“Hey, are you home?” Dom asked as soon as the line got connected.

“Yeah, what’s up?” I kept the phone pressed against my ear using my shoulder as I continued to type up my assignment into my laptop.

“Can you step out for a bit? I need to talk to you about something.” Dom said.

“Oh and try to keep it from Casey.” He added after a second. I looked at Casey’s sleeping form on the bed beside mine.

“She’s fast asleep, don’t worry.” I answered, looking back at the dimly lit screen before me and finish typing up one last sentence. The light from the screen was the only source of light in the dark room since I didn’t want to disturb Casey’s sleep.

I loosened my shoulder and let my phone slip into my hand, bringing it to my other ear as I shut down my laptop with the other hand.

“Where do you want to meet?” I asked as I grabbed my keys.

“The small café near your place?” Dom asked.

“Alright, I’m about to leave the house.” I said before ending the call.

I looked at Casey’s silhouette that’s barely visible in the dark and used my phone to leave a text to tell her where I’m going.

I took the bike out of our garage and led it out of the house before hopping on and turning on the engine.

I rode out of our neighbourhood and to the main road. It usually takes me 10 minutes to get to the café but seeing as it’s late and there’s not really many cars on the road, I think I can make it in a little over 5 minutes.

A few blocks down our house, I checked my side mirror to see if there are any cars behind me and noticed that a black fancy car pulling out from the side of the road.

I paid no attention to it, twisting the bike’s handle even more to increase my speed. I reached the café in 6 minutes, parking it in an empty spot. There was only a couple of bikes and a car parked beside my ride and I assumed the car was Dom’s.

I took off my helmet and hung it on the hook under the bike’s steer, running a hand through my hair before taking the keys off the ignition.

I got off the bike and looked around. The street was more or less empty except for a few cars that were passing by. I was about to turn and enter the café when something in the corner of my eye caught my attention.

I thought I saw the cap of a car with its headlight off just down the street, around a corner but when I looked again, nothing was there.

“It’s probably just my paranoia,” I told myself. Since bringing Casey to the Underground Place I’ve been continuously on edge; as if someone was going to jump out of nowhere and attack either Casey or me.

I shook my head and turned around, climbing up the small steps that led to the café’s entrance.

I pushed the door open and scanned the place for Dom.

He was sitting on a booth by the window, his back towards the door.

I’ve spent enough time with the boy to recognize him just by looking at his back.

The four of us, along with my little cousin Monic grew up together. Dom was family, I’ve known him since he was born because our parents were such good friends. Our moms were best friends and our dads were business partners.

I practically helped raised him despite our small age gap.

I walked towards him, greeting him with a pat on his back, not expecting him to jump at the contact.

I raised my hands in surrender when he whipped his head to the side to check who touched him.

“Whoa, someone’s jumpy.” I commented, sliding into the booth, sitting across him and the entrance.

“Yeah, I don’t even know why I am.” He joked, giving me a crooked smile. But his shaking leg betrayed the façade he was trying to display.

The tremor that his shaking leg caused travelled across the entire table, causing his coffee to reflect the motion.

I raised an eyebrow at his odd behaviour.

“Is everything okay?” I asked him. He was definitely acting weird.

Dom bit his fingernails as he stared at me, again displaying the habits that he has when he gets nervous.

“You see...” Dom began to say before shaking his head, changing his mind.

“No, hold on, I’ve got this all planned out in my head. Give me a minute to rearrange my thoughts again and get this right.” He raised a hand, putting me on hold.

I raised my palms up slightly, “Take your time.”

I took the chance to look at the menu displayed above the cashier counter and see if anything interests me.

When I felt like I can’t be bothered to eat or drink anything, I changed my view to the dark night outside. The window has slight traces of rainwater but it was clear enough to allow me to see the two guys that walked towards the café from the corner down the road.

It was the same direction I thought I saw the parked car.

I squinted, trying to make out the guys’ faces in the absence of sufficient illumination for the heck of it.

After a second, I felt an eerie sense of familiarity the more that I stare at the guys that was approaching the café.

It wasn’t long after that that I realized who the guys were.

But it was too late.

They were already by the café’s entrance, pushing the door open.

Loan sharks.

The loan sharks that are after Joe.

The bell above the door chimed to signal the arrival of new customers and the staff behind the cashier greeted them in a cheerful voice despite the late hour.

Dom’s lips parted and he inhaled as if he was about to start talking but I quickly raised my hands up and showed him my wide eyes before quickly lowering my head and using my hand to discreetly cover my face as best as I can.

“What’s wrong?” Dom asked. His leg has stopped shaking at this point and he was trying to get a good look at my face, his hand trying to pry mine off my face.

“Are you sick?” He asked again.

Meanwhile, I can’t keep my agitation at his cluelessness off of my face.

He’s gonna get us into trouble.

Suddenly, he stopped trying to pull my hand away from my face. Before I was about to check if the guys that just came had went again, Dom spoke.

“Can we help you?”

I’m pretty sure that wasn’t meant for me.

“We were thinking if we can help you. Is your friend okay?” The familiar voice asked with feigned concern.

“We can manage, thank you for asking though.” Dom answered, causing me to mentally exhale in relief.

“Are you sure you don’t want our help?” Another voice asked again.

“We can help you carry him to your car,” The familiar voice offered.

I prayed that Dom denies his offer, but I guess Heaven wasn’t on my side that night.

After a moment of what I presume to be contemplation, Dom accepted the offer.

I whispered a curse in a hushed voice.

The moment I felt a hand on my shoulder, I grabbed the hand and twisted it, using my other hand to press against his shoulder to force him to bend and lay his upper body flat onto the booth’s table, missing the cup of coffee by mere inches.

I kept my hands in that exact spot to keep the man from moving and pushed against his body to jump onto my seat and escape the booth’s confining space.

I used the momentum from my jump to give a flying kick towards the other guy, landing in a slight crouching position.

I quickly get onto my feet and grabbed Dom’s wrist, dragging him out of the café, barely aware of the eyes that were staring at us as we bolted out of the building.

“Go! Drive!” I pushed him towards his car.

“But what about you?” He shouted towards me over his shoulder as he ran sideways to his car whilst looking at me.

“I’ll be fine! I’ll tell you everything later! Now, go drive!” I shouted back, already on my bike, fastening my helmet on and slipping the key into the ignition.

I was in the middle of reversing my bike out of the parking lot when the guys stumbled out of the café.

“Catch him! We can’t lose him too!” The boss ordered.

Dom’s car was already zooming past the cafe and I was quick to follow suit before the men can catch me.

As I rode, I could only think of one safe haven that I can go to.

The police station.

Various thoughts, different questions were bouncing off the walls of my head endlessly.

How did they know where I was?

What did they mean by they can’t lose me ‘too’?

Did Joe escape?

But how did he escape?

If they were able to find me so easily, how can he escape from their radar?

He couldn’t have…

He couldn’t have move to another country, could he?

That was the only idea I can think of to escape these guys.

How far are they willing to go?

I was only Joe’s friend. I wasn’t his immediate family or even a relative.

Are they really going after me because I caught them beating Joe up and helped Joe?

If they were going through such measures to find me when I’m only their target’s friend, what will they do to my sister?

I burst through the station’s doors, surprising a few officers that were sitting behind the desk.

“Can we help you?” They asked me, as one of them walked towards me.

I nodded, pointing towards the door, trying to catch my breath and utter the words I wanted to say.

“T-There are people after me,” I said in-between breaths.

“Can you explain what you mean by that?” The officer asked, looking at me in concern.

“Loan sharks,” I said shortly, my chest still heaving for air.

I bent over and laid my hands on my knees as I let my lungs relax.

“Okay, kid, do the paperwork and file a report. We’ll get back to you in a couple of days.” The officer said, offering me stapled pieces of paper and a pen.

I looked at the papers in his hand, trying to process what he just said.

A couple of days?

“But I don’t have a couple of days! These guys found me in a couple of days! I can’t simply up and leave to avoid them for the next couple of days, can I? And my sister. My sister’s going to be in danger,” I rambled frantically, straightening up and running my fingers through my hair, tugging at the strands in frustration.

How can these officers not feel the slightest ounce of urgency?

“You should’ve thought about that before you got involved with those loan sharks, no?” The officer raised his eyebrows as if he was lecturing a small kid for stealing some cookies.

“You have to fill out the paperwork for us to be able to do anything, kid.” He added.

I looked at the papers for a moment before taking them from the officer.

This is better than nothing.

I’ll figure out how I can stall for time until the police can give us protection.

It should supposedly take me half an hour to fill out the paperwork and they told me that they need another hour to process the report.

I sat there, five minutes into filling out the paperwork. My thoughts were running amok in my mind.

They came towards the café from the direction of the car I saw.

I’m sure I saw a car parked there around the corner, down the road.

That car…

My hand stopped moving, hovering above the paper as something dawned on me.

I dropped the pen and it clattered to the ground as my chair scraped loudly against the floor tiles when I stood abruptly.

I ran out of the station, leaving the unfinished report on the counter.

I hurriedly got on my bike and sped into the streets.

I have to get back home.

I have to make sure Casey is okay.

If my suspicions are right about that car, Casey is danger.

They know where we live.

The panic in me grew as seconds ticked by.

I twisted the steer handle as far as it could go and prayed that my sister is okay.

Please be okay.

I know, from then on, that I was on my own.

I’ll protect my own sister.