The Journal of Memories

We left the room when the sky was almost pitch black. We listened to half of the record and when I told to take it she just shook her head saying, “The person who owned this has probably protected it for years. I have no right to take it.”

I jumped on the bike with Macy and Luna, “Are you still going to give me directions?”

She nodded and pulled out the tablet.

“Alright. I am just warning you, we are going to be driving very slow because of the snow. Also be prepared to run and find a place to hide if we run into anything.”

She took a deep breath, “Hopefully we won’t run into anything then.”

“Agreed.”

I pulled out of the alley and drove on the sidewalk. I had my headlights off so we wouldn’t stand out too much. I was going to have to really focus on not hitting anything.

This is going to be harder than I thought.

Luckily, the buildings echoed the noise and bounce it off each other, so it would be hard to pinpoint exactly where we were. It felt so creepy to be driving at night. The snow on the ground created a mist low to the ground.

This reminds me of something.

Shock.

One of the books I read. Sleepy Hollow. Yeah this is definitely as creepy as that.

I looked down when Macy’s ears perked up. She faced forward and growled.

This can’t be good.

I stopped the bike, turning off the engine. I grabbed Luna and ran with her into an alley.

I am not taking any chances this time.

I held her close to me and peeked around the corner. Macy was at our feet looking around the corner too. I saw one of the trucks slowly hovering down the street. The blue glow coming from the bottom, lighting up the street. They had a spotlight searching the buildings. There was a few Guards walked and talking to each other, “Make sure to check all the alleys!”

We have to hide somewhere. They are going to find us and they are coming fast.

I heard another group coming at the end of the alley.

Think Ben think.

Luna pulled me to a dumpster, opening the lid, “Get in! Quick!”

Well... this is going to suck.

I picked up Macy and jumped in. Luna followed and gently closed the lid, leaving us in the dark.

Luna whispered to me, “Sorry, this was the only thing I could think of.”

I whispered back, “No, it’s perfect. A little smelly but perfect. Let’s just hope they don’t look inside.”

We both keep quiet as we heard them marching closer. We could hear their conversations more clearly.

“Do you see anything?!”

“No sir! Nothing over here!”

“Is that their motorcycle?!”

“I don’t know... there are so many motorcycles in this town. Who knows which belongs to who?”

“Yeah and it doesn’t help when they don’t give us good descriptions.”

“Do you really think these two kids did this?”

“Not one bit. The doc was treating them like a crown jewel when we brought them to him. But hey we have a job to do and orders to follow.”

“It can’t be that hard to find them.”

“Yup they are just a couple of dumb kids. Probably confused.”

Both our heart rates sped up when we saw a bright light through one of the cracks. I did my best to slow my breathing. Our heart beats sounded like the loudest thing in the world at the moment.

“Do you see anything in that alley?”

“No! We are clear!”

“Alright let’s mount up and get back to base for chow!”

“I think we have searched enough for one day. Let’s get back to it tomorrow.”

“Yeah if they are out here. We will find them. All we are doing now is scaring them into these buildings.”

“Hopefully they will have the drones and robots tomorrow. That will make our lives a lot easier.”

“Hell yeah, we won’t have walk all these miles, looking for two dumb teenagers.”

I think they are the dumb ones. We are litery right here.

We waited until the streets were absolutely silent again before getting out of the dumpster.

We smell horrible now.

Luna scrunched up her nose, “I would totally go for a shower right now.”

I thought for a moment, “If we get back to driving for awhile we might be able to make it back to my house. Then we can shower and get some stuff.”

“Do you think they will be there, in case you come back?”

She had a point. That would be pretty easy for them if we showed up and they were all waiting.

“Here’s the plan. We will drive by and if something seems off, we will keep driving. If it seems good we will stay for the rest of the night.”

She nodded her head and began walking back to the bike, “Sounds pretty good to me.”

She stared at me as she jumped towards the front of my bike. I laughed, “No you are not driving.”

She smirked, “I wasn’t planning on it. But can I?”

“No. Now scoot back.”

She laughed, “What if I don’t?”

“Luna.”

She moved back, “Fine but I will be driving again someday.”

“Not a chance in hell.”

I jumped on, in front of her and looked down to make sure Macy was in. The dog looked up at me with a bored expression.

Okay, okay, we will leave. So demanding.

I started the engine up, “Alright, let’s get going again.”

Time to go home.

We finally pulled up to my house about twenty minutes later. I parked the bike with Luna a block away, “Stay here for a minute. I am going to take Macy to look around.”

She crossed her arms across her chest, “Yeah leave the girl here. To defend herself, all alone, in the middle of the night. What a mean thing to do.”

“Fine, you can come, jeez. No need to get personal.”

She laughed, “I win this round again.”

We walked close to the house, not seeing anything out of the usual. As we walked closer, I noticed a guard standing by the door.

Damn it.

I turned to Luna, “There is a guard at the door.”

She scoffed, “Only one.”

I nodded, “That is the only one I can see.”

She put a hand on my chest, “Let me handle this.”

“What?!”

She through her hand over my mouth, “Shh... Let me work my magic.”

She left me and walked closer and into the view of the guard.

I saw the Guard walk down the front stairs, “Who is there? Put your hands where I can see them!”

Luna stepped closer to the guard, ignoring the commands, “It’s me, Luna.”

They lowered their weapon and Luna called over to me, “Ben! It’s okay. It is Sgt. Lee.”

I walked over with Macy, playful pushing Luna, “You are either extremely lucky or you already knew it was him.”

She smirked, “It was a little bit of both.”

Sgt. Lee shook his head, “You two are lucky I got assigned this post, otherwise you would be on a van back over to Dr. Simon right now.”

I looked around, “Is there anyone else here with you?”

He shook his head again, “Nope... They found your address and I suggested that someone was posted here in case you came back here. So the assigned me here and what do you know... you guys showed up.”

Luna stared at him, “Well we had to hide from your friends in a dumpster and desperately wanted a shower.”

He laughed, “That must have sucked... well welcome home. I will be your personal guard out here-”

A voice started talking, “Lee are you good?”

He clicked a button, “Yes I am all clear. No one has shown up yet.”

Shock.

His radio.

Luna looked confused but then her eyes dimmed and it disappeared.

I nodded to Sgt. Lee, “Well, thank you. We are going to go inside now and get cleaned up.”

He smiled back, “No problem. I will tell you guys if anything happens.”

Luna smiled too, “Thanks.”

We walked up the steps and into my house. I immediately felt comfortable and warm.

Home sweet home. It feels nice to be back.

Macy seemed to like being back too, as she curled on the couch, falling asleep.

You lazy dog.

Luna stood looking around nervously. I pulled her into a hug, “You can shower in my bathroom if you want? It is a lot bigger than the one down here.”

She hugged me back, “Okay. I won’t be too long. I will make dinner after for us.”

“Take as long as you want.”

She disappeared upstairs as I went to the downstairs bathroom.

I stood under the hot water feeling the dirt run off me.

That dumpster really was disgusting.

I let my thoughts run freely while I scrubbed all the grime off replacing it with the scent of strawberries.

My mom’s favorite scent of shampoo.

My head started to hurt but it wasn’t that painful.

My mom baking cookies as their scent filled the whole house... Her sitting on my window sill while I was reading on my balcony... The faint scent of strawberries I always smell when I hugged her... The way she always smiled and hugged my dad when he was stressed about work.

I came back to reality, turning off the water, and drying myself off.

I wonder where she is right now. If she is safe.

I slipped on some clothes and walked out, smelling a delicious aroma coming from the kitchen.

I peeked in to see Luna standing in front of the stove humming to herself as she stirred a pot of something. Her blonde hair was still wet and was messy, sticking to her head in various directions. Macy was curled up at her feet, sleeping. I walked in and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, “What are you making?”

She leaned into me, “Stew. I hope you like it.”

“It smells pretty good.”

She pulled out, tapping it against the side to get all the contents off before setting it on the counter, “Grab some bowls. It is almost done because you took so long in the shower.”

I released her and went to the cabinet, “Sorry I let my mind wonder.”

I came back with three bowls, assuming Sgt. Lee would want some too.

She began dishing each of them up, “What did you think about?”

I opened a drawer grabbing some spoons, “My mom and if she is safe right now.”

“I hope she is.”

She picked up a bowl and walked towards the door with me following behind her. Sgt. Lee was sitting on the steps when she opened the door. She held out the bowl for him, “I figured you would want some homemade stew.”

He smiled and took it, “Thank you Luna.”

Before walking back in she spoke again, “Feel free to come in if you are cold or bored.”

He smiled again, “I will be returning to base in a few minutes. Thank you though. I will leave the bowl by the door when I am finished.”

She nodded and we headed back inside. We both sat down at the table, digging into our food. Luna put the pot of leftovers on the ground for Macy, who was licking it happily.

We ate in silence then cleaned everything up. Luna did most of the washing while I dried them. She looked over at me, “Do you think when this is all over that we will still see other?”

I dried the plate I was holding then looked at her, “Of course. We aren’t going to be living together like we are now but I will make sure to see you when I can... after all you have to play your violin for me.”

She had a bright smile, “That will be nice. I just hate wanting this not to end so I can stay with you.”

“It will be different not being so close to each other but we will live.”

We finished the last of the dishes up and Luna was about to walk upstairs and me to the living room but she stopped, “Ben?”

“Yeah Luna?”

“Can you sleep upstairs with me? I hate getting bad dreams.”

I gave a warm smile, “Of course.”

Followed her upstairs and into my bedroom. She crawled under the covers while I curled up in my chair with a blanket. Macy curled up at her feet.

“Goodnight Ben.”

“Goodnight Luna.”

We both then drifted into a peaceful sleep.