THE VIGILANTE: THE SERIES[BOOK 2]

Ep.12 - Demons

Every child looks up to their mother, every child sees their mom as superwoman. For me, I have very faint memories of mine like that. I try to, everyday, but every image in my mind is filled with a bottle or smoke. Every memory is fueled by animosity and disappointment. In this moment however, I only felt one thing, sorrow. I felt like a little boy, watching superwoman crumble to her kryptonite. All of these tubes sticking inside of her, these monitors constantly flashing and beeping, it was all scary. The doctor finally walked into the room.

"Thank you all for your patience." the doctor said. She took a deep breath then tried to explain the situation: "Your mother is experiencing kidney failure. The alcohol in her bloodstream is causing severe internal damages. Now we have currently sedated, we're trying to flush out all of the unnecessary fluids out of her system, but I'm afraid she will have to go into surgery fairly soon. We believe her kidney will stand for much longer."

"You do what you have to doctor, just save my sister's life." Auntie Mary said, holding on to Jake. The doctor left the room. Auntie Mary slowly walked over to my mom's bedside. I could see her hands trembling, his eyes fighting back the tears. I rubbed her shoulders, comforting her.

"She's going to be okay, Jake. She's going to be okay." Auntie Mary said.

Moments later, a nurse peeked into the room. She called for me. "Hi, Jake? Your uncle is here to see you." I was confused. I stepped out of the room, quickly turning the corner.

"Hey nephew." Adrian said. He quickly wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I could feel him sticking his gun into my ribs. "Let's have a chat." He said, slowly taking me down the hallway.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Thought I'd see how you were doing." Adrian said, sarcastically. I was trying to keep my composure, not be too alarming.

"How did you survive?" I asked him.

"The explosion blocked off the tunnel. I dug through that rubble for three days...could barely breathe." He rubbed at the side of his face, I noticed a bit of scarring left from the explosion. "I found your friend, the uh-the cop. I'm sorry."

"You should be, here's there because of you-"

"No he's there because of you." "I told you kid, we're not so different." I didn't have a response.

"I am nothing like you! I will never be nothing like you." I tried to keep my voice down.

"You had a clear shot on me, and you didn't take it, which means I was right. However, something is telling me that I'm wrong, and I'm never wrong."

"How did you find out who I am?" I asked him.

"I was really going to skip town, leave this behind. Then I found you, in the park, with your 'girlfriend'-" Adrian said.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Well, she sold you out. Didn't know much of anything though. Playing it close to the chest, I can respect that."

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"I'm going to school you boy. I'm going to show you why you're out of your league. It's time to see what you're made of 'hero'." He pulled out his phone, and showed me a picture of Danielle. She tied up to this wall, with a cloth inside of her mouth.

"You do anything to her and I swear I'll-"

"And I'm going to give you that chance. At 23:00, you're going to meet me. She'll be there, she'll be safe, but it's time for you to make a choice. And if I see any shade of red or blue, there's going to be a lot more blood on my hands, I can promise you that." I was still to keep my composure, my fists couldn't get any tighter. He handed me a small cardboard box.

"What's this?" I asked.

"To help you make your decision. See ya soon, kid." He walked out of the hospital. I waited until he left to open it. I looked inside and found a set of coordinates, and a silver revolver deep in the box.

"What do the coordinates go to?" I called Mike right after.

"It's nothing." Mike replied.

"Mike it can't just be nothing, okay. Danielle is there." I told him, pacing in the hallway.

"It's nothing, it's another apartment building in-" He paused.

"What Mike?" I was curious.

"It's on the same block as the courthouse." Mike replied.

"Where he killed Queenpin." I said. I wasn't ready for this, but I knew what I needed to do. "I'm going."

"Absolutely not." Mike said, firmly.

"He has Danielle, Mike!" I said, trying not to yell.

"I understand, but I'm not letting you go in there blind. I'm calling the commissioner."

"No, no cops! He said he sees any cops, she's dead, and I'm not risking that."

"So what do you want to do?" Mike asked.

"I don't know....whatever is required." I hung up.

Bridgette was starting to wake up, Auntie Mary quickly called for the doctor. The doctor came in seconds later.

"Hello, Ms.Grant. How are you feeling?" the doctor asked.

"Like hammered shi-"

"She's fine. She's fine." Auntie Mary said, cutting her off.

"Well Ms.Grant, we have a lot of things we need to discuss with you."

"I-I just...can I have a moment with my sister, before you do that?" Bridgette asked. Auntie Mary was stunned, hearing Bridgette use that word.

"You gotta stop this, right now! You hear me! I just watched your boy stare at his mother on her deathbed. Do you have any idea what that must be like for him?" Auntie Mary lectured. Bridgette started crying.

"I'm tired Mary, I'm so tired. I'm tired of feeling like this, I'm tired" Mary hugged her, while they cried together.

"I can't live like this." Bridgette said.

"You don't have to, and you're not alone." Auntie Mary said, kissing her hand.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Bridgette said. Bridgette took a deep breath. "I am going to go to counseling. I'm going to get clean. For my son, and for you." Auntie Mary nodded.

"And for yourself." Auntie Mary said. Bridgette nodded, wiping away her tears.

"I love you girl." Auntie Mary said, hugging her once again.

"Where's Jake?" Bridgette asked.

"He was just here. Jake? Jake!" Auntie Mary said. She stood up, peeking her head out of the room, but I was already gone.

To Be Continued...