Retrospect

Forty-eight

When I recognized my mom's dirty blonde hair, I called louder to my parents, scrambling to my feet and racing over to whoever was closest.

The masked man regarded me carefully as I threw my arms around my mom, burying my head in her shoulder. She spoke to me in the sweetest voice, full of comfort, but it started to sound like a goodbye. Tears were traveling down her cheeks. "You found us, Cory. I don't know how you did it...but you did," she laughed, "Cory, oh honey, I love you so much and-"

"Alright, enough! Enough!" The masked man snarled. "Go say goodbye to your dad now and then we can start the process."

I turned around. I was not going to leave after being reunited with the very people I needed most. The very people I had come here for. "What are you talking about? I'm not letting you take them from me," I warned.

The masked man sighed. "Stop with the questions, Cavey. There's only," he checked his clock under his coat, "fourteen minutes and ten seconds to go before you get to watch the show." He looked me up and down, thinking something over in his head. "Although, now that I think about it...you could also join them. I mean, we can't have you running around the city anymore and you seem to know a lot of valuable information."

Reeves' voice echoed off the walls of the room. "Who are you?! What are you going to do?!" he yelled.

The masked man shook his head slowly, strolling over to Reeves who was being held back by three officers. "Oh, scared now, are we?" He laughed, crossing his arms and clearing his throat. "Sorry, allow me to introduce myself. You can call me Hale," he said, "it's the family name anyway."

Murl pointed at the masked man. "That means you must be Jack...the son of...what's his name..." the masked man nodded in anticipation, waiting for Murl to carry on. "Carl Hale? The guy responsible for the entire Hale corporation?"

The masked man dipped his head. "Well, I'm not the son of the man who owns Hale anymore. I am the man who owns Hale," he explained, lighting up at the title he had given himself. "My father had left the Hale business when he died to his friend, Fred Herron. Except this buddy of mine, Danny, disapproved of the way Herron and my father had run things at Hale. So Danny simply removed Herron from the picture and took his place. My dear friend might've chosen to break a few of my father's original rules for the business also," he explained, snickering.

"So Cory, you can blame everything that's been happening for the past three months on Danny. It was all Danny's idea, his doing. And when you stole my device, Cory, and everyone treated me like a child after that, especially Danny, that was when I realized I deserved the power he craved," Hale said.

"So I...got rid of Danny like he'd done to Herron and now I'm just continuing where he left off, accomplishing what he had wanted to accomplish. Mr. Laurier here," Hale gestured to Miles' father, "offered to help me with my little project, and together, we released a weapon eight years in the making. The one that can remove memories as fast as lightning. No more waiting around for the process to complete.

"Once I have all your memories," he went on and on, "it won't be hard to finally control this city, not just this building. With everyone's memories in my brain I will know everything, I'll own everything, everyone will follow me without any complaints because they'll have no choice but to and this city will finally function like it's supposed to function. Under my control. Not Danny's, not Herron's, not my father's. Mine."

I couldn't not say something. Everything this masked man-who insisted to be called Hale-was spouting was ridiculous. "You're crazy! You can't just take people's memories like that! They don't belong to you!" I shouted, running at the man with the blade ready in my hand. Hale aimed his weapon at me and exploded the floor in front of me, so I jumped and rolled to the side. I instantly regretted my impulsive attempt to hurt the man.