A Broken Truth

6: Tricks

I stayed where I was. The guy smirked, "Afraid of guns?"

"No, I've been at gunpoint before-" I realized that I said too much and shut myself up by covering my mouth with my hand.

"Really? When was that?" He asked while he still had the gun pointed at us.

"It doesn't matter. We aren't looking for trouble. Please, just put the gun down." Although my voice was shaky, I still tried my best to sound calm.

"Put your hands up. Both of you." He demanded. I glared at him and he cocked the gun in response. I put my hands up and Serena did the same.

"Listen to me and I won't shoot, otherwise you're dead. Follow me." He walked towards us, then went behind me and put the gun on my back. Serena looked at me in a panic. I looked at her, then I looked at the ground and walked shamefully.

He lead us to a dead end in the alleyway. There was a worn down tent sitting there.

"Is this where you live?" Serena asked him.

"No, but I like hanging out here a lot." He moved the gun away from my back, then put it away. Serena and I looked at each other in confusion. I thought about putting my hands down, but I didn't. It still seemed like it was a bad idea.

"You can put your hands down now. Neither of you have anything dangerous. Sit down. I want to talk." He said reassuringly. He sat down before we did. Serena and I looked at each other. We both knew we thought the same thing: He's being nice now? He pulled a gun on us a few minutes ago! Who is this guy? Why does he want to talk and what does he want to talk about?

We both looked at him. He was the definition of sketchy. He had messy brown hair, wore clothes that were ripped and consisted of dull colors, had a gun on him and he hung out in an alleyway in an old tent. If that isn't sketchy, I don't know what is. Nonetheless, we sat down and talked with him.

"Are you two half breeds?" He asked nonchalantly. This question felt like a slap to the face. I felt vulnerable and it seemed as though my disguise didn't fool anyone. But, it wasn't that the disguise wasn't working. This person knew how to ask questions and he asked all the right ones to get the answers he wanted.

"What?" I asked with a puzzled look.

"You heard me. Are you half breeds?" He asked again, this time in a serious tone.

"Uh, no. We're humans." I said while I hoped my acting was believable.

"What is this about anyway?" Serena asked defensively.

"Whatever answer you give me, I won't do anything to harm either of you. I just want to know more about this half breed that went missing recently. Her name is Finley and she's been all over the news lately, well, more than usual because of her disappearance. Do you know anything about her other than that she went missing and she's probably dead?" He asked as he looked at me. He narrowed his eyes.

I swallowed any words I planned to say and looked away from him.

"Why do you want to know about her?" Serena asked to get the man's attention.

"You see, I think she could help me. I need Finley to do me a favor. I don't think she died. I know she came back. In fact, I saw her come back. I want to know what and who she saw over there. If you two are half breeds, then I'm thinking that both of you know more about her than a human would." There was urgency in his voice.

"You seem to be convinced that we're half breeds. What makes you think that?" I asked while avoiding his eyes.

"Half breeds don't show up in the city and when they do, it's very rare. I've never seen you two in this city. Not even once. So, you're more likely to be half breeds, right?" He explained.