Chapter 11

Junior Kamryn Schultz, starts the second half of her serialized book titled Redemption. Chapters will be revealed every two weeks. Make sure to check back twice a month and leave comments on what you think about it. If you missed the tenth chapter, read Short and sweet.

I woke up with a throbbing head and empty stomach. The car smelled very strange; as if a disease lingered in the air. Even with the bag still covering my head, the jolting and moving back and forth told me that I was in some sort of vehicle and moving fast.

My hands were bound together, as were my legs. I had been thrown in the back of the car, sprawled out like a lizard basking in the sun.

My breathing got heavier, and I started to internally panic.

Where was I? Who captured me? Are Mom and Kevin OK?

Question after question was asked and remained unanswered. I finally took some deep breathes and think of solutions.

I needed to gain back my vision, but I was a little tied up at the moment, pun intended. I tried nudging my head against the back of my seat to get the bag off. Slowly but surely, the bag edged off my head and onto the seat next to me.

“Hey!”

My eyes widened as I looked towards the voice, preparing for the worst.

“These cookies taste like crap! Why would you buy these?”

The man in the front seat glared at the driver, his face stuffed with dessert despite his hateful comment. He was fat, plain and simple, and he wore an extremely dark green outfit.  

“They’re organic.” 

The driver took his eyes off the road for a second, looked his friend top to bottom, then turned his gaze back to the road. “Trust me, you’ll learn to love ‘em.”

The driver wore the same clothing, although it fit him much better. His scruff covered most of his face, and when he turned I could see a dark scar over his left eye.

Luckily both men hadn’t seen me and seemed to be paying too much attention to their food to look back anytime soon. This gave me an opportunity to look out the window.

The green grass that covered the land was dead, and it sprawled itself out for miles. The sky turned grey; I didn’t even believe we were still on Earth, let alone in Ireland. The car kept its speed, now heading towards a large school stuck in the middle of this desolate land.

The old structure cast a dark shadow over the abandoned schoolyard, ensuring that the trees and bushes received no sunlight. Almost all the windows were either cracked or smashed and stained yellow with age. The front of the building read “McKelly School for the Disabled.”

Thick wire fencing surrounded the school, making it look more like a prison camp. A large iron gate guarded the entrance which towered over us. As the car rolled to a stop, a guard dressed in a black suit walked up to the driver’s side window.

“What do you need?” The man’s deep voice sounded almost threatening.

“We have her.”

The guard looked in the back of the car, and I quickly shut my eyes pretending to sleep.

“That’s her?” The guard asked skeptically.

I almost opened my eyes and jumped out of the car to tackle him I was so offended. But I was also confused. Why was I captured? Who wanted to see me?

“Yep, that’s her. She looks just like ‘im; it’s gotta be her.” the driver stated.

“Alright.”

The guard looked back at the building and gave a thumbs up. Immediately the gate creaked open and allowed our car to pass. As we drove onto the pathway leading to the parking lot, a sudden chill fell over the car and passengers. I shivered from the cold as I tried to curl into a ball and find warmth.

My movement alerted the fat man, who turned around and caught me.

“Hey! Harry, get a look at this! Looks like the chosen one’s awake.”

The driver Harry pulled over into the lot and turned to look at me. Their hair was slicked back with too much gel and looked terrible.

“Well lookie here,” Harry said. ‘“Hello, princess.”

These two men stared at me as if I were a prize to be won. Or an artifact in a museum. Nonetheless, I was scared half to death. My shaking increased from my fear.

“Aww would ya look at that, Pat? Her highness is cold.”

Pat reached into his bag under his seat and rummaged around for something.

“Don’t worry, kid,” Harry said with a sly voice. “We’ll fix that.”

Pat pulled out a cloth that seemed way too small and thin to cover my body.

“Nighty night.” Pat placed the cloth over my mouth and kept it there firmly. Still tied up, I could do nothing but struggle as the chemicals slowly put me back to sleep. 

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A bright light shone on my face as I regained consciousness. I tried to move but my hands and feet were again tied up, this time in metal chains and to an iron chair. I sat in the middle of the small room, with nothing but a table with the bright light, a large one-way mirror, and a dark figure slouching in front of me.

The light was too bright for me to see the individual’s face, yet the way he or she held themselves seemed so familiar.

“Good morning Paige. Sleep well?”

A manly voice reached my ears as I struggled to see my capturer through the light.

“Where… where am I?” I managed to say. “Who are you?”

“You’re safe. For now. And as for me, well, let’s just say I’m an old friend.”

So now I knew it was a man, much older than me. The voice sounded scratchy and coarse like he’d just swallowed a bucket of sand.

“Is the light bothering you?” He seemed to be teasing me with the question. I nodded with the energy I had left.

The man reached across and flicked a switch. Instantly the room went black; now I couldn’t see anything.

“Better?”

“No,” I replied in a dull tone. “I want to go back. I want to go back to my mom.”

“Don’t fret, child,” the man responded .”She’s safe as well. We know her whereabouts and will let you know her location all in good time.”

“No!” I screamed. “I want to know where she is now! Let me go!”

I tried untying my bindings in the dark, but my seat was bolted to the floor and the chains were much too strong.

I felt icy cold hands grasp my shoulders and I froze.

“I would think twice about overreacting about all this. We just want some answers to the questions we have. Then you’ll be free to do as you please.”

The grip got tighter as he coughed each word out of his disgusting mouth.

“I need to know who you are first before I do or say anything,” I firmly asked.

“Very well. But I believe you already know.”

His hands left my shoulders as a relief lifted off of them. All the lights flashed back on, burning brighter than expected. I still couldn’t see anything.

“Do you recognize me now?”

My eyes slowly adjusted as I glared up at the mysterious man. His hair was slicked back and he wore a black suit, with what looked like a small four leaf clover pin on his jacket. His beard covered most of his face, but I could still see those eyes. Sharp ones that seemed to pierce my body, giving me chills. Those oh too familiar eyes. Deceitful.

I hadn’t seen the face in so long; I was shocked.

“Dad?”

“Hello, Paige. Wonderful to see you again. How have you been?”

My father had left the family five years ago, without warning. At least I never knew why. Mom had probably known but the matter never came up between the two of us.

Maybe now I would find out.

I wasn’t sure if I was more confused or angry at the sight of my father but I knew I needed some answers.

“I’ve been better,” I replied sarcastically. “What do you want, and why am I here? Where have you been the past five years?”

He chuckled, but his voice was still raspy so it sounded more like gargling salt.

“So many questions you have, Paige. So many answers I could give you.” He ran his hands through his beard, thinking about what to say to me next.

“Alright, I’ll make you a proposition. I ask you a question, you give me an answer. You ask me a question, I give you an answer. How does that sound?”

I studied my father’s face. The more I stared, the more things I noticed. His skin formed little wrinkles along the sides of his eyes and mouth, and wisps of gray hairs stuck out where they could’ve been gelled back. Those eyes didn’t intimidate me like they did as a child. And his cruel manipulating smile didn’t bother me in the slightest.

“Fine. Deal.”

“Excellent.” He took his chair and sat across from me at the table. He lifted his hand and pointed at the one-way mirror, then folded his arms and stared at me.

“Well, ladies first.”

I pondered my thoughts. What would be the most important question to ask?

“Ok, well first off why am I here?”

“You are here to help me,” my father answered. “For years I’ve been searching for something; rare artifacts if you will, that could change our world and life itself. The artifacts consist of three gems, and they are spread out across Europe. When put together, they hold power known to few, but can easily give the possessor unimaginable strength, wisdom and riches. Do you understand?”

I nodded curiously.

“These individuals,” He pointed to the window, “have been trying to help me obtain them. We found one, in Tarifa, Spain, but unfortunately are unable to activate its powers. It remains dull, and doesn’t glow like it should. That’s why we need you.”

“Why do you need me to get them? To get them to glow?” I asked.

“Ah, ah, ah. It’s my turn.”

He stood up and walked to the other side of the room. He rubbed the curls in his beard between his fingers, a method I knew too well when he was trying to get something out of me.

“You and Farryn, you were close, yes? Best friends so to speak?”

I didn’t answer at first. I knew he was tormenting me. He knew this would be difficult for me to answer.

“We were more than that; we were sisters. We loved each other. Something you never got around to doing in our family.”

He chuckled at my comment.

“I loved your mother; there was no doubt in that. But she did not love me the same way. She loved my talent and the money it gave her, nothing more. So I left.”

I scoffed. “Please! My mother would never be so shallow. She did what she could to keep our family together, you were the one who left. You made our lives difficult.” I glared at his deceitful face. “You never loved her.”

“Don’t you ever wonder why she never talked about me after I left? Is it mysterious how she acted as if I was never around?”

I looked at him confused.

“Paige, she’s corrupt. She only cares about how she can prosper from a man, not about his character. Why do you think she insisted on dating Kevin?”

I struggled to be released from my bounds. My father knew too much about the family he abandoned.

“How do you know about Kevin?” I screamed. “You’re lying! I want to see Mom! Let me go!”

I fought my chains, twisting and turning for a while. But my burst of energy slowly reached a low point and I calmed down. My father still stood in the same place staring at my spectacle.

“Your turn.”

My breathing slowed as I thought about my next question.

“Where, are Mom, and Kevin?” I asked slowly in my most serious tone.

My father nodded towards the window. Suddenly, the door to the room pushed open, and Kevin entered the room. I smiled wide when I saw him.

“Kevin! I’m so happy you’re here! Is Mom OK? How did you even…”

I noticed Kevin was acting strangely. He had a regretful smile on, with his hair slicked back like my fathers, and a dark green suit on. He wore a small four leaf clover pin on his jacket.

My smile turned dark as I realized what was going on.

“What did you do to him?” I screamed at my father again. “Where’s my mom? Did you do something to her too? I want to see her! Where is she?”

“Too many questions, Paige dear. It isn’t even your turn.”

“I don’t care! Where is my mother? I am not answering any more questions until you answer this one!”

I was practically boiling over with rage. First, my own father kidnapped me. Then he forced me to answer questions about my personal life. And now he’d captured what was left of my true family.

“First, I have something to show you.”

“Hurry up then,” I replied coldly.

He motioned one of his assistants forward, who handed him something wrapped in a cloth. He held it out in front of me and slowly unwrap the item. Beneath the cloth was an emerald jewel, dull in expression, and very uninteresting to look at. I looked up at my father, confused.

“THIS is one of the gems you’ve been seeking for all these years? I’m unimpressed.”

He moved the gem closer to me, and the emerald suddenly lit up, bursting forth bright green illuminations, glowing and even shaking in my father’s palms. Everyone around me covered or closed their eyes to keep their sight from being damaged. But for some reason, I could stare straight at the gem, and it didn’t affect my eyes.

As I looked deeper, I saw images of great power, most I couldn’t even describe. A surge of energy overtook me, as I got lost in the emerald green and couldn’t control my body’s sudden grasp of power. But as soon as it began, it ended, as my father whipped the cloth back over the jewel, and I snapped back to reality.

I gasped, trying to return to my original state of mind. As I looked around the room, I noticed everyone was gazing at me in awe; dumbfounded.

“What?” I asked.

My father suddenly grabbed my shoulders and gripped them tightly. He stared at me with a crazed look in his icy eyes.

“You have it too. I wasn’t sure you were capable, after your sister I was unsure of who could take her place, but now I see you have what it takes…”

“Farryn? Farryn was involved in your, your demonic schemes?”

Right then, right there, I wanted to rip my bonds and attack him where he was standing. I could not believe, I could not fathom, the fact that he had trapped Farryn in this little game of his.

“Paige, darling, she volunteered.”

I rolled my eyes and scowled, sick and tired of his lies.

“She would never. You didn’t know her like I did. She would never help you of all people receive that much power for your own good. She was a good person; she was unselfish, she was stubborn and she protected her family. And if she were alive today, she’d destroy this gem along with the two others.”

“Oh Paige,” my father cooed, my speech leaving him unaffected, “you don’t know Farryn at all. Yes, she was stubborn, but she was determined. As soon as she graduated high school, I asked her to come to Ireland to come work for me. Of course she resisted at first, she knew how I had affected the family. But after much persuasion and talk of wild adventure, she agreed to work alongside me.”

“You corrupted her.”

“She wanted it as much as I did. She craved adventure, and the more tasks I gave her, the more she wanted to be involved with my work. At first, the assignments I gave her were just for her own enjoyment; she went on adventures and toured different cities. I gave her the freedom she always wanted, the freedom Piper never gave her.”

“My mother knew what was best for Farryn,” I argued. “She wanted to keep her safe, so stuff like this would never happen to her.”

“Ah, so she did care for her oldest. Interesting.”

He teased my mother’s parenting methods, making me want to slap him.

“So, after months of her carrying out simple tasks for me, such as finding valuable items around the world, I asked her to help me find the three gems, which contained strength, wisdom and riches. Her eyes sparkled, something I’ll never forget about her. It gave her the challenge she’d been waiting for, and she also wanted the power I desired. It only took her one week to find the first gem, which I just showed you. Her determination amazed me, and it reminded me of myself at her age.

“But Farryn disappointed me. She had change of heart one could say, and turned to her old ways. Through various ways of communication I discovered she had found the other two gems, and was able to activate them when all my other assistant failed to do so. But something happened, and she returned to me empty handed, saying the gems possessed too much power, that trying to find them at all was a mistake. She quit working for me and returned home, to you and Piper.

“It’s a shame, really, that we had to kill her. She knew too much, and we knew she wouldn’t keep quiet about everything she’d seen and done.”

In that moment, I went completely numb. My body shut down, trying to take in the horrible words my father had spitted from his disgusting mouth, and ignoring the ones after. I couldn’t breathe. I tried, but no air entered my lungs. I shut my eyes, trying to believe it wasn’t true.

At first, I became overwhelmingly sad, my body slumped in the chair as if I were dead myself. Then, I got angry. My fingers balled into fists, my face went red with rage. I tugged at the ropes that tied me up, trying to free myself.

“YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED MY SISTER!” I screamed and screamed, my anger boiling over and filling the entire room. “You took her from me! She was my only friend and you took her! I loved her, she protected me from people like you!” I yelled and shouted, ranting profusely to the murderer of my sister. My bonds were looser, but not enough for me to escape.

“I had no other choice!” He exclaimed. “She was a threat to my work, she had to be taken care of.”

“YOU’RE SICK! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!” Tears streamed down my face, as I fought and struggled to be free. I wanted to run away. I wanted to find Mom, I wanted to get of rid my father, and I wanted to go somewhere no one could ever hurt me or my mother ever again.

Oh my gosh. Mom.

“Where is my mom? Where is she? Take me to her right now!”

He shook his head, making me cry out in pain. I was so weak from my effort to be free, I lowered my head in defeat. I had no more energy, and I had failed my mom. Whatever happened to her would be my fault. I had to bear that burden for the rest of my life.

My father forcefully grabbed my chin and lift my head. I would’ve ripped my face from his claws, but I was too weak and too tired to resist. His grip dug into my cheeks, causing me to wince in pain.

“You will do as I ask, and you will do it without question. Once you’ve completed the tasks I ask of you and return the other two gems to my possession, you may see your mother. In safe and healthy condition, should nothing go wrong in your tasks.”

I wanted to argue. I wanted to release myself from his grasp and scream some more. But there was no point. I had no other choice but to do as he asked.

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, father.”

He grinned. “Very good. Oh, and Indiana will tag along with you. She’s one of our new recruits. You two have met before, yes?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Indy standing by the lab door, dressed in a white coat with gloves. A hood covered her colorful hair and she wore the same depressed smile she always seemed to have.

“I honestly don’t even question how you know all this stuff about me anymore,” I said. “I just want to see my mom as soon as possible.”

“And you will. As soon as you do what I ask.” He beckoned two of his assistants into the room. “Take her away.”

For the first chapter, read Confronting weaknesses. If you missed chapter two, read Is she OK?.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @schultz_kamryn and via email: Kamryn Schultz.