Next stop, Hell Central

I was taken into a black van, yes, handcuffed. You know, Lance did always say I would end up in these one day; they really are as uncomfortable as they seem. First, they put it too tight, and when I asked the ‘nice’ officer to loosen them up, he barked, “No!” While growling like some mad dog. I was forced to sit next to Lance, who kept reminding them that he had a restraining order against me, and blah, blah.

“But you don’t understand,” Lance said as they were shoving him in the car, “I’m allergic to her. I can’t be near her. She’s like the plague.” Now any person would think that was just plain rude but this was Lance. I smiled patting the empty spot next to me. “It’s warm and comfy.” He gritted his teeth as he was pushed in. When he was finally in, I went closer to him, just to make him more uncomfortable. The plague? Me, but I’m so innocent.

Jordan was on the roof of the car enjoying the extremely long ride to the city. I swear that on the train it’s much faster to get there and back. We didn’t even have to stop at a freaking red light with all those police cars that were ‘escorting’ us to the damn building.

When we finally did arrive I was falling asleep. I haven’t received much sleep in the last three days. Wait, it was only three days? God damn it felt like a lot more than that. Lance shoved me awake, which is kind of rude.

I stumbled outside as reporters attacked the new group of people coming in. I kept my head up, so I made a mistake, what are they going to do? Burn me at the stake? That would be kind of cool, teenage witch hunt.

Even after we got inside they made us wait even more. We had to go through a bunch of security system that you’d think we were in the Pentagon committing a national felony. People were starring at us as we passed by, some with raised eyebrows wondering, others already knowing. Finally, we were sent into an office were the governor was; geez and they made it seem like we were going to see the President of the United States. I swear some people.

There were more people, seriously, how many people could they possibly fit in this room? We had the entourage from my house, plus some we picked up, and then this whole group of people in the room with the governor himself. I sighed sitting down as they took off my handcuffs. Again Lance was forced to sit by me, and Scotty, who seemed completely lost, just stood in the corner, being invisible.

After all the commotion settled down, a huge old man, with white hair, a beer bully, a mustache that was a disgrace, and a suit that didn’t even fit.

“Okay, who here is Georgiana Annabel Waters?” Like I always did whenever I was chosen first to go present something, I was sliding down my seat, hiding behind my hair. But Lance already had his finger pointing down at me. I glared at him, and he smirked. “Young lady?” I looked up all eyes on me.

“Well, no use pretending.” I said mostly to myself. “Okay, yes, I’m Georgina, want my autograph?” I smiled.

“Listen, young lady…”

“Georgina.” I corrected.

“Okay, Georgina. So as you can see you have set off a grand alert. Accusing the governor of kidnapping his daughter?” The governor looked at me from his seat with this sad, pitiful, angry look; he must really be a good actor. “What do you have to say for yourself?” He sounded like some disappointed parent.

I looked up at him again blinking, as I zoned out for a moment, “I plea the fifth.” Lance snorted as if expecting it. The room was so quiet that it was too loud.

“We’re not in a court room.” The man said.

I shrugged, “If it’s in the American Constitution I support it.” Really I knew shit about the constitution but it sounded good.

The man sighed as if annoyed with me; Lance was looking down his lips twitching. “Welcome to my hell.” I heard him mutter before I elbowed him to shut up.

Gritting his teeth, he began, “Ms. Waters, please if you can just cooperate with us…” I cut in.

“But I am cooperating with you.” I argued. “Just because I don’t have anything to say for myself doesn’t mean…anything.” That’s not exactly what I wanted to say, but Constance was giving me that glare that said if-I-don’t-watch-what-I-say-then-she’ll-be-making-me-sleep-in-the-backyard. Not like she’s ever done that before, but that’s always been the threat she gives me. Even though I know its bluff, it still has power over me.

Lance coughed, “Don’t worry, it only gets worse.” He said. I glared at him.

The Big Guy seemed to be getting seriously pissed. “Why would you, Ms. Waters, accuse the governor of kidnapping his daughter?” He repeated the question with acid in his voice.

I thought for a second, thinking about the kidnapping, and what the black guy told me, but as I looked at Governor Kellier, I knew that he would find an excuse for that, and like Lance said last night, I didn’t have evidence of the kidnapping. And my only witness just happens to be dead. Just my luck.

“Georgina?” I couldn’t stop myself but looking behind me to find Newton standing there. “Ask him about how the governor had stated in court that he would do anything to get his daughter, anything.” I nodded my head, everyone confused by my actions, except for Lance and Constance.

“You know what Big Guy,” I said standing up, “the question is not why I would accuse him,” I began to walk around the table slowly towards Governor Kellier, “the question is what would Governor Kellier do in order to make sure he had full custody of his daughter?” I raised my eyebrows at him as he narrowed his on me. All eyes turned towards my direction. “Because if I were him, I would be seriously upset that my ex-wife had gotten full custody of my daughter, when it’s obvious I can give her whatever she wants, with the money I make, of course.” I smirked my voice low as I tried to break down the walls around him.

I knew he played a role in this whole mess. I just had to figure out what.

“There she goes again,” He said looking me in the eye, “slandering me again.”

“Oh grow up.” I snapped.

His breath got hot and heavy, “Watch what you say girlie!” I felt Constance grab my arms then and held them behind me the moment that G-word came out of his mouth. I tried to get away from her grip, anger ripping through me.

As she tried to drag me out, I yelled at him, “Just wait, I won’t stop until your ass is in that courtroom.” My arms slipped right through Constance and then I ran forward, and threw him on the floor, and punched him until I felt something underneath my fist break. Fifty-million hands grabbed me and pulled me off of him, his blood still hot on my knuckles.

.x.x.x.

Turns out punching the governor is a federal crime.

“He was asking for it.” I said to Constance as we waited in one of their interrogation rooms. “I mean, it’s not like his nose was perfect to start with, and if he hadn’t called me the G-word we could have avoided this whole mess.” I kept explaining. “This was painful for me too, I mean, it’s been a long time since I punched anyone, and my hand now hurts. I wonder if that’s what they mean when they say you have a thick skull.” I looked at Constance who was starring ahead, not looking at me. “I don’t know why I’m explaining myself to you.” I sighed just as an officer came in.

“Georgina Waters?” He asked.

I sat up straight smiling, “That’s my name, don’t wear it out.”

He didn’t seem amused. He took out an envelope and slid it across the table, “That’s your fine.” He explained. I took it, as Constance and I stood up. Heading for the door I heard him say, “And no more punching governors.”

The ride home was quiet. I’ve never seen Constance so silent before. I kept my head down, in order to show her that I was really disappointed in me too…even if that wasn’t true. Jordan rode in the backseat, sitting like a statue. Maybe I really did screw up this time around. Or at least you’d think so, that was until we got home.

Constance turned off the car, and sat in her seat for a moment, looking ahead of her. Before she buried her face in her hand, and for a moment I thought I was going to get yelled, until she burst out laughing.

“You punched the governor!” She laughed as she hit the steering wheel. I was confused, and so was Jordan. After she laughed for a moment, she looked at me, “I know, it was wrong what you did, but it was also so funny. How many teenagers get to say they punched the governor?”

“Not…many?” I answered not sure where this was going.

I looked at her confused, before I started laughing. “I punched the governor.” I said realizing where she was going on about. “Me! I punched the governor.”

Constance was laughing as well, “You punched him. You punched him hard.” She laughed harder, and Jordan looked like he just stepped into the Twilight Zone, well, so did I. Finally the laughing died down, and Constance got serious, “You punched the governor!” She snapped. Bipolar much? “How could you punch the governor? What were you thinking? No, I’ll tell you what you were thinking; you weren’t thinking at all, that’s what you were thinking.” She was fuming now. “If you pull another stunt like this, you will be sent to military school!” She got out of the car, and I followed behind her.

“That’s it?” I was expecting a bigger punishment than get yelled at.

She turned around smiling, “You’d think. Right? But, no. Once Lance get’s back, we will work something out. And I can promise you that it won’t be pleasant.” She turned around and walked away. I bite my bottom lip wondering what exactly Lance would have in store for me, if I knew him he would make sure I was in hell; too bad I already lived in it.

.x.x.x.

Running off, after the whole incident I knew I had to head to Sea Fort. The dream I had last night, was still imbedded in my mind. I never experienced something like that; to actually be a person…unless they were dead. In the train I swallowed her, praying that she was okay. I just couldn’t imagine a child being murdered. I never understood how someone could possibly kill an innocent child like that.

I jumped out of the train station and walked straight to Sea Fort. People were talking and walking happily. There was music playing in the distant, clothing stores, and Radio Shacks open and people coming in and out like swarms of bees leaving the hive, only to return later. The ground was wet, but no sign of rain, not yet anyways.

I walked until I came to the docks were the Atlantic Ocean, came into view. Walking the border docks still looking out into the ocean, trying to get the exact same view I had gotten in my dream. It was here somewhere, I knew it was. Unlike most places, where the sun would be shining, and people would be rollerblading or having a picnic, people here didn’t bother, knowing that they’d just get wet, eventually. It made me sad to think I could actually live in a place like this, where the sun only shined once in a blue moon, and most of the days were gloomy with gray clouds.

“What are you looking for?” Jordan asked before I realized that I hadn’t spoken at all since getting back. I leaned against the wooden fencing looking out into the water as ships came in and out.

I sighed, “What if I’m wrong about all this?” I asked after a whole minute of silence. “What if maybe he wasn’t trying to send me a message at all? I mean, he did kill Newton and Amy, no doubt about that, but I feel like something here doesn’t make sense. First of all, why would he want to send me a message? He’s never even met me before.” I bite my bottom lip as wind came in. “I don’t want to think that I’ve got all this backwards, but at the same time I don’t know if…if I have this right.”

“Georgina,” I looked up at him as he looked at me softly, “where is all this doubt coming from? You’ve never doubted yourself this much before.”

“I know, I know, but…” Before I could say anything I saw the St. Marie ship come into view. My mind flashed back to my dream. I was at the exactly right spot. “It’s here.” I said quickly to Jordan. “This is the place.”

He looked at me confused before looking around, “Here here?” He asked.

“No, underneath us.” I looked down at the wooden boards.

Fifteen minutes later, I had jumped down to the beach, and looked for an opening in. There was a board loose, where someone could easily sneak a child in here, only to get her later. The sand was disturbed, proving my point. Either that or a bunch of drunken teens sunk in here to have sex.

“Georgina,” Jordan called from outside, “Are you sure about this?”

“Of course I am.” Not really, but not like he had to know. I crawled through the tight squeeze area, exactly like my dream. I looked up to hear people walking on top of me. A child was in here the whole time and no one noticed. I knew Ember was in here, because there was a red ribbon hanging up there, the same red ribbon her mother had said she was wearing when she went missing. I took the ribbon in my hand, it was wet, and had sand on it, but it was defiantly Ember’s. Looking around the sand, I didn’t catch anything that looked like it would belong to her.

I crawled out again, and grinned at Jordan showing him the ribbon.

“Okay, so she was in there, and they took her, but that still doesn’t explain why you would dream of here.” He made sense, and I was about to say something in return before a thought crossed my mind.

I turned around to look at him my eyes almost popping out of my head, “She’s dying. She’s not dead yet, but she is dying. I wasn’t here, physically, but I could have been her spirit.” Everything seemed to fit perfectly. The only reason I knew I was able to do something like that, was because when I first met Jordan, I was him in my dream. I was Jordan’s ghost, and I saw everything he did, felt everything he felt, and that’s the day I knew that there was something more to this whole ghost whisper thing. “C’mon Jordan,” I said quickly sprinting into a run with the ribbon tight in my hand.

“Hello Miss. Georgina,” I looked up and found Sam sitting on his boat, looking calm, cool, and collected. I never understood why that was the first three things I noticed in a person. But as I got closer I saw that he wasn’t as collected as he should have been. He seemed shaken up.

I gave him a small wave, “Hey,” I said quickly running up to the boardwalk. Rain had started, at first it was nothing but drizzle, but then thunder roared through the sky as I ran down the subway transit, soaking wet, and shivering to the bone. I swiped myself in, quickly, wanting to be in the train, and on my way as fast as my heart was beating.

The train wasn’t crowed, but I still clung on to a pole as it sped off underground. I leaned against the pole, my eyes closed, trying to collect all my thoughts together. It wasn’t easy, like everything else in my life.

I was only vaguely aware of the people around me. An old black woman was sitting with her rain coat and groceries in her hands, with a distant look on her face. On the other side of the subway car were a group of teenage girls huddled together looking at me and giggling. When they caught me starring at them, they were hushing each other up only to create more noise. They were probably commenting on my outfit or maybe the way my hair looked. I could care less what these vain girls were thinking. There was a human life that demanded my attention.

Where was she? What was she thinking about? How did she feel? Was she somewhere safe or somewhere dangerous? Knowing the governor he might not want to put his daughter in danger. Unless he was really that heartless. Could he really put his own child in danger? The thought of that made me want to vomit. I never understood this…this disgust I felt whenever a child’s life was in wrongful hands. Maybe it’s because I know what it’s like to be parentless and I’d rather stay that way then have parents who didn’t give a damn. But worse those kids would be wishing they were never born, because of the way their parents treated them…

My train of thought was interrupted when I saw one of the girls coming towards me. She was grinning as she came closer, and her eyes traveled down to the rest of me.

“Hey there,” She said as if we were long time friends. “I was wondering if I could ask you something?”

“You already did.” I said bluntly. The girl’s cheeks burned red, but she quickly composed. “What exactly did you want?” I was starring out the window as the darkness of the underground world passed by quickly.

It took a while for her to answer. She seemed almost in a trans as she starred at me. I wonder what she could be starring at. Was I really that ugly? “Um…did you really punch the governor?” Word spreads fast, I realized.

“Yeah, and…?” I looked at her trying to decipher what she was thinking but all I could see was disbelief, shock, fascination, and some unwanted respect. “Your friends put you up to this, didn’t they?” I sighed as I saw the group of girls who were obviously older then this girl starting to giggle, and plotting. Great, Gossip Girl in the flesh.

She seemed to try and find the right words for things, I looked at her, Little J, I decided to call her, because compared to the series and real life, she really was Jenny. “Look kid, I can tell that you are trying too hard to fit in with a group of girls who, if they broke a nail, someone would have to call 911. So this is my advice to you: On the next stop you get off, and wait for the next train to take you home, and I’ll deal with the divas over there.” She seemed unsure for a moment, but confused; she nodded her head trying not to look obvious. She did as I said and got off the next stop, the girls were confused by her actions, but I casually strolled towards them with an annoying look in my face. “Listen up. I guess that none of you have anything better to do with your pitiful lives but making a younger girl do your dirty work is pathetic. There are more things in life then trying to prove who the bigger bitch is. Now, as you all know, I punched the governor, so just think about what I could do to you in a public area.” I raised my eyebrows as they looked scared. “That’s what I thought.”

The next stop, my stop, came, and as they saw me leave they had a relief look and shot me the glares of death.

“They look pissed.” Jordan said as we hurried upstairs. The rain hadn’t stop yet, but there was little falling.

I shrugged, “What are they gonna do? Ruin my social life?” I remarked.

Jordan sighed, “No, you don’t need them to do that; you’ve done it all on your own.” I glared at him as he tried to hold back a laugh.

“Is that supposed to be funny?” I snapped. He stopped laughing at once, and I rolled my eyes. I was never the kind of girl to feel stressed out, I never had a reason to, but now I couldn’t help but be stressed out. I couldn’t find the little girl, I didn’t know where she was, and no one wanted to help me. I felt at a complete lost.

I shook my head as I walked through the wet streets, as people walked passed me, living their lives calmly, while I was out here chasing ghosts of the past, but Ember wasn’t a ghost, she was real, and she was in real danger.

Crossing my arms against my chest, I walked towards the house, and looked at it through the gates. It was like a white mansion, compared to the rest of the houses in this part of town. You’d think she’d live with all the other rich and fabulous people; instead, this house was the only one that seemed to have all its walls intact. It was like a little piece of light in a field of darkness. With shaking fingers, I reached up to the speaker, and rang in. I prayed she was home; it would be just like me to show up all the way here, and not get the woman.

No answer.

I rang again, a few times actually trying to make sure they understood that I needed their attention badly.

“Maybe no one’s home,” Jordan chimed in.

I shook my head feeling my bones shake with fear, and the hairs in the back of my neck stand up. “Something’s wrong.” I said slowly. “Ember’s mother hasn’t left her house since her daughter’s disappearance. She should have answered the door by now, which can only mean something’s wrong.” I explained looking around inside the gate.

“Maybe she’s just sleeping, or maybe she doesn’t want to talk to you.” He suggested as I tested the iron on the gate. Strong. I raised my eyebrows; strong enough to hold buglers out and strong enough to carry the weight of a seventeen-year-old, I decided.

“Jordan, believe me when I tell you that something is off. I feel it. Don’t you trust my intuition?” I asked almost hurt at his mistrusting.

He said already on the other side of the gate. “Georgina, I just don’t want you to end up getting yourself in any more trouble.” I rolled my eyes as I put one foot on the iron bar, and heaved myself up. The bars were slippery, making it difficult to climb through. If any of the neighbors looked out their windows and saw me, they probably wouldn’t think anything of it, in this neighborhood.

“How much more trouble could I possibly get into?” I demanded, “I’m already grounded for life and I’m pretty sure Lance almost has enough on me to hold me in for the night.”

“Yeah, especially if you break into someone’s home.” He remarked.

“You act like I’m committing a crime!” I snapped.

“You are. Breaking and entering is a crime.”

I snorted, “Please, we’re not breaking in.” I jumped over landing on the wet concert, “All we’re doing is forcing the door open and going in.”

“Oh, so not breaking and entering, but breaking and entering?” Jordan remarked as I went up to the front door. When I tried the door, at first I thought it would be locked, but I was surprised to find it open. I pushed it open just as a gunshot went off.