Puppet

CHAPTER 5:

“Luke’s back,” Teo turned his head to hear the door behind him creak open. The rest of the immortals turned their heads, too, awaiting Luke’s report. Luke, moving slower then usual, silently walked down a group of creaking stairs. He slowly lifted his head, giving his immortal group a hidden stare. They all stood quietly, waiting for him to talk. He didn’t, though, and this irritated Teo, “Well,” Teo spit out, “What happened up there? Did ya see who killed them mortals?” Luke kept his difficult face on. Not even his own gang can express how Luke feels.
“No,” Luke finally answered, peacefully, yet softly, “I saw no one. However, I did find the dead bodies. It was definitely an immortal.”
“How could ya tell?” Teo asked, getting a group of sighs from his fellow comrades, but he just gave them a pondering stare.
“Because,” Luke answered openly, “The bodies were not shredded to pieces, as if by some wild animal. The bodies had holes going straight through their stomachs, spilling out their intestines. It was from an immortal’s power, though most of their insides were missing.”
“Damn,” Teo’s word usage encouraged Ivalyn to cover his mouth.
“That’s enough, my puppet,” whispered Ivalyn, giving Teo a sweet smile.
“So,” spoke Rod’s puppet, a cute, younger Japanese female, “are the bodies going to be left there?”
“Etsu’s right,” Rod spoke, hugging tightly to his puppet, “What about the bodies? Should we clean the mess up?”
“No,” Luke looked to the ground; his group was sure they saw him shiver, “A few OOP officers came while I was examining the bodies. They didn’t see me, but I rushed out of there. They’ll take care of the bodies.”
“Great,” Teo growled, “Now the mortals are dealing with the problem.”
“Let them be,” Luke said, making his group give him a bizarre stare, “If they want to investigate the case, let them. It’s their kind who was murdered…let them deal with it…” Everyone watched in silence as Luke began to walk away. He looked up to find Chen standing by the exit to his main bedroom chamber. As Luke passed Chen by, he got a strange feeling when she gave him an unsatisfying glare, but decided to ignore it, and vanished down the darkened hall.
--
Entering his dark, gloomy bedroom chamber, Luke slowly closed the door behind him. He leaned against the door, then, lifting his hand to rest over his drooping head. Luke let a soft, confused sigh escape his lips; he rubbed his eyes afterwards.
“Damn,” Luke glared into nothingness, “That…that man, no, that boy! Just a kid! My puppet…is a kid?” Luke walked further into his chamber, not even bothering with the lights. Moving over to his large bed, Luke lowered himself onto it, and rested his head in his hands. His brown hair fell downward; parts covered over his face, as well. Once seated, Luke stayed silent for a long amount of seconds. Soon he raised his head; his brown eyes, though almost as dark as his surrounding room, were glowing in a tensed, frightening way. “I must find him…”
--
Kiyoshi walked into the office with an uncomfortable feeling, that next morning. He was back in his regular uniform and held the borrowed clothes in his arms. He was hoping that nobody in the office knew of what he had done the night before, but as soon as he entered the building, all other officers turned to give him a pondering glare.
“Um…” Kiyoshi let out an embarrassing cough, “H, hi everyone.” The officers only shook their heads as they went on with their work. Kiyoshi lowered his head, then, and began to walk towards Akina. She was busily chattering away over the telephone, as usual. She gave Kiyoshi a greeting smile once Kiyoshi stepped up to her.
“Alright Ma’am,” Akina spoke before hanging up. She gave Kiyoshi another smile before a tiny blush crept over her cheeks, “Hi Kiyoshi.”
“Hi Akina,” Kiyoshi never noticed Akina’s blush, “How’s work today?”
“Oh,” Akina rubbed her brows, “It’s been terrible. My tasks have been very hard today: filing papers, interviewing guests, helping guests, answering this damn telephone, which has been ringing off the hook since early this morning, and above all that Sir Wakehiko had me bring him his coffee.” Kiyoshi laughed at that last errand of Akina’s, before giving her a shrug. “Though my day isn’t as important as you are, Kiyoshi,” Kiyoshi nearly fell over at that remark, “I heard you had a blast last night. What happened?”
“I…” it was Kiyoshi’s turn to blush. He grew redder then a tomato, “I, um…sort of sneaked into a case I wasn’t supposed to do, nearly got myself killed, and came back to a steamed Sir Wakehiko.”
“Ouch,” Akina gave Kiyoshi a reassuring smile, “Well, just between the two of us, I thought what you did was very brave.”
“Really,” Kiyoshi wasn’t sure if Akina was joking or not, “You think?”
“Sure,” Akina’s voice became a whisper, “But…don’t tell that to Sir Wakehiko. I don’t think he’d like it. Speaking of which, Sir Wakehiko wanted you to go see him as soon as you got here. I just want to wish you good luck, Kiyoshi.”
“Thanks,” Kiyoshi took a deep breath, “I’ll go see him now.” Waving goodbye to Akina, Kiyoshi took up his courage and ventured towards Officer Wakehiko’s office. Stepping up to the door, Kiyoshi gave a knock. After a moment, the door opened, revealing Officer Wakehiko. He gave Kiyoshi a pleasant smile and motioned for Kiyoshi to come in. Kiyoshi did so, but not before handing over the clothes he had borrowed.
“Oh, thank you,” Officer Wakehiko set the clothes up top one of the desks in his office, “Take a seat, Kiyoshi.” Kiyoshi took the offered seat, sitting in front of Officer Wakehiko’s desk. Officer Wakehiko sat down, too, piling some papers neatly; his desk was a disaster zone, “So first thing we’re going to do,” began Officer Wakehiko, “Is answer some questions.” Kiyoshi took a huge gulp. Usually Officer Wakehiko would have another officer come in to draught down suspect’s answers, but it looked as if Officer Wakehiko would do all of the questioning, listening, and drawing. Kiyoshi hoped he was prepared, “You ready?” Kiyoshi straightened his back, giving Officer Wakehiko a positive notice.
“Yes,” Kiyoshi answered, noticing Officer Wakehiko had taken out a pad and pen, “I’m ready.”
“Alright,” Officer Wakehiko clicked his pen. Even in the future, pens were pens, “To begin with, Kiyoshi, at this very moment you are not going to be considered as an officer, but as an every day customer with his own predicament, understood?” Kiyoshi gave Officer Wakehiko a nod, “Good,” Officer Wakehiko continued, “Also, you will answer each question honestly and truthfully. I wouldn’t want to find out that you had lied understood?” Kiyoshi gave another nod, even though with that it’d be much more difficult, for Kiyoshi did not want to tell Officer Wakehiko about the mysterious man who would not die. “Then let us begin…”
--
Hidden under a long brown trench coat, a brown hat, and brown boots was a clever Luke. He fit in perfectly well with the mortals. None could tell he was immortal; thankfully they were all human. Lifting the brown hat, Luke’s brown eyes stared up at the OOP officer building. Inside this building, hopefully, was his puppet.
Luke despised the thought of having a young, male mortal as his puppet. But a puppet was a puppet. Luke had no control over who he gets to choose as his mate. However, Luke kept the subject on his mind all night, and he still could not comprehend why a male was chosen as his lifetime mate. Males could not reproduce without a female, so why was Luke given a male? Also, the male was a mortal! Luke has never known any immortal that has had a mortal for a puppet, except for one, but that ones name is never mentioned among immortals. Luke had cussed out the Gods the night before, asking them the same type of questions. It made no sense whatsoever! But whatever the reason may be, Luke went along with it. This man was going to be Luke’s puppet. And Luke, still disliking how things turned out, promised himself that he’d get to know the man, and make him suffer the consequences of being a puppet.
With his hat lowered, Luke stepped into the office. He got a few stares, but ignored them as he made his way towards Akina’s desk. Akina was working on some papers. Her phone, shockingly, was not ringing.
“Excuse me,” Luke tried speaking in a polite voice, “Miss?” Akina looked up and her heart literally melted at the sight of this man. She felt her cheeks grow hot, but quickly covered them with her hands.
“Wow,” Akina thought to herself, “This man is so…dreamy,” Akina gave the man a smile, “But he’s no Kiyoshi.” Akina set the papers she was working on aside, and gave Luke her full attention, “Can I help you, sir?”
“Yes,” Luke raised his eyebrow at this mortal girl. He had noticed her blush, “I’m new here and was just taking a look around the city. I used to be a police officer and would, perhaps, like to get a job here.”
“Oh wow,” Akina gave Luke a bright smile, handing Luke an application, “Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?” Luke gave a thought for a second, and decided to go with the place where he really was born.
“America,” Luke answered while taking a pen from Akina, “I’m from America.”
“Cool,” Akina gave the man a wink, “Just return that to me when you’re finished, okay?” Luke took a seat in one of the customer chairs. He took a glance at the application. He’d have to lie at a few parts, but he never intends on keeping the job if he gets it. All he wishes for is to get closer to his puppet. Best he could, Luke filled out the application. Once finished he brought it back to Akina, who began to look through it. As she did so, a familiar voice entered Luke’s ears. He perked up, looked towards his right, and gave off a stern look. There, talking to an older man, was that boy; Luke’s puppet.
“There he is…” Luke whispered.
“Excuse me,” Luke turned to Akina. Shit, he hoped he hadn’t heard him, “Pardon me, Luke, but you forgot to put down your last name.” Akina stared stunned at Luke’s face. It was so mysterious, so sad. As Luke put down his ‘mortal’ last name, Akina was awed by his calmness. Akina bet that Luke could handle anything! She had no idea how correct she was. Luke handed the application back to Akina before saying farewell. Just as he went to exit the door, however, he took one last glance over at Kiyoshi.
“I’m keeping my eye on you…”
--
Exiting the office, Kiyoshi gave a low sigh. The day had been fairly busy, but all day Kiyoshi couldn’t stop thinking about his interview with Officer Wakehiko. Things had gone well, however, Kiyoshi had lied many times throughout the interview. Some parts that night were too humiliating to tell, plus Kiyoshi did not want to talk of the mysterious man with the deep, dark voice. Heading towards his vehicle, Kiyoshi let out a little shiver. It was a cool night and Kiyoshi couldn’t help but feel as if someone, or something was watching him. Looking from left to right, up and down, frontward and backward, Kiyoshi quickly set on his helmet, got onto his vehicle, and flew off for his home. Little did Kiyoshi know that he was being followed.
Once inside his house, Kiyoshi felt safer. The evening had gone by fast. After Kiyoshi ate his dinner he took a shower, read a book he was currently reading, and then turned off the lights for bed. Lying in his bed, however, Kiyoshi kept getting a weird feeling. He took a glance over at his window. The tall tree grown outside his window was blowing from the wind; its branches were hitting against the window. Shadows bounced off of the darkened walls. Kiyoshi turned to his vase of red roses. They looked black in the dark. There was little light from the moon, but Kiyoshi felt that perhaps he should sleep with a light on that night. Something just didn’t feel right. Making his decision, Kiyoshi slowly pushed back his covers, hoping not to stir the ghosts haunting his mind. To reach his lamp, Kiyoshi turned his body around to face the other way. Turning his neck, Kiyoshi went to reach for the lamp, but his hand touched something else instead: something soft, warm, and breathing. Kiyoshi gasped loudly as he was suddenly grabbed by his hair. Kiyoshi’s blue eyes widened as he looked up into a face he’d hoped to never see again.
“Hello puppet.”
*End of Chapter 5*