The Beau & the Beast

14 - The mirror

I do not dream anymore, honestly I barely sleep, but last night I woke up in a sweat.

   "I had such weird dream last night, it felt so fucking real," I mumbled, "I was in my dad's garage."

   Clock glanced at me from the workbench "Do you miss him?"

   "I just wish I knew if  he's okay."

   Clock turned to Rumi who was fiddling with various electronics, "Can you hack the surveillance cameras outside the workshop?"

   "Oui Boss, give me the address."

   His little swivel chair swung across the floor to a small corner full of cords and whatnot, and in the middle of it all an old half buried computer.

   I lurched over to the desk, gave him the address, and leaned against the wall, trying not to hope for too much.

   After a few minutes, the screen flickers with gray images from the cameras outside a  7eleven.  My heart rate increased, there, on the other side of the street, parts of my childhood were visible.

  I pulled my hands through my hair and sighed heavily.

   Damn, all my life I thought I'd take over the workshop after school.  Dad was getting old, even before I ran away he had a hard time doing everything himself.

   "Rumi, give us a minute." He nodded and left the room without question. Clock was silent for a while as he stood and sorted pistol barrels and pistons. "I've heard a rumor, and you won't like it." He left the workbench with slow steps to stand next to me where I stood staring at the screen. "Bel.."
I bit my lip and looked up at him under the fringe. "Calvos has recruited Gaston ..."

   I took a quick breath and spun around, hiding my upcoming meltdown. "... did he turn them?"

   "I don't know.."

   I slammed my fist into the wall, but the hard concrete did not make a single sound. "FUCK!"
The blood flowed from my knuckles and left stains on the wall.
Clock studied me for a while before he reached for a piece of cloth among Rami's mess and began to wrap it around my hand. "Anthony wont give a shit if they kill him... and he won't let me leave either."

   "No."

   "Fuck... fuck.. FUCK!"

   He grabbed my chin and turned my head towards the flickering screen "look.." There in the scrapyard I saw my old man walking around, searching among the spare parts. My eyes watered. Damn, I missed him. "Call him, tell him to leave town." I nodded quietly. "Hey Beau, they don't have a reason to go after him."

   "But they hate me, they could torture him just to push my buttons, to make me freak out."

   A deep sigh left Clocks' lips as he pulled me close and put his arms around me.  "I wish I could go there and get him for you Kiddo."

   "I know ..." I whispered, hiding my face in his fur collar.

  But not for long, before he lifted my face between his hands and wiped away the tears, a smile playing on his lips.

   "What if we catch that bastard Gaston?"

   "Sounds like Christmas Eve." I grinned and wiped my eyes with my sleeve.

   "I tell the others he's yours."

   I nodded a few times before slipping my arms under his jacket and pushing myself closer to his soothing warmth.

   "You know that thing Anthony said..."

   "He's been saying a hell of a lot lately," he muttered as he rested his hands in my back pockets.