WAR

It was only after midnight that Kelly was finally finished with her shift at Happy Burger. She was tired, her feet were sore from standing, and she was still furious with the rude customer who swore at her like a sailor. Being the hard worker she was, Kelly would often act on impulse and argue with customers—which got her fired from several jobs before. This time, she took the complaint with a grain of salt and tended to the customer’s every need until they were completely satisfied. Kelly really wanted to change because she needed a stable job to earn money for her journey. Kelly was tired of the daily strife she encountered, and planned on getting away this summer. With the stress of several other adopted kids in her household and parents that did not and could not give her the proper attention she needed, Kelly planned to see the world outside of her small town. These things she pondered as she hung up her apron, stored away her headset, and changed her shoes.

            “See you later,” her partner Mike said.

“Yeah,” she replied walking out, “See you too.” She trudged to her car. Sighing, she turned the key into the ignition and put the radio on her favorite pop station. The bubblegum pop lyrics of artists such as Brian Jupiter, Marley Anne Jetson, and 2-Way Street would keep her eyes open and mind alert enough for her to drive the twenty-minute ride home. She glanced at her side-view mirrors as she pulled out of the parking lot. Tapping her finger to the beat, Kelly anticipated the moment when she could just kick her shoes off and jump into bed. She peered at the back of the road, which was normally empty around this time. Strangely, she noticed dim headlights in her rear-view mirror. She edged toward the left to let the driver past, who she thought was probably annoyed by her slightly slower driving speed. The driver, however, veered left along with Kelly. Kelly soon began to suspect she was being followed. Testing her gut feeling, she sped up. The driver increased their speed as well. Kelly turned into an empty lot. The driver followed suit. Kelly sped around and made a U-turn, nearly breaking the gas pedal to make it home as soon as possible. She took a backstreet through an alley to go to her house, catching the glow of the follower's headlights on her previous path. I lost him, she thought. She hung back in the alley with her car off until she was sure it was absolutely safe. Reaching to reignite the ignition, she caught sight of her stalker through the lines of the fence. He was tall, dark, and mysterious. Kelly noticed him on the phone and slowly cracked open her car door to catch his phone conversation.

“No, I didn't get her,” he said into his phone. “I lost her...she took a different turn, I don't know? It's time for Sinclair to start doing her own dirty work.” He slammed his phone shut and kicked his car door in frustration. Annoyed, he jumped in his car and drove away. Who is Sinclair, Kelly thought, and why do they want me? With her senses fully alert and heart pumping fast, Kelly acted on impulses again and turned out of the alley to track down her stalker.

Kelly managed to inconspicuously follow her hunter, unlike the vice versa. She was led to an abandoned toy factory. Her stalker crept inside unnoticed. Behind the door was pitch black, so Kelly knew if she went through as well, she'd also be unnoticed. She crept up to the entrance. Slowly opening the door, Kelly peered into a very dim hall. Remnants of old toys were strewn about as far as her eyes could make out images. She walked forward until she noticed a brighter glow coming from one doorway in the hall, and headed for it. That hallway lead to another hall, which was, again, dimly lighted. From there, even more rooms were left to be chosen from. Kelly suddenly made out voices, and headed toward that door. Behind the door were two gruff voices and one that sounded like her stalker’s tone. They were arguing. Kelly was scared, but she took a risk and knelt down beside the door to hear the conversation more closely.

“This is one of the most important missions she’s ever sent us on, and you want to bail on her now? Do you know how much danger that girl is facing? This could all blow up in our faces and it’d all be because of you,” spat one voice.

“I've been following and studying this project for weeks now and I haven’t found anything resourceful. We’re running out of time and facing an attack at any given moment now. She’s not related to me, so why should I continue to risk my life for her? This mission will end up giving me more gray hairs than your whole head!” shouted the stalker voice. It was quiet for a minute, and then she heard a sigh.

The gruff man whispered, “Well, if that’s the type of morality that you have, and the amount of respect you have for the boss, then you can return all of your gadgets and leave now.”

Panicking, Kelly backed away from the door to keep from being caught. Tip-toeing back, she heard the loud “SQUEAK” of an old rubber ducky and knew her cover was blown. The door immediately flew open and out came the stalker and an older man. Like a deer in headlights, Kelly stood frozen in her spot. The two men gazed at her in awe, surprise, and a bit of anger.

“Why, I don’t believe it! She’s followed you back here,” said the older one.

Afterward came a cold silence, leaving Kelly highly confused and scared. There were so many mixed emotions going through Kelly’s mind, including the fear that was telling her to get the heck out of there. But she had so many questions! Clueless on what to do next, Kelly stuttered, “wh-who are you all…a-and what do you w-want from m-me?”

The older man softened his face a bit.

“You look just like her,” he whispered to himself.

“Who?” Kelly asked.

“But you’ve definitely got his lack of better judgment.”

“I’ll say,” responded the stalker.

            Kelly was still confused, as well as annoyed that the old man wouldn’t tell her what was going on and mad that he said she didn’t have good judgment.

            Scrunching her face and folding her arms, Kelly replied, “I do too have good judgment, what are you talking about? And who’s got a lack of better judgment?”

            The old man and the stalker looked at each other in a knowingly way. The old one nodded to the other. In the blink of an eye, the stalker had pulled out a gun and shot Kelly in the neck. Kelly’s once shocked face turned into a loopy, lackadaisical one, and she hit the ground with a big thud. The stalker rushed over to Kelly, removed the dart from her neck, and covered her with a tarp. Heaving up her lifeless body, he rushed down the hall.

            “Hurry,” called the old man, “there’s only so much time before she wakes up!”

            Kelly felt darkness surrounding her. Every way she turned there was nothing but black. She was starting to worry because she heard whispers unattached to bodies. She reached out, but could only feel coldness. Kelly began to squirm and squeal. Her paranoia was consuming her state of sanity. Her legs buckled and she started trying to escape. However, it felt like something just would not let her go. Kelly couldn’t take it anymore. With a childlike state of being, she let out an ear-piercing scream.

            And then there was light.

            Kelly was looking into—almost a mirror, it seemed—the face of an unfamiliar woman. When their eyes met, the woman began to shed a few tears.

            “I remember you used to get those nightmares every night as a baby,” she told Kelly. “It was almost as if you knew of the dangers facing us.”

            “Who are you? What am I doing here, and why won’t anyone tell me anything?! I was almost kidnapped, apparently someone wants something from me, and next thing I know, I’m being tranquilized! What do you people want from me!” Kelly screamed at the woman. They both began to sob.

            “After your father was killed, I couldn’t risk my only child being taken from me. I had to put you in a safe home. So, on your second birthday, I placed you on the door of the St. Jude Orphanage Center. I thought we could settle down, finally. I thought that we were done being on the run. I thought things had changed. But soon after I had you, I realized they hadn’t. And keeping you with me was too big of a risk. But now, the only one placing a risk on you is me. They’re after the only person I love the most, and now I’m the only one who can protect you.”

            “Wait, wait, wait, you mean…you’re my mother? All these years, I knew my parents didn’t just leave me because they didn’t love me!” Kelly embraced the woman with much joy from her new-found information. The woman squeezed Kelly tightly, wishing she could never let go.

            “But what’s your name?”

            “Kelly Marie Sinclair, I’m Jordan Sinclair.”

            Kelly froze at the name.

            “Wait, so it was you who’s tracking me and hunting me down! What kind of funny business are you running? And what are you protecting me from?” Jordan sighed and scooted closer to Kelly.

            “The war.”

            “The war?”

            “A long time ago, our family was friends with another family, the Kresners. They had two little boys, which included your great-great-grandfather, and their equivalent. They grew up to be the best of friends. But they got into the wrong crowd. One day, that crowd went on a mission to steal the most expensive piece of jewelry from the jewelry store. Grandfather and Kresner were the most fearful of the scheme, so the rest of the group targeted them for completing the plan. They gave them a gun to scare off any workers. When they went in, they didn’t realize that an alarm had been set off, and before they knew it, they were right in the face of the store owner. Our grandfather, not knowing what to do, shot him right in the face and ran, just in time for the police to come in and arrest Kresner. He pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to death. So his family has been after ours for a long, long time. It’s been a long and hard war that’s caused me to form my own secret service and employ people to watch out for my family. And I’m his closest direct relative, so they’re targeting the people I love most. Unfortunately, you’re the one they want now.”

            Kelly thought over all of this new information. She just met her mother, found out she was being stalked her entire life by good and bad people, and didn’t know where her life currently stood.

            “So what do we do now?” she asked. Jordan stood up.

            “Now, we’ve got to get you out of the continent. I hope you like to travel.”

            Kelly was beaming on the outside. She was planning on getting away anyway. Then, she realized that her reunion with her mother would be cut short. Her face fell into a small frown.

            “But we just met! I have so many questions, so much to learn about you, I-I—”

            “Hello?” Jordan cut her off, speaking into her headset. “What? Oh no, no, this is all moving too fast! We have to leave. Now. Get the jet ready, and I’ll meet you there with Kelly.”

            Kelly was confused. “What’s going on now?”

            Jordan was packing up. “I’m sorry, Kelly, but your family’s house was burned down.

And everyone was inside…” Kelly broke down, while Jordan packed all of the things they’d need. She knew it was devastating, but she also knew that Kelly would be next if they didn’t hurry.

            Jordan picked up a crying Kelly and sped down the halls. She knew she didn’t have much time, but she planned on making it, no matter what. She was almost there. Jordan was climbing up the stairs like her life depended on it, because it did. She could hear the jet engines revving up. One last flight before the landing to the door, she thought to herself. She used this as motivation to hurry and reach the door, when someone busted through it before she could make it. A masked figure pulled out a gun and pointed it at her.

            “Jordan Sinclair, I’m Michael Kresner. And my great-grandfather wants me to deliver something to you.” And with that, a bullet pierced through Kelly’s abdomen, which grazed Jordan’s stomach. Jordan cried out for her daughter, and was silenced by another bullet blasting her head off. The man walked away.