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Feb-15-2009 01:09

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

I glanced up at the large clock again. Each tick and each tock drove my mind farther back into the past. A past I had left behind ten long years before. A past I was facing now.

But first came the waiting. I hate waiting.

I glanced around the station again. Deserted. Not a soul in sight. Strange, considering that this used to be a bustling train station ten years ago. I pulled the letter out of my shoulder bag to look at it again.

"Anais, Be at Winchester Station, Platform 7 at 23.00, 2/15. ~Lisette"

Lisette. Could I really face her after all this time? Well, I was about to find out. With a shaking hand, I shoved the letter deep into my bag. Where was she? It was 23.17. Lisette had never been late in the twenty plus years I had known her. What was going on?

Feb-20-2009 05:05

Vulkie picked up the piece of paper, unrolled it and read: E46.458
"What is this?" Lisette asked, puzzled. Vulkie flipped over the piece of paper, a strange pattern of lines crisscrossed over it. We all looked at this for a while, nothing came to us. I was tired and looked away, and spotted the strange patterns on the animal hide.

“That looks familiar.” I pointed at the rug. We flattened the animal hide again, and tried to match the pattern on the piece of paper with the ones on the rug. Finally, we located the exact same pattern in the lower centre area, a few inches below a big rectangular shape.
“Now what?” Ace asked.

Anais was quiet for a short while, and then she said, “Doesn’t this look like… Manhattan Island?” We all looked at the piece of oval animal hide in new light. Anais ran her finger across a diagonal line, “There, Broadway Avenue.” She was right. Slowly, I recognized the big rectangular shape in the middle as the Central Park, there’s Lexington Avenue, and even a spot off the lower left corner representing the Statue of Liberty.
“So, what does the piece of paper supposed to represent?” Lisette questioned.

Ace examined it for a while and exclaimed softly, “It’s the New York Public Library! It’s on Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets.”
“But what are we supposed to find there?” Lisette asked.
“A book, of course!” Anais replied.
“Which book? There are more than one million books in there.” The younger sister sighed.
Anais smiled, “We already have the catalog number: E46.458”

Dawn was breaking and the house began to stir. We quickly left the country club and returned to our car.

Feb-20-2009 08:14

We sped over to the Library. Ace had finally stopped bleeding, so he went in with them.

"Wait." Ace started before they got out of the car, "This shirt's really bloody. All in favor of not scaring everyone by making Vulkie give me her other shirt, say aye."
Jokingly, Ace and Joseph said aye.
"Dangit. Oh well, I'll use mine."

Ace was also wearing two shirts, the top one blood spattered, but better than nothing.

They went in and quickly found book E46.458: 101 Yoga Poses. Ace chuckled at that. Anais grabbed it, and immediately began decoding it. Well... it seemed more like she was reading it.

"Anais!" Lisette whispered, "We don't have time for you to improve your yoga skills!"
"Sorry!" She apologized, and then began flipping through the pages.

"Wow!" She finally exclaimed, "Looks like not many people want to discover the joys of yoga!" She carefully pulled out four, delicate, pressed leaves.

As she searched through the rest of the book, Vulkie examined the leaves. The last one she picked up, a maple leaf, was apparently not a leaf at all.

It was a tiny booklet full of weird codes. "Anais, I think this is your territory." She said, handing the booklet to Anais.
"Oh, great. This will take me forever!"
"Let's go get a hotel with a radio." Joseph suggested, "You can think, and we all can get some shuteye."

Feb-20-2009 18:53

I was tired, but I couldn't sleep. Bambi was a good friend, I regret to have dragged her into all this and got her killed. It was a mess when it happened and no one saw the shooter's face, but whoever tommy gunned Bambi's cabaret, I swore that I will find out and hunt the bastard down.

Ace was sleeping in the next bed, I decided to go out and get some air. When I past the small secluded library within the hotel, Anais was there, buried in all her codes and numbers, talking to herself. The other two girls must be fast asleep in their room. I admire Anais for her intelligence and calmness, and we must do something for all her fainting after this. It's true that Lisette is the younger and prettier one, well, at least the one with more make up and flashier dresses. When I looked closely, Anais did have a pretty face.

Just as I was staring at her from the doorway, Anais noticed my presence.
"Hey." She smiled, and went right back to her decoding.
"Hey," I replied, my face must be bright red. "Urh, sorry to intrude, i'll... i'll go back to my room now." I turn around and was about to leave.
"No, I need a break from all the numbers and dots anyway," Anais said, "and I never had the chance to thank you for everything."
"Urh, you're welcome. Your sister asked me to pick you up, that's all..." I said, then added, stuttering, "Not that I won't do it on my own-- but then I wouldn't know you if it wasn't for Lisette-- But if I do know you without knowing Lisette-- I would still help you out-- with or without your sister..." Where was I going with this? It's a disaster.

Anais giggled. It's good to see her laugh after all the turmoil. Just then, someone cleared her throat right behind me. "You two are getting cozy!"
"Oh, Lisette, I thought you were sleeping." I turned to her.
"Oh, I thought so were you!" Lisette said. "I'm hungry. Accompany me to the dining lounge." She put her arms around me and dragged me away. I didn't even have time to say goodbye to Anais.

Feb-20-2009 19:16

Coincidentally, Ace and Vulkie exited their rooms at the same time. They greeted each other, then went down to check on Anais.

"Hey, how's it going in here!" Vulkie nearly shouted. Anais jumped, flipping her books off the table.
"Vulkie!" She started, "You scared me half to death!"

She began chuckling. "Lemme show you guys what I got so far."

She showed Ace and Vulkie her decoding. Despite all her efforts, she hadn't gotten very far.

"Anais, how about we take over and you go and take a nap?" Ace asked, "We may not figure out as much, but then you'll at least be a bit refreshed."
"That's a pretty good idea, Ace." Anais yawned conveniently, "I could really use a few Z's."

Vulkie gave Anais the key to the "girl's room" and Ace and Vulkie sat down. Neither had been that good with codes, but between them, maybe they'd find something.

Feb-21-2009 05:29

''When you position yourself in the Crawling Tiger-position and you are in front of the book,you will see another hint of where you may find the mystery. With this hint,you are one step closer towards the powers that the statuette contains. When you...'' There it ended,this was how far Anais got with decoding. When I told Joseph and Lisette about this,we woke Anais up. She was still a bit sleepy and annoyed. ''Why did you wake me up,I had just the perfect dream.'' Anais said.

We went back towards the library,placed the book on a table and Anais took the position. At first,she didn't see anything,but later on,she discovered something. ''Follow the way of your heart and find your dearest possession.'',it said.

Anais thought very hard. ''The most dearest possession,hmmm.'' That must be Poppa's ring.'' Anais said. ''Unfortunately....'' Oh great,I thought,there's always something. ''Unfortunately,the ring was lost when we fled Bambi's place. We heard a big explosion and Fredo came walking in. ''Looking for this little ring,dear?'',Fredo said. ''Give it here Fredo or else...'' Ace said.

''Or else what,Ace? Are you going to kill me again? You know I can beat death,eventually. I did it once and the second time,I will be victorious again.'' Fredo said.

Fredo took his tommygun out...

Feb-21-2009 05:37

''DUCK!'' Joseph screamed and jumped aside and threw a table over,taking cover. I jumped near Joseph,also taking cover. Anais and Lisette and Ace took cover behind a bookcase. The room was ''decorated'' with holes. Luckily,I had my gun and Joseph also. Ace still had a tommygun,in case something happened.

We fired at Fredo,and he fell down. We didn't know if he was dead,but we took the advantage,took the ring from him and ran away. I started the car,Ace took care of Lisette and Anais and Joseph took the passenger seat.
We drove away,going 100 miles per hour. We were chased by three LCN Buicks through the city. We went for the Chasing Bridge,hopefully,it was still open. It was open,and I drove over it,making roaring sounds with the engine. The LCN people fired at us. I searched the glove compartment,gave Ace a gun,and gave Joseph a new magazine for his pistol. ''Under my seat lies a tommygun. Use it wisely'' I said,while screeching tires went for a corner,turning left.

Anais took the tommy,opened her side window and fired. She shot the driver of the first car,which crashed in the second car,while the second car was passing by. The third car contained Fredo,pretty angered,with three other LCN people,including a Capo of LCN,Shady Boom.

We went for the DAB church,hopefully,the LCN people got scared and DAB took care of them. I crashed the car in a lantern pole,and everybody was shocked and got out of the car. I let the gas tank open,letting all the fuel out of it. When the car parked at the DAB parking place,the fuel leaked towards them. Ace fired a round at it and the fuel caught fire. The next thing we saw,was that the LCN car was exploding.. Then,I fainted...

Feb-21-2009 08:17

"How come all the girls are fainting these day?" I was exasperated. We had no choice but to go inside the DAB church, dragging Vulkie's unconscious body. She was a lot heavier than Anais.

The Mother of Innocence Cathedral was a solemn place. The empty hallway look especially lonely on a weekday afternoon. A caretaker hurried towards us, seeing we were armed and wounded, asked us grudgingly "What's the meaning of all these?" I told them that we were being chased by LCN and they wanted to kill us. The caretaker said that he will ask Father Manfred Gesling to decide what to do with us. "You guys just stay here. Sister Maria here will give the fainted girl some water and medicine. Stay put, don't run around!"

As the caretaker left, and Ace holding Vulkie tight while the nun administered to her, I asked Anais if she was okay, that it was brave of her to fire that tommy. Lisette came between us and said that she broke her finger nail while getting out of the crashed vehicle. Anais looked at her Poppa's ring and sighed.

"So, you kept Poppa's ring all these years." Lisette eyed the ring.
"I miss Poppa SO much. Lisette, tell me, how did Poppa die?" Anais said with a spark of tear in her eyes.
"I told you I don't want to talk about it." Lisette replied coldly.
"But I need to know--"
"NOW you want to know! You've been gone TEN years, Anais. TEN FULL YEARS! Don't tell me you care! That's bull." Lisette turned around ran through a door. Anais was crying unstoppably. I wanted so much to hold her in my arms, to calm her, let her know that everything will be okay, and in the end, I did.

Feb-21-2009 15:13

"But I HAD to go!" I cried out Lisette's retreating form.

Ace and Vulkie were oblivious to the commotion, as they were lost in each others eyes. Joseph scooped me up in his arms and held me tightly, whispering things like "shh, it's ok, Anais, let it out," to me. I sobbed, great big heaving sobs, that eventually turned into hic-ups.

"Tha-hic-nk you hic, Jos-hic-ph. Hic. I hic think I'-hic-m ok hic for now-hic," I hic-uped miserably.

Joseph pulled back some. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I ne-hic-ed to go hic find Li-hic-set-hic-te. Hic. I hic HA-hic-TE hi hic HATE hic the hic-hic-ups!" I hic-uped crossly, pulling out of Joseph's arms. The whole interlude had just confused me, Joseph was supposed to be Lisette's man, right? So, what was he doing hugging me while his girlfriend stomped off? 'Unless...no. That couldn't be it, could it?' I thought as I scurried away.

Out in the hall, I turned left and hurried toward the chapel, where I thought I might find my sister, but instead ran into a once familiar face. "Fa-hic-ther hic Manfred! Hic. How hic nice to see-hic you a-hic-gain after hic all these hic-hic years! Hic. Have you hic seen hic Li-hic-set-hic-te?"

Father Manfred stared at me. "Anais? Anais Nin? Is that you? I thought you were dead! It has been what? Ten years?" Father stared at me with wide eyes and blessed himself. "Welcome home! Deus beatus vos."

'God bless you' I translated to myself.

"Qu-hic-od vos hic pari-hic-ter , hic Abbas Manfred," I replied, or, in Latin, 'And you as well, Father Manfred.'

Just then, Father Manfred tensed up. "What are two members of La Cosa Nostra doing in my church?" His voice had gone cold.

I turned and said, "Ace! Hic. Vulkie! Hic. Jos-hic-eph! Come hic over here pl-hic-ease! Hic. I would hic like for hic you hic to me-hic-et Fa-hic-ther hic Man-hic-fred. Hic."

Feb-21-2009 15:23

Father stared at me. "You are friends with La Cosa Nostra members, Anais?"

"Hic. They hic sa-hic-ved my life. Hic. Be-hic-sides. They hic are hic no lon-hic-ger hic LCN hic membe-hic-rs hic an-hic-ymo-hic-re-" I was trying to explaiin when a single shot was fired. I felt pain burn hott along my temple before I collapsed into dakness...

((So, the shot just grazed my temple, for clarification...I'm still alive! ;D Teehee))

Feb-21-2009 16:58

"Anais! Anais!" I yelled. Blood was oozing from her temple. I tore my shirt out as gauze and pressed on her temple to stop the bleeding.

"Children, you are not save. Come with me!" Father Manfred said. Ace held onto Vulkie, who just woke up.

"Why, Anais had fainted again?" Vulkie observed.

"Yes, you two are taking turns at this!" I said, annoyed, and worried about her.

"Where's Lisette?" Ace asked. We cried out for her but she was not responding. Another bullet punched through the stained glass and hit the column right beside me. I ducked.

"Hurry children, this way!" Father Manfred bellowed. We dash after him and went into a vault.