Burn in Water, Drown in Fire

Burn in Water, Drown in Fire ~29~ Vienna

~29~ Vienna

(Zac’s POV)

After the unwanted ending to my hangout with Brian, I started to leave out the front door to check on Chief Rivers and Marshal Sherman with their recovery since the incident. I’d been checking on them nearly every other day out of plain guilt.

“Son, don’t you have a life?” Rivers asked me as soon as I showed my face in their hospital room. For once, I didn’t roll my eyes because I showed nothing but respect to the both of them.

“He’s kidding,” Sherman laughed hoarsely.

“Seriously; you’re here every day. We have nurses; we’re fine without you,” Rivers said with a bit of humor. He just liked giving me a hard time.

“Well I mean it’s my fault you’re in here and it’s not like I’m wanted anywhere else,” I answered.

“You’re not wanted here either—”

“Things still wrong with your friends and girlfriend?” Sherman asked. He had grown to be like a father figure to me, but no matter how many times I told him that Angel wasn’t my girlfriend, that’s what he continued to refer to her as.

“Well Brian’s still living with me, but as for the others and Angel, they hate me,” I sighed.

“How do you know?” Rivers asked.

“Do you think they hate you, or do you know they do?” Sherman asked.

“I’m going with my gut feeling,” I said. They both sighed.

“But this Angel girl, I mean come on. There’s no way for her to hate you if she was so important as to be sucked into all of this,” Sherman added.

“The only way she was important was for her brother’s stupid little experiment; I hope he learned his lesson because she’s pissed at him to,” I spat. “She’s pissed at everyone but her stupid little boyfriend—”

“If you have a problem with him, then do something about it,” Rivers immediately interrupted.

“Sir, if I could, I would,” I smirked. “But that would only result in either me dead underwater, or him dead with only bones left unburned. And still, Angel would hate who ever won for even doing that.”

“I doubt it,” Rivers expressed. I gave him a look.

“Have you ever thought about just telling her everything?” Sherman asked. “You can really win a girl with words.”

“Actions speak louder than words,” I reasoned. And I had a lot of those.

“Then kiss her!” Rivers concluded. I sighed at his urgency, but the men were right. I just needed to sit down and talk to Angel maturely—without Joey watching her over her shoulder, or Brian coaching me through it. “If you want, I can get the station to arrest her, that way she’ll be forced to talk to you.”

“I think I can manage it…” I assured as I stood up to leave. “Well…I’ll see you later.”

“Tyler,” one of them called. I turned back around. “You’re only young once. Don’t just rush into adulthood alone and depressed.”

“Or what? I’ll turn into Chief Rivers?” I humored for once. Rivers’ eyes narrowed as I smirked.

“Exactly,” Sherman winked. I took a deep breath and then left them with a lot riding on my mind.

***

I pulled up to Angel’s house and saw Joey’s car in the driveway.

It doesn’t matter.

Right. It doesn’t matter, because I don’t care what he does or says. I’m taking Angel out so that we can talk one on one without anyone else.

I marched right up to the door and surprisingly Mrs. Hallow answered.

“Uh, hi,” I said, awkwardly.

“It’s interesting seeing you here, Zachariah,” she addressed. Right. I was Zachariah to her; not Zac.

“I could say the same about you,” I reasoned, considering that she and her husband were always away from home. I bet they didn’t even know anything that happened a month ago. Either way, her face claimed its composure. “Is Angel here?”

“Well actually she’s—”

“Oh and I don’t care if she’s with Joey. I just need to talk to her,” I added urgently.

“Well Joey’s just here for Devin, but Angel is actually not home,” she informed.

“Oh…”

Great. All that built up courage for nothing.

“Sorry though,” she apologized.

“It’s fine,” I lied and started to back up.

“Bye, Zachariah,” she said. I shrugged and gave a slight wave as I completely turned my back to her and started to walk towards my truck. I sat in the driver’s seat and hit my forehead to the steering wheel. Then, someone tapped on my window.

“What?” I sighed at Joey.

“Why are you looking for Angel?” he asked.

“Because I need to talk to her,” I answered.

“Well that looks like a problem,” Joey said with his eyebrows combed together.

“Look. Can you tell me where she went? I just…need to talk to her,” I said calmly, deciding that Angel was more important than fighting with Joey.

“No,” he stated before backing up. Ugh. I drove off and then answered my phone as it rang.

“Hello?” I asked Brian.

“Where are you?”

“I left the hospital to go talk to Angel, but—”

“Um. Angel’s with Lulu…” he informed.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“I just saw them passed your house,” he answered. Oh. “What are you gonna do now?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed.

“You know, tomorrow’s your last day right?” he asked.

“Meaning what?” I asked.

“She’s going on some college trip for break,” he informed. Sh!t. Wait…

“When are they leaving?” I asked.

“Tomorrow,” he answered.

“I’m there,” I stated and then hung up. I made another stop at the hospital and watched the looks glow on Sherman and Rivers’ faces when I told them my plan.