Wake Up, Reality's Calling

Chapter 16: Begin

I got ready for my first official day on the job; my first mission. I had managed to ignore the... visions, which mostly had caused me headaches.

Rye and I had a conversation late last night about the mission. Apparently, I had been assigned a teenage girl, who was in a bit of a mess. Her mother had abandoned her, and her father was dead. My part in this was to get her back up on her feet.

Rye promised me that he was going to be there with me, every step of the way. I was as grateful as I was nervous and terrified. I've never done anything like this before. I mean, I've help friends who had troubles, but it was never this severe. What if I mess it up?

I stepped out of my apartment and took a deep breath. Once I came out of the building, I saw him standing there, leaning against the wall, waiting for me. When I got closer, he looked up and gave me a genuine smile. Man, that smile. It lit up his face and warmed me up.

"Morning," He said, still smiling. He started walking towards me. 

"Hey," I replied, as we came closer. 

"Took you long enough," He teased. "Let's go."

We got in a taxi, which stank of cigarette smoke. Great, I thought. 20 minutes of this.

"We could've taken the train, you know?" I whispered. The car was uncomfortably quiet and it felt weird to speak normally. 

"I know," He said bluntly. "But that wouldn't be any fun now, would it?" He jokingly winked at me, and I started to see the similarity of him when we're texting and him when we're talking. 

We sat in the car and Rye explained the mission again. It calmed me down. 

When we got out, Rye waved at the driver and he drove away. 

"Why didn't we have to pay? Did you pay beforehand?" I asked, confused. 

"No, he's a friend of mine," He answered. 

But I would still pay him - we were in the car for 20 minutes, and now I feel bad, I thought.

"Come on, this way!" He started to lead me towards an apartment building. He put his hands on my shoulders and so we walked, him right behind me. 

"Hey!" I protested and laughed. 

"We're almost there, bear with me," He answered back in soft tone. 

I sighed and so we continued. 

When we arrived at the brown building, he walked towards the door and rung the bell with the number 15 on it. Nothing happened for a little while, but then suddenly the door opened. 

A girl walked out, she looked old, tired, but she probably wasn't older than 16. 

"Vic," Rye turned around to face me. "This is your mentee."