, he just has a bad attitude for whatever reason.

He moves his head to the left to look somewhere, his eyes slowly and hesitantly looking at Harper as a way of checking on her. He expects her to be asleep or at least slowly waking up but it's accidental eye contact he's faced with.

She lays her head back down quickly and starts pulling a loose thread from the seam of the couch.

A/N~ I see Daniel as Michael Fassbender btw. Ty and gn  😃❤️‍🔥🔪
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