//A collection of shorts//

Voltage part 2

I sat down on the work table as they both tried to explain the situation to me.
"Okay" Lee started. "about three months ago my dad got a notice from the bank that said he was stealing money from his own company and not continuing to pay the bills for the property. He didn't deny anything he just left the next morning and I haven't seen him since. The bank ended up freezing all of our accounts because of his disappearance, so he couldn't withdraw any money." Lee paused.
"Why didn't you tell me any of this I would've been supportive" I asked.
"Because the next part is why I've been showing up with injuries and why I'm gone every Tuesday, I was going to tell you, but one day I was meeting zero here to work on new parts for your leg and he over heard me on the phone with my mom. She was telling me that we couldn't afford to keep the warehouse and we would have to give it up. I couldn't let that happen, all of your equipment is here, it is the one place we can get away. So zero introduced me to an underground boxing club that holds fights on Tuesday nights" He paused again to let zero explain.
"every fight win or lose you get paid, I have been fighting there for a while to keep my mom and I from going under, since I dropped out" zero told me.
"So in order to keep this place up and running and to keep your leg a secret, I went and fought and then I paid the bills on this place directly. And it was working for about two and a half months I only had small bruises and cuts and I was handling myself. But then I got told I was going to have to fight the biggest guy in the joint and there was no way I could win, he is massive, and weight class rules don't apply there. So I had zero help me engineer a device to help me at least stay alive. He made a small machine that we implanted in my arm to amplify my punches so at least I could hold the guy off long enough for him to get tired. I fought him and lost, but I escaped with only the damage you saw the other day. Somehow I got caught cheating and now these two guys are after me, I had to give up my latest winnings and my car but they still won't lay off" he finished.
I was crying, "you did all of this for me" I said through my sobbing. "Of course" lee answered. "Then we should give me up" I said looking at zero. "What is she talking about" lee asked concerned. "I told you those guys came here today, they offered to drop everything if we have them Rory" zero told him. "Hell no, absolutely no way" lee stated bluntly. "Why not, You did all of this for me anyways and I'm probably going to die soon, either from the electric shock or from the surgery that may fix my electrical issue." I told them. "Are you crazy! There is absolutely no way we are sending you there to get used however they please, it's just not happening." Zero said. "Yah no way." Lee added. "Well we have to figure out something" I told both of them. "I know, I was going to think on it tonight, and I was going to stay here tonight because they know where my house is but I guess they know where this place is at too, I guess I'm staying in the attic of the theater room tonight" lee said. "I would offer you my place but Walt and domo know my neighborhood and home like the back of there hand." Zero said. "It's cool thanks" lee responded. "The good thing is that they don't know where Rory lives and we need to keep it that way" lee told us. "I'll bring her home, and make sure she is safe" zero stated. "Thank you, I'm heading out, meet here tomorrow around three, we will sort this thing out" lee said leaving the warehouse.
Zero took me home, and made sure we weren't being followed. "I'll see you tomorrow" he said as I got off of his motorcycle. "Yah, see you tomorrow" I said solemnly walking up towards my front door. I could barley sleep that night, I tossed and turned thinking of what was going to happen to lee.
The next day I woke up to my phone ringing, I was completely disoriented and groggy. I answered to zero.
"What?" I said. "Wow, rude in the morning aren't we" he responded. "What time is it?" I asked. "It's 9:00 get up" he told me. "Why are you calling me I don't have to be to the warehouse until three" I told him. "I thought we could finish that conversation we started yesterday" he explained. "Over the phone at 9am" I retorted sarcastically. "Not exactly" he said. "Look our your window" He added.
I looked out my window to see zero leaning up against his motorcycle with his phone in one hand and a spare helmet in his other. He just looked up and smiled at me. "You are absurd" I told him over the phone. "You have 8 minutes" he said hanging up the phone.
I rolled out of bed and put on a fresh pair of clothes. I brushed my teeth and put on shoes, I threw my hair up into a messy ponytail and I was out the door in less than 7 minutes. "That was faster than I thought it would be" Zero said as I walked out of my front door. "Let's go before I change my mind" I told him grabbing the spare helmet out of his hand.
We left and he took me to a part of town that I didn't know at all. The ride was beautiful. We arrived at this enclosed private looking spot close to the edge of town. "What is this place" I asked as we parked the bike. "You will see" zero told me. We walked closer to some trees that were blocking the entrance to what looked to be an old trail. Once we climbed past the trees the trail opened up to the most beautiful scenery and right near the end of the trail was a small pond with flowers and small trees growing around it. "This is beautiful" I said in awe. "I knew you would like it" Zero said grabbing my hand and walking me over to the pond. I decided it was time to talk about everything that happened in the last year and put aside my differences with zero. We talked for hours about everything we used to be.
Zero's real name was Adam Silva, which he told me the day we met. He told me that everyone called him zero instead. He used to attend the same school as I did, but he dropped out, because of his mother's health issues. He was smart, I always felt bad that he left school. We met at a school football game, he showed up on his motorcycle with a few of his neighborhood friends. Instantly we hit it off and before long he asked me to be his girlfriend. I didn't know at the time that he was a member of a local gang. He was always so kind to me, we would take long amazing rides on his motorcycle during the weekends. I really thought I loved him.
"I guess I never thanked you" I told him while we were talking. "For what?" He asked. "For saving my life" I responded. "I didn't have a choice, it was my fault you were there that day" he told me. "You know I still dream about it" i stated. "Night mares, u told me" he said. "I've never told anyone everything that happened that day not even lee, I just feel like one day I need to get it off my chest, I need to tell the story" I explained. "You can tell me the story" he said. "You were there" I retorted. "Pretend like I wasn't, I'm listening" he said understandingly. I started my story, preparing to relive some of the most horrible times of my life.
"I woke up that morning pretty mad at you, because I had just found out about the gang. I got ready for school unknowingly taking the last normal shower of my life. I went to school and complained of how bad I had it, how boring school was, and how people walked to slow in the hallway. After school I waited for you to pick me up but you texted me that you were running late and I walked to your parking spot to wait for you but someone grabbed me and pulled me into a SUV, and I was gagged and my hands were tied. I remember screaming so loud, as loud as I could. It seemed like we were driving forever, and then I felt the car shake and swerve and we got into an accident. I lost my consciousness. When I woke up I was in so much pain, my hands were still tied but my gag had fallen lose, I screamed louder than I have ever screamed before, there was blood everywhere, and I heard ice call to you telling you to bring me to another room. You picked me up and brought me to that white room where you gave me anesthesia, that ice had illegally bought. I woke up in that tiny room with a leg that wasn't mine. Ice came in to see me and he told me that he knew you told me about him. He took me out of that room, that's when I saw you with the guards. Ice and I walked to his office where he told me that I was taken, by a rival gang. They saw me with you and wanted to make ice mad by kidnapping me. He told me that you called him because you were pulling into the parking lot as it happened. He told me that you saved me. You and ice caused the car crash, but you didn't intend for my leg to get ripped off when the SUV flipped. Ice told me that you did your best to build and design me a new one but that it was implanted into my real leg, and he made sure I wouldn't tell anyone. He told me I was bound to him now and if I had any questions to call him. I was so scared, I didn't tell my parents or any of my friends except lee, and I didn't want to see you. I thought you ruined my life, that even being associated with you was trouble. There are still days where I wish that the electricity would kill me so that I can say goodbye to this monstrosity, I just don't know what to do. I feel like now I don't have time to worry about it now that lee is in trouble."
I finished ranting to zero and he just looked at me. "I'm sorry" he said. "I guess I didn't know what all of that was like from your perspective" he added. "It's ok, I'm getting over it slowly" I told him. "I want to be there for you, I'll leave the gang if that's what it takes, I didn't want to put you in danger" zero told me. "I'm not saying that,  just because all of this happened today, that I'm going to go right back to trusting you, but I'm willing to give you a chance again" I stated.
Zero and I left the pond and it was around 2:30 we decided to drive up to the warehouse so we could meet lee. We made it to the warehouse and waited around for lee while listening to old Beatles music and messing around with some of the parts to build my new box modification. When 3:30 rolled around I decided to call lee and see what he was up to. He didn't answer. Zero did the same and called him around 3:45. Still no answer. We waited for a few hours and I ended up falling asleep on the couch in the front of the warehouse, when I woke up it was 6:30. Lee never showed up, I was worried at this point. "Where could he be?" I asked zero walking back into the back of the warehouse. "Maybe he thought Walt and domo were onto him and he didn't feel safe leaving, that's understandable." Zero explained. "Yah, I guess he must've shut his phone off so they couldn't track him." I said. "Want to head home, call it a day?" I added. "Sure, I'll bring you home, but tomorrow I'm going to drive up and see lee." Zero said. "Okay, I'll come with you, he is staying in the attic of the theater room at school" I stated.
Zero brought me home and I tried to get as much sleep as possible, although I was still thinking about going through with the surgery to fix my leg. It could possibly kill me if zero messed it up or if I lost to much blood, but I couldn't keep going with the electricity passing through my entire body. I fell asleep contemplating my decision.
I woke up the next morning realizing that, that was the best night sleep I had in a very long time, there were no nightmares, and I wasn't tossing and turning. I ate breakfast and decided to take a shower. It was a great morning.
At about noon zero called me and told me that he was on his way to pick me up, we were going to talk to lee.
We drove up to the school and walked in through the back doors just Incase we were being watched. I lead the way all the way into the theater room and up the ladder into the attic. You could see where lee had been staying, there were blankets on the floor and boxes were shoved up against the wall to make space for lee to sleep. As we fully entered the attic we realized that lee wasn't there. His phone and bag were sitting near the blankets where I assumed he was sleeping. "Where the hell is he" zero stated. "I don't know this doesn't make any sense" I replied. "I'm calling, the fight club, if they found him there could be trouble" Zero said pulling out his phone. I sat down onto the blankets and started looking through the recent calls in lees phone, the only one that wasn't me or Zero was and outgoing call to an unknown number this morning. I decided to call the number while Zero was trying to get ahold of the club. The phone rang for a while, and then a man answered. "Hello" I recognized his voice. "Hello, son?" "What do you need son, lee?" I hung up the phone. "Lee called his dad this morning" I told Zero it was obvious he couldn't get ahold of the fight club. "What? How I thought his dad left" zero replied. "He did, the number was unknown, I don't even know how he got it" I said. "Let's go down to the club they might have him there" zero told me.
  It was a long drive down to the club. When we made it there I immediately felt very uncomfortable. Zero lead me in and warned me to keep my head down and to let him do the talking. We entered the building and the smell was horrid. Everything was dark and in the middle of the building was a makeshift boxing ring with immense amounts of shouting men and women. It was extremely crowded, we struggled to get through. "It's not Tuesday there shouldn't be any fights going on today." Zero told me. "Then what's happening" I asked. "I don't know" he answered. We made our way closer to the ring doing our best to slide through the crowd. When we made it all the way to the edge of the ring we saw six or seven huge men all together in the ring. We soon realized that they were wailing and beating up lee. Zero didn't hesitate to jump into the ring with them. He tried his best to get the men off of lee and he put up a decent fight. Lee was laying on the dirt floor bleeding profusely from a huge wound on his head and suddenly the people were shouting and cheering louder than before. Lee looked completely helpless and almost unconscious on the floor he was so beaten and dripping with blood I barley recognized him. Not a minute later when zero started taking big hits from the boxers, a man came in followed by Walt and domo and called off the fight. "Okay, Okay that's enough" he said. The crowd died down and the men left the ring leaving zero on his knees and lee not moving on the ground. I instantly ran into the ring to lee, zero turned around and made his way to lees body. I couldn't feel a pulse. I started sobbing, zero scrambled to check his pulse again and see if he was breathing, nothing. The crowd started to clear out as Walt and domo started escorting rowdy people out. I laid on top of lees body crying and screaming, I was now covered in blood. The man from before stepped into the ring and zero immediately got to his feet and grabbed him by the collar. "What the hell did you do!" He yelled at the the man who I assumed was the boss and owner of this establishment. "I suggest you back off zero, or you will soon be in the same state as that cheating boy right there" he said pointing to lee. I could see where they had ripped the implant right out of lees arm. They knew he was going to die from this and they didn't care, to them it was just taking care of business. "If you want to dispose of the body go right ahead, that's less work for us" the owner said as he walked out of the ring with Walt and domo. "Come on we have to go" Zero said picking up lee and draping him over his shoulders. I followed silently, still in shock from what had just happened. Every thought and memory that I had with lee was racing through my head. We made it back out into the field where zeros bike was parked and we laid lees body down in the grass. Zero pulled out his phone and made a phone call. "Hey Ice I need you down at the fight club, bring your van it's an emergency." Zero said and then he hung up the phone. We waited for ice to show up, the entire time I sat in the grass holding lees hand. Ice finally pulled in. "What the hell happened to this kid" ice said stepping out of the van. "He crossed, the boss here" zero answered. "If he's dead why didn't you just leave him here they would've gotten rid of him" ice stated. "He's my best friend" I told him. "Wait that's lee, they did that to him, damn I didn't even recognize the kid" ice replied. I started crying again. "Alright let's get him in here" ice said gesturing to the van. Zero and ice lifted lees body into the back of the van and rode back into town, Zero and I followed behind on The motorcycle. We ended up at the hospital, even though lee was already gone we had to report it and check with a doctor. As soon as we took lee out of the van Ice left, he didn't want anything to blow back onto the gang. Nurses rushed out to the parking lot and took lee in on a stretcher, they pushed us out of the way and we followed their steady pace into the building. Once zero and I made are way into the hospital a nurse came up to us and asked zero to step into an examination room, because of the bruising and blood on his arms and face. Up until then I didn't here zero complain once about his injuries, he put it all aside to help lee. I sat in the hallway outside of the room where they were keeping lee. I was completely numb, I could hear the nurses trying to revive him and nothing was working, he was gone. I sat there for what seemed like hours, even when the doctor came to tell me that lee was dead I didn't move or speak.
  Eventually zero came out of the room he was in, he had a sling around his left arm and stitches at the top of his forehead. "I have a dislocated shoulder, nothing serious" he told me as he walked over to me. I suddenly became very angry and every memory of getting kidnapped and losing my leg came flooding back, every second of watching lee get beaten to death filled my soul with anger. "You know you're always the good guy in the end, saving me and trying to save lee. But why can't you ever just be the good guy to start out with! This is all your fault, lee dying. You brought him to that fight club In the first place. You were the one that got me involved in the gang, the one that caused the crash when I got my damn leg ripped off. Everything that has happened is your fault!" I screamed at him. I started sobbing and screeching right in the middle of the hospital. Zero pulled me into a hug and I fell to the ground. He fell with me and I leaned into him and sobbed more and more. I was angry but I didn't have any energy left to fight. I had given up.
   The hospital soon got ahold of my parents and called lees aunt to come identify his body, she was all he had left after his dad left. My parents rushed in the hospital shortly after lees aunt showed up. My mother was crying, she obviously assumed the worst. I had been telling her that I had been going over to lees, those past few days. I assured her and my dad that I was okay, but I decided that I wanted the pain and secrets to be over. I knew telling them everything was going to be hard, they had just found out that lee died and my mother was heart broken. I needed to get things off my chest.
I took my parents aside in the hospital while Zero talked to his mom on the phone telling her that he was alright. I told my parents everything that happened within those last seven months, the kidnapping, the car accident, lees involvement with the club and paying for the warehouse, everything. My mother didn't seem to understand so I pulled up my pant leg and finally revealed the bionic leg that had been taking the place of my right calf and foot. My mother started crying again and my dad didn't speak. I told them that I didn't want to press any charges for the kidnapping because getting involved with the gang would be to dangerous. "Dad. I want to get it removed." I told my dad while a single tear slid down my face. "I would rather live with nothing there than deal with this any longer, I want this put behind me" I further explained. "Then that's what we will do." My dad stated solemnly. He got ahold of a nurse and a surgeon who agreed to take on the project and we set a surgery date. Soon it would all be over.
After I left the hospital that day I didn't see zero for two weeks, until lees funeral. The day came for me to go see my best friend get lowered into the ground. I didn't want to wake up that day, I didn't want to have to face all of the good people in our life, I didn't want to be stuck there with no explanation as to why lee was involved in gangs and underground fighting, because the truth was to hard to bare. He did it all for me, he did it to keep me safe and to keep my secret.
I walked into the cemetery with my mother and father. Zero was standing next to lees grave with his head down, I couldn't look at him. The rest of the people in lees family were there, along with his dad who was accompanied by two federal officers. He must have knew something was wrong when lee called him that morning, otherwise he wouldn't have come back and risked going to prison. I stepped my way over to lees casket which the pallbearers had already lowered into the six foot hole. He was placed in a very nice casket, you could tell the family riches made a statement at his funeral, which made me even more angry and sad. Lee always told me that he didn't want an outrages funeral, he wanted it simple and with the people he loved, he didn't want to spend a lot of money on fancy caskets or ceremonies. I started crying and I knelt down near lees grave. The funeral was long and the pastor spoke about so many memories and values that lee had, it was very nice but nobody knew lee like I did. Most things the pastor said were vague covers that lee would tell people to make them shut up. Towards the end of the funeral I took the time to place a few of lees things on his grave.
After the funeral I went home for days and sat alone in my room. I skipped school and didn't talk to anyone. About a week went by and I finally was faced with another big day. My surgery date had finally come and I left with my parents to the hospital. I was admitted for surgery at 10am on that Sunday morning, the doctor told me that it would be a five hour surgery because the robotic leg was surgically implanted in my real tissue and muscle. I was so scared, I was about to lose my leg, again, I would have to adapt to only having one fully working leg to stand on. I went under with anesthesia at 9:55 and the doctors began the surgery.
I woke up in a different room than where I initially started. This time waking up from the anesthesia, I felt safe. I was laying in a warm hospital bed with blankets and an IV was attached to my arm. My dad was in the chair next to me when I woke up. He notified the nurse as soon as a was awake. A nurse came in and checked my vitals and made sure I was content with where I was at. My mom walked in just as the nurse was leaving and ran up to my bed. "Hey, sweetie how are you feeling" she said with my dad right next to her. "I'm good mom, I'm finally good" I told her.
The recovery process was long and I had to get used to the wheelchair I was in for weeks until I was healed enough to wear a prosthetic. I would get annoyed from time to time and it was very hard to get used to not having a leg anymore. I was resting in my bed one day when my mom told me I had a visitor. Zero opened my bedroom door a few minutes later.
"Please leave" I said once I saw him. "Please just let me apologize" he said coming closer to my bed. He sat down on the edge of my bed and took my hand. I pulled my hand away from him and turned the other way. "I'm sorry, and I want to thank you, your mom let me in so I assume you didn't tell her that I was involved" zero told me. "Yah, I hoped you would leave me alone if I left you alone." I replied. "I couldn't leave you alone, I needed to see you" he explained. "I mean what do you even have to say, I don't know if this can be fixed" I said turning back around to face him. "I left the gang" he said. "I left and ice wasn't happy about it, but I agreed to never cause any trouble with any other gangs ever again and to leave ice's name out of my mouth from this day on." He finished. I didn't know what to say to him, him leaving didn't fix our situation but it helped. I pulled my sheets away to reveal my amputated leg, with the stitches and scars that were still healing. "I don't know if I can get over this" I told him showing him my healing wound. I saw a tear run down his face as he looked at my leg. "Whether you decide to trust me again or not, I want you to know I love you" he said standing from my bed. "Come back" I said as he was walking out my door. He turned around and I pulled him to lay on my bed. I didn't know how to forgive him right then but I only had three people that cared about me now that lee was gone, and zero was one of them, along with my parents. I decided to keep him close I couldn't lose another person that I loved.

4 years later

I made it out of high school and about two years after lee died zero and I moved out of town.
It took awhile to get used to the new life I was living. zero and my family got a chance to get away from the old problems that we faced where we lived. I forgave zero and we grew very close after Lee's death. My parents decided that they wanted to move away and I was able to get excepted to college for criminal justice. I wanted to be involved in kidnapping cases and gang violence cases, to make sure nothing like what happened to me and lee would ever happen again. Zero got a job working as a mechanic at a local garage and he got into doing part design in his free time. I was able to wear a prosthetic in replacement for my leg, and I was happy not having the giant piece of metal attached to me. I still thought of lee everyday and zero and I drove to visit his grave and his family as much as we could. About 8 months into living in our new apartment, I got pregnant and my life was changed once again. I continued going to college throughout the pregnancy and at times zero and I were barley scraping by. Eventually the day came were I went into labor and after 13 hours of pain and pushing our new born boy made that day one of the happiest of my entire life. The new life zero and I created was better than we could've hoped and we finally knew that our family would be okay. Me, Aurora, zero, who was now going by Adam, and our baby boy, Lee.