The Wink Murder

Chapter 27

The first thing I knew, I was flying backwards. I landed on my but a few feet away from the door, a heavy body on top of me. I squirmed around. What kind of sick joke was this? Was King Struja trying to kill me? I thought that he wasn't going to! Was I wrong about all of his kindness?

Maybe all of it was just a coy. Just like in some movies. Play the nice man. Tell me everything. Then kill me so the information doesn't go anywhere. AND he won't have to be killed by the little teenaged girl standing, or was standing, next to him.

My arm were pinned down. My broken arm was smushed beneath the weight. It was starting to hurt.

I pried my eyes open. A smiling face was shoved in my face. I knew that face. I cracked a grin.

"Jayden!" I exclaimed, managing to give him a one arm hug.

"I missed you! I thought that they killed you!" He cried back.

Tears were starting to stream down our cheeks. He squeezed my tighter, like he was going to lose me if I let go.

"I love you so much. I promise that I'll never let anything like that ever happen to you again," he whispered in my ear.

I saw Mina standing there with a smile as she looked down at us. It was a smile that spoke many things. It was smug, saying 'I told you so,' and sweet at the same time. But I could see the loneliness in the smile.

Jayden and I were now, well I guess, dating. She needed a guy and she probably kind of felt a little bit...secluded. Jayden and I define fly felt closer, and she, well, she probably felt like the awkward third wheel.

I started to squirm out from underneath Jayden, but he grabbed my legs. With a few soft kicks, I slid out from underneath him and made a flying leap for Mina. Jayden took a step backwards, respecting my space and my need for Mina. I hadn't seen her in forever! I thought she was dead!

I squeezed her as hard as I could with my good arm, and wrapped my other arm around as best as I could. Mina gave me a tighter squeeze back. I literally couldn't breathe. I think my face was turning blue.

I squirmed backwards a little bit and Mina let go, sending me back into the floor. I stood up and ran back to Mina, giving her another hug, but this time not so tight. She squeezed back but this time I could breath.

"Sorry," I whispered,"you were just cutting off my air."

Mina smiled and rested her head on my shoulder. She also showered me with 'I missed you!' and the occasional 'I love you.' But by the sound of Mina's voice, the words felt odd. The way they slipped of her tongue was different then they way they had a few years ago. But I assured her that the words were right with my response of 'I love you too.'

We sat there and cried on each other's shoulders, lingering longer from not seeing each other. I had really thought that she was dead. I didn't know if I would ever see her again.

Finally, when I broke away, I spotted King Struja standing awkwardly by the door. Hugging and awkward half-silence had heavily blanketed the room. Well, I guess that it was a hallway. But whatever.

When I saw King Struja, I immediately dipped my head like a...well...not-so-graceful-swan. I thought that I had to bow to him a lot, because no duh, he WAS the king. It had slipped from my mind that we had kinda befriended enough that he didn't care if I bowed to him or not.

He gave me a crooked smile and a wave saying 'Stop, stop! Not necessary!' I stopped, a rush of heat flying to my face.

"Shall we come in?" King Struja asked.

With bright pink cheeks, I nodded. I honestly didn't realize that the room was an actual room. I thought that it was a tiny closet, and Jayden and Mina had been shoved in. How cruel! But I know that he wouldn't have done that. Heck, I hadn't even had a chance to see anything more than the doors! Gee, thanks Jayden.

Mina and Jayden's faces seemed to brighten at the thought of entering those doors. Good. No, not good. Great! I felt the pink slowly fading away until they were a natural color. I tip-toed up to the king, shyness screaming out from each step.

Jayden gave me a shove forward as the king closed the doors. Wait! Why did he close the doors? I noticed the king looking alarmed when he saw my facial expressions. His face started telling a tale. He started off confused, like walking into a room and wondering why you walked in there. Then, I watch the realization creep up on him, like the sun approaching the sky at dawn. His face then showed an Ah hah! moment and he turned to me with another awkward smile, probably hoping that I hadn't seen his processing faces.

"Just for effect," he said, his smile growing bigger like the Cheshire Cat's.

"I wish to give Ms. Ales the tour," Jayden suddenly said, doing a very awkward bow.

I couldn't help but smile. The old Jayden I knew was back. I could here his jokes through every movement and sound he made.

"I beg your pardon, Jayden, but I know that it is I who should be escorting 'Ms. Ales'," Mina said, making quotation hand movements around 'Ms. Ales'.

"Quit the formalities. Just show me the stupid place," I growled, but couldn't help but crack a grin.

"Don't insult our house!" Jayden said.

"House?" I asked.

"It's big enough to be one," Mina said in her 'as a matter of fact' voice.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yea! It's soooo cool! You should see it. Which is why I'm here! It has a-"

"Don't spoil it!" Mina cried.

"Right. Right. Now then, if you will just-"

"Follow me!" Mina exclaimed

"No! We discussed this! I was going to show her the complex! HGTV expert coming through!"

"Oh boy. Here we go," I muttered.

I looked over at King Struja. He had an amused look on his face. He was apparently enjoying this argument. I didn't blame him. It was nice to see playful Mina turned on. She needed to stop being the mom. She needed to have some fun in her life. It made me feel like she and Jayden would work out better than me and him. But what did I know?

"Follow me!" Jayden exclaimed.

I laughed as Mina gave Jayden a hard elbow and followed them through the doors.