Post by Victoria Alexander on Mar 3, 2008 22:51:08 GMT 1
Victoria’s walks seemed to take her far from the places she had just met. Far from the place she was staying and working at. But she could not shake the urge to explore. To see some of the city that was so different than New York but still slightly the same.
She had found herself in a small park. With the dark skies over head. The moons glitter hitting on top of children’s slides and large wooden areas fitted with steps, ledges, poles and swings. It seemed so peaceful. With no one around but an occasional passerbyer that seemed to be too focused on where they were going to give Victoria a second look.
Sitting in a low swing, it seemed if her knees where touching her chin with how low the swing was. The thought made Victoria smile. Pushing back and forth she started to hum to herself. Music coming from her lips as she leaned her head against the cool metal chain. The rhythmical notes moving from one octave to another. But soon something came to her mind. Something she herself hasn’t thought of in years. A small ballad, with its doleful charm. She knew she remembered it and with each passing phase the words seemed to come without hesitation.
“My feet they are sore, and my limbs they are weary;
Long is the way, and the mountains are wild;
soon will the twilight close moonless and dreary
Over the path of the poor orphan child.
Why did they send me so far and so lonely,
Up where the moors spread and the gray rocks are piled?
Men are hard-hearted, and kind angels only
Watch over the steps of a poor orphan child.
Yet, distant and soft, the night-breeze is blowing,
Clouds there are none, and clear stars beam mild;
God, in His mercy, protection is showing,
Comfort and hope to the poor orphan child.
Even Should I fall over the broken bridge passing,
Or stray in the marshes, by false lights beguiled,
Still will my Father, with promise and blessing,
Take to His bosom the poor orphan child.
There is a thought that for strength should avail me;
Though both of shelter and kindred despoiled;
Heaven is a home, and a rest will not fail me;
God is a friend to the poor orphan child.”
Finishing the rather unhopeful thing, she couldn’t help but think of her days at the orphanage where she was placed at. She was so young. So innocent. The long six years in the hell hole still stinging her as if it were just yesterday. She could still see Bertha, one of the caretakers, spit out the one part of the ballad she had just sung to herself. “Poor orphan child.” She would say it in such a manner that would want to hear chalk on a wall than her voice. Feeling uneasy at the thought of that horrible woman made Victoria want to think of other things. Just the sound of the old wretched woman’s voice ringing in her head could put a damper on her mood.
Rising from the swing she walked over to a round platform. The bars suggested holding places as it was to be spun, and spun very quickly. Victoria remembered one of these. She took hold of the bar and started to jog, pulling the bar with her. Soon with the increase of speed, Victoria jumped onto the platform holding her arms to the bars and closing her eyes letting her head fall back. The force of the spin caused her hair to whip around her face. The memory of her being a child came back. She could see herself as that small shy six year old. Holding on with all her might to stay upon this. Her long black hair whipping around. A small childish giggle as the small six year old had forgotten in that moment about her tragic past.
With the platform slowing down. Victoria opened her eyes coming back into the hard reality and found her way to lay in the middle. The platform still slowly spinning, giving her a chance to collect herself and her head that still in its own spin was starting to slow. She let out a small sound, a small slight laugh as she looked up into the sky. Most of her childhood was painful memories. But things like this. Things that are so small could find their way through the mess. To find those rare moments when Victoria had been carefree.
Scanning the stars, she saw one flicker. She felt herself smile just a bit. “There you are.” She said softly. Her hand automatically going towards her shoulder. She rubbed where the tattoo rose bud lay. The small bud that represented her child. Her baby. Looking at the flickering stars she could feel her eyes start to sting. The tears clouding her vision as she blinked them away. Raising the same arm that was pressed on her shoulder to the sky, she spread her fingers and looked through them at the star.
“My poor orphaned child of mine. You are never alone in that sweet heaven of yours.”
Taking a deep breath in she let it out slowly, now at a complete stop on the platform. She wondered what it would have been like. To give up this life, to settle down, to be a mother. The thought seemed impossible now as she let her arm drop from the sky. Doomed to be alone in life. Her own womb disregarding her. The chemo killing any chance she might have wanted for that life later on.
And then out of the darkness Victoria heard heavy footsteps. They were closer, she had realized she had been in her own little world and had not noticed the steps. Turning her head she could make out a shadow but not a face. Sitting up she got to her knees, her hands clasped tightly on the bars. “If I were you, I would re-frame from taking another step towards me, if you know what’s good for you.”
The shadow was quite large, a hat with a rim, killing any light that showed on the face. Victoria could see the heavy breathing from the movement of the shoulders. She was now well on alert and ready to defend if this person decided she was going to be pray. “Im telling you to step away.” The large man was now in front of her, he put his large hand in front of him, the familiar large hand that she had seen in the kitchen where she worked at.
“Bob?” The head of the large guy nodded. As he took off his hat, his face covered in sweat and still sucking in small breaths as if he had just ran a marathon. “What are you doing here. If I would have jumped at you I could have hurt you.”
Victoria said as he found his way to sit on the platform. Victoria could feel herself lean from the weight that was being pressed onto the platform. She soon got worried for if Bob had followed her here something was surely wrong. Moving beside him she put her legs over the edge and sat beside him, her hand on his back. She could feel the sweat move through the fabric. This guy surely had a good workout finding me, she thought to herself. “Take long deep breaths not short ones. What’s going on Bob?”
After catching his breath he couldn’t help but pull out a laugh. “With that look you just had in your eye I think I believe you when you say you could hurt me.” He took another deep breath and let it out, wiping his arm over his forehead.
“Child you know you are a hard one to track down. If I would have know you had ventured out so far I would have drove my car or at least took a taxi.” He could see the concern on her face as he then reached and patted her on the shoulder. “No worries, there’s not much wrong. Unless you count Sally’s concerns for you being alone in the big city being on of them.” He paused, decided to take off the jacket he was wearing before continuing on.
“She wanted me to find you, You had a visitor at the restaurant and insisted on seeing you before the nights over. So I left your visitor on the sidewalk as I came to find you. Sally said you have been wondering around at night and saw you leaving in the direction of the parks. That damn woman thinks this city is just a small city like she lived in as a little girl. I’ve been bouncing from one park to another and stopping every person I passed. I got lucky with a lady and her dog said she seen someone that could have been you here. Boy did I get lucky. Now we’ll have to make the trip back on foot.”
She could help but laugh with his comment about Sally. No doubt she had been pushing him out the door the moment he found out he had to go look for her. But a visitor. She thought questionably as she tried to think of who it might be. No one knows where Im at. How could I have a visitor.
Patting Bob on the back she stood up and held her hand out, helping the big man back to his feet. “I’ll have to start leaving you notes for where I am. I don’t want Sally trying to chase you around the city again. You sure your ok to walk back?” As he straitened out and held his jacket over his arm and took another deep breath and then winced. “Actually, on second thought if you don’t mind. Can we take a taxi back?” She laughed. “No problem.”
As she waved a taxi down her mind kept going down the list of people that wanted to see her. But who could it have been. No one, even Kazuki or any of the students she had seen or made contact with did not know where she had been. One could have followed her, sure but what purpose would that serve?
With her firmly sitting in the Taxi she turned towards Bob who seemed rather big next to her in the small taxi. “Bob? Did they say who they were?” She could seem him thinking as he tended to look towards the sky and he would chew on his top lip slightly to show that he was thinking. When he seemed to come up on the answer to her question he looked at her.
“It was a man, but I cant seem to remember if he mentioned his name or not. He surely knew yours. Your last name is Alexander right?” Victoria nodded. Bob seemed to take a troublesome look on his face. “I didn’t do nothing wrong in telling him you have been staying and working with us have I? Cause I mean if I didn’t surely Sally would have mentioned it a split second later if I hadn’t.”
Victoria shook her head and patted his arm. “No its alright. Im sure who ever it is just wants to chat with me. No doubt they would find me any day if they would have gone for your famous lunches and all.” She smiled reassuring. Even she couldn’t help but reassure herself that it was most likely Kazuki or someone from the night at the club. After all there had been quite a few ex-Varron students there, it was bound to have some effect.
It wasn’t long before the taxi made a stop in front of the small little restaurant. They both noticed the lights were on inside the restaurant. Victoria was the first out and slipping the guy the money before Bob could manage to crawl out of the taxi. As soon as he closed the door the taxi was off for another fair. Victoria walked over to him, smiled as they made their way towards the doors.
“Sally must have let him inside.” Bob muttered more to himself than anything. And as if on cue Sally came from the kitchen doors holding a coffee pot and two cups in her hands. Her face brightened at the site of them both standing just inside the door. “Hi darling.” Her southern accent really cutting into the darling as she smiled and made her way towards the booth that someone was sitting in. She poured the cup of coffee left the pot and seemed to drag Bob towards the kitchen leaving Victoria alone with her guest.
Victoria turned and looked towards the booth, the person was sitting with his back towards her so she had to actually walk up to him and turn. As she stopped and her eyes met the face. Victoria froze. But how, how could he have found me.
“You!”
The face of the older man looked up at her. The sparkle in his eye seemed to made his face look younger, fooling any one who wasn’t wise on his age. His lips were turned up into a smirk. No doubt with the satisfaction that he of all people could track down Victoria Alexander.
“How did you find me. Tell me now.”
She demanded as she sat down in the both across him her fingers in a tight fist making her knuckles go white. She wasn’t about to have a calm and collected conversation with this man. She was outraged that he would have the gull to sit there so smugly at his accomplishment of finding her. To sit there so still, not tense as she was at that moment. She was a spring ready to shoot out at any moment.
“Calm down Victoria, Don’t worry your pretty little head over this. No one but me knows where your at. Or rather anyone from New York.”
His voice was smooth and charismatic. He had always been a charmer and Victoria knew this from the past. His chiseled features were much harder, his nose a little longer. But from what she remembered, he hadn’t changed. He was an older version of Tak. After all he was his brother.
“Blue, why are you here?”
She could hear the tenseness in her own voice, she tried to calm down. He was not going to do her any harm. She knew it, he knew it. But this after all had come to be a bit of a surprise.
“Come now Victoria. Its been a while, eight years just after your 16th birthday I believe. You’re what now, twenty three. That makes me feel old. I’m just an old man now.”
He smiled, his teeth seemed to gleam in the little light that was around them. The lines in his forehead more apparent, the grey flecks in his dark auburn hair, age has affected him, just not as noticeably as some. Victoria calculated that he was roughly around 39 or 40. She knew he was about 10 years older than Tak. At the time when she first met him, he had been the only father figure she had, and Tak and Victoria were his children.
“Blue, your not that old, but that still don’t tell me why you’re here.”
He took a sip of the steaming coffee, smacked his lips together and then reached for the sugar. Pouring what seemed to be half of the canister of sugar into his cup, she shook her head.
“Yeah, I know I still have that damned sweet tooth. On the serious note. I just wanted to see you. I have actually been in the area for quite some time. Was in Vegas a little while back and decided I was more of a beach man instead of desert. Tak called me out of the blue after I sent him a letter letting him know where I was and told me what’s been going on.
And as seeing as I was in town and the last call you made, thanks to that kid Jackson who seems to be quite good at computers and hacking or something like that, said came from old San Fran. Now he didn’t tell me much except you two have been on the outs for the past two years but when he got your phone call the other week he’s been hounding you down.”
He paused took another sip.
“Told me that if I heard anything or seen you to hold you down, call him and he’d come like a bat out of hell to get you. But I know you better in knowing that you wont be going back any time soon.”
Victoria looked towards the table her face noticeably guilty. He was right about that.
“So I called him this morning and told him I heard rumors that I was checking up on and would fill him in on the details later on tonight.”
She then looked panicked. She didn’t want Tak to know where she was, specially if he knew Kazuki was here. Tak would go berserk and as Blue said try to hull her home kicking and screaming just to get her away from Kazuki.
“Blue you can’t tell him Im here. Seriously I don’t want him to know yet. Please.”
She pleaded with him. He reached his hand out and put it on hers that still was clenched in a fist. His hands were still strong. Something she had also remembered. He was her teacher, her mentor.
“Vic, I know you, I know that when the time comes you will tell him. But little girl you have to realize that he will not give up on you. Now I care a lot for you both and when my little brother is in such mental anguish I just can’t lie to him. Call me an old fool but Im not blind when I see that he loves you just as much as the day we first blew into town.”
Victoria’s eyes adverted towards the table again. Blue took his hand off hers and lifted her chin to have her look at him.
“Now don’t do that. I know you don’t think much of him in that way but you got to at least let him know your alright. He’s miles and miles away from you but he still wants you to be safe.”
He smiled in trying to make her feel better. When she spoke it was not with the surprised, harsh manner as before but soft and unsure.
“Blue I know how Tak feels and I’ve told him how I felt. He accepted that fact a long time ago and I know I can’t change how he feels the need to protect me but I just can’t have him around me no longer.”
“Now, now, he will always be your big brother and Ill always be here for you too. Now I don’t know what has happened so why don’t you just fill me in. The short version of course because I don’t know how long these folks will be letting me sit in this here spot.”
Victoria looked around. No sign of Bob or Sally. They must have retired to their home up above the restaurant.
“Im sure they wont mind. I’ve been staying in the basement and working here in the day to help with my keep. I know they trust that you wont be tearing anything apart or taking anything. They seem to trust me, I don’t see how, Im still a complete stranger to them but yet they brought me in.”
He did a small grunted laugh.
“That’s because your so damn likable. You had me twisted around your little finger in no time flat when I first met you.”
Victoria couldn’t help but laugh as she shook her head.
“I always thought you were mean to me cause I wasn’t one of the boys?”
“Hell you <b>were</b> one of the boys and because of that I had to be harder on you to keep you in line. Tried my damnest to not bend when you would bat your big eyes with all those lashes and say Please Blue, in that slightly whining voice that makes you feel like you’ve don’t something wrong.”
They both shared a laugh, Victoria now calmer, relaxed in her seat.
“So little Vic, Tell me what has been going on. My brother wouldn’t go into details but he did mention something about a lot of stuff happening in Varron?”
Victoria kept her eyes on the rim of his cup, looking at the refection of the ceiling within it.
“Its been hard Blue. Really hard. After you left things were great. I mean, me and Tak, we were like an unstoppable duo. We had the gang going strong, the misfits were safe from other street thugs. Things were looking up. But before my eighteenth birthday things turned to the worse.”
She paused thinking back to Mr. Hunter and his demands on her to change Varron High School.
“I was blackmailed into going to Varron, a smaller city not to far from New York. Things were bad there. Students were fighting, almost killing each other just to prove a point. Teachers were disciplining students by hurting them which made students lash out on younger students. It was bad. I was sent there by Mr. Hunter. He was ahead of the school council. He wanted the school to be put back into order. With order, the school could run without being shut down. If the school was to be shut down then the economics of the city would decline and no doubt become a ghost town.
So I went, not having much choice since it was either Varron or some juvenile prison. They even threatened the Misfits and Banger Boys. I couldn’t allow that. So after arriving, I had the Banger Boys follow. It was apart of the deal I had struck with Mr. Hunter.
He would set us up in a warehouse. We would get the students to put their outrage to use. Of course at the time. I did not realize that Mr. Hunter would be making money off the fights. It wasn’t long before I put a stop to the illegal bidding and took the cameras out of the warehouse.
It wasn’t what he wanted but I threaten to expose him for the scum he was and he actually heeded my warning.
So after a while things seemed to go alright. Course some student decided to blow the school or rather apart of the school up which caused me nothing but grief but after some funding from someone that cared for the school we were able to rebuild again.”
She purposely kept Kazuki’s name out of it. She could never pay him back for what he did, there was a lot of things she couldn’t pay him back for. But shaking her head away from the thought she continued on.
“Soon after the rebuilding of the school and the students were back in, I stood in as probably what you would call a vice principle of the school. I had some dirt on the Principle so he really didn’t have any objections. The school was running smoothly, we would hold tournaments monthly to help establish some stable environment. It was pretty much cake walk. But things seemed to go back down hill, more fights started to break out, I was unable to do my job and at the end of two years the school was to be closed down.
Course that was after I had informed the right people about what the school council and Mr. Hunter were doing. You know me I like to get even, even if Im not able to finish the job successfully.”
She looked up at him. He had listened to her two year journey of the school and could tell that it still didn’t tell him what had happened in those two years in her personal life. He gave her one of those ‘well Im waiting’ looks a father would give a child when they have done something wrong and they wanted the whole truth of what had happened. So she turned her eyes back down to the table and continued on.
“During the time I was at the school. I was in a personal relationship with one of the other students of Varron. We were close. Closer than I had been with anyone. Tak was jealous of course but he stood back. With the stress of the school weighing me down. It weighed our relationship down and we took some time away but I knew he wouldn’t come back. It wasn’t until I was ready to leave for New York did I find out that I had gotten sick.
I had a fair share of dizzy spells, I had been weak and unable to hold my own for a few months before then. I just thought it was stress. But after having a fall, Tak took me to the hospital where I received a lot of bad news.”
She looked up at Blue.
“Did Tak tell you I had breast cancer?”
Blue shook his head, a sorrowful look had covered his face as his hands were now holding hers across the table. By now Victoria’s eyes were burning. Feeling the tears that wanted to burst forward.
“He also didn’t tell you at the time. I had found myself pregnant. The father was the guy I was dating at the time. I know Tak took the news hard but he stayed beside me. Once Tak knew, I pleaded with him never to tell the father. I had planned to just go back to New York and raise the baby on my own, but it was too late. The child was so small. Only a few months. My cancer was spreading, it started in my breast and the doctors were afraid of it moving to my other organs. I was getting weaker and weaker each day. The doctors couldn’t wait any longer and if I didn’t get chemotherapy soon it would have been impossible to remove the cancer cells and only a matter of time before it spread further.
They told me it would have been a 30% chance for the child to survive in the first place. With my body weak and not producing what it should have been I was going to lose my baby. I wanted to give my baby a chance but Tak kept telling me the odds. They never looked good and I knew that but I didn’t want to believe it.”
Her eyes were filled with tears now. Her body shaking as they moved down her face.
“In the end, I gave up, I let my baby die to save myself. I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have done that to my child but I could not see it go through life without me. I could not put that child in a life that I had lived. To let my baby be alone with no one to love them.”
She slipped her hands from under his and covered her face as she cried into them. She hated herself for her decision. But at the time she had heard the new of Kazuki’s death. Her baby would be sent into foster care if she had taken the chance and she never wanted that. Trying to calm herself down her speech was muffled and at points hard to make out as she sobbed.
“The father, he died while I was in the hospital. That was when I made the choice to abort my child. It wasn’t until I was out, until I was able to cope with the loss of both my child and for the baby’s father that I loved, that my life was over. I was disfigured from the surgery and the Chemo. Tak stayed with me. All the Banger boys stayed with me. They helped me through it. They helped me go on and continue on helping Varron high school.
It was a while after. When I thought I was able to deal with life that I learned from a horrible person that the father of my child was actually alive. He has had his fair share of problems in his past and faking his death was the only way to get rid of them. Course I was devastated but I could not change things. I confronted him. He told me what happened but I never told him about my baby.
I felt lost after that, knowing I could never get him back or my baby. It wasn’t until another confrontation did he tell me that he found out about the baby from me from something I did, that I shouldn’t have done. That was a horrible day for me. It made the wedge between us a little deeper.
I know he will never forgive me for not telling him and doing what I did. But even deep down I know that I will always love him and Tak knew that and hated him for it. He is here now. He has his own life now and I know that if Tak found out that I was here, that I was where he was all hell would break loose.”
She could feel the pull on her hands as Blue pulled them back to the table having Victorias eyes, now rimmed with red looking at him. He rose from his seat his hands still holding hers and he moved and scooted beside her. He put his arm around her.
“My poor Viccy. I can see Tak’s position. And I can see your fear that Tak may come after this guy after what was done. I know my little brother has a wide streak of pride. He has been that way since he was a little boy. He will defend blindly until death if it proves him right to do so. I am sorry I haven’t been there for you or him in these past years. I should have checked up on you two more often. But I knew you were strong. I just never thought something like this would happen. I am so sorry.”
He put his chin on the top of her head and held her tightly with both hands. Victoria felt comfort in the gesture. Like a small child in her fathers lap during a big storm. That security in knowing that things will be alright. But how long would that last. She knew Blue and the faster he came into her life again the faster he would go back out. It was his nature and she knew it all too well.
“From what I know now. I will tell Tak that the rumors I heard were false. I don’t know how long I can stall him into coming to look for himself but I know it will at least be a good while before he knows that I have found you. As I told you before I can not lie to my brother.”
“I know Blue and I thank you for that. I know it probably took you a while to find me. Any other time I would run again but knowing that you’ll give me some time Im able to heal up some old wounds so I might just have to face the facts and make things right again.”
She had found herself in a small park. With the dark skies over head. The moons glitter hitting on top of children’s slides and large wooden areas fitted with steps, ledges, poles and swings. It seemed so peaceful. With no one around but an occasional passerbyer that seemed to be too focused on where they were going to give Victoria a second look.
Sitting in a low swing, it seemed if her knees where touching her chin with how low the swing was. The thought made Victoria smile. Pushing back and forth she started to hum to herself. Music coming from her lips as she leaned her head against the cool metal chain. The rhythmical notes moving from one octave to another. But soon something came to her mind. Something she herself hasn’t thought of in years. A small ballad, with its doleful charm. She knew she remembered it and with each passing phase the words seemed to come without hesitation.
“My feet they are sore, and my limbs they are weary;
Long is the way, and the mountains are wild;
soon will the twilight close moonless and dreary
Over the path of the poor orphan child.
Why did they send me so far and so lonely,
Up where the moors spread and the gray rocks are piled?
Men are hard-hearted, and kind angels only
Watch over the steps of a poor orphan child.
Yet, distant and soft, the night-breeze is blowing,
Clouds there are none, and clear stars beam mild;
God, in His mercy, protection is showing,
Comfort and hope to the poor orphan child.
Even Should I fall over the broken bridge passing,
Or stray in the marshes, by false lights beguiled,
Still will my Father, with promise and blessing,
Take to His bosom the poor orphan child.
There is a thought that for strength should avail me;
Though both of shelter and kindred despoiled;
Heaven is a home, and a rest will not fail me;
God is a friend to the poor orphan child.”
Finishing the rather unhopeful thing, she couldn’t help but think of her days at the orphanage where she was placed at. She was so young. So innocent. The long six years in the hell hole still stinging her as if it were just yesterday. She could still see Bertha, one of the caretakers, spit out the one part of the ballad she had just sung to herself. “Poor orphan child.” She would say it in such a manner that would want to hear chalk on a wall than her voice. Feeling uneasy at the thought of that horrible woman made Victoria want to think of other things. Just the sound of the old wretched woman’s voice ringing in her head could put a damper on her mood.
Rising from the swing she walked over to a round platform. The bars suggested holding places as it was to be spun, and spun very quickly. Victoria remembered one of these. She took hold of the bar and started to jog, pulling the bar with her. Soon with the increase of speed, Victoria jumped onto the platform holding her arms to the bars and closing her eyes letting her head fall back. The force of the spin caused her hair to whip around her face. The memory of her being a child came back. She could see herself as that small shy six year old. Holding on with all her might to stay upon this. Her long black hair whipping around. A small childish giggle as the small six year old had forgotten in that moment about her tragic past.
With the platform slowing down. Victoria opened her eyes coming back into the hard reality and found her way to lay in the middle. The platform still slowly spinning, giving her a chance to collect herself and her head that still in its own spin was starting to slow. She let out a small sound, a small slight laugh as she looked up into the sky. Most of her childhood was painful memories. But things like this. Things that are so small could find their way through the mess. To find those rare moments when Victoria had been carefree.
Scanning the stars, she saw one flicker. She felt herself smile just a bit. “There you are.” She said softly. Her hand automatically going towards her shoulder. She rubbed where the tattoo rose bud lay. The small bud that represented her child. Her baby. Looking at the flickering stars she could feel her eyes start to sting. The tears clouding her vision as she blinked them away. Raising the same arm that was pressed on her shoulder to the sky, she spread her fingers and looked through them at the star.
“My poor orphaned child of mine. You are never alone in that sweet heaven of yours.”
Taking a deep breath in she let it out slowly, now at a complete stop on the platform. She wondered what it would have been like. To give up this life, to settle down, to be a mother. The thought seemed impossible now as she let her arm drop from the sky. Doomed to be alone in life. Her own womb disregarding her. The chemo killing any chance she might have wanted for that life later on.
And then out of the darkness Victoria heard heavy footsteps. They were closer, she had realized she had been in her own little world and had not noticed the steps. Turning her head she could make out a shadow but not a face. Sitting up she got to her knees, her hands clasped tightly on the bars. “If I were you, I would re-frame from taking another step towards me, if you know what’s good for you.”
The shadow was quite large, a hat with a rim, killing any light that showed on the face. Victoria could see the heavy breathing from the movement of the shoulders. She was now well on alert and ready to defend if this person decided she was going to be pray. “Im telling you to step away.” The large man was now in front of her, he put his large hand in front of him, the familiar large hand that she had seen in the kitchen where she worked at.
“Bob?” The head of the large guy nodded. As he took off his hat, his face covered in sweat and still sucking in small breaths as if he had just ran a marathon. “What are you doing here. If I would have jumped at you I could have hurt you.”
Victoria said as he found his way to sit on the platform. Victoria could feel herself lean from the weight that was being pressed onto the platform. She soon got worried for if Bob had followed her here something was surely wrong. Moving beside him she put her legs over the edge and sat beside him, her hand on his back. She could feel the sweat move through the fabric. This guy surely had a good workout finding me, she thought to herself. “Take long deep breaths not short ones. What’s going on Bob?”
After catching his breath he couldn’t help but pull out a laugh. “With that look you just had in your eye I think I believe you when you say you could hurt me.” He took another deep breath and let it out, wiping his arm over his forehead.
“Child you know you are a hard one to track down. If I would have know you had ventured out so far I would have drove my car or at least took a taxi.” He could see the concern on her face as he then reached and patted her on the shoulder. “No worries, there’s not much wrong. Unless you count Sally’s concerns for you being alone in the big city being on of them.” He paused, decided to take off the jacket he was wearing before continuing on.
“She wanted me to find you, You had a visitor at the restaurant and insisted on seeing you before the nights over. So I left your visitor on the sidewalk as I came to find you. Sally said you have been wondering around at night and saw you leaving in the direction of the parks. That damn woman thinks this city is just a small city like she lived in as a little girl. I’ve been bouncing from one park to another and stopping every person I passed. I got lucky with a lady and her dog said she seen someone that could have been you here. Boy did I get lucky. Now we’ll have to make the trip back on foot.”
She could help but laugh with his comment about Sally. No doubt she had been pushing him out the door the moment he found out he had to go look for her. But a visitor. She thought questionably as she tried to think of who it might be. No one knows where Im at. How could I have a visitor.
Patting Bob on the back she stood up and held her hand out, helping the big man back to his feet. “I’ll have to start leaving you notes for where I am. I don’t want Sally trying to chase you around the city again. You sure your ok to walk back?” As he straitened out and held his jacket over his arm and took another deep breath and then winced. “Actually, on second thought if you don’t mind. Can we take a taxi back?” She laughed. “No problem.”
As she waved a taxi down her mind kept going down the list of people that wanted to see her. But who could it have been. No one, even Kazuki or any of the students she had seen or made contact with did not know where she had been. One could have followed her, sure but what purpose would that serve?
With her firmly sitting in the Taxi she turned towards Bob who seemed rather big next to her in the small taxi. “Bob? Did they say who they were?” She could seem him thinking as he tended to look towards the sky and he would chew on his top lip slightly to show that he was thinking. When he seemed to come up on the answer to her question he looked at her.
“It was a man, but I cant seem to remember if he mentioned his name or not. He surely knew yours. Your last name is Alexander right?” Victoria nodded. Bob seemed to take a troublesome look on his face. “I didn’t do nothing wrong in telling him you have been staying and working with us have I? Cause I mean if I didn’t surely Sally would have mentioned it a split second later if I hadn’t.”
Victoria shook her head and patted his arm. “No its alright. Im sure who ever it is just wants to chat with me. No doubt they would find me any day if they would have gone for your famous lunches and all.” She smiled reassuring. Even she couldn’t help but reassure herself that it was most likely Kazuki or someone from the night at the club. After all there had been quite a few ex-Varron students there, it was bound to have some effect.
It wasn’t long before the taxi made a stop in front of the small little restaurant. They both noticed the lights were on inside the restaurant. Victoria was the first out and slipping the guy the money before Bob could manage to crawl out of the taxi. As soon as he closed the door the taxi was off for another fair. Victoria walked over to him, smiled as they made their way towards the doors.
“Sally must have let him inside.” Bob muttered more to himself than anything. And as if on cue Sally came from the kitchen doors holding a coffee pot and two cups in her hands. Her face brightened at the site of them both standing just inside the door. “Hi darling.” Her southern accent really cutting into the darling as she smiled and made her way towards the booth that someone was sitting in. She poured the cup of coffee left the pot and seemed to drag Bob towards the kitchen leaving Victoria alone with her guest.
Victoria turned and looked towards the booth, the person was sitting with his back towards her so she had to actually walk up to him and turn. As she stopped and her eyes met the face. Victoria froze. But how, how could he have found me.
“You!”
The face of the older man looked up at her. The sparkle in his eye seemed to made his face look younger, fooling any one who wasn’t wise on his age. His lips were turned up into a smirk. No doubt with the satisfaction that he of all people could track down Victoria Alexander.
“How did you find me. Tell me now.”
She demanded as she sat down in the both across him her fingers in a tight fist making her knuckles go white. She wasn’t about to have a calm and collected conversation with this man. She was outraged that he would have the gull to sit there so smugly at his accomplishment of finding her. To sit there so still, not tense as she was at that moment. She was a spring ready to shoot out at any moment.
“Calm down Victoria, Don’t worry your pretty little head over this. No one but me knows where your at. Or rather anyone from New York.”
His voice was smooth and charismatic. He had always been a charmer and Victoria knew this from the past. His chiseled features were much harder, his nose a little longer. But from what she remembered, he hadn’t changed. He was an older version of Tak. After all he was his brother.
“Blue, why are you here?”
She could hear the tenseness in her own voice, she tried to calm down. He was not going to do her any harm. She knew it, he knew it. But this after all had come to be a bit of a surprise.
“Come now Victoria. Its been a while, eight years just after your 16th birthday I believe. You’re what now, twenty three. That makes me feel old. I’m just an old man now.”
He smiled, his teeth seemed to gleam in the little light that was around them. The lines in his forehead more apparent, the grey flecks in his dark auburn hair, age has affected him, just not as noticeably as some. Victoria calculated that he was roughly around 39 or 40. She knew he was about 10 years older than Tak. At the time when she first met him, he had been the only father figure she had, and Tak and Victoria were his children.
“Blue, your not that old, but that still don’t tell me why you’re here.”
He took a sip of the steaming coffee, smacked his lips together and then reached for the sugar. Pouring what seemed to be half of the canister of sugar into his cup, she shook her head.
“Yeah, I know I still have that damned sweet tooth. On the serious note. I just wanted to see you. I have actually been in the area for quite some time. Was in Vegas a little while back and decided I was more of a beach man instead of desert. Tak called me out of the blue after I sent him a letter letting him know where I was and told me what’s been going on.
And as seeing as I was in town and the last call you made, thanks to that kid Jackson who seems to be quite good at computers and hacking or something like that, said came from old San Fran. Now he didn’t tell me much except you two have been on the outs for the past two years but when he got your phone call the other week he’s been hounding you down.”
He paused took another sip.
“Told me that if I heard anything or seen you to hold you down, call him and he’d come like a bat out of hell to get you. But I know you better in knowing that you wont be going back any time soon.”
Victoria looked towards the table her face noticeably guilty. He was right about that.
“So I called him this morning and told him I heard rumors that I was checking up on and would fill him in on the details later on tonight.”
She then looked panicked. She didn’t want Tak to know where she was, specially if he knew Kazuki was here. Tak would go berserk and as Blue said try to hull her home kicking and screaming just to get her away from Kazuki.
“Blue you can’t tell him Im here. Seriously I don’t want him to know yet. Please.”
She pleaded with him. He reached his hand out and put it on hers that still was clenched in a fist. His hands were still strong. Something she had also remembered. He was her teacher, her mentor.
“Vic, I know you, I know that when the time comes you will tell him. But little girl you have to realize that he will not give up on you. Now I care a lot for you both and when my little brother is in such mental anguish I just can’t lie to him. Call me an old fool but Im not blind when I see that he loves you just as much as the day we first blew into town.”
Victoria’s eyes adverted towards the table again. Blue took his hand off hers and lifted her chin to have her look at him.
“Now don’t do that. I know you don’t think much of him in that way but you got to at least let him know your alright. He’s miles and miles away from you but he still wants you to be safe.”
He smiled in trying to make her feel better. When she spoke it was not with the surprised, harsh manner as before but soft and unsure.
“Blue I know how Tak feels and I’ve told him how I felt. He accepted that fact a long time ago and I know I can’t change how he feels the need to protect me but I just can’t have him around me no longer.”
“Now, now, he will always be your big brother and Ill always be here for you too. Now I don’t know what has happened so why don’t you just fill me in. The short version of course because I don’t know how long these folks will be letting me sit in this here spot.”
Victoria looked around. No sign of Bob or Sally. They must have retired to their home up above the restaurant.
“Im sure they wont mind. I’ve been staying in the basement and working here in the day to help with my keep. I know they trust that you wont be tearing anything apart or taking anything. They seem to trust me, I don’t see how, Im still a complete stranger to them but yet they brought me in.”
He did a small grunted laugh.
“That’s because your so damn likable. You had me twisted around your little finger in no time flat when I first met you.”
Victoria couldn’t help but laugh as she shook her head.
“I always thought you were mean to me cause I wasn’t one of the boys?”
“Hell you <b>were</b> one of the boys and because of that I had to be harder on you to keep you in line. Tried my damnest to not bend when you would bat your big eyes with all those lashes and say Please Blue, in that slightly whining voice that makes you feel like you’ve don’t something wrong.”
They both shared a laugh, Victoria now calmer, relaxed in her seat.
“So little Vic, Tell me what has been going on. My brother wouldn’t go into details but he did mention something about a lot of stuff happening in Varron?”
Victoria kept her eyes on the rim of his cup, looking at the refection of the ceiling within it.
“Its been hard Blue. Really hard. After you left things were great. I mean, me and Tak, we were like an unstoppable duo. We had the gang going strong, the misfits were safe from other street thugs. Things were looking up. But before my eighteenth birthday things turned to the worse.”
She paused thinking back to Mr. Hunter and his demands on her to change Varron High School.
“I was blackmailed into going to Varron, a smaller city not to far from New York. Things were bad there. Students were fighting, almost killing each other just to prove a point. Teachers were disciplining students by hurting them which made students lash out on younger students. It was bad. I was sent there by Mr. Hunter. He was ahead of the school council. He wanted the school to be put back into order. With order, the school could run without being shut down. If the school was to be shut down then the economics of the city would decline and no doubt become a ghost town.
So I went, not having much choice since it was either Varron or some juvenile prison. They even threatened the Misfits and Banger Boys. I couldn’t allow that. So after arriving, I had the Banger Boys follow. It was apart of the deal I had struck with Mr. Hunter.
He would set us up in a warehouse. We would get the students to put their outrage to use. Of course at the time. I did not realize that Mr. Hunter would be making money off the fights. It wasn’t long before I put a stop to the illegal bidding and took the cameras out of the warehouse.
It wasn’t what he wanted but I threaten to expose him for the scum he was and he actually heeded my warning.
So after a while things seemed to go alright. Course some student decided to blow the school or rather apart of the school up which caused me nothing but grief but after some funding from someone that cared for the school we were able to rebuild again.”
She purposely kept Kazuki’s name out of it. She could never pay him back for what he did, there was a lot of things she couldn’t pay him back for. But shaking her head away from the thought she continued on.
“Soon after the rebuilding of the school and the students were back in, I stood in as probably what you would call a vice principle of the school. I had some dirt on the Principle so he really didn’t have any objections. The school was running smoothly, we would hold tournaments monthly to help establish some stable environment. It was pretty much cake walk. But things seemed to go back down hill, more fights started to break out, I was unable to do my job and at the end of two years the school was to be closed down.
Course that was after I had informed the right people about what the school council and Mr. Hunter were doing. You know me I like to get even, even if Im not able to finish the job successfully.”
She looked up at him. He had listened to her two year journey of the school and could tell that it still didn’t tell him what had happened in those two years in her personal life. He gave her one of those ‘well Im waiting’ looks a father would give a child when they have done something wrong and they wanted the whole truth of what had happened. So she turned her eyes back down to the table and continued on.
“During the time I was at the school. I was in a personal relationship with one of the other students of Varron. We were close. Closer than I had been with anyone. Tak was jealous of course but he stood back. With the stress of the school weighing me down. It weighed our relationship down and we took some time away but I knew he wouldn’t come back. It wasn’t until I was ready to leave for New York did I find out that I had gotten sick.
I had a fair share of dizzy spells, I had been weak and unable to hold my own for a few months before then. I just thought it was stress. But after having a fall, Tak took me to the hospital where I received a lot of bad news.”
She looked up at Blue.
“Did Tak tell you I had breast cancer?”
Blue shook his head, a sorrowful look had covered his face as his hands were now holding hers across the table. By now Victoria’s eyes were burning. Feeling the tears that wanted to burst forward.
“He also didn’t tell you at the time. I had found myself pregnant. The father was the guy I was dating at the time. I know Tak took the news hard but he stayed beside me. Once Tak knew, I pleaded with him never to tell the father. I had planned to just go back to New York and raise the baby on my own, but it was too late. The child was so small. Only a few months. My cancer was spreading, it started in my breast and the doctors were afraid of it moving to my other organs. I was getting weaker and weaker each day. The doctors couldn’t wait any longer and if I didn’t get chemotherapy soon it would have been impossible to remove the cancer cells and only a matter of time before it spread further.
They told me it would have been a 30% chance for the child to survive in the first place. With my body weak and not producing what it should have been I was going to lose my baby. I wanted to give my baby a chance but Tak kept telling me the odds. They never looked good and I knew that but I didn’t want to believe it.”
Her eyes were filled with tears now. Her body shaking as they moved down her face.
“In the end, I gave up, I let my baby die to save myself. I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have done that to my child but I could not see it go through life without me. I could not put that child in a life that I had lived. To let my baby be alone with no one to love them.”
She slipped her hands from under his and covered her face as she cried into them. She hated herself for her decision. But at the time she had heard the new of Kazuki’s death. Her baby would be sent into foster care if she had taken the chance and she never wanted that. Trying to calm herself down her speech was muffled and at points hard to make out as she sobbed.
“The father, he died while I was in the hospital. That was when I made the choice to abort my child. It wasn’t until I was out, until I was able to cope with the loss of both my child and for the baby’s father that I loved, that my life was over. I was disfigured from the surgery and the Chemo. Tak stayed with me. All the Banger boys stayed with me. They helped me through it. They helped me go on and continue on helping Varron high school.
It was a while after. When I thought I was able to deal with life that I learned from a horrible person that the father of my child was actually alive. He has had his fair share of problems in his past and faking his death was the only way to get rid of them. Course I was devastated but I could not change things. I confronted him. He told me what happened but I never told him about my baby.
I felt lost after that, knowing I could never get him back or my baby. It wasn’t until another confrontation did he tell me that he found out about the baby from me from something I did, that I shouldn’t have done. That was a horrible day for me. It made the wedge between us a little deeper.
I know he will never forgive me for not telling him and doing what I did. But even deep down I know that I will always love him and Tak knew that and hated him for it. He is here now. He has his own life now and I know that if Tak found out that I was here, that I was where he was all hell would break loose.”
She could feel the pull on her hands as Blue pulled them back to the table having Victorias eyes, now rimmed with red looking at him. He rose from his seat his hands still holding hers and he moved and scooted beside her. He put his arm around her.
“My poor Viccy. I can see Tak’s position. And I can see your fear that Tak may come after this guy after what was done. I know my little brother has a wide streak of pride. He has been that way since he was a little boy. He will defend blindly until death if it proves him right to do so. I am sorry I haven’t been there for you or him in these past years. I should have checked up on you two more often. But I knew you were strong. I just never thought something like this would happen. I am so sorry.”
He put his chin on the top of her head and held her tightly with both hands. Victoria felt comfort in the gesture. Like a small child in her fathers lap during a big storm. That security in knowing that things will be alright. But how long would that last. She knew Blue and the faster he came into her life again the faster he would go back out. It was his nature and she knew it all too well.
“From what I know now. I will tell Tak that the rumors I heard were false. I don’t know how long I can stall him into coming to look for himself but I know it will at least be a good while before he knows that I have found you. As I told you before I can not lie to my brother.”
“I know Blue and I thank you for that. I know it probably took you a while to find me. Any other time I would run again but knowing that you’ll give me some time Im able to heal up some old wounds so I might just have to face the facts and make things right again.”
