Dark Direction

Chapter 13: Change My Mind

As Amy gets in Simon's car she notices a piece of paper on the passenger seat. She picks it up and sits down. She sees writing in blue ink and looks up at Simon.

"What's this?" she asks and holds it up in front of Simon as he puts the key in the ignition.

"Oh that... It's nothing." he shrugs it off. "I found that on the floor of the petrol station the other day." Simon puts the car in reverse and exits the parking lot.

"I think it fell out of the pocket of that smart ass punk that was trying to purchase smokes. I forgot I had that in the glove compartment, It must have fallen out when I grabbed the baggie."

Amy didn't respond, she was in a trance. She saw flashbacks and visions of the kid in the picture. She saw a vision of when the picture was taken. She saw another vision of abuse the kid endured and a current vision of the kid drinking in a office or records room with filing cabinets.

"Hello?" Simon is waving his hand in front of Amy's eyes. "Where'd you go?" Simon asked, glancing quickly at her while still keeping an eye on the road.

"Hey?" Simon asked again, trying to break her away from her thoughts.

She shook her head, still holding the paper.  Realizing it's a picture, she flipped it around, looking at the photo, her mouth agape. She flipped the picture back to the caption and read it.

"Simon!" she exclaimed with a surprise.

"Don't tell me?" Simon said as he looked out his side mirror to make sure it was safe to change lanes. "You had another vision," he glanced over at her.

"To say the least... this is the kid!" she exclaimed, waving the photo in her hand "He's one of the boys I saw in my vision..... With you at the Brit awards! Look it’s addressed to Louis, he's got to be LT!" she said excitedly.

"Oh come on! You can't be serious!" Simon sounded exasperated. "That kid at the petrol station was by no means boy band material... trust me!" he glanced at Amy

"Oh believe me...I understand... you don't want to know what I saw" she said as she put her hand up blocking Simon's face away from her eyes.

"You know I'm starting to have my doubts about all of this." Simon said giving her a quick glance. "Let's be realistic, there's no way these boys are going to agree to this whole boy band idea." Simon took a sigh "They're all thugs, besides we don't even know anything about this 'Harry' character.

Amy placed her fingers against her temples and widened her eyes. "You can't give up now!" she exclaimed waving her hands. "We've come this far! Did you ever think they may not want to be living their lives as thugs?" Amy asked crossing her arms. She was starting to lose her patients with him. She looked straight ahead out the windshield. He just didn't understand what she saw while she held that photo. She fully understood why he is the way Simon described him now.

"Listen, I got to be honest... I don't think this is going to work out." he said as he turned onto the intersection of her flat. "Maybe it's best if we just leave them be." Amy starred at him in disbelief. "I mean who am I to tell them how to live their lives or what's best for them." Simon said with a shrug. He had pulled up in front if her flat and put the car in park.

"You self-centered bastard!" she exclaimed shaking her head. "Is that all you can do is sit there and think of yourself? As if they had any other appealing option right now."  She unbuckled her seatbelt in haste. She quickly opened the door and slammed it with such force the echo could be heard throughout the neighborhood.

"Look, asshole, I don’t get to choose what I see, and half the time I don't like what I see either. But what I did see was five boys that were happy and healthy." She turned her back up against the passenger door so Simon could only see her waist from the window. 

Amy was so disappointed and upset with Simon it made her start to tear up. She felt betrayed by him. How could he have doubts after all the evidence they gathered. She turned around and leaned into the open window, with her eyes watering up.

"You have the power to change these young boys lives for the better," she said, pointing her finger at him. "And you just want to throw it all away? . . . For what?" she stood up and held her hands up. "You disgust me right now," she turned and started walking to the porch of her flat.

She turned and looked at Simon with tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'll call you when I hear from Liam."  She disappeared into her flat.