alone.

chapter seventeen

I got up, wrote a note, left my ring, and left her house. As I was walking home, I got a call from the car dealer where my car is located.

"Dude, your car has been ready for the past month."

"I haven't gotten a phone call."

"Oh, sorry. We fired our secretary so we're behind on paper work."

"It's okay. I'll come get it today."

"Okay."

I hung up the phone and went to the car dealer.

"Here are your keys."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

I started the car and drove home. I packed my suit case, and essentials. I saw my neighbor a.k.a. Piper came over to me.

"Where are you going?"

"I got some stuff to do out of town."

"Look, I want to apologize for what happened in the alley."

"I get it. You were drunk."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do. I took a drink so what."

"The thing is I know what alcohol and liquor do to people. Okay. It ruins lives. It kills people. It tears families apart."

She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but she held it in and looked to the ground.

"Look," she shot her face up, "if I were you, I would save my breath. What happened, happened, and you can't do anything to change it."

She looked down sad and back up at me.

"Hey, I was wondering if you and Harper could watch the house for me. You know, make sure nothing goes missing."

"Yeah, sure."

I opened the driver's door.

"Well, I gotta go." I tossed her the house keys, and she caught them. "Tell Harper, 'I love her,' please."

"Okay," she said while nodding her head up and down. I got into the car and began to drive away. I finally approached the sign. The sign I never have passed before. The sign that says, "You're leaving Minnesota." I parked to the side, right before leaving town.

Do I really want to do this? Can I even do this?

I opened up the glove compartment, and there were my brother's cigarettes. I grabbed one and lit it. Right before I was going to put it into my mouth, something began to poke me on my leg through my pant pocket. I brought out whatever it was, and it was the paper Harper gave me her address on the night I defended her. I looked at the paper and smiled. I put the cig on the floor and took it out. I got the packet and threw them out.

"I won't do it for her. She doesn't deserve me to do this."

I opened up the file and looked where I could find the closest lead to the bastard who did this. Once I found out it was a casino, I had to get a tux to blend in with the crowd. I got the tux and went to a near by motel.

"How long?"

"One night."

I handed him the money, and he handed me the key.

"Room 16."

"Thanks."

I got the key and headed to my room. I put my stuff down and began to get ready. I took a shower, and put the tux on. I looked at myself in the mirror.

"What is it missing?"

I began playing with my lip when I noticed my lip ring. As much as I hated it, I took it off. I covered the hole with this fake skin gel, and as weird as this sounds, applied some makeup on top to match my skin tone. I played with my hair and tried to see what would go. Finally, I just jelled my hair slightly to the side, but to the back at the same time. I took off my glasses.

"Woah, I am blind."

I held up my fingers.

"I can't even see how many fingers I'm holding."

I put the blue eye colored contacts on. It took a while to get use to them, but I did.

I should take a pic to show Harper how funny I look.

I laughed and took a pic of me in one phone. I'm pretty sure you need two phone in this career, if you want to even call it that. I took one last look at myself and headed to the casino. As I entered in, I was greeted by people as if I were an adult. I kinda laughed in my head on how gullible they are.

"Hello, I'm Olivia. How big will your party be?"

"Party of one."

"Okay. ID please."

I showed her my ID, and she let me in.

"Um, by any chance, do you know if Jt is here?"

"Why, yes. He's standing right over there, at table 7."

"Thank you."

I walked over to the card table and approached him.

"Do I know you?"

"No."

We stood quiet for a bit.

"I'm Cj."

"Jt."

He shook my hand.

"I'd like to talk to you in private," I told him quietly.

"Alright, folks. I'm gonna take a leak."

He looked at me, as if he were saying for me to follow. I followed him. As soon as I entered the restroom, he pinned me to the wall.

"Alright who do you work for? What do you want?"

"I need help to find this guy," I showed him a picture of the bastard.

"Why should I help you?"

"Because, he killed my parents, and I'm trying to look for him."

He settled down and put me down.