The Boy With a Secret

"Can you keep a secret?"

One simple question was all it took for everything to turn into chaos as it felt like the world was being unraveled for Carly Long.

It all started one late night as Carly was sneaking out for a party she wasn't allowed to go to. This party was hosted by her best friend, Annie Grey and she wouldn't miss it for the world. Carly arrived at the party late but it was nothing like she expected a normal teenage party to be like. 

The music was turned low, not many people seemed to be there, and there were only juice boxes and veggies to keep everyone full. Everyone inside seemed to be the nerds of the school, but were still bored

Carly looked around, trying to find her best friend, but she was nowhere in sight. She walked up to Joey, a shy member of the brainiac club at their High School. 

“Hey have you seen Annie anywhere?” Carly asked. Joey looked up from a book he had grabbed off a shelf nearby. 

“Oh, h-h-hi Carly.” He said, stuttering. “I-I-I think she went upstairs to get s-some better m-music.” 

Carley thanked him and ran up the stairs to Annie’s room. She knocked on her door, and when there was no answer, walked in. She wowed when she saw what was waiting for her there. There were maps spread out across the floor and little red flag shaped pins marking certain spots. The map was of their little town in Utah called Virgin. 

Annie came walking out of her closet, her nose stuck in a type of phone Carly had never seen before.

Carly bombarded her with questions immediately. “Annie? What’s all this? And what were you doing in your closet? It's too tiny for anyone to fit in there.” 

Annie looked up and stared at Carly as if she had just seen a ghost. “Carly, what are you doing here? I thought your mom said you couldn’t come.” She laughed nervously and shut her closet door quickly while hiding the phone she was holding.

Carly put her hands on her hips confidently and said in a bored tone, “I snuck out.”

Annie laughed louder, but anyone could tell it was too loud and enthusiastic to be real. Carly cleared her throat and she immediately stopped laughing. 

“Now you answer my questions.” Carly said sternly.

Annie walked over to her four-poster bed and slumped onto it. This only happened whenever she felt guilty about something. “Fine. But I need to know…” Annie started as Carly sat down. “Can you keep a secret?”

Carly knew Annie was being serious so she nodded, keeping her mouth completely shut. 

“Okay then. I guess it’s time to tell you.” Annie said slowly, then she talked as fast as she could to try to get the worst part over with. “I work for a secret organization. It's very small and narrowed down to a few people out of our already small town. This was supposed to be a meeting tonight and everyone downstairs is a part of it. Oh and I guess I should tell you the purpose of this organization in the first place. We are here because we a source that tells us that some killers have moved into Virgin…” Annie took a deep breath before she said her next few words. “Looking for you.” 

It was a lot to take in at once, but after making three bathroom trips, drinking four cups of water and pinching herself multiple times, -she had to make sure she was awake- Carly finally wrapped her head around it and accepted it.

“So basically, my friend, aka: you, the person I have known my entire life, is part of a secret society in Virgin, that I didn’t know about? And now there are some killers that moved in and they are trying to kill me for reasons you do not know?”

Annie shook her head. “We do know why there are after you though.” 

Carly stared skeptically at her. “Well, care to share it with the person who needs that info the most?!” She yelled. It was the first time she had even had any reason to raise her voice at her best friend. 

“Sorry!” Annie said and raised her hands in defence. “I get why your mad, but we need to stay calm at times like this.” 

Carly shot her a death stare and Annie got straight to the point. “Well, they are after you because of your mom.”

Carly raised her eyebrows. “They are after me… because of my mom? That doesn’t even make sense!” 

Annie let out a loud breath and continued in her fast tone. “That’s cause you didn’t let me finish. You seem to have a knack for that. Anyways, your mom used to be a part of the organization, until they started recruiting younger people and made the people who didn’t help as much as they used to, retire. But before that, on your mother’s last mission, someone named Harper Clink -her rival- and your mother were neck-and-neck, fighting next to a giant ravine when she slipped and fell down the ravine.”

“The whole family wanted revenge, but they all knew your mother wouldn’t care if she lived or died because it was all a part of the job. So they decided they would take what was most precious to her. Which is you.”

Carly had to think about all this before she finally accepted it. “Where are they now?” She asked.

Annie shrugged. “No one knows. No one has even seen their faces. Harper Clink was just a cover name and the family always wore something that covered up their faces.” 

Carly gave a nervous chuckle, though nothing was funny about the situation they were in right now. 

“We have to go discuss with everyone what we need to do next. Can you get ahold of your mother and ask her to come over?” Annie asked as she walked out of the room. 

Carly nodded to herself and pulled out her phone. She dialed her mother’s number with difficulty because she was shaking so much.

Five minutes later, Carly’s mother had arrived at the house and everyone was gathered in the living room.

Everything was complete and utter chaos. Everyone was arguing over what to do next and what measures they should take to ensure Carly’s safety. 

Carly caught a few sentences of what some people were saying which was stuff like, “Why should we all risk our lives to keep Carly alive?” and others were, “Maybe Carly and Agent Long could just go to the underground bunker we have and they could live there until the danger is gone.” 

Everyone was talking about Carly like she wasn’t there and even she started to feel like she was invisible. It was like the heat in the room was rising quickly. She ran out of the house and was sure no one would notice she was missing until at least a few minutes which was all Carly needed at the moment. 

She sat on the swinging chair on the porch and thought about everything for the third time that night. Most people in that room inside didn’t care what happened to her and that made her question if she was important enough to care about.

Suddenly a big black van pulled up to the curb and two tall figures dressed in complete black jumped out and ran full speed towards Carly. She screamed and the porch door swung open and everyone came running out, ready to fight with her mother and Annie leading, but the figures had already taken Carly and shoved her in the van.

One of the figures motioned for them to go as he jumped in and slammed the sliding door behind him. Carly was forced into a seat and one of the figures pulled off his mask and sat across from her. 

He had scars all over his face and a black beard that did not suit him. He was also bald with eyes that had no sign of a smile even though his mouth was at the moment. His teeth were black and chipped and when he leaned in close to Carly to examine her face, his breath smelled of death and spoiled milk. 

The person sitting next to him pulled off his mask as well and he looked nothing like the older one. He was just a teen and had dark brown hair that covered his whole forehead. He wasn’t smiling and looked like he would rather be anywhere else at the moment. Carly thought she saw a moment of sympathy for her on his expression, but it disappeared completely when the older one looked straight at him. 

“See son? That’s how you kidnap someone the right way. She had absolutely no idea what was going on with her life. That’s the perfect time to do it because they are totally unsuspecting.” The older one said, which he was obviously the father. 

The young boy just nodded and put his hands on his face. “Why did we have to? It’s not her fault mom is dead. Mom shouldn’t have been so careless.” 

The father punched the boy’s arm and he gave an "ow" noise as he looked up and held his arm. The father looked at Carly again. 

“You are a very pretty girl. Nothing like your arrogant mother who killed my wife.” He said. “It’s almost a shame that we have to get payback for that...”

Carly stayed silent and stared at the van door with a longing to get out of there as fast as she could. She wondered if she could make a break for it and how hurt she would get if she jumped out of the vehicle. Questions popped into her head like, "Is the door even unlocked?" and "If I try to escape and don't succeed, will the kill me sooner?"

“We are almost there.” The driver said. It was a woman’s voice that sounded smooth almost as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “Crap! They’re chasing us!” And the car swerved back and forth, trying to lose whoever was tailing them. They took sharp turns that caught everyone by surprise. 

Then the car slowed down and stopped making unsuspecting turns, but started bumping up and down along with everyone in it as it drove on an unpaved road. Then, the car came to a complete stop.

"We're here."

The father slid open the car door and jumped out. “Get the girl,” He told his son. 

The young teen hopped up from his seat and grabbed Carly’s arm gently and led her out the door. The destination was a run-down factory with smoke billowing out of its chimneys. 

The inside of the factory was even worse than the outside. It smelled of fumes humans shouldn’t breathe too much of at a time. Paper was peeling off the walls, and there were holes everywhere. Carly swore she saw a family of rats in a corner nearby and giant spiders on their beautiful webs wrapping up their next meal in their web.

The boy sat Carly down in a chair the father motioned to and gave her another sympathy look. The father pulled up a rusty metal chair and sat on it backwards while the boy tied Carly’s hands behind her with scratchy rope. The man stared into her eyes with his face a little more than an inch away from hers. She shook with fear but still didn’t talk.

“Do you not speak? Did your stupid mother never teach you how to talk? I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.” He said and then laughed really loud. Carly looked away as the man stood up, afraid he was about to slap her.

“Alek, watch the girl while I find some stuff to get her to talk. She can give us crucial information about their little society before we get our revenge.” The father said then walked out of the room. 

The boy named Alek looked over his shoulder to make sure his dad had left before he raced over to Carly. She flinched as he got close, fearing he was about to hit her, but was surprised to see him walk behind her and untie the rope he had just put on her hastily. 

“You have to leave. Run away. Just make sure you are nowhere near here before the bombs go off.” Alek told her as he helped her out of the chair. 

Carly raised her eyebrows at him and finally spoke, “Why are you helping me? And did you say bombs?”

Alek chuckled and answered, “So you can speak. I just don’t like my father. He isn’t even my real dad. But he still does terrible things and never let me go on the little “trips” he takes. He finally let me tag along and I feel I can do something to help. And get back at my dad. He killed my real father and married my mother.” 

Carly took in this information and nodded before she started to run the way they came in. She felt a hand grab her wrist before she could get far though.

“Just please tell everyone that I helped. I don’t want to be known as the bad guy for the mistakes that horrible man made.” Alek finished. 

“Why don’t you come with me?” Carly asked.

“Someone needs to make sure my sister and step-father don’t get away.” Alek said, then smiled slightly.

Carly nodded again, not knowing what Alek had planned in his head in secret. 

“Wait, you will need these.” Alek said and tossed the keys to the van to her. She had never driven a car alone before. After all, she was only fifteen and had only driven with her mother in the passenger seat being a backseat driver. But she knew she could handle it.

“Thank you. Truly.” Carly said and gave the boy she just met a hug before running out the door to the van.

She turned the keys and started driving across the dried up grass, heading the opposite direction of the factory. She drove up a hill far away from the factory, pressed the brakes, and looked back, hoping Alek could get away from the terrorizing people inside.

Suddenly, an explosion erupted from the factory. The sound was deafening, but the sight was even worse. The already run down place was now crumbling to the ground, along with the people inside. Including Alek. 

Carly let a tear fall down her face for the boy who had helped a stranger, knowing very well that it would be the last thing he would do.

A few minutes later, police cars showed up on the hill and Annie and her mother jumped out of one and ran to hug Carly. 

Her mother held Carly’s face and asked with an obviously stressed out voice, “Carly, thank goodness you still had your phone on you or we wouldn’t have been able to track you. Are you alright?”

Carly laughed. “I’m fine mom. Don’t worry about me. And you don’t have to worry about that family Annie told me about.” She gestured down to the factory and Annie laughed with her. 

“How did you do that?” Annie asked sceptically. 

Carly stared down at the rubble from the factory that was still on fire and thought about her next words. 

“Let’s just say, there is a boy who deserves all the praise. A boy who is a hero and should be remembered by that. A boy… who had a secret.”