Vengeance

||16|| Self Confessions

Oakley's POV

"So the sanctuary is literally under a shooting range?"  I asked August as we entered the same shooting range me and Olivia had before.

He opened the door, "Yes, it has different exits around the street but we mostly use the shooting range."

We entered the range and gunshots echoed through it. My hand went to my hip, ready to pull my gun out, alerted by the sound. But August put a hand on my arm.

"Calm down, it's a shooting range, remember? There are customers here." He pointed to the window that showed a girl and boy holding a gun to a target, laughing. Their ears and eyes were protected; After finishing one clip they approached each other and he went to kiss her.

I pressed my lips together into a thin line, "I always wonder what I would be doing if I was like them," I muttered to August, "Y'know, innocent and normal."

August glanced at the couple then back at me, "Why would you ever want to be normal?" He put his finger under my chin, turning my gaze from the couple to him, "Normal is boring."

We held each other's gazes for several seconds, locked onto each other, his hand still under my chin. Until the sound of someone clearing their throat breaks us out of our phase. August pulled his hand away and my chin went cold at the absent of his touch.

"Look who's back." I turned to see the woman I had previously stabbed in the hand. She picked up a stack of papers and I could see the wrapped hand from here.

Awkward much.

August walked towards the desk the lady stood behind, "Morning, Judy. I think you and Oakley have met already." He said.

"You come back for my other hand, dear?" She chuckled.

I walked over, my hands sliding in the back pockets of my jeans, "Sorry..." I let out an uneasy laugh.

"Ah, don't worry about it," She brushed her hand out and turned to the bulletin board behind her. "It's practically an honor considering you're Philips daughter. He was a great man." 

My breath caught in my throat, "You... you knew my dad?"

She nodded and pointed to August, "August, can you bring me those nails and that hammer?" He nodded and grabbed the items off the desk and brought them to her.

"I've been around for a long long time. Known many people, seen many things. People coming and going, bloodshed, death. Sixty years old isn't anything small. Your father would speak to me sometimes about you, when you were nothing but the size of an egg in your mother."

I walked slowly up to her as she carefully hammered a poster in the bulletin board with her good hand.

"And what would he say."

She glanced at me and sighed, "That you'd change the world. That he wanted you to be more than just another addition to your family's legacy. A doctor or lawyer, something more."

A lump formed in my throat as I looked down at the ground, "Well, that explains why he hated my interest in guns," I laughed dryly.

My dad would always rip my magazines out of my hand whenever he saw me with them. I would go in my room and under the covers to read them in secret. I thought he just found it weird and inappropriate. But it's like it was always in me. All he wanted was my life to be better than his. He wanted the best for me.

Judy looked at me and smiled, "Can't change what you're born to do. I just know you're father would be proud of you either way."

The words hit me like a truck. My chest tightened as I closed my eyes to see my dad tuck me in at night. His brown hair and green eyes looking down at me. We always got complimented on our eyes when we were out in public. I was known as his twin. His mini-me. Always following in his footsteps.