Phases Eight

Phase 28 Canuck, eh?

"I.. Jake I.." Amy fumbled with her limited vocabulary, unable to fetch the perfect word for a reply. She clenched her fists and clamped her eyes shut. Amy was never a verbose, but scarcely she stammered. She sensed her mask of obstinacy wearing off at the edge.

Haven't I told him not to take me by surprise? Shouldn't he listen to me at least once?

Amy heard a loud chuckle at the back of her head.

Jake? Listening to you? The day he begins to abide by the rules, the Lady of Liberty's flaming torch would be pointing towards the ground.

Amy silently agreed with the back voice of her mind. Her eyelids fluttered open and directly met with the demanding sea green eyes which had been taunting her for days or, who knows, probably for years. She put her head down in a swift moment to hide the blood that was rushing to her face.

Why his eyes are so bright? Why should it have to remind me of that day? Something is so wrong.

Jake shook Amy by her shoulder to make sure she wasn't drifting away. "Amy, answer me." he claimed.

It was Amy's opportunity to go by the drill.

No reply.

Jake heaved an exasperated snort. He didn't back bite or complain, instead they stood in absolutely tantalising quietness.

Audible shuffling footsteps heard by the stairs, suddenly made everyone excited. Amelia was extremely grateful for those saviors at the stairs. They heard the voices of Hayden and Lance having an intensely heated argument.

"Who is behind all this?" hissed Hayden

"Can't tell exactly. There are innumerable rivals for the Hamilton group, but evaluating the present situation I suppose it is Orion." replied Lance

At the mention of Orion's name, a violent shudder passed through Amy's nerves. She dreadfully looked down at the D.R.E.A.M's monitor fixed on her wrist. That menacing thing was always turned on displaying the rate of her heartbeat. She also knew what was underneath the screen. If Orion was prying for her, she would be too easy for a target.

Hayden silently agreed to Lance. The slight glimmer of hope that was visible to Amelia a minute back, died away leaving behind a pitch black darkness of a haunting forest.

"Guys we have a very important.." Hayden paused in mid-sentence, taken aback by the startling attention he received on arrival . "Is something wrong? Why everyone are staring at me like, just now I came after bombarding the white house?"

Ellie rolled her eyes with a frown gradually emerging from her countenance. "Bah! Hayden, shouldn't you have waited for one more minute? You spoiled the climax!"

Amy stepped forward and nudged Ellie on her elbow. "Give it a rest Ellie. What news do you have for us, Lance?"

Jake stomped towards Amy and whirled her around. "Give me a reply damn. They can wait for a moment." He felt pissed by Amelia's ignorant attitude. For once in his life, he took the brave decision of confessing his feelings. Even though it was indirect, he kind of gave an intimation, and there he stood, being treated like trash.

"Language Jake. One more word, you are fired." Amy threw a smouldering glare at him and whisked back to Lance.

"What's the matter Lance?"

Lance felt awkward in the tense atmosphere, but eventually the importance of the matter at bay overtook his awkwardness. "Eh.. Myself and Hayden went to the court this morning to get details about the trial. We didn't know the authorities were planning a surprise. Our work was made easy. There is no trial at all."