The Untold Truth

Chapter 11

*Bradan's POV*

"Why can't-"

I punched the man's face.

"You just-"

I punched it again as he tried to get away.

"Stop-"

I had to punch him again since the man didn't want to stop moving.

"Moving?"

At my final punch, the man fell limp on the ground where he was lying. I picked him up and was about to question him, but I saw his eyes roll back into his head. The man remained limp in my hands and I knew he wasn't going to wake up any time soon. I sighed heavily and threw him back down onto the ground. It had only been a couple of hours since I had left Aleksandria in the movie room, but my night had been pointless.

The whole point of me going out was to see why the gangs were starting to act up. Ever since the fire at Dorian's warehouse, the mob had been acting strangely, almost as if they were lost without their leader. Lately though, they were starting to commit acts of violence toward innocent citizens, rather than just other gang members, and I was not going to allow that in my city. Benjamin had told me to stay home and get some rest right after I had gotten shot, but I was getting restless not knowing what was happening. I started to walk away from the unconscious gang member, knowing that someone would find him soon. I had been hearing reports from my sources that there was something different with the gangs though.

One certain mob, the Westies, were attracting a lot of attention lately. Something about a new member was showing exceptional motivation. I shook my head back and forth in disgust. Gangs. I hated them. Not only did they ruined my past, they will probably end up ruining my future as well, that is, if they don't kill me first.

I heard Benjamin in my ear piece, "Time to come home Bradan. You've been out long enough."

I sighed heavily and mumbled to myself, "On my way mom..."

His voice rang in my ear, "Hey! I heard that!"

Benjamin sounded like a whiny four year old and it made me smile. He was always a complainer. I was grateful that my ride was just at the end of the alleyway. The man had tried to run, but I had followed him on my ride to this dirty alleyway. It was a nice scare tactic to block off the alleyway with it and rev it a couple of times. Benjamin always says something smart when I do that, but it's all part of the Shadow act. Isn't that what they do in the movies to seem intimidating?

I walked toward my Pea Shooter Mac motorcycle and mounted it. This motorcycle had gotten me out of more situations than I could remember. It was my baby. I drove onto the street and started to drive home. I drove a little way out of the heart of the city and turned down the road that was almost covered in trees and grass. When I had first found the house, I missed the turn a hundred times since it was so covered.

Most people ignored it, deeming it to be just an old driveway that got to be the way it was because it was neglected by its owners. I drove through the small path made just for my motorcycle and, after driving for a couple more minutes, the old mansion came into view. I smiled at its exterior. All of the windows were busted and boarded up, the outside paint was chipping and there were plants crawling up all sides of the house. Inside the house, it looked like a normal mansion would with elaborate decorations and fancy furniture. The perfect disguise. I drove my motorcycle into the garage and walked into my house.

Benjamin immediately walked up to me to assess my cuts and bruises, which weren't that bad tonight, considering that a "bad night" for me would be meaning I had died. I appreciated that he had somewhat studied into first responder training when I had asked him to work for me, in case I ever needed more medical attention than what I could handle, or just one more set of hands with bandages.

Benjamin started to make his diagnosis, "You'll need bandages over some of these cuts but other than that just ice the bruises to prevent swelling and you should be fine."

I nodded and remembered that Aleksandria would be sleeping by now. I had made it a habit to check up on her at least once a night since I had learned that she was having nightmares. I knew that she would dream about her time with Dorian, but I wasn't sure if she was ready to talk about it with me yet so I didn't pressure her to talk about something that she didn't want to talk about.

I told Benjamin absentmindedly, "Just let me check on Aleksandria."

Benjamin said, "She's fine Bradan. You need medical attention before you bleed on the carpet."

I rolled my eyes and said, "The carpet is red anyway. Two minutes."

Benjamin followed me, probably to make sure I didn't get more hurt, but I didn't care. He knew I checked up on her. He didn't know how often, but he knew nonetheless. I walked up to Aleksandria's door and opened it slowly. When I didn't hear anything, I opened it more, only to find her not being in her bed. My heart dropped and my mind started to panic. My hands started to slightly shake and my eyes darted all around the room to make sure I didn't miss her.

Where was she? Why wasn't she here? Where. Was. She. I turned back around and ran out of her room, almost hitting Benjamin if he hadn't had moved. I searched the bathroom closest to her room, but she wasn't there. I ran into the kitchen to see if she was just getting a snack, but she wasn't there either. My mind was panicking, thinking of all the bad things that could've happened to her. My mind flashed to the moment I had lost her when I had tried to save her from Dorian the first time. The look on her face as I fell away from her. I couldn't bear to have her look at me again like that. I sprinted toward the movie room, praying that she was still there.

When I threw the door open and saw her sleeping in the middle of all of the blankets and pillows, I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. She was safe. She was here. I walked over to her and knelt down beside her, gently brushing the side of her face with my now steady hand.

Benjamin said behind me, "Here Bradan. Let me take her. You can get cleaned up."

I threw a glare over my shoulder at Benjamin and I could tell he knew to back off. I picked Aleksandria up, but she stirred in her sleep and lazily looked up at me.

I whispered, "Go back to sleep. You're safe. You're safe. You're here. You're safe."

I whispered to her the entire way back to her room and set her down on the bed. I couldn't help myself as I reached out and touched her face again. While she slept, she looked untouched by what Dorian had done to her. She suddenly jolted awake and, after seeing that it was me who was sitting next to her, she grabbed my shirt and pulled me closer to her. I let myself be pulled down by her, aware that Benjamin was still in the room but not really caring. This was my time with Aleksandria. I hugged her and whispered soothing words in her ears. After a few minutes, she calmed down and fell asleep, leaving me still hugging her. I wish I could have stayed like that, but I knew that she would just kill me if I got blood on her bed. I got up and slowly followed Benjamin out of her room.