Twilight Bridge: Immersion (Volume 1)

Chapter 20: Collision (Part 2)

"Sir, the entire sector has been neutralized." said a soldier in the assault team through a communicator.
"Proceed with the mission," replied the Sheriff. "And any sign of protest must be reported and eliminated."
"Copy that, sir!"
The assault team against the Southside has already began its mission. Since early morning, the troops have infiltrated most of the landmarks in the area, and they've arrested most of the residents. Any sort of opposition was deemed antagonizing and suspicious; so the police had to restrain them for further investigation. Despair reeked amongst the civilians of the Southside as police force dashed and barged in on most of the houses, and private properties.
The Sheriff was supervising the mission, and making sure nothing goes astray. His feet stood firmly on a hill at the farthest point of the area, watching his troops through binoculars.
"Sheriff. Scott, sir!" one officer called. "You have an urgent call."
"Who is it?" he asked half-heartedly.
"It's from the Mayor's office, sir." the officer held the phone.
The Sheriff took it, and said in the most indifferent tone, "This is Sheriff. Scott. We're in the middle of the operation right now—"
The person speaking on the other side had said something the Sheriff was not at all expecting.
"They did WHAT?!" he exclaimed.

~Ding-dong!

At that same time, the Parks front doorbell rang. Peter Park went ahead to get it. He sure wasn't expecting any visitors at such an early time of the day; so he was a bit nervous. Once he opened the door, he saw two young guys standing in front of him.
"Oh, it's you two.." he muttered.
"Good morning, Mr. Park!" said Eugene. "We came by to check on Julia. Is she up?"
"She's in her room, but I'm not sure if she's awake. This cold weather makes people glued to their pillows more often than not." Mr. Park invited them inside as he was scratching his right shoulder with his left hand subconsciously.
Eugene and Jaden walked steadily as they looked around the Park's residence. It wasn't anything different from an American Midwestern style abode. Jaden noticed the ridiculous number of photos hung on the wall by the stairs.
Julia must had countless adventures, and spent a lot of time with her family!, he thought while gazing at them.
Then, he felt Eugene poking him from behind.
"Hey, isn't that Julia on the couch?" he asked.
The moment he laid eyes on her, Jaden witnessed a catatonic underweight middle aged blonde woman laying on the couch. Her eyes were both dead and open as if they were pleading for help.
"No—— that's probably her mom.." Jaden pulled Eugene back and both of them climbed the stairs.

Julia heard her door being knocked before permitting the two boys to enter.
"We brought Soda!" Jaden gestured.
"I don't think they usually bring Soda when visiting an injured friend!" Julia teased him.
"I told you!" Eugene frowned at Jaden.
"C'mon! She's not injured anymore!" Jaden replied playfully.
When they came in, Julia was curled in her bed. The two boys were looking around Julia's room that wasn't surprisingly very pink and girly. It was a square shaped room with a small square bed, a disk with bunch of lights hanging on it, a tidy mirror and makeup corner, and wall full of hung framed photos.
That's a lot of good photos— way too good, apparently!, Eugene thought. Maybe that camera wasn't just for school newspaper. I could get few pointers from her for sure...
Eugene gazed back at the ginger haired girl nervously standing in front of him. Since encountering Death Gun in the Hospital's bathroom, there hadn't been any contact between them. But that alone, only made Julia even more anxious.
"How are you doing?" Eugene asked her.
Julia exhaled slowly before answering, "I don't know.. I'm not sure myself.."
"That freak didn't reach ya afterwards, right?" Jaden asked as he was discovering the room.
"Huh?! No— he didn't!" Julia hesitated.
"You don't have to be afraid." Jaden answered as he opened one of the drawers and picked something he shouldn't. "We will catch him eventually—"
"Eh, what's the problem with you?!" Eugene's face turned absolute red. "WHY ARE YOU HOLDING THAT?!!"
Julia couldn't believe what was happening. Her entire body froze out of embarrassment. She wanted to shout at him for messing with her privacy, but couldn't muster the courage to say anything.
"This is your swimsuit, right?" Jaden went on and examined it. "It looks big though— especially from the ches—"
"Eh— eiiiip!" Julia snapped out of that shock-like state, as she abruptly put her arms around her chest when Jaden turned to look towards it.
"JADEN!!" Eugene punched him in the face. "KNOCK THIS OFF YOU MORON!!"