Escapade

Chapter Seventeen: The Day of Deals

"Look, it ain't like ya had a choice, or somethin', but when you were a kid you were caught up in the mess your mom made and you killin' her made things worse. Maybe better. I dunno what you're family did to ya, but I saw you do your...your work or whatever it was on the Day of the Deal, and let me tell ya, it was somethin'. She was sufferin', so I get why, but..." 

Nothing Vinny said shocked me any more. I found it surprisingly easy to brush off his accusation, since I had no memory of doing anything to my mother. Instead, I just focused on getting answers. 

Vinny scratched at his temple and thought for a moment. "Hmm. How far back can you remember?"

"I can remember everything since I was around eleven, I think?"

"Eleven, eh? And how old are ya?"

"Sixteen."

"Ah." His face lit up in understanding. "Five years. So...nothing about that day or nothin', right? How convenient."

"I'm not lying —"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm not sayin' you're lyin'. I know you aren't. It's just convenient for your family that you forgot all that, is all."

"Why exactly did I, uh, kill her?" I asked. Vinny may not have been a reliable person to ask, but so far everyone I encountered refused to answer my questions. Maybe someone not quite as involved in my life would actually tell me what happened.

Mr. Lucci cleared his throat. "Oh, uh, that. Maybe you should ask your family."

"Of course," I muttered tiredly.

"Ahem, ah, anyway, since you're useless to me now an' all, it looks like we can't strike up my deal. Now—hey, don't go tryin' to escape again', I ain't tryin' to hurt ya. Listen to me. I just came up with another deal. A better one. Now, since you can't remember a single thing, I can't hurt ya. I'll have to wait until you remember to do that, and trust me when I say I'll know when you do. But...maybe instead of that, we can arrange for you to help me when it's time. I'll let you go now, and I'll let you go when you remember, and in exchange you help me save some people's lives. Sounds like a pretty good deal, right?"

I nodded. There was probably a lot more to it, but I understood what the alternative to agreeing to the deal was. I needed to survive first and foremost, and I'd deal with all the other crap I got myself into later. "Do you want me to sign something, or...?"

Vinny smirked. "Nah, it's fine. I'll just kill you if anything goes wrong."

The door to Vinny's apartment started to rattle. Vinny and I snapped to attention as we heard the sound of keys jingling coupled with furious whispering. The teacher made no move to hide me, so I stayed in place and took another sip from my tea. By then I was so used to the thought that I was going to die at any moment that it didn't seem to matter any more.

The door opened, revealing Don. He was beaming at someone behind him, who was in the middle of a tirade of angry whispers. I craned my head to see the person, secretly wishing for Richie. The person who entered, though, was the last person I expected to see coming through the door, and my mug almost slipped from my hands in my surprise.

Mrs. Henley strutted into the room, rushing in with small but quick steps. She started fussing about Don's hair and clucking at the mess in the apartment when she froze, her eyes narrowing at the sight of me and Vinny. I imagined the sight of us: one middle-aged teacher lounging in his apartment with a tired-looking dripping wet student as they drank some tea.

"What in the world is this?" the principal said, exasperated.

"Huh," I said, staring at the guests. "Small world."