A Fool's Coming

Ch. 9 - Back to Reality

I stand up quickly, ignoring the horrible pain on my side. I brush my fingers through my hair, trying to figure out how to answer Jschlatt's question, but I don't have the answer.

I'm still trying to figure it out myself, really.

"Why did they...?" Jschaltt hesitated, "Not kill you?"

I let out a slow breath, staring at him finally. "They obviously wanted to know where I took their golden substance or whatever the hell," I say, not sure if I'm trying to convince him or myself.

He rolls his eyes, but I hear the urgency in his voice. "Obviously not . If that were the case, they would have started asking you that immediately. They only mentioned it twice and didn't even ask where it was."

"They were getting to it."

Jschlatt ignores me, folding his arms and contemplating.

"What?" I ask, suddenly irritated, "What is it?"

"I can't understand why they acted like that."

"Like what?"

"I mean Ares hugged you, are you serious?" Jschlatt gave me a look.

"You don't know that, he was just stopping me from leaving." I give him a look back.

Jschlatt then walked forward and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Kid, I think—"

Before he can finish, Puffy runs into the room, looking panicked, she sees us awakened and immediately relaxes before she becomes hurried again.

"We have got to go," she states.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Dream I- I think he found us." She looks over her shoulder as if expecting him there.

My eyes widen as I take a step forward. "Wait, really? How?"

She scoffed, "I don't know, you can ask him yourself if you want to stay here for the bastard. Let's go."

I glance back at Jschlatt, who has a look of worry on his face.

"What the hell did I get myself into?" He asks himself.

~

As we walk through the factory, I whisper to Puffy. "How do you know he's here."

"Because I heard a loud noise somewhere in this building. No one else would come here, so it has to be Dream."

I have a deep feeling curled up inside me, but it eats me alive like a starved man. "Are you sure it's not anyone else?"

"What do you mean?" She glances at me over her shoulder.

"No, they couldn't," Jschlatt answers, already knowing what I'm talking about—the Syndicate. "There's no way in hell. Not only do they have no clue where we are, they couldn't get here that fast—that's impossible."

My thoughts turn away from the conversation in hand and I think of my life more. I haven't been to school in a while... gods, it's gonna be a bitch when I go back. And Sally...a sense of dread washes over me, I hope she's okay.

Puffy stops in her tracks and I almost bump into her. "Oh shit," she loudly vocalizes, holding out her phone suddenly.

"What?" I ask, eyes wide and alert, "What is it?"

"It's Alex, the Syndicate—"

"Is he okay?" Jschlatt interrupts oddly showing concern. Gods, why do we all have to be so quiet about our care?