Sworn to the truth

Chapter 13:Change of Heart

                          *Arlum's POV*

    Once Jule left, I started to feel a bit bad about going along with the plan they'd created. I couldn't just play dumb, could I? I had to help him out of this mess. If I didn't, who knows what Zeb would do? If he could get away with essentially kidnapping someone, then why would he feel afraid to do something worse? I didn't want Zeb to get to the point where he felt he could do anything. That would be the worse thing that could ever happen to the world.

       "Arlum, wh-who is t-that p-p-person? Do you kn-know who it i-i-is?" He asked me, seeming pretty afraid already. How was he supposed to feel? He was supposed to believe that Jule was his friend, but I didn't want him thinking that for too much longer. I'd have to make sure he figured out who he was, that way I'd have proof that Jule wasn't telling him the truth, nor was Zeb.

     "I do... um..Come here, I'll show you," I said, suddenly getting an idea. If I googled his name, there's bound to be a picture of him somewhere on the internet, right? I decided to take him to Jule's office, and I'd get the ball rolling from there.

           "O-okay," He mumbled, following after me as I led him to Jule's office. I'd been in Jule's house so many times up until now that I could easily find just about everything inside of it. We got into the office, and I quickly sat myself at his computer and logged in.

           "Okay, give me that certificate," I mumbled, and he handed the birth certificate to me. I copied his name into the search engine, looking at the images immediately and not really bothering with the actual websites that showed up. I scrolled a bit, suddenly finding a picture of him and clicking on it.

          "W-what's th-that?" He asked me, although it seemed like he was putting the pieces together already. I turned to him, trying to keep my cool. I didn't want to accidentally scare the shit out of him, though I knew I probably had already. Who would be okay with it if they were suddenly told "Oh, you're death is being framed, by the way!". I sighed, hoping he'd believe what I was about to tell him.

         "You are Ellcott. I know they've been telling you your name is Lucas, or whatever, but it's really not. This is you... see? Jule doesn't even know you," I tried to explain, although it all sounded extremely fake, even to me. It just didn't seem believable, but he was living it and that's all there was to it. 

          "W-what? Y-y-you have to b-be j-joking," He laughed nervously, stiffening when he realized I wasn't laughing. "You are serious?"

     "Yeah, I'm serious. Ellcott it your name, not Lucas, okay? They just couldn't tell you because they needed you to see the documents, and you couldn't know that it was you who's death they were faking--at least, not yet. They haven't gotten to the police yet, so we still have time to get you there and fix this," I told him, hoping he'd just get on board with it and we could fix this before it was started. 

      "I-I... W-well I do f-f-feel like...I re-reme-remember so-something, Arlum," He told me, and I nodded for him to go on, "I...So-someone na-na-named M-mark? When y-you said my name, that name p-p-popped into m-my head... do you k-kn-know of anyone named M-mark?"

           I frowned, and I knew I didn't know anyone by that name. "Let's go to the police station--If we get there quick enough, we can end this," I told him, and he nodded in agreement. I was afraid he'd say no, so I jumped on the opportunity and decided to go right then.

           I stood, grabbing his arm and leading him outside to my car. Everything seemed to be going in a blur, and I was extremely unsure of myself. Was I making the right decision? I knew I was in the eye of the law, but my own life could be at stake if I were to get caught before they were. Since I was turning them in, I didn't know if I was guilty by association, but I hadn't acted upon their plan so I hoped that was enough to keep me off the chopping block. In all honesty, I just wanted to get the kid home to whoever he was with before--or reunite him to whoever this 'Mark' guy was. I just hoped that everything could go to plan. 

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    Hey guys! Sorry for the cliffhanger, but hey, I got a chapter up on time for once! Woohoo! Anyways, I'll be working on this story a lot more in the coming weeks, so expect a longer chapter next week! (or whenever the next chapter comes out, it could be earlier). That's all for this week, so see ya! ~Kai