Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #17 August 2015 | Page 54

around Jake and Patrick, they both have been pretty much in the same boat. They cared about her, but
they didn’t feel sorry for her. But Lucas, he’d had a
normal life, was a normal person. He was her without
the baggage, without Malik. He would care too much,
he would look at her with eyes filled with sadness
and pity. And she couldn’t take that. She didn’t want
him to blame himself for something he had no control
over. It would make her run, and she couldn’t run.
She had to stay because they were after him too. He
couldn’t defend himself against them. She and Jake
barely escaped.

Margo sat next to Patrick, and Lucas took the end seat.
Patrick winked at Jake in a ‘you’re welcome’ gesture
and settled in.
There were a surprisingly small number of
people present. It unnerved Margo, who kept thinking
something was wrong. She started counting the people
around her. One, two, three, four, five heads. She even
turned around to count the people in the very back:
Six, seven, eight, and nine. Wait, nine is two people.
Her fidgeting made Jake roll his eyes. She was
jumpy after the mall attack.

“I’m gonna go take a shower, start without
me.” She walked out of the room, not waiting for his
reply. When she came back, the scars were gone.
***
“Who wants popcorn?” Patrick asked and
three hands instantly went up. “All right, four big bags
of popcorn please. Two with layered butter.”
Jake was standing between Margo and Lucas,
both metaphorically and literally. He eager H]