The Californian Misery

Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

NOAH’S POV

“No!!!!!!” I screamed my lungs out as my brother added another draw 4 card making it in total, 22 cards to draw. It was almost 2 in the morning yet, we didn’t feel like sleeping. We spent all the time talking, and then he said he is the best uno player to ever exist. And being the usual me, I couldn’t take such disrespect so I grabbed the cards deck and we started playing. The game has taken almost two and a half hours till now, and the result was not what I expected at all. He won! I never lost a single uno game in my whole life . Yet, he managed to do it. An important lesson in life, never trust someone when he says he doesn’t have anything special. He had about 4 draw cards that all together added with the ones I added thinking I'm striking him but backfired and totaled me drawing 22 cards.

“Sorry bro, you need to have some sporting spirit you know.” He tried mocking me by pressing his face together.

“Sporting spirit my foot, you cheated. You told me you didn’t have anything.”
“Technically you're the one that cheated since I'm not supposed to tell you about my cards.”

“No! you didn’t win.”
“ I did, accept it.”

“Whatever” I grunted.

“ You should go by now, it's late, you need to get to your work.”

“I wanted to ask you first..”

“About?”

“We're working on something, and it has to do with Rodriguez , I want you to remember anything you can about what happened that night."

“I remember his face clearly, I didn’t take a good look at the place he was at, but I'm pretty sure it’s a little further down the highway.”

“ Do you remember anything special?”

“ Boxes, there were a lot of them. I think it was an old port or something.”

“I'm starting to think they both had to do with each other, both portrayals match. Maybe that’s where he is, maybe we could catch him once and forever.”

“ I hope you do.”

“Yeah.”

“ I'm going to sleep.”

“Yeah, you should. I'll see you soon hopefully with something good.”

“ Hopefully.” 

I walked out and went down the hospital halls. I thought about how many lost beloved people, got blessed by meeting people, having people born and them themselves dying all in one place.

Life is a great gift, we shouldn’t be put down only because of troubles. After all, nothing is permanent, everything will get fixed at some time.  

I passed the nurses' station and saw Regina and Alexandra sitting together. I debated wether I should talk to Alexandra a bit, but then negated since she looked like she was having fun with Regina. 

Then, I felt a female hand tapping my shoulder. 

“ I was told your brother got better, that’s good.” Alexandra spoke and fixed a small smile on her face.

“ Yeah he did, he's fine now.”

“ And is everything good?”

“Yeah it's fine. I'm happy.”

“Good good.”

“Do you want anything before I leave?”

“Ummmm” she scratched the back of her head.

“ Did you find anything about Will?”

“I don’t know how much I'm allowed to say, but we've confirmed a third party, with a criminal record who might be a danger to you.”

“ Did he kill him?”

“ We don’t know, we might make a move on this in the next few days. The second we make sure everything is safe, we will contact you. We think the case will be solved by then.”

“Well, you should be safe too.”

“ I am.”
“ Alright. Don’t worry about your brother, I got him.”

“ Thanks, I got to go, but I'll see you yeah?”

“Yeah, see you.” 

______________

“ EMERGENCY MEETING, OFFICE. 25 MINS.” A text I got from Hunter a few seconds ago read.

Why would he call me to the office at three in the morning? 

I need to go and give him some nice reprimanding for this.

________

“Good news, we're going after tomorrow.” Hunter shrieked halfway through the office, as I just entered. He had a few of our  operation team members around him.

“Going where exactly?”

“You want to go find Rodriguez? We're doing it.”

“Are you serious?”
“ Yes, I'm listening to you only this time, because you really seem like you want to go.”

“  Trust me, you won't regret this. I've talked to Jonathon, he described exactly the same place, that’s where we should be heading.”

“ We don’t have many team members, so we should work on a tight plan, and stick to it, so we could all get out alive.”

“ Will we take the british guy?”
“ Yes, I'll give him three years off his prison sentence .”

“That’s good.”

“Listen to me everyone carefully.” Hunter got up and clapped his hands, we all turned our attention to him.

“ I need you all to know that the place we are going to is dangerous, we might not be back alive. But  that’s what we do, we're willing to face death to save other people. I want you all tomorrow to do the things you love the most, live like it's your last day because you never know when your last day is. Do not regret things, fix them. Don’t be sorry, be grateful for everything you have.”

“ We are all grown up men, except you Lizzie, of course you're a woman.” He pointed at our analyist and some laughed, while she herself let out a chuckle.

“ I'm sure we all know that life is short, so if anyone wants to say something or do something, you should today. The future is a dimension we might only enter under certain circumstances, so never trust it. Trust the present, it never leaves your side.”
“ That’s it for today, tomorrow is off and we'll meet after tomorrow .”

“ Great pep talk.” I hooted and he gestured for me to come closer.

“ Are you free tomorrow ?”
“ I think I am, what do you want to do?”
“ Since it might be our last day, I want us to go to the cemetery together.”

3 Chapters left Ughhhh. It took me about 3 months to fully write and edit this book and when i reviewed it, i couldn't imagine myself not writing more:(  it was all about the messages and i hope some would learn from what I wrote.  It's nice to express what you think should be done more often through writing.