LEARNING TO FORGIVE YOU

6.

["You're getting him back."]

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The next day, Alex woke up earlier than usual, her first thought being to make a plan to get Nick and Liza back. The first step in that plan was to confront the soldiers directly, so she immediately headed to where they were stationed by the gate.

On her walk to the gate, she heard a bottle smash followed by yelling. As she got closer, she saw the girl who stayed with the Clark family as well. She was the daughter of the woman who had been taken away last night.

The slightly older girl was throwing all kinds of objects at the soldiers and yelling at them, demanding to know where they had taken her mother. As Alex watched her yell at them, the girl eventually fell to her knees, tears in her eyes. This prompted Alex to jog up to the girl and make sure she was alright.

"Hey, Ofelia, right?" Alex asked, crouching down beside the older girl who was now on the gHey round. The girl nodded, sniffing back her tears.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked her.

Ofelia shook her head, a tear rolling down her face. "These assholes stormed the place we were staying last night and took my mother because of her foot." she explained, lifting her head to look at Alex. "Wait, aren't you the friend of the boy they took as well, last night?" she asked, slightly confused.

Alex nodded sadly, then glanced at the soldiers behind the fence. "I was just about to try and get some information from them, but it looks like you've already tried."

"Come on, let's get back to the house." Alex said, nodding her head away from the fence as she helped Ofelia to her feet. "I'm Alex, by the way." she introduced herself, smiling softly at the older girl.

"Ofelia, but you already knew that." the other girl replied, smiling shyly.

"Hey, I may have picked up on the fact that one of the soldiers kinda has a thing for you. Is that correct?" Alex stated rather than asking the older girl.

"Maybe, why?" Ofelia said, a small smile creeping onto her lips.

"I kind of have a plan, but now that I know you have a thing for him too, I don't know if we ca—" Alex rambled, but stopped talking when Ofelia cut her off.

"Don't worry, just tell me the plan." the older girl said, reassuringly.

Alex sighed, nervously blowing out a big breath before she started explaining her plan. "Okay, so, I know for a fact that at least one of those guys knows where they took your mom and my friend. So, we just have to get one of them alone. And that's where you come in." Alex said, waiting for the girl's reaction as they reached the Clark's house.

Ofelia nodded, a bit skeptical. "Okay... What do I have to do?" she asked as Alex climbed onto Travis's car, then stuck her hand out to help Ofelia up before doing the same to get onto the roof.

"This." Alex began, helping Ofelia up onto the roof. "is where I spend most of my time." she said proudly, arms spread wide. "Probably also the reason why you don't see me much." she added, scratching the back of her head.

Ofelia chuckled softly, shaking her head, receiving a small smile back from Alex. "Okay, so, to come back to the plan." she began, moving to sit down against the stone block. "We have to get the soldier somwhere alone. But not in the open, though."

"I think I might have an idea for that." Ofelia said. "The people that lived in the house two houses away from this one have a basement. We could bring him there," she added, pointing to the house on their right.