The Ones Who Care

SAFETY

He stared.
We stared back.
He cleared his throat.
Suddenly my throat felt very clogged up so I cleared mine.
He tilted his head as if suspicious.
We looked him straight in the eye and dared him to doubt us.

"This is stupid." Annalise finally said.

"I agree." We said in unison.
We looked at each other with different emotions..none of them cordial.

"So.." Ace began "You kill people after you steal from them?"
We nodded.
"Then you burry them in one house?The one I found you in?"

"You are such a genious Ace.Stars could you maybe clap for him?" Annie said with a fixed stare on the boy sitting across from us.

Ace rolled his eyes and continued "And you want me to not tell the police because..."

"We might kill you before you do.Stars I told you this was a bad idea." Annalise looked defeated and sorry she had agreed to my stupid idea.

"Remind me to not let anyone marry into your family..you are very hostile people"Ace thought it necessary to voice his opinion.

" Stars you need to voice something.You are the one who wanted to talk to him but have been silent the entire time."
It is true.
I had been silent since Annalise thought it would be best to try out my suggestion and see if a life was salvageable.

But after seeing the plan in action..I am forever convinced my stupidity has no cure.
Ace knew too much about us already to take to the police the moment we part ways.
Not to mention he is a loud mouth who craves attention and will do anything to receive even the slightest glance from Turner.
I had screwed this up big time.The only way we would survive this is if one of us was dead.
By now we are all aware who has been nominated for that post.
I looked up from my drink to meet blue orbs watching me intently ready to hear what I came up with.
Then to my right Annalise was casting the darkest glare she could master daring me to come up with another stupid plan.

"Marco already knows who you are so even if we let you go you will probably die by tomorrow Ace.." His eyes went wide to my amusement."We can't keep you either because you are too...you..so am thinking the best option here is..."I stole a quick glance to Annie who wasn't even bothering with looking at me anymore"leave you to Marco at his doorstep.That way he will not kill you because he will be watching you."

I swear I saw my sister smile.Just briefly.

And then am pretty sure I saw Ace's tonsils gaping at me.Poor boy.

"Great plan sis" Annie said patting my back.
"Thank you sis" I accepted.

"Both of you shut up!" Ace was suddenly very unaware if his sorroundings.

"Stop panicking..Marco has WiFi and he likes them young." I tried to reassure him.

He stared at us mouth hanging open.
"Dude you are drooling now," Annie noticed.
Ace looked terrified.
Poor kid..and he hasn't even met Marco yet.
Am sure he will pee in his pants when he does.

"What the fuck are you smiling at?!!" The question was directed to me.
I did not find it necessary to answer.

"So what time will your bags be packed?Marco lives far so I suggest..."
"I am not going!!" And with that he stood up to leave.
We had earned quite a few stares by now but never mind them..this guy was going to blow our cover.

"Follow him dummy" Annie told me.
I gave her a questioning glare but before she could respond my phone started buzzing.
The caller ID was enough to have me throw up everything I had ever put in my mouth.
"Why aren't you answering your phone Stars?"

"It's...Marco is calling..."
We both gaped at each other wondering ,calculating ,praying ,hoping.
It never stopped buzzing.
"Answer it..I'll go get Ace by myself" and with those few statements..my older sister walked out the door.

"Hey..Marco...??" Finally right?
I am shivering at this point.
He breathes into his receiver and then  speaks in that hoarse voice of his.

"Hello Starsy..how have you been?" He doesn't really care.
"Am good Marco...I know what you want to know and am still working on finding him.We are so close..you have to..."

"Stars baby...I know where he is already so stop playing with me.Take care of this.." And then he snarled into the receiver "ASAP!!"

This caused an involuntary jump from me.
I wonder if Ace will be able to handle him.This guy is vicious.

I turned my phone off and pushed the doors to the cafe open.
I looked for Annie's car and when I saw it I started a little jog towards it.Inside she had her seat all the way down with Ace bounded in the back seat.
"What if someone came to sell you something and found barbie boy like that??"I asked as I climbed in.

I saw Ace rolling his eyes through the rear mirror.
" I'd bind them up too..what did Marco demand this time?"she asked as she started out of the car park.

"Oh you know..the usual.Except this time he added 'ASAP'!!!" I tried my best impersonation of him failing miserably .

"Must have shook you up,'Ann continued
" Actually no.The old lady across from us looked shaken up a bit though,"
"Oh poor granny.."
Poor poor granny.
And then we heard fumbling from behind us and remembered we had a hostage.
I looked behind a bit and saw the kid struggling to break free.

"Where did you get him?"
"Hadn't gone far actually..caught him easily.He is such a girl."
"Mm.."

She pulled up at our house and we all sat in the car just thinking.Ace had stopped fighting finally and was sitting pretty.

"Annie?" I called out.
"Yes Stars?"
"Why are we here?"
"We live here idiot"
"No..I mean...how did we get here?Did we really have to end up here?"
"I also hate it.But we don't have a choice.We can't just run off from Marco.."
"We could always try.."
"And then we would die..".

We both sighed.
I hate this...
" Annie..its why mum left right??"

"I still don't know..I never even thought about it" was her response"But don't worry baby sister..we always get through this"

And then the back door slammed shut...
Fucked??

Oh no...we are destroyed..
Pounded to pieces.

"Where did he go?" I couldn't get myself to move from where I sat.
"You just had to ask didn't you Stars?" Annie said through gritted teeth.

This was terrible..so so so bad.
"Drive Annalise drive!!!he couldn't have gotten that far..."

And before I could finish that statement we were cruising the road as fast as we could.
"There!!he was wearing that shirt!!"Annie shouted.
" We can't just grab him..there are too many people for us to do that.."
"Your right..so whats the plan??"
I scanned the area and watched the direction he was heading and realised if we were to do anything we would have to be fast.
Straight for the cops..

"Corner him..go straight and then turn on your first left.I'll get off and then you'll go in my opposite direction..." I began explaining.
"I know your stupid Stars now try something else" Annie and her bluntness though.

"Just trust me..please."
"Okay...but if anything happens..."
"It won't...now drive"

Annie drove straight ahead and at the first junction she turned left and I got off.Just as I suspected Ace was still running but he was getting tired and when he saw me he turned the opposite direction.
Plan in motion huh??

I ran after him and just as he was planning to make a turn Annalise stopped right in front of him shocking him to the point of having him pass out.

"Oh my.." An old woman showed up just as we were dragging Ace into the car.

"Yeah he's fine.." I replied.
"What happened to him?"
Wow woman you are not letting this go are you?
"We just forgot to give him his sanity pills this morning" came my smart reply
"And what about..."

"Listen here lady,we are tired and trying to load a heavy growing boy into the car so we can get him home because he is not feeling well and yes he will be fine as long as you shut up and let us go.Now move away from the road and go get yourself some braces or something" Annalise answered.