Chapter Five

(13 years later)

"Dad! I'm here!" I kicked the front door of my father's house closed. In my arms was an old copier I used back when I was in college. My stepmother, Jeanette, a white woman from the Caribbean asked me to bring it. I took careful steps to the living room and placed the machine on the coffee table gently.

In the corner of my peripheral, I saw a figure move on the couch. I glanced at whoever it was and jumped. "Oh my gosh, Jackie. You scared me." I sighed.

Jackie was my baby half-sister. After my mother passed away, my father, Jack Brown remarried and had 2 children with Jeanette. I hadn't seen Jackie for quite some time. She was always busy with school or her clubs whenever I tried reaching out to spend time with her.

Jackie slouched on the couch and picked up her notebook, ignoring my presence. "How have you been?" I smiled at her.

"Okay." She responded monotonously.

"What have you been to?"

"Studying."

"Uh-huh." I brushed myself off. "How's that going for you?"

"I'm trying to finish my homework." She sighed and plopped her notebook on her lap. She was annoyed with me asking her so many questions, but I didn't care. We used to be close when she was younger, but as the years went by she became distant.

"Jackie!" Jeanette stormed into the living room with her hands on her hips. "I told you to take Samuel outside so he can go play. Why are you still sitting there?"

"I'm trying to finish my homework."

"Don't give me that, young lady. I know well and well you haven't spent the last 2 hours doing homework. You're distracted and doodling again. Get your butt up off my couch and go take your brother outside."

"I don't want to." Jackie spat. "Casey is here. She can do it."

Jeanette gritted her teeth and groaned. I stepped in and placed my hand on Jackie's shoulder. "Jackie, don't get an attitude."

"Don't tell me what to do!" She shrugged my hand off and jumped off the couch. Then she stormed off in the direction of upstairs.

"Don't make me call your father, Jackie!" Jeanette growled.

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and continued stomping up the stairs.

"Ugh." Jeanette massaged her forehead. "I can't get any appreciation from that child. The whole reason I asked you to bring the printer was so she could print out her report. I'm sorry you have to see that behavior. She's been acting up."

"It's fine." I sighed. "You talk with her and I'll take Samuel outside to play. I've got a bit of time before I go to work anyways."

"Are you sure?" Jeanette frowned.

"I'm sure. Don't worry about it." I nodded. "Sammy! Do you wanna go outside and play?" I called out to him. Not even a few seconds later, the small boy with dark blonde hair poked his head around the corner in the hallway. When he saw me, he sprinted forward and clung to my leg in a hug.

"Casey, Casey!" He hopped up and down happily.

"Alright, alright. Let's go get your shoes on." I tapped his shoulder and motioned him toward the front door. He happily obliged and skipped over to his small sneakers before slipping his feet into them. Then he stared back up at me, waiting for me to open the door.

"We'll be outside Jeanette!" I called to her and turned the knob and let Samuel run ahead. "Don't go too far, Sammy."

Samuel ran around the corner of the house and came back with a baseball in his hands. However, the sky distracted me from taking it. I noticed that the clouds were dark and the sky quickly filled with gloom. It was odd because the weatherman reported that it would be sunny all day.

A strange feeling tugged are my heart, but I decided to ignore it.

~

"Casey, would you mind picking up some coffee for the senior staff?" One of my colleagues peered over my shoulder and whispered to me.

"What?" I blinked at her. "That's Susan's job. I'm just the receptionist."

My colleague folded her arms together and pouted her red lips. "Susan had to pick up her son from daycare early so she clocked out."

"Well, there's a lot of things on my plate right now. Can't you ask someone else?" I had a bunch of calls to take and files to organize. Going out to buy coffee would hinder me from my work.

"You're the only one available. Everyone else on this floor is in a meeting with their teams. The company is working on something big, so the manager asked me to ask you."

I groaned. That was one of the things I hated about working here. My company specialized in advertising beauty products and the owners were very wealthy, but the downside was that I often kept taking on loads of work that weren't mine.

"Fine."

My Colleague smiled at me. "Great. Mr. Rogers wants you to pick up 11 coffees, 4 dark, and the rest with cream. 3 sugars in all of them." She slid a sticky note on my desk. "The Owl's cafe is across the street and past a couple of buildings. You can't miss it."

I set some files and folders aside, then grabbed the sticky note and shoved it into my pocket. My colleague nodded at me and sashayed to another room.

I grabbed my purse and jogged over to the elevator. "Might as well get this done quickly." I tapped on one of the buttons and waited for the door to slide open. After a few seconds, it did and I stepped inside and waited as it brought me down to the 1st level.

Then I hopped off the elevator and raced toward the exit. For some reason though, a peculiar thought instructed me to look up and so I raised my head. The clouds were still dark, and it was pouring down heavy rain. I didn't have an umbrella, so I took off my jacket and covered my hair with it. I just braided it and didn't want it to be soaked.

Braids still can frizz when hit by water.

I left my company building and ran over to the entrance of the parking garage. It took me a moment but I located my car and hopped inside of it. Then I turned on the ignition and pulled out of the space.

"It's only 6 in the evening." I groaned. My shift ended at 9, but I knew I'd be getting off later since I was running to get coffee. I pressed on my gas and turned into the street, but groaned when I noticed it was full of other cars. I forgot that the traffic was usually bad around this time. "Oh come on!" I slammed my fist against the horn of the car when the crossover in front of me stopped at a green light. "Go you, idiot!" I beeped at him several times.

The person in the vehicle only stuck his middle finger at me in return, so I turned my wheel and went around him. "Stupid people can't drive—" Before I could finish my sentence, a bolt of lightning appeared in front of my car and then a figure of a man.

"What the heck?!" I screamed.

The man collided with my windshield and I gasped as the body flew to the ground.

"Oh my gosh." I stopped my car and felt the blood leave my face. "Oh my gosh! I hit someone!" I scrambled out of the car in the rain and ran over to the man I just hit. He was sprawled on the street, dressed in a silk long robe and leather sandals on his feet. The man also had long black hair, but because of the rain, it pressed against his face and neck.

I was too afraid to touch him, but I also knew that I'd be arrested if I just left him there. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh!" I cried. "911!" I shouted to myself and grabbed my phone. I began pressing the numbers on my screen but in the corner of my eye, I saw the man move. I looked to my side and jumped when I realized the man was standing up unharmed.

I wasn't sure if the rain was messing with my sight, but I didn't see any blood on him. "I'm so sorry!" I rushed over to him. "Are you okay?"

"Lapis..." The man moaned and held onto his head.

I reached for the man's arm and he shrugged me off of him. "Woah!" I yelped.

"Lapis..." He repeated louder. "Where is the Lapis?" He growled at me.

"I-I d-don't know what you're talking about!" I stammered and extended my arms. "Don't move! We have to get you to the hospital!" I looked back to my phone, only for it to be snatched out of my hand. "Hey!"

The man grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and growled at me. "Woman, Return what you stole, or I'll kill you—" He stopped and glanced down near my chest. I felt my mom's pendant get snatched up in his hands, and my body thrust closer to his. I dared not to move, fearing that he was going to hurt me. "Phoenix..." He mumbled and released me. "It's you." He blinked at me in surprise.

I was thoroughly freaked out. "What?" Maybe the rain and trauma from being hit made him delusional. I shoved him back and slapped him when his eyes started to drift down from my pendant to my chest. "Pervert!"

The man fell to the cement after being hit. But he didn't get up. I gasped and brought my hands to my mouth in disbelief. "Oh no! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you!" I nudged his body with my foot, but he wouldn't budge.

"Are you okay?"

Silence.

"Sir?"

No response.

"Are you kidding me?" I whined. I hovered over his body and poked his cheek. My fear was confirmed. He was unconscious. "Crap. I'm going to get arrested! First I hit him with my car, and now I slapped him so hard he passed out."

I grabbed onto his arm and dragged his body up. By now, my clothes were soaked, and my hair was drenched. "Ugh! You're Heavy!" I pulled him over to my back car door.

I was going to take him to the nearest hospital and get back to work.

Once I got there though, I kept receiving strange looks from the patients and nurses. I put a ghastly amount of effort into dragging this guy's body inside. I was thankful that he didn't wake up on the way here.

"Excuse me! This is an emergency! This man was hit by a car!"

The nurses and medical assistants all perked up at my statement and rushed around the check-in immediately. A guy nurse came around the corner with a bed and helped me lift the man's body onto it. Then a doctor rushed in.

"How long ago was he hit?" The Doctor glanced at me before using his stethoscope to monitor the unconscious man's heartbeat.

"Um... 30 minutes ago?"

"Did you see who hit him?"

"Kind of." I hesitated.

"Andrew, get this open for me." The Doctor gestured at the man's robe. Andrew, the guy nurse began untying the man's robe and he opened the flaps of it, displaying the man's muscular torso. I took note of a red marking that was on his left chest area.

The Doctor and the staff eyed each other in disbelief. "There's no blood." A female nurse murmured.

"Are you sure he was hit by a car?" The Doctor eyed me suspiciously.

"Y-yes, because I was the one that hit him."

The Doctor nodded and pressed down on the man's torso. "We should get him to the X-RAY room and see if he has any broken bones. After that, take him to one of the rooms, and we will check to see if he has any internal bleeding." The Doctor instructed and the staff all agreed before rushing to the bed and pulling him into a hallway.

The Doctor then turned to me. "Miss, is it okay if you stay?"

"I can't. But I'll leave you my number and ID so in case the man wants to file a report you can contact me."

"It's not that. But until we can get in contact with his guardians, we need you to fill out his admittance file."

"But, I have to get back to work!" I frowned and glanced at the clock. It was already 8 pm. If I didn't get back soon, my manager would probably write me up.

The Doctor grabbed a clipboard and slip of paper from the reception desk and handed them to me. Then he shrugged and frowned before walking away.

"Unbelievable." I scoffed.