18

18


Amelia stared out the window sadly. She had been indoors and scared to go out since the incident of Shadow Man with Murphy. She didn't know what to believe. There were proofs that Murphy was the shadow man and Murphy was telling her he wasn't the shadow man. She wanted to believe him but a part of her was feeling doubtful.

The thought of being eliminated scared her to the bone. She hoped Murphy would save her. She knew she shouldn't be hoping for someone who might be the one to end her life, but part of her still hoped he would save her.

She scrolled through her phone and stopped watching the news about Murphy being the shadow man. She wanted to scream her lungs out of frustration. She couldn't believe how her life had turned out this way. From breaking up with Murphy to him being labeled as the shadow man with enough proof. She wondered where he was at the moment since he was being chased and wanted by the whole nation.

If someone was framing him, who could it be? What could the person stand to gain? Murphy is just a normal person who is trying to live his life and stay out of trouble. But it looked like trouble found its way to his den. But then again, if someone wasn't trying to frame him, what could Murphy stand to gain for being the shadow and perpetrating evil and harm across the nation? Why would he do such a thing? What made him change?

She realized it doesn't matter what she thinks of him, the whole nation already has one opinion of him. And that is him being the shadow. The authorities are on his tail and I believe someone bigger than the authority would be looking for him. What if the shadow hunter goes looking for him?

Amelia felt her heart thumping as she thought about the possibility of Murphy being harmed. She realized she didn't know what she wanted. She didn't know if she was going to believe what Murphy was claiming or if she would just ignore him.

She also realized she wanted to see Murphy more than anyone else. She never knew him as a bad guy, but people always change. What is he prone to change? What if he was the shadow? The thought alone scared her.

“Where are you?” she whispered, her heart hammering in her chest as she thought about her possible death.



Jeremy sat on the plushy couch with Mr. Sam. Both of them happily sipping wine. Jeremy looked like he had won the lottery, while Mr. Sam smiled contentedly.

“Congratulations to us,” Mr. Sam celebrated and raised his glass to have a toast.

“To happiness,” Jeremy clicked his glass with Mr. Sam's.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Jeremy asked.

“What do you mean bad feeling?” Mr. Sam questioned, his face void of any emotion.

“I mean, don't you think Murphy is doing quite a good job in hiding from the authorities?” he asked.

“Well, I do also think so. But I think with time, they would finally catch up with him,” Mr. Sam assured.

“He has his system with him. Don't you think it would try to help him?” he asked, trying to make sense of the whole thing.

“That's true. But what is his system compared to Zedd?” Mr. Sam teased.

“Yeah. With Zedd searching for him, it wouldn't take long for him to get caught,” he said.

“And when he gets caught?” Mr. Sam began.

Jeremy smiled, rubbing his palms together. “Here comes my favorite part,”

“What happens to people with paranormal abilities who are caught by Zedd?” Mr. Sam smiled evilly as he spoke.

“Well, we don't want to spoil the surprise. I guess he just has to find out firsthand,” Jeremy said and chuckled.

Mr. Sam paused for a moment.

“How do we find him?” he asked rhetorically.

They stayed in silence, each trying to contemplate.

Jeremy cleared his throat first.

“We can't sit here and do nothing. Do you think Murphy would just hide in the darkness and do nothing?” he stated.

“What else should we do? We have to lure him out,” Mr. Sam added.

“And to do that?” he asked.

“Jackpot,” Mr. Sam, yelled, banging his hand on the table.

“Any ideas?” he asked.

“We have to lure him out by using what he loves the most to threaten him,” Mr. Sam said.

Jeremy shook his head in agreement. “That is an excellent idea. But who do we use? We don't know anyone he values that much that would make him come out,”

“Of course we do,” Mr. Sam beamed.

“We do?” he asked.

“Amelia,” Mr. Sam announced.

“They already broke up,” he said.

“You're not getting the point here,” Mr. Sam said, tapping his head.

“So what's the point?” he asked.

“He would do anything for Amelia. He still loves her so much,” Mr. Sam said.

“That would work. So after luring him out, what's next?” he questioned.

“Zedd's what's next,” Mr. Sam replied

“We have one problem,” Jeremy pointed out.

Mr. Sam turned to stare at him confused. “We just drafted out a plan. What could be a problem?”

“How do we get her out of the house too? She hasn't left the house for quite some days now. She seemed scared,” Jeremy pointed out.

“That would not be a problem. Amelia doesn't know where Murphy is. So the plan is really simple,” Mr. Sam explained.

“Now I get it,” he replied.

“We need to hire some other people so they could do all the dirty work for us. Don't want to get our hands dirty, do we?” Mr. Sam playfully spoke.

Jeremy laughed and they clicked their glasses with laughter.