Black Tattoo

Pulling The Strings

We find Nadel sleeping deeply on the couch, a blanket covered him up to his chest. Sidney is sitting on the armchair next to the couch, drinking something that smells like coffee.

Kate, Mich and Paul come into the room shortly after us. They must have heard us.

"How is he?" Alex asks. Worry all over his face. I kind of hoped he's utterly worried.

"He is stable." Sidney says. She takes a sip of her coffee. Strands of her red hair fell from her bun to her face.

"What happened?" Kate asks. She hugs her jacket tightly around her. As if trying to stop some imaginary wind from getting through it.

But nobody answers her because nobody wants to tell her. The body we saw. But worse, what we think happened. I'm about to tell her when Sokaku beats me to it.

"We found a body." Sokaku says from behind us. David looks at him angrily. His blue eyes are ice daggers against him. Sokaku just waves them away.

"They have to know." He says firmly and calmly. For some reason a glow in his eyes appeares, like fire. The fire is growing and growing, it looks that way at least.

David is about to protest but Alex stops him with his hand. "You are right." Alex says. "Very well, yes...we found a body."

"Who was it?" Kate asks quietly.

"A man. In his thirties, maybe, he had blond hair and was strongly built so he was a definitely a fighter." I say casually. "I also found a knife close to the body, probably the one that he used to stab Nadel."

"Are you sure?" Mich asks. He looks pale.

"Very."

I walk over to him and shove him playfully. He smiles immediately and shoves me back.

"What do we do now?" Paul stutters. He pulls his red scarf away from his face and to his neck. It surprises me that I hadn't noticed it before, the green rash he has on his neck. I notice that it even goes under his t-shirt. It most be pretty big.

"The only thing we can do is wait until Nadel wakes up and tells us what really happened." I say. Alex nods. As fast as lightning, fear flickers in his eyes but it disappears as fast it appeared. Now why would he be sacred? I wonder...

"It will do us no good to worry. Lets keep an open mind till then, okay?" Alex says. The question is if he is saying it to us or to calm himself. He leaves the room after he says that. David starts following him but instead goes to hug Kate, who is pale and shivering. She isn't used to this type of situation. Paul, on the other hand, is emotionless. His blue eyes are lifeless, dull orbs. I hope he is okay.

"Sidney why don't you take a break? I'll keep an eye on him, don't  worry." David's voice sounds calm and carrying. Sidney gave him a weak smile. 

"Thank you." She says. She leaves her coffee cup on the coffee table next to her and walks outside towards her tent.

David guides Kate to the armchair were Sidney was sitting in a few seconds ago. He coveres her with a blanket and goes into the kitchen to get her something warm to drink. He is like a father to her.

"Lets go outside." I say to Mich. He looks up at me with his brown eyes and nods. 

"Do you want to come with us?" He asks Paul. Paul turns to look at him and takes a while to answer. He nods slowly.

Minutes after we are outside and walking to the lake. We're walking in silence. The only noise we hear is the one our shoes make when they crunch dry leafs. I look up and see the afternoon sun. In a couple of hours the moon will be shining.

We reach the lake and sit with our backs to a tree. We stay there in sweet silence just staring at the water, each of us in there own thoughts. I'm the first to break the ice.

"Everything is going to be all right, you guys know that right?" I ask them both. I move so that I can see thier faces. Mich's is full of doubt. Paul's is blank.

"Kara, who was that man?" Mich asks.

I choose my words carefully. "Mich... I think he was spying on us." I say.

"Y-Your right, he was after us."  Paul says. "He has been after us, even before my s-sister and I were born-n." He tells us angrily. His anger surprises me.

"He?" I ask. Paul nods. 

"I don't know his name but he is the one pulling the strings." He says angrily.

"Why?" Mich asks.

Paul turns to look at him. "Because he wants something  we have! Something he can only get when we die!" Paul yells. He stands up not being able to sit anymore.

We stay quiet until it looks like he has relaxed. 

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get angry." He says.

"Don't worry." I say.

"It's just that he is the reason my parents died...he killed them." He says quietly. He's about to cry I can hear it. I hug him. He stops holding it in and starts sobbing on my shoulder. I stay there doing the  only thing I can think of to make him feel better.

I rub his back in circles.