Beautiful Monster (A Jason Mccann Love Story)

chapter two

We were having a peaceful tour throughout the capitol building. I was laughing alongside my friends and observing as the government workers passed by us like we weren’t there. To them, it seemed, we were part of a statistic, or a majority. They didn’t pay attention to us individually.

            “And this,” the tourguide said, pointing to the room in front of us, “is where all those meetings you see on TV are held. We call it the congregational meeting room.”

            “Are people supposed to be in there?” a boy in my class asked.

            “Not now, but later today, they’ll be setting up for tonight’s meeting. Perhaps we can get you in to see it.”

            “But—”

            “Then here,” the guide continued, cutting off the boy’s comment, and guiding us in a different direction. “Is a painting of…”

            I drowned him out and looked at the boy who asked whether people should be in there. He looked concerned as he kept on staring towards the room. I followed his gaze, past the doors and into the many levels of the room.

            I could barely notice it, but I did. Inside the center of the room, I saw someone dressed in all black crouching under a table. The person was skillfully attaching something to the bottom of it, careful to make sure no one was looking. He looked like a maintenance man to me, so I thought nothing as he left the room, checking back again to see if anyone was looking.

            He was wearing goggles of some sort, but I could almost see his eyes boring holes into me. The person was making me uneasy. He quickly jogged out of the room, brown hair flopping behind him, and I looked back at the guide, who was snapping in my face.

            “What’s your name?” he asked me.

            “Natasha,” I said shakily.

            “Were you listening, Natasha?”

            “Um…” I wasn’t really listening, and still didn’t listen as the guy explained why I should be.

            I was more concerned about what the guy had placed under the table. I wasn’t concerned really, more curious, until I saw a red light flashing. I’d seen enough crime shows to know what that red light was.

            My body was taken over in impulse. I started sprinting into the room, not noticing the screams behind me. My entire class and teachers probably assumed I had completely lost it.

            “Hey! You can’t go in there yet!” the guide said, running after me.

            I ran to the piano and ducked under it. I nodded and gulped once I saw what I had interpreted to be was right.

            2:05….2:04….2:03….

            The bomb would blow the whole structure up in two minutes. I had no idea how to dismantle a bomb, and was about to cry for help, when I felt two arms cover my mouth and duck me into an invisible section of the room.

            “What’re you doing?” I asked my handler. He merely shook his head and dragged me out of the room, through the back exit, and put a bag over my head. I tried screaming, but he stuffed the bag into my mouth and kept it there.

            All I heard was sounds. I felt myself being lifted into a rather large vehicle, and a door closing behind me. I felt the car start moving, and desperately tried to squirm out of the seat and out of the bag.     

            “Just stop moving,” a husky deep voice said from next to me. I didn’t though, I was never one to follow directions. Finally, the person took the bag off of my head and let me see.                       

            I looked behind me when I heard the explosion, and saw the building being blown up into pieces. I quickly calculated how many people the tour guide said worked there. An explosion like that could annihilate all of them. My friends, my teachers, and parent chaperones were all still in there. Would they survive?

            I kept the urge to scream in, and turned to my captor. The boy wasn’t wearing his goggles anymore, and turned to grin at my deviously. Once again, I had to suppress the urge to scream.

            I, Natasha Dale, was face to face with the United States’ number one most wanted, Jason McCann.