This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but my weekend thus far has been pretty busy! Anyway, happy Saint Patrick's Day everybody, especially you Irish people out there like me! I hope you enjoy!
found on Craiyon
I heard the door. “There you are, I was wondering where you-,” I started. Then I saw the floating clothes next to him. “Logan what the hell is that?”
Logan pointed to the clothes. “This is Matthew. Invisible kid, I don’t know anymore than you.” The sleeve raised as if in a wave. “Hi,” a young voice said.
I looked at Logan, trying to get an answer out of him, but he didn’t seem to be lying. He clearly had no idea what was going on. “Okay, um, Matthew. What…are you?”
The invisible kid shrugged. “A 16 year old boy?” I looked at Logan again. He turned to the kid. “He meant what species are you? Changeling, demon, the works,” he tried.
Matthew was silent for a moment. “Okay, you guys are crazy. I’m just a human. Those other things don’t exist. Right?”
I rubbed my temple. I could tell he wasn’t lying. He had no reason to. I mean, he could pretty much get out of here without either of us being able to stop him.
But if he was human how did he become what he was now? It didn’t make sense.
“Matthew,” Logan said, moving him to sit on the couch. “What happened to you?”
The kid sighed. “It’s kind of a long story.”
I sat down and so did Logan. “We got time,” I said.
Matthew took a deep breath. “Okay. Well, me and my brother have been living on the streets for the past few months. Our parents died in a crash and my brother, he didn’t want to be separated…so we were on the run. Then Mr. Griffin found us. He told us he’d protect us, as long we worked for him. So we agreed.”
Logan made a time out sign with his hands. “I’m sorry, Mr. Griffin? He’s the one who found you?”
Matthew nodded. “Yeah. He brought us to the lab and made us sign a few papers. I swear it was like signing your soul away.” He chuckled before continuing. “He called it Project HG. Made us drink this gross potion like thing. I just thought it was part of some scientific procedure, until next thing I knew I couldn’t see my hands. I looked over to my brother, he was invisible too. Mr. Griffin, he said we were marvels. That we would save the world. I believed him, but I don’t think my brother…I don’t know. We were there for a little bit, but I don’t remember much. Just bits and pieces really. Needles here and there, a gunshot, though I don’t remember who shot it or why, and then just smoke and fire.”
I looked at Logan. This wasn’t some ghost or monster. This was a science fiction novel come to life, a crazy lab experiment gone impossibly right. I didn’t understand how this was even possible. How could a scientist just make someone invisible? Another question was why, but there were two answers to that.
- The government wanted some invisible soldiers and spies, which could prove pretty useful if we went to war.
- Griffin just wanted to see if he could. He wanted to see just how far he could go with an idea, and in this case, pretty damn far.
Logan seemed to get this just as much as I did. “Matthew, where’s your brother,” he asked. Matthew shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t heard from him since the fire. His name’s Jeremy, you know him?”
I sat up. “Jeremy Pen?” Matthew seemed to nod vigorously.
“You do know him!” Logan turned to me, as if confused how I knew an invisible guy. I didn’t want to say what I had to in front of Matthew, so I grabbed Logan’s arm and pulled him into a different room. “One second Matthew,” I said over my shoulder. I couldn’t tell whether he was okay with that or not, but I assumed he was.
“What’s wrong, who’s Jeremy Pen,” Logan asked in a hushed tone once we got to a new room.
I sighed, letting go of his arm. “Elliot told me the name of a suspect, Jeremy Pen. Said he worked in the lab.” Logan’s eyes widened and he looked to Matthew in the other room. “You don’t think he could actually have caused the fire do you? I mean, Matthew seems like a nice kid.”
I put my hands in my pockets. “I don’t know. Siblings aren’t always the same. Plus even if it is, what are we gonna do? I’m not sure if the police can handle an invisible man.”
Logan took a deep breath. “We’ll have to find him first. Maybe Matthew could have an idea.”
I crossed my arms. “Yeah, but how do we ask him without sounding like we’re gonna kill his brother?”
Logan stood there for a second, as if questioning what the hell I meant, before seeming to remember who I was and making a decision.
“I’ll talk to him.”
“Hey Matthew,” Logan said cheerfully when we walked back in the room, my hands fidgeting in my pockets.
“Listen, do you have an idea where Jeremy could be? We can’t leave you alone if he’s all you got.” The way Logan spoke, smooth and gentle, I would’ve easily calmed down.
Matthew seemed to think that too. “I don’t know for sure, but he could be at our old hideout on Eden Avenue. I can show you!”
I looked at Logan, who smiled. “Perfect. Let’s go.”
I hadn’t gone down this block in a while. I wondered if I would’ve been able to see Matthew and Jeremy, before this happened. I wished I could’ve helped them. Maybe if I had gone down this block more often, instead of ignoring it because it gave me the creeps. Who knew how many people, how many children, Mr. Griffin had gotten to. Had hurt. For all we knew it could’ve been thousands.
“Right here,” Matthew showed us, pointing to a small shack. The windows were covered with ripped curtains and the door seemed to be off its hinges. No wonder they were safe here. No one would go in there willingly.
I opened the door, though it was a little stuck. I let the others go in first and then went in after them. The place was dark, with old furniture still in plastic wrap, like someone had left in a hurry.
“Who are you people,” a voice said. He sounded older than Matthew, but not by much. Even if he wasn’t invisible I wouldn’t be able to see him. It was too dark. I still tried though.
Logan stepped up. “I’m Logan Wright. This is my friend David Locke. We’re just here to talk.” I heard something on the stairs, but still could barely see.
“Oh really? Griffin wants me back that much huh,” he spat, venom lacing his voice.
I shook my head vigorously. “We’re not working for Griffin.” Suddenly the voice was behind me. “Sure you’re not. And I’m fully visible.” Suddenly, I felt the barrel of a gun against my back. I tensed. Logan saw it. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off.
“Don’t think about it,” the voice said. “One move and I’ll pull the trigger.” Logan stopped. We both had the same idea. This guy wasn’t kidding. We both fully believed he would shoot.
“Listen, we’re just here to help. We’re not bringing you back,” I tried, but the gun was pushed more into my back. I felt his breath against the side of my face. “Shut. Up.”
Suddenly, a small voice, Matthew, spoke up. “Jeremy?”
The gun fell a little. “Matthew?” I took this as an opportunity to grab the gun from his hand. It was easier than I expected.
My eyes were getting used to the darkness. Just like his brother, Jeremy was completely invisible other than his clothes. I pointed the gun at him. “Listen, I’m not going to pull this trigger. Just let us try and help you.”
Jeremy turned to me and laughed. “Trust you? Never again.” He began running. I would’ve shot, but Matthew was an ally, and hurting his brother wouldn’t have helped. Me and Logan made eye contact. He told Matthew to wait here and we ran after Jeremy.
It’s hard to find someone who’s invisible, but he was still in clothes. I saw him go down an alleyway and kept running.
I had to give it to him. He was fast. But he wasn’t a ghoul. Logan was the one who caught up with him. He grabbed Jeremy from the back of his shirt and pulled him down.
“Get off, get off!” He continued flailing. I’m pretty sure he punched me at least once. Logan kept his hands on Jeremy’s shoulders, but was gentle about it.
“We’re not the enemy,” Logan shouted. That got the kid to stop. “Who are you then,” he asked. “And what do you want with me?”
I put the gun I had taken from Jeremy on my side. “As he said, I’m David and this is Logan. We protect people, and right now we want to know what happened to you and how we can keep you safe.”
Jeremy scoffed. “Why? I’m a monster now.”
Logan’s face softened. “Maybe. But why does monster have such a negative connotation to it? Why do people think that there can’t be good ones?” He showed off his claws, causing a gasp from the invisible boy.
“I’m a ghoul,” Logan said. “But I’m still trying to help people. So why can’t you?”
Jeremy was silent for a minute. “Okay.” He stood up. “Wait a minute. Matthew. Was he with you?”
I nodded. “We told him to stay in your hideout.” Jeremy seemed to understand and we began to walk back. We had to go through alleyways because people would have a lot of questions if they saw some clothes and nothing else.
We weren’t too far from the hideout, but it seemed farther now that we were walking. Still, it only took ten minutes at most.
That’s why I didn’t understand when no one was in the hideout.
“Matthew,” Jeremy called. No answer. No standing clothes. He wasn’t here.
Logan found the note. “David!” I came over and he handed it to me.
Dear Jeremy and allies,
We have Matthew, if you couldn’t tell. So, how about this deal? I’ll return Matthew if you give us Jeremy.
See you soon,
Griffin
On the back of the letter was an address.
Someone cursed and I realized Jeremy was behind us. “You idiots,” he yelled at us. “Why would you leave him here alone? Griffin might kill him! He’s going to kill my little brother, because you two were dumb enough to leave him here!” A string of curses followed.
“Jeremy,” I said. “We have an address. We can find your brother, and we’ll get him back.”
Jeremy stood there, taking deep breaths. “Ha. No, I’m getting him back. I knew you people couldn’t be trusted.” He grabbed the letter and then was gone before I could blink.
“Come on,” I muttered to myself. Logan put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry. I got the address,” he said, tapping his head. “We have to go.”
I nodded. “Before Jeremy does something stupid.”
What will happen? Who is Mr. Griffin? What will Jeremy do when he finds him? Stay tuned!