Destined to be With You (Original, English Version)

Chapter 14 - Alexis Reed

The wedding is as I imagined. The weeks leading up to it, I find myself sticking to Alex. I really can't wait that much longer. It's cool that dad grudgingly allowed me to stay with him even at night though we aren't married yet. It took a while before we fully transitioned into a married couple. We compromised a lot. Whenever we have arguments, we would go to my parents' place. Initially, I thought Alex would find it unfair, but he was readily agreeable to my parents' advices. Most of the time, we'll find that it's me who's at fault. Yep, he's always been more mature than I do. It took a while before I could fully adjust from that. It took a while before I listened to him and everything he has to say. He's mostly right. And by listening to him, I find that I've expanded my own perspective on things. I matured with him.

We were celebrating our second anniversary with my family at my parents' house when something unexpected happened. After the celebrations, we were hanging out at the living room, having light conversations and watching the news when we saw it. It was a breaking news and the scale of the incident caught everyone's attention. It spanned almost two states, with car chases and crashes, explosives on warehouses, ambulances and fire trucks and police cars on the streets. It appeared like the authorities had an encounter with a criminal organization and the criminals were trying to escape.

"That's terrible." Alena commented, eyes glued on the tv. Everyone's watching it closely. I turned to Alex and he seemed unaffected. I like how he can remain calm and composed when others aren't. Somehow, he affected me and I see myself disassociated from the news. It's a cause for concern, but there's nothing I can do about it. I could only watch. So, I didn't fuss like Alena and Alice did. They kept commenting with their thoughts and feelings. Out of habit, both of them have their phones out to search for more information about the news. It seemed to be happening in real time.

After a while, I noticed that the clips on the background are on a loop. No clear information is available on what exactly is going on, most of the content and narratives are speculations only. The reporter repeats that claim every five or ten minutes so as not to mislead the watching public. After half an hour without any new information, dad said to change the channel. Other news channels are on the same incident, though. When dad asked Alena to change the channel to something else, she wouldn't budge. Mom and dad started a different conversation on the side, though still about the news. Old ones that are as horrifying as the one we just saw. In my mind, I don't think it's as bad as 9/11. After another half hour, new bits of information seem to be coming in. Aside from the local PD, the FBI is also involved. There was a new clip of a car chase through the highway, taken from the air. Either by a helicopter reporter, or drones. The onsite reporter narrates the location of the chase. It went on for minutes. As it's already late at night, there aren't many vehicles on the highway. Imagine if that happened in a traffic jam. Suddenly, the car giving chase accelerated and hit the tail of the car being chased. It made a turn of 180 degrees and it stopped as it hits the pavement and a street light. The pursuing car positioned itself on the front of the other car, presumably stopping its escape. Unfortunately, that car started backing up. Alena was almost yelling. I had my hand in my throat as well. You can't let that car get away. And then, to everyone's surprise, there was a crash as another car rammed into it from the opposite direction. I sighed in relief. For what reason, I don't know. That car won't be escaping now. A man climbed out from the car that crashed. The footage is a bit blurry from the zooming in. He seems bloodied and injured as he kept a hand on his side. He seems to be shaking his head, probably shaking off the dizziness from the crash. He dropped down on the ground, barely holding on. The person on the other car got out as well. He seemed to be in a better condition. He was holding a gun and trained it on the trapped car. Two shots were heard. It seemed he shot the wheels on both front and back. He seemed to be talking to the other guy who waved his hand before getting back up. He pulled his own gun and trained them on the car. It would seem the windows are tinted. They checked the front of the car first. Slowly, they pulled a person. Laid him on his front and handcuffed his hands on his back. They went to get another person and did the same to him. When they get to the back of the car, they pulled a third man. While one of them is handcuffing him, a fourth man from the car suddenly ran out of it. He seemed groggy though. A shot was fired in the air, a warning shot. The injured officer, I'd say he's part of police or whatever authorities are involved, gave a short chase even in his condition. The camera followed them and he made another shot. The running man stumbled onto his front. He looked to be alive though, crawling, in fact. The officer dropped to his knees, though, seemingly utterly exhausted. In another minute, four ambulances arrived on the scene. The officer threw handcuffs towards the crawling man and someone else cuffed him. They were all gone in minutes, loaded into the vehicles. It was thrilling to watch. After another half hour, there still seems to be no update from authorities. Funnily enough, the reporter stated that they received a request to cease the broadcast but without a proper reason provided, they didn't heed the request. Alice voiced my own question: what if the broadcast is interfering with the operations? The criminals could see it. They could be exposing the location of the authorities given how they reported all places that have disturbances. And then, the station went off air. When Alena switched to other channels, they were rendered off air as well. Wow. We all gaped at it. They should be on air again when all's done, right? Even Alex expressed interest now. With no other choice, Alena and Alice switched to their phones and gave us a running commentary about what they've read. Then, there were disruptions. The channels seem to be coming back on air, except it didn't after a few minutes. It looks like a glitch. Suddenly, Alex's phone on the table started ringing. The caller ID shows Axel.

"What's up?" Alex asked when he answered.

I could hear Axel yelling from the other end, "Have you seen the news?"

"The one that's now off air? Yeah." Alex calmly answered.

"Have you noticed the cars? Did those look familiar to you?" He's still loud, and I realized even Alice and Alena from across us can hear him.

"What cars?" Alex started feeling agitated, his eyes drifting to the vacant tv.

"Go check the news clips. I swear I've seen them from Lee's racetrack before. I'll call you back." When the call ended, Alex went on a search engine to find the news clips.

I was watching the clips beside him, when he suddenly stopped the video. He stared at the car on the screen. He continued to play it, and stopped at another car. He exited the browser and went to his contacts. He clicked on one and started a call.

I heard someone say "hello".

"Did Lee come to see you? Did she take those cars?" I'm starting to understand what the issue is. I couldn't hear the person's response but I saw Alex opened his mouth in surprise.

"When? When did you see her?"

"Do you have her number?" He grimaced upon receiving an answer to this. I guess he won't be able to contact his sister.

After thanking the other person, he ended the call and contacted Axel again.