Somehow I'm Alive (part 10)

Thank you all for sticking with me through the long wait for part 9. Now that I'm less busy I'll probably be able to get these done. So, are you liking or disliking the characters?

What do you guys think of a sequel series after this one? I know that this one still has to play out, but I have another series in mind. It's called "Somehow They're Alive." If you like the idea than I'll include a description of it in part 11.

Created by: Topaz
  1. ***Ryan's Point of View*** "I'm so sorry, Frank. I couldn't think of anywhere else to turn to. Please try not to be bothered by the burden I've put you under." After I rescued Rayla and Jaslina I went and found the deserted truck that Frank had given to them. I thought and thought and though about where to take them to get them feeling better, and the only place I came up with was Franks. The strange thing is that somehow I didn't get burned in the fire. Not a single hair on my head got singed, and there's not a single scar. Weird huh? At least this way I don't have to worry about me, and I can just focus on Rayla and Jaslina. At last Frank responds to what I said. "Ryan, you aren't putting a burden on me. Frankly, I'm just happy that you rescued them. At first I wasn't totally sure whose side you were on. Now it's clearer than ever." "Thanks. I'm glad that somebody trusts me." He motions for me to sit down next to him on the tattered sofa. "So, do you have any idea how you're going to convince these girls that you're on their side?" When he says that I feel like crying. But I don't. Despite everything else I've gone through I still have my pride. "I have no idea. Even if I did rescue them from being roasted in the fire it still won't be enough. I guess the only way to completely gain their trust is through time." "So what about Tammy and Landon? Do you know what happened to them?" I rest my face in my hands feeling helpless. "No. After I rescued Jaslina and Rayla I went back for Tammy and Landon. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I searched everywhere for them. They were just gone. I just hope that they're okay." "I hope so, too. I'll be praying for them and for the rest of you." "Thanks. You know I'll be praying too." "So, Ryan, one of those girls is bound to be waking up soon. What are you going to do about it?" A long moment passes before I respond. "I'll sit up there and wait for them to wake up I guess. I might as well not put off my appearance here." With that I climb up the latter to where Jaslina and Rayla are sleeping to wait.
  2. ***Jaslina's Point of View***I groan. It feels like I've been out for days. I feel burning pain on my arms and legs, but I don't know its source. Suddenly, sitting up all my memory comes back to me in an instant. I remember about M.S.G carrying me out of the fire and his voice sounding familiar. Then I remember my guess as to his identity. I don't even want to say my guess out loud, it's so shocking. I look around. Where am I, anyway? To me it looks as if I'm in a loft of some type. The walls around me are made out of clay, and covered in paintings of nature spots. There is one painting of the Pacific Ocean at sunset, another of a rainforest, and yet another of some forests in the U.S. Taking in more of the scenery, I realize that I am in a comfortable twin-sized bed with a small night stand next to it. On the other side of the room is a bed like this one that contains a sleeping Rayla. Thank goodness she's alright! Ignoring the aching pain, I walk across the room to a window. I need to pray and thank God that Rayla and I are still alive. Well, and I need to pray that my guess as to M.S.G's identity is wrong. I'm on my knees in the midst of prayer when I hear someone coming up the latter. I'm guessing that this is Frank's house. I ignore the footsteps and try to continue praying. I don't want to look at M.S.G's face yet. He enters the room. As if he knows that I don't want to see him, he doesn't say anything. In fact, the only way that I know he's here is because I can hear his swift but quiet movements. I pray for fifteen more minutes, the whole time he doesn't leave from behind me. Finally, I will myself to turn around. This is the moment of truth. Before I look I pray in my head, "Jesus, please make my guess be wrong. It's not possible that it's him!" Sadly, the moment I take in M.S.G's image, my guess is right. I now find myself looking into the once cold eyes of Ryan Caroga. I'm actually looking at him, and I don't believe this. People don't change once they've crossed the line to a bad person! Once you're bad, you're bad for good! Yet here he is, standing right in front of me. "Hi, Jaslina," says Ryan. "I can tell that you don't want me here."
  3. ***Ryan's Point of View*** Great, now she knows. What do I do now?! She's standing there looking at me like I'm some sort of mutated sewer rat. How am I supposed to talk to her if she keeps looking at me like that?! Although, I don't see why I should expect anything different. If I were her I'd be giving me the exact same look. At last she says something to me.
  4. ***Jaslina's Point of View*** "You're M.S.G? How is this possible?" I knew from the start that he was the letter writer; I just didn't want to admit it. Who would think that he would be the one helping me! "It's all too possible" says Ryan, "I'd tell you my story, but you'll probably just sit there with that look on your face the whole time. What, were you hoping for? A muscular, tan, brunette? A shirtless guy with a sword?" He doesn't say this in a mean way. He says it like he just wants to hear my thoughts. I'm speechless for a second. Finally, I clear my throat and respond. "Well, no. I didn't know who to expect. I suspected you sort of but I didn't actually think..." I drift off. "You didn't actually think that it would be the son of the woman that kidnapped you, and the twin of your arch enemy?" he chuckles at this. "I would be shocked too." His voice has gone from serious to teasing in an attempt to lighten the moment. How do I really know if I can trust him? I take a deep breath. I might as well not get too worked up over this. What's the worst that could happen? Just to trying to get past my feeling of awkwardness I say, "So you got me and Rayla out of the fire?" "Yeah, I guess. Actually, you I had to carry out because you were unconscious. Rayla, I got to once the fire was put out, and I had to help her up the steps by the arm. She got burned very badly. "What happened to Tammy and Landon?" I asked. "Did you find them?" Ryan is silent for a long time. Eventually he says, "That is really hard to answer. The thing is, I don't know if they're okay or not. After getting you and Rayla out, I went to go look for them. I got down there and there wasn't a trace of them. I don't know where they are or nothin'. I just hope my mom and Sapphire don't have them." "Well they were there when the fire started. I don't see how they would've escaped. Is it possible that there was a secret entrance of some type?" Clearing his throat he says, "I guess it would be possible. I don't think anyone would design a room like that without an alternative way of escape." I open my mouth to say something but am interrupted when Frank comes in from outside. "Well," says Frank staring, "She gained consciousness a lot faster than I expected. I see she's really warmed up to you. See, Ryan I told you that she would take a liking to you." "Yeah hi, Frank." says Ryan blushing a bright shade of scarlet. "So," says Frank "is the other girl still unconscious?" "No, not unconscious. Just sleeping now." Replies Ryan He says to me, "I forgot your name, child. Who are you again?" "My name is Jaslina. The other girl that you just referred to is Rayla." "Okay, Jaslina and Rayla. Got it." Heading for the kitchen he says, "You've been out for quite a while. You must be starving. Want anything?" At the mention of food I realize I am starving. "Sure, I guess." "While I'm at it, I'll get Ryan something too." Now we're all sat down at the dining room table and talking over chicken. It feels so good to eat something that isn't rice!
  5. After we're done eating, Ryan says "I guess you'd probably like to hear my story. It's kind of long. Do you mind?" It feels weird talking to Ryan. He's talking to me as if I'm an old friend; however, I shouldn't shun him. He did save my life. I guess I owe it to him to listen to his story. "Not at all," I say, "You can tell your story." Before Ryan starts, Frank gets up. "I've got work to attend to. You guys should be fine here for a while." Exiting, he slams the door behind him. Ryan jumps right into the story without a comment on Frank's departure. "For years I've been watching my mom sell people off to people in the Middle East as slaves. When Sapphire and I got old enough she made us start helping her. Sapphire took joy in it. For some reason she likes to sell people as slaves and running from the law. She must like the rush of it or something. Me, I've never really gotten joy out of it, but I did it anyway. I had no other choice. Mom and Sapphire told me that they'd turn me in to the law if I didn't help. So I helped. "We actually stopped kidnapping for a while because we had so much money, but seven months ago we were starting to run out. So mom said that we needed to commit another kidnapping soon. So we started thinking of possible options. One of the first people Sapphire thought of was you. I don't know why it was "˜you' she wanted to sell so bad. There were plenty of other candidates. For some reason my sister has it in for you." He pauses for a second. Even though he tries to act all masculine, you can tell there is a lot of emotion underneath this act of his. To think, a couple months ago I would've never listened to any of this. I still don't trust him, though. "So this is all Sapphire's doing. I should've guessed." I say. "I must admit she's very bold. She should've been born a man." "Yes. I guess she can be pretty bold." "Anyway," says Ryan, "As soon as Sapphire mentioned you, you were our prime target. Mom hardly considered anyone else. Once our minds were made up, we started our work. Sapphire did the spying, and I did all the online searches. That's how it always ended up. Probably because it works out best that way. Sapphire is good at being deceitful, and I'm the only one who can hack into illegal computer programs." "You know how to hack into illegal computer programs?" Really, this doesn't shock me. "Yup. It isn't the easiest way to get information, but it's the most resourceful. I found out your birth date, your age, your address, your parents' names, and your mom's maiden name. We also found out the after school activities you were in, your hobbies, and your weaknesses." He looks down for a second. "You probably think I'm some sort of stalker now, right?" Parents', as in plural. It's been ages since I last thought about father. It's been fifteen years since I've seen him last. Does he know about my abduction too? I shake off that thought. "Yeah, you're a major stalker." I tease. Or at least I make it sound like I'm teasing. Grinning, Ryan continues. So after all the research and all the spying, it didn't take long to find a buyer. One thing I must confess is that Akmal wasn't your first buyer. Your first buyer was a drug dealer in Turkey. We were planning to sell you to him, but luckily Akmal called and was willing to pay three times the original price for you. So we settled for Akmal. Once we sealed the deal, mom told me that there was one more piece of information that she wanted. She needed to know which church you went to. At first I was upset about it, but now I couldn't be more thankful. Looking for the church you went to is how I got saved. While I was looking, I stumbled across the website of the One Faith Church of God. I thought looking through the archives of the website would help me discover you, but instead I discovered something a whole lot better."
  6. ***Ryan's Point of View*** As the day goes on it seems like Jaslina's coldness towards me starts to go away a little bit. I hope that it's true and that it's not just in my head. What will Rayla think?
  7. ***Jaslina's Point of View***Ryan and I spent the rest of the day talking. I hate admitting this, but he's actually really cool. I want to trust him so much, but I don't feel that I should. The story of how he got saved is very touching, but how do I know that he didn't make it all up? How do I know that this isn't all some sort of crazy, insane trap? My mind is packed full of doubts about Ryan. Yet every time I doubt there are two things that keep coming to my mind. First off, he saved my life! If he wouldn't have been there to rescue me, I wouldn't be alive right now. Why would he save my life only to let his family take it away? There is also that sermon that I heard two months ago at church. Anyone can change. If they pray the prayer and accept Jesus as your savior whole-heartedly all of your sins will be separated as far as the east is from the west. Now it's getting harder for me to shun those words. "Ryan is M.S.G! That's not possible!" Rayla is awake now, and I tell her everything. I tell her about the letters I received on the slave ship, about the fire, about Ryan rescuing me, and everything else that there is to tell; however, I haven't gotten to the part about Tammy and Landon missing yet. That part won't be easy to tell. "Yes," I say, "Ryan is M.S.G. I could hardly believe it myself. Sure I suspected him, but I thought that it was just my imagination gone wild." "So, how long will it take for my burns to get better?" asks Rayla. "I'm not sure. Yours are a lot worse than mine and mine will probably take a month to heal. You'll probably have permanent scaring from those burns." "Do you think half a year for mine?" "Yeah, that's my guess." Rayla looks around discovering whose missing. "Where are Tammy and Landon?" asks Rayla. I let out a long sigh. "We don't know. After Ryan got me out of the fire, he put it out and went looking for you guys. He got you out, but when he went back down there to look for Tammy and Landon, they were gone." "Jaslina, that doesn't make any sense. How could they just disappear? Besides, Ryan is a Caroga! How do you know that he didn't make that story up? He probably did them in and now he's waiting for the right moment to do us in too! You can't trust him!" "I'm not sure if I can trust him either. It's just that there is another thing that doesn't make sense. He'd really save our lives, knowing that the fire might consume him, only to hand us over and see us die anyway? What sense does that make?" Rayla is quiet for a long amount of time. She seems to be considering this. "No sense at all, but maybe they'd do it just for the fun of it." "True. I'm so confused right now." "Why are you confused?" "Because I'm not sure if I can trust Ryan. I talked to him for hours this afternoon. He seems sincere, and I really want to trust him. Because of his past, I just don't know if I should. Also, I've considered your theory too. What if he is just playing us and leading us to our deaths for the fun of it?" "I don't know," says Rayla. "I guess the only thing we can do is keep an eye on him." "Yeah. I guess so." "I'm going to bed. It feels late. Goodnight." "Goodnight."
  8. ***The sun is just now rising. Ryan came up here and woke Rayla and me up early. I just found out he was M.S.G yesterday, and I'm still not used to being allies with him. It feels so weird! Of course there is a good reason for being wakened early. We're getting our aliases today. This way we can leave bright and early tomorrow morning to start our search for Tammy and Landon. Sure Rayla and I don't really trust Ryan yet, but if it means finding Tammy and Landon we're willing to try anything. "Neither of you girls wants your hair dyed, right?" asks Frank. "I want it dyed," says Rayla. "I want my disguise to be as good as possible." "Alright. Jaslina, what about you." "No. But if you have any wigs I'd be willing to try one of them." "Wigs? Yeah I got plenty, but my last customer complained about it. Are sure you want to use one?" "Sure." "Okay. I'll go get the hair dye and my two-dozen wig cases." I must say, I never thought that I'd ever need a fake name or change of hair color, or any of that. I see Rayla in the corner observing her hair. She must not be as willing to have it dyed as she sounded. Ryan is in the other corner, probably worrying about what Frank will do to him once he's done with us. He'll need the best disguise out of the three of us. "Alright. Rayla, for you I'm thinking I should bleach your hair blonde and cut it short. Then I need to make your skin paler by bleaching it. Then I'm thinking dark blue contact lenses, a dental appliance, and glasses only without a prescription. Is that alright?" "Yeah." Squeaks Rayla. "Where do you learn all this stuff?" asks Ryan from his corner in the living room. "What stuff?" asks Frank. "On how to change people's appearances."
  9. "I read a lot of "˜Left Behind'. Z is my favorite character. On top of that I looked up some stuff online." "I don't know." I say. "You're awfully educated to be a Z fan." "You're a "˜Left Behind' reader?" "Yeah. I love the series." "Cool. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who reads that stuff, but enough about that. Jaslina, for you I think long, straight, black hair would do. Along with that dark brown contact lenses. After that all you need is a spray tan. You're tan now, but an extra coat or two couldn't hurt. I'm not sure about a dental appliance for you. I'll see how you look without one first then we'll decide." "What are you gonna do to me?" asks Ryan. "I don't know about you. I'm thinking that you should get a dental appliance and go brunette. You may be darker than most Caucasians, but your skin tone is perfect so you should be able to look like brown is your natural hair color; however, I'm not sure about eye color yet." To me he says "Come here. It's time to darken you and fit you for a wig."
  10. ***Ryan's Point of View*** I'm glad that I decided to go with a wig instead of hair dye. I love my hair color too much to give it up. My thick black hair has always been part of my trade mark along with my carmel brown eyes and tanned skin. Oh, well. Looking different is necessary in this case. We need to find Tammy and Landon before it's too late. Mom, Sapphire and Akmal could get their hands on them any time now. I can't let that happen.

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