Barely An Angel (Completed)

37~ Two-Way Street

When I was finally able to open my eyes, my vision was blurry. I could see just enough to realize I was outdoors, but it didn't help that the sun had set what must've been hours ago, as it was almost pitch black outside. I tried to lift my hands to rub my eyes, but they wouldn't move. I looked down and saw that, surprise surprise, I was again crudely tied to something. But it wasn't a chair this time. Instead, I was standing, and my arms were haphazardly wrapped around a metal pole that was about as thick as a car's tire is wide.

Pain shot through my arms, causing me to cry out as I lifted my head skyward. My vision was slowly becoming clearer, so I glanced around my surroundings to get a better grasp on where I was. I saw that there were other metal poles arranged in a half-circle beside me. Tears of anger stung my eyes when I noticed that tied to each one were my friends; my family. Right next to me was Nathan, and beside him was his father. While I had only just barely met Aren, I could tell he meant a lot to Nathan, and that alone made him family in my eyes. My parents were next to him, the furthest from me in the half-circle being my mother.

It appeared as though I was the only one who was awake, but there was no way to be sure. If anyone else was, they could be pretending that they weren't, in order to avoid suspicion if there were to be any Fangs walking around. But I didn't see any, so I attempted to lightly kick Nathan's leg to get his attention. It was hard to do without having to twist my lower body at an angle, which didn't turn out to be as discreet as I'd liked. 

I was almost able to reach him by stretching out my foot, but just before I could make contact, I noticed movement coming from behind a barely-standing brick wall. I realized that wall was somewhere in the back of the apartment building we were in before. I groaned under my breath, before yanking my foot away from Nathan before it could be noticed that I was awake.

I closed my eyes, but not completely. I kept them just open enough so that I could still see, but an onlooker wouldn't be able to tell. The movement from behind the wall turned out to be who I could just barely see was Demitri. My heart lurched when I remembered his betrayal. I still couldn't quite wrap my head around it; why he would help the enemy that had held his best friend prisoner for so long.

He marched closer to where we were tied up, squinting his eyes at each of us, probably in an effort to see if any of us had come to yet. My pulse quickened when I realized he was getting even closer; closer to me. I must have held my breath until he was right in front of me, eyeing me suspiciously.

I did my best to not move a muscle, but thinking about it only made my muscles twitch more. I heard him sigh and mutter something under his breath, before he spoke up. "Ramona, are you awake?" He asked in such a hushed urgency that I was almost compelled to admit that I was, but I willed myself to stay quiet. Who knows what he'd do if I revealed myself. I couldn't bring myself to trust him again, not after he betrayed the very people who were trying to help him.

"Well, whether you are or not, there's something I need to tell you before they catch me out here alone with you guys," he whispered, his breath shaky. "First off, I guess, um...I'm really sorry, for what I did. But they offered me a deal. They said they'd let Haze be free and give him his memories back if I helped them with whatever they wanted me to do. I didn't know they'd have me trap you guys and use my ability on you...or whatever. But, you don't understand how much Haze means to me. I'd do anything to get him back. I guess the Fantom Fangs noticed that, and are using it to their advantage," he tried to laugh, but it was more of a coughing sound. "Anyways, you probably didn't hear any of that, but I guess it makes me feel better that I said something."

He brought a hand up and rubbed the back of his head as he turned to leave, muttering something quietly to himself. I debated with myself on whether I should call out to him, to explain that the Fangs couldn't follow through on their promise, and that they were just tricking him. They couldn't give Haze his memories back because Dario's ability wasn't a two-way street; the memories that were lost, were lost forever. If that had occurred to Demitri, I didn't think he wanted to admit it to himself that he had already lost his best friend a long time ago.