Chapter 62: Chapter 62

Kyle’s house stood identical to the rest of the houses on his street, a building style normal in this place giving him access to a ground floor and a first floor. It was ample space for a family of four to live in and yet the boy had secretly had the place all to himself. It was odd that the landlord hadn’t noticed a thing, but upon thinking about... given the right money, the landlord probably wouldn’t have cared who lived in the house.

Katie walked up to the front porch and approached the handle, hoping it wasn’t locked. The door gave way immediately she touched it, proof that it wasn’t even shut. She turned on the lights, allowing the nostalgic feeling of standing in her formerly best friend’s house to take over her. Memories of the times they’d come here were as clear as day to her.

“Hey, Katie, how come you don’t read any books?” Kyle had asked her once while they hang out at his place finishing an assignment. It had been a few years since that day. He’d invited them over so that they could discuss the topic the teacher had just taught that day. Being the nerd that he was, Kyle did not have many friends, or at least that’s what she’d thought at the time.

“You know my grades aren’t perfect. Don’t you remember that some of the hunters call you the friend of mine with the good grades?” she reminded him.

“I know, but you don’t even try to excel and your grades are fine...”

“Well, if I was someone like you that needed this education so badly, I probably would be serious about my grades. A hunter is required to have had an education as well, so I can’t exactly say I don’t want to read,” she answered him, finalizing the last parts of her work and giving him to go through it.

Another memory drifted through her mind, “Why don’t I ever see family photos in this house?”

.....

“Well, my parents are always saying they’ll get the chance to do that once we’ve gone out on a real vacation. Something I’ve heard is only for families that can afford a hunter escort. It’s not going to happen anytime soon anyway,” he said, dusting the random paintings in the living room.

“Well, at least they send you games,” Katie replied.

“Yeah, that’s true. Fancy a race,” he asked, rushing over to the sofa, his mind completely forgetting his self-assigned chores.

“Maybe just one... You know I always win those ones...”

“Don’t remind me of your multi-talents. This time I will, young Jedi,” he yelled while he got hyped up for what was most likely going to turn out to be another defeat.

Katie stood in the living room while the memories passed through her mind, almost as though she could see them. She walked into the kitchen and froze at the sight of a picture frame atop the refrigerator. It was a picture of the three of them... Katie, Sandra and Kyle were at the park. Katie had decided to take the nerd out of the books and the empty house so that they could have fun. Passing her hands over the picture, she gritted her teeth just slightly at the irritation the emotions were giving her. ‘To think all that time, you were only playing the part of a best friend. You were good... you had me fooled...’ she thought to herself, cursing the blind trust she’d put in him.

Placing the picture frame back on the fridge, she opened it. It was still full of food that was going to go bad with no one to consume it. Katie knew there was still something in here that she hadn’t found yet. ‘If it was that important, then it was probably in his room,’ she thought going for the stairs, ignoring the apparitions that her mind kept trying to project from the time when she was friends with the traitor. She finally got to his room, blocking out everything she remembered about it and going through the mess that was in the room.

Clothes lay strewn across the floor in a disorderly fashion. He hadn’t had enough time to take everything. To gain the advantage of speed, it was only fair that he’d packed light. That meant the clothes he took were a select few as well. Katie checked the room, flipping over the mattress along with everything that could be flipped, turned and opened. The sideboard was empty of any valuables and so was the wardrobe, but her gut spurred her to continue her search. This was the last room she was checking, having failed to find anything of importance.

She wanted to leave so badly, but she knew there was something in this place that she was supposed to find. She finally decided to check the one place that seemed useless to check out considering the futility of her situation. The bathroom that was connected to his room. Walking into the small white-tiled room, she scanned through it. Unlike the bedroom, this one was in order. Well, there wasn’t much to mess up in the bathroom. The towel was still where it was meant to be, the toothbrush gone and everything still set in its right position.

She walked up to the mirror above the sink that also served as a door to the medicine cabinet. Opening it, she froze at what she saw. The cabinet was half-filled with orange tins. Most of them were empty and showed that they’d been there for a while. She scanned through and found that five of them were still full with the same drug. She didn’t have to touch them to know what they were. She’d been using the same exact drug for her entire life... The same blue pills that she’d come to know were used to suppress a werewolf’s animal side.

She picked up the trashcan that was in the corner of the bedroom and put all the drugs into the bag. She then took out the polythene and decided to deliver it to the Hunter’s Agency. If there was anything that was still important in this room, it was the drug. ‘Kyle forgot the drug... that means he will soon be having trouble with his wolf...’ The drug would only work for as long as someone hadn’t crossed the age of eighteen and Kyle wasn’t eighteen yet. His birthday was in a month’s time. ‘He was already running out of time,’ she thought. A short calculation of the pills that she’d found placed their due date exactly on his birthday. Kyle had all the medicine he needed up until the point it would be useless.

Katie did not waste any more time in the room and started the run to the Hunter’s Agency, cutting through the town, but keeping to alleyways and places that would arouse suspicion. Stealth was not something alien to her either and this she excelled at until she reached the Hunter’s Agency. Walking up to the gates, she froze at the sight of the dosing gatekeepers. ‘Wow, that’s a new sight...’n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Hey, wake up. I have to get in,” she barked at them to get them up.

“Oh, Rogue killer... I thought you weren’t going to show up until tomorrow,” one of them said, yawning.

“I wasn’t, but I found something at my suspect’s house that I want to put here for safekeeping,” she reported.

“Go right in...” the man said, opening the gate and letting her pass through.

“Are you allowed to sleep on the job like that?” she asked the man whose eyes were still closed.

“Well, not normally, but after we heard that the Rogue killer was back in action, we just felt like it was useless to stay awake all night knowing there is nothing that we are guarding the Agency for. For years, this place has not been threatened one bit. Some people say the hunters are losing their edge with all their time they are out of action,” the man said, chuckling while he said, “Nonetheless, we shall stay vigilant in our training.”

Katie ran through to the dungeon where she found the guards here dosing as well... She sighed and rubbed her forehead in disappointment before they noticed her... “Oh, Katie, we didn’t know you would be here until...”

“Just open the door... I only need to put this in my locker at the bottom of the stairs, so you don’t have to close as I’ll soon be out,” she said. She was done and on her way home in no time... Her phone started buzzing once more. “Hello, Anthony...”

“That’s Director Anthony to you,” he bellowed, “I’ve been informed that you were just sighted leaving the...”

“It’s late, Director Anthony. Can we talk tomorrow? I also need rest, you know,” she cut him off.

“What did you find at Kyle’s house?” he asked, noticing her low tolerance to his reprimand.

“I found the same drugs I’ve been ingesting my whole life... lots of them,” she said.

“So it’s true then. Kyle was a rogue spy in Brigadia high school,” he confirmed. Katie did not respond, letting him take in the information, “Still running, huh. Get some rest, Chase.”

“I will, Director Anthony. See you tomorrow,” with that, she hung up. Relief washed over her when her home started to come into view. She reached the house and found her parents in the same places she left them before she tried going to sleep earlier, “Are you guys planning to sleep?”

“We almost did, but then we sensed the rogue that you went after. How did it go?” Uncle Tom asked.

“It went just fine,” she said before heading for the stairs, “I need to get some sleep. I know tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

“Does it scare you? Tomorrow,” Uncle Tom asked.

“I don’t know what to make of it, honestly. I know that after tomorrow, things will get a bit complicated. You raised me never to call you guys mum and dad... I now see why, but wouldn’t it have been less painful if you’d let me,” she had deciphered their question unconsciously. Tomorrow was the day that they were going to lose their daughter and hand her back to the Sirius family, her biological family.

“Enjoy tomorrow to your fullest, okay,” Aunt Marie said to her.

“Yeah, I will. Good night, Aunt Marie,” there was no way that either of them could think to make this any easier. Katie stopped halfway up the stairs and ran back down, jumping into her father’s arms. Aunt Marie joined the group hug and the three enjoyed the moment while it lasted. They were all in agreement at that moment that they’d known this was going to happen and weren’t going to do anything to cause trouble. Though knowing that did not make it any easier. They were going to be separated no matter what they did and that was all there was to it.