Accomplice: by Nick Venom (graded readers .txt) 📕

violent sights in front of him. “I’m here to give you a message.” He handed her a letter.

“Does it relate to her?” She asked. Gem nodded. “Read it aloud.”

He cleared his throat before reading the contents of the letter. “Good morning, Ms. Flower. I am Stephen Wright of Cali Organization. We’ve talked before. However, today isn’t related to our past conversations. Instead, I wish to talk about Minny. It seems like you’ve been taking care of her. As her father, I would like to relinquish your visiting rights to Minny, so please return her to my home asap. If you don’t, I will have to take this to court.” Angelica’s smug smile went upside down. She understood that Stephen wrote the letter cautiously to avoid detection from the mail system, but she also understood the threat thrown towards her. The “court” would be a reward for her head. She had now awakened a beast. 

“What should I do?” Gem asked. 

“... let’s respond with what we do best. Gem, stay here and guard her. Nobody is allowed to take over or leave with her without my direct permission. The guards I tasked with guarding her will come down here with the password of-” She glanced at the girl. “Wright.” She whispered. Gem nodded and took his pose, standing firmly over the girl. Angelica nodded before leaving the basement. 

As she climbed the stairs to her office, she stepped over a puddle of vomit and mumbled to herself. “He dares threaten me? I need every piece of information about his family. I’ll kill them all and we’ll see who’ll threaten me after that.” She had a deranged smile on. She, herself, was turning into a beast. A beast that was fuelled by a murder threat. The beast was on the verge of being freed.

 

TBC…

Episode Nine "Love Sparks"

August had gotten a girl’s number, something that he never expected. He had an interest in girls his age, but they never reciprocated the same interest back. They often ignored him for Jax, the more popular and “handsome” of the pair. 

This plagued his mind. If Jax was with me, would she have gone for him instead? Was it because the park was empty? Maybe all of the handsome boys left and all the ugly ones came in! That could be why - I was the best of the worst. August felt inferior to Jax. However, he was doing his best to escape that feeling - training his stamina and body at the park. 

August returned home, laying on his bed and staring at his phone. He watched his phone as if a message from Sarah would pop out of nowhere. 

Should I ask her why she asked for my number? On the other hand, maybe I shouldn’t. Or maybe I should…? Why does this have to be so confusing! It’s like trying to figure out a thousand-piece puzzle.

A loud beep told August of a text message he received. He quickly unlocked his phone and dove towards his messages, finding one by Sarah. He read her message out loud. “If you have time, do you want to have a coffee? I know of a spot not far from the park. We can go whenever you want to. I’m free after 3 this entire week..” 

August’s eyes widened. She’s inviting me to a cafe? Is this a… d-date? He thought to himself nervously. He had never been on a date before and having a girlfriend was something he couldn’t fathom. Okay, I need to calm down. It’s a simple date… Yeah, a normal, not-stressful simple date… I need Wendy’s help. He jumped off his bed and rushed to meet Wendy and ask her for help. She quickly accepted after seeing how excited he was. She dressed him to the best of her abilities, putting him in an ironed tee shirt with a thin black sweater over it, black jeans, and a pair of clean black sneakers. 

“When are you meeting this ‘certain person’.” She teased.

August looked at her blankly. “I forgot to tell her.” He turned around and ran to his bed where he left his phone. He typed in, “We can go tomorrow”, before erasing it. He undid the erasing before redoing it. He rephrased it before removing it. 

Eventually, he stopped erasing his message. “I’ll be up to go tomorrow.” He read it out loud. He pressed sent, waiting for a reply. He waited for a minute, Wendy standing in the door frame watching him before a response came in.

“I can do tomorrow. Let’s meet up at Cafe Erica.” She responded.

August quickly typed out his response, reading it out loud to an audience of one, who he didn’t realize was watching him. “Okay, see you there.” His response was read immediately but got no response. The conversation ended

August turned around, his eyes widening in horror as he noticed Wendy staring at him. “Wow!” She exclaimed. “My boy is surely growing up. Good luck with the date.” She turned around and left the room heading to her own. August turned back to face his phone. Is this a date? Or am I overthinking it? I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.

 

 

***

 

 

August’s hair was combed and gelled to part to the right. His dark gray hair shined a brighter shade of gray, getting closer to snow white and farther away from Jax’s coal-black.  

He approached Cafe Erica, noticing Sarah lingering by the front door with a few of her friends, the same ones from the park; A dim fire-engine redhead and two light-shaded brunettes.

Sarah noticed him, waving him over. He walked up to her. “M-Morning, S-Sarah.” He said.

“M-Morning,” She said, blushing. August took in the sight of her, dressed in her school outfit. Unlike August’s school, her school hadn’t been closed, especially for a string of murders of their students.

“Woah, look at the lovebirds.” The redhead remarked, dressed in the same outfit as Sarah. “I’m sure you’re disappointed it wasn’t just Sarah, right? ” She teased.

August shook his head. “I don’t mind.” He said. Deep down, he didn’t like that it wasn’t only Sarah. 

“Well, too bad!” One of the brunettes remarked. “We can’t let her meet some stranger---that she met at the park---and let her get kidnapped so easily.”

“Yeah, we need to be paid before that can happen.” The other brunette joked, taller than all of the girls. 

“Girls!” Sarah exclaimed, blushing heavily. “Stop messing around!”

The redhead grinned. “Let’s go inside already.” She opened the door, motioning for them to enter. Sarah and the brunettes entered first, but the redhead barred August from entering. “I’m sure you can easily tell, but she has an interest in you. If you dare to break her heart, I will kill you.” Her smile disappeared, replaced with a serious expression. It was then quickly replaced by a smile. “After you.”

August nodded, walking into the building. The redhead followed behind him, both sitting down at a table in the cafe. Sarah sat across from August with the brunettes sitting down next to her. The redhead sat next to him at the six-chair table. 

“Sorry about them, they insisted on coming. I couldn’t shake them off.” She whispered to August.

He shook her head. “It’s alright. Their worry makes sense.” 

Sarah nodded. “Thanks.” She shot him a small smile. “Elize, the redhead, can be feisty, so be careful of her.” August nodded his head.

“Are you ready to order?” The waiter asked, approaching their table. Elize nodded, placing her order. The brunettes and Sarah ordered after her. August was the last to place his order, ordering a black coffee. 

With their orders placed, Elize turned her attention to August. “What school do you go to?”

“Torn High School.” He responded. Sarah looked at him strangely as if he shouldn’t have said that.

“Woah.” The shorter brunette said. “Isn’t that school plagued with murders? How are you still alive?”

“Mandy!” The tall brunette---Victoria---exclaimed. “Don’t be rude.”

“It’s alright. She isn’t wrong that Torn isn’t a good high school, even though it’s in a decent neighborhood.” August said.

“Has the murderer been caught?” Victoria asked. 

August shook his head. “Nope. They haven’t told us… if they found the murderer or anything. They closed the school down for a couple of weeks while they investigated and cleaned up the school.”

“Let’s get off this topic,” Sarah said. “How about we talk about movies or something.”

Elize nodded. “Have you guys seen the most recent movie? The New Guard?” She asked, changing subjects. 

“I’ve seen it. It was a lot better than I expected. It’s about-” Mandy started before Victoria stopped her. 

“Don’t you dare spoil another movie! I wanted to watch Legend last time and you ruined it for me!” She exclaimed.

Mandy grinned. “Well, you should’ve done my homework for time. We wouldn’t have a problem.” Victoria shook her head before playfully punching her in the shoulder, sparking a verbal fight between the two. The others watched with smiles as the two duked it out.

Sarah shook her head as she watched them babble. “Quit it you two.” 

The waiter suddenly appeared, ending the fight as he handed them their drinks. “Anything else?” He asked. Everybody shook their heads. The waiter nodded and walked off to deal with another customer.

While they drank their coffees and ate their small pieces of bread, Sarah glanced up at August. “What kind of stuff do you like?” She bluntly asked. The other girls glanced at each other, raising their eyebrows.

August nearly choked on his coffee. “W-Well… I like…” He closed his mouth, frowning. “I’m not sure what I like.

“How do you not know what you like?” Elize asked. “Everybody knows what stuff they like. Do you play games, watch movies or shows, or something like that?”

August shook his head. “I don’t watch movies or shows a lot. My parents couldn't afford games or toys.” He said. Sarah stared at him with a sympathetic look. Elize and the others shared a confused look. However, Elize’s confused look quickly changed to a large grin.

“Then… what about we all go out and see a movie? Maybe go to the nearby arcade? It would be fun, no?”

August nodded. “It… That would be fun.”

Sarah blushed heavily, understanding Elize’s plan in a heartbeat. The others laughed at her reddened face. August stared at her, not understanding Elize’s intentions. Even so, he continued with the flow of the conversation, finding himself having fun with them. They talked about past memories, the differences between Torn and their school, and other topics before they had to leave at 5. 

August waved at them as they walked away from him, headed home. They lived in the opposite direction of August, but not too far from him, less than fifteen minutes away.

He stared at them, watching as they disappeared from his line of sight. Today was… fun. Really fun. I didn’t know I could have fun like this. August thought to himself. Whenever he thought he was by himself or close to having true fun, Jax would appear. However, today was different. Jax never appeared.

“I had fun,” August said out loud. He never knew it was possible.

 

TBC…

 

Author’s Note: The New Guard is a series I’ve written. The first and, currently, one season contains six episodes and follows a trio of teens joining the Royal Guard of Great Wolfstein. The New Guard is part of the Historia Universe [some series are Legend (which is also