Out of Time

chapter 17 - emptiness

Hate and anger - whilst both being strong and valid emotions - eat you up. That may be the reason for the emptiness in my life. Thoughts invade my everyday life, reminding me of how much of a disappointment I am and provoking the hating feelings that overtake me. Like right now, I'm staring at my ceiling, trying to fall asleep.

My alarm clock says it's 3:30 am, so I should feel tired. I mean, I do. I just can't seem to fall asleep. I groan as I pull myself out of bed. If I'm going to be up, I might as well do something useful. I pull out my computer and connect it to my phone. I spend the next hour encrypting it and putting in extra security measures. I have done this many times before, so it doesn't take too long. This means that I still have ages before I need to go to school.

I chuck on some activewear and warm up. I push open the door, remembering to lock it and take off on my journey. The repetitive beats of my footsteps could lull me to sleep, but unfortunately, I'm running. The roads are barren, which simultaneously calms and unnerves me. Reflecting on yesterday's phone calls with Harvey and Kieran, I replay them in my mind.

~~

I sigh as my phone rings in the middle of maths class. The teacher looks up from her computer to glare at me. "Your phones need to be on silent, Ms Wright." I ignore her as I exit the classroom. As soon as I saw the person calling me, I left immediately.

Harvey begins as soon as I pick up. "Ok, I found a few things on Dean. So, he is the brother of Callum, as well as another one called Xavier. His parents are named Henry and Niamh. Their public arrest record is pretty clean, with only a few speeding tickets. However, I dug deeper and found out that they run the American Mafia."

I stop dead in my tracks. Like I was a total statue. "Who's the heir?" I ask. If it's Dean or Callum, I am royally screwed.

"Luckily for you, it's Xavier. Callum is the youngest." I sigh in relief before beginning my journey to the courtyard.

"Ok, what else did you find?"

"Nothing much, but I found that Dean is really good with guns. Like, amazing." I'm not particularly surprised by this, but it means that I have to be really careful from now on.

"Wait, why was Callum there if he's part of the mafia?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but he could be a spy or an ambassador of some sort. We are very neutral with them, as we don't have a history or any current deals. Maybe they're looking for an alliance with us?" It's a good theory, but I feel like there is something a bit off about it.

"Maybe. Don't ask Callum or anything because it'll tip them off. You need to be very careful if you go any further."

So, I have 2 pieces of information that I can hold against Dean; his mafia status and when I nearly killed him. Both damage his reputation, but not him physically. I rack my brain for any more questions before our first encounter comes to mind.

---

"I need you two to come with me," his low voice orders.

"Why?" I ask him.

He shrugs nonchalantly, "the boss wants you."

---

"Harvey, is he hired by anyone? That you can see, of course."

"I don't believe so. Why?"

"He told me that 'his boss' wanted me during his failed kidnapping. That would be his father unless he was hired by someone else." Dots begin to connect in my head.