"Sorry in advance..."

The last words I heard from a guy that I mistrusted. How can I fall for such a lowly trick? How stupid of me. The moment I heard those words, my eyelids suddenly grew heavy and my body wanted to lay down on anything. I became so overly fatigued and tired that it was distressing.

As I lay the box that contained the possibly poisoned pie to my side of the bench, I quickly and sneakily picked up the fork inside. As my body got slowly heavy, I opted to fall on the sidewalk slowly so I can be out in the open as much as possible if someone might see us.

Before my body touched the cemented sidewalk, I sneakily hid the fork in one of the deep back pockets of my pants and carefully made sure it was hidden. I had one last blurry look at the guy known as "Ford Mondt".

You sneaky son of a bitch.

You've outplayed me.

Bravo.

I must say the act was quite genius.

And with these final thoughts, I slipped out of consciousness.

Thud!

...went my body onto the sidewalk in front of the bench we were sitting.

Darkness quickly overcame my sight...

and I couldn't see a thing.

Just...

Pure....

Darkness.

And suddenly, thoughts just started pouring into my mind.

What will happen to me? Who was he really? Was everything just an act? Will he kill me? Do I have any valuables on my person?

Hmmm...

Okay, I don't have any valuables on me.

So he won't get anything from me if his intention was to rob me.

Besides,

My mom knows his face—

Wait...

NO SHE DOESN'T.

She didn't see his face, in fact, she just stayed in the kitchen that time.

Will I just suddenly disappear from this world?

Will I be proclaimed missing and never be found again?

And I will just end up in the news, as a guy that just got swept up by the water at some shore of a lake?

Damn.

That sounds pathetic

and

embarrassing.

I can't help but laugh at my fate.

I have never really achieved anything in my life.

Pathetic.

Embarrassing.

I had so much to do.

So much in mind.

So much plans.

Dreams.

Hopes.

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And in the end,

will it all be for nothing?

Unless...

he doesn't kill me?

If ever, what more does he plan to do with me?

Take me for ransom?

Then I have to ask for something from my absent Dad.

That would be...

BEYOND

embarrassing.

Just kill me if ever.

I'll just be a nuisance to my parents.

They will need to spend a huge amount of money for me.

Millions?

Possibly take a loan from the Haggrew City Bank?

All that hassle.

What am I saying?

Ah.

I can see the light.

Am I dead?

Well, my life hasn't been that much fulfilling—wait, no.

I'm waking up.

Everything is still a little blurry.

Ugh, my head hurts.

Where might that guy be?

Maybe I can ask for some Tylenol before he kills me.

Ah, my vision is getting a little better.

Hmmm, now to assess my situation. I take a look at my surroundings. Hmmm, I'm in some type of backyard? I'm facing backwards and I may be tied to an office chair of sorts. My hands are tied behind my back. My head can be moved around at least. Let's see. Wait, is that...

No way.

That's our house right next door!

So this guy from next door thinks that kidnapping me and tying me up in his backyard is such a smart move huh? Don't make me laugh. How amateur can you be? I can just shout— my mouth is bound too? Hmmm, this must be that creep that peeked at us when we arrived.

Oh right!

The fork in my back pocket! How convenient can you be? Ah, sometimes I just surprise myself with my intellect and resourcefulness. Now to take it out of my pocket. Hmmm, the material that binds my hands behind my back seems to just be duct tape. Yeah, this is doable.

"Ah, looks like you're finally awake." A familiar voice can be heard from behind me. Oh no! The fork! I need to hide it quick.

I flick the fork up my wrist to put it into a blind spot position.

I can hear his footsteps slowly walking towards me. Wow, menacing. He suddenly turns the office seat around, revealing to me his face.

Yes, that's 'Ford Mondt', alright. My kidnapper.

I mumble in anger to play along to his sadistic scheme.

"Calm down, Stevie. I'm not gonna kill you. I promise I'm not a murderer!" He mutters defensively.

I slowly take out my fork behind me and started cutting at the tape.

"You might be wondering, was the shy act just that? An act? Well... yeah. But my name really is Charles Mondt. I told you the truth from up until now. Do you trust me now?"

Well, now he already established that he won't kill me, obviously, and his identity. I can't trust the guy though.

Who kidnaps other people suddenly? Unless there's something wrong with you, that's not normal.

I mutter with the bound in my mouth once more.

"Oh sorry, you must find it hard to speak with that bound in your mouth. I'll take it off if you promise me you won't shout. I won't kill you, I promise." He tells me while pulling the bound off my mouth

Ha!

Idiot.

I inhale as hard as I can.

"MO—"

And he quickly covers my mouth.

"What are you, crazy??" He nervously whispers to me.

Wow.

Look who's talking, Mr. Kidnapper.

He then pulls out a silver knife to threaten me.

"I won't kill you but I won't hesitate to hurt you. Now, I just have questions that you need to answer, do you understand, Stevie?"

Ok, now's the time to be obedient. One thing I hate more than anything is pain. He takes his hand off my mouth after I nod in agreement.

"Fine. I'll listen to you, you sadist."

"Woah, I'm not a sadist. This is for the neighborhood."

Eh? What does he mean by that?

"Oi, what do you mean kidnapping me for the neighborhood? Wow, way to make Izzaya look bad, Ford." I responded.

"Eh? I just... saw some provoking furniture in your house, Stevie. That's why I laced your pie with benzodiazepines before you got back from telling your mother about the pie."

"You drugged me, not cool, dude."

"I'm sorry, really, I am, but I really am doing this to protect the people of Izzaya, now answer the questions I'm about to ask you."

Unknowing to him, I was only buying time to cut myself free from the duct tape in my wrists. Thank you for being noisy, Ford.

Now,

I'm free.

"We'll see about that."

I lunged at him and hit his wrists to make him drop the knife.

"Ow!" He cried in pain.

Woah, did I hit him that hard?

I tackled him to the ground.

"I swear, Ford. I'll stab you with this fork if you don't let me go free."

I'm not really gonna do that, I'm not a sadist.

"Dude, you're already free. Let ME go! Is that the fork from the pie? Wow, sneaky," he replies.

He hits my wrist and honestly, that did felt painful.

"OW! What the eff, dude??" I cried as I drop the fork to the ground.

He slides the fork away from us and punches me in the face to get me off him.

Oh, it's on now. He lays on top of me and lands punch after punch. I groan in pain. I give him an uppercut.

"Ow! My tongue!" He groans.

I kick him up to topple him over and I get on top of him and land a couple punches myself. We were basically filled with dirt and muck all over. The same cycle went on for about two times until...

"FORD! What's all the ruckus out here in the backyard?" An elderly voice called out from the back porch of their house.

Ford and I stopped on our tracks, stunned. He pushed me off him. We both stood up straight and brushed ourselves off from the filth.

"Sorry nanny, did we wake you?" He nervously laughs, "My friend and I were just roughhousing in the yard a little."

The elderly woman that had just stepped out of the back porch readjusted her glasses, "And who might you be, young man?" She asked with a warm smile.

I was thought to always respect the elderly especially when at someone's house, so I went up to the elderly woman, held her hand and pulled it gently towards my forehead. This is a sign of respect in the Philippines that I had grown accustomed to.

"Good evening, nanny. I'm Ford's friend from next door," I look at Ford with a menacing look, "I didn't know Ford has a very lovely grandma, my name is Stevie, it's very nice to meet you, nanny!"

"How polite, Stevie, you and my grandson enjoy now! Please, stay for dinner," she tells me while still sporting a warm and wholesome smile.

She then started to come back inside, and I went back to Ford's side. I can see that we were both thinking of the same thing.

"Truce?" We both say at the same time, not knowing that this friendship had just began.

"Oi," I was trying to ask, "why do you even have a knife on your person, Ford?"

Ford walks to the knife and picks it up.

"It's fake," he laughs hysterically.

I can't help but laugh with him. Honestly looking back, that fight went from serious to not really. I think this is a moment of bond that will never disappear. But I need to reassure him that I'm not a threat to the neighborhood that he thinks I am.

"Hey, what question were you gonna ask?" I ask him.

"Oh," he looks at me square in the eyes, "are you a Vincenzo?"