by Scarlett Fox
***
The car stopped and Senator Perry asked his assistant to go down and get Merkel. After waiting for a few minutes, he stepped out of the vehicle and lit a cigarette. "Nice weather," he thought. He walked a little further and saw from behind a garbage bin, two figures sitting on the bench, kissing. He squinted and recognized Jason. He waited to see who he was kissing. At last, Sasha broke away from the kiss and gave a hearty laugh, tossing her hair in the wind. Senator Perry's eyes were filled with intense longing.
“Senator,” Merkel said from behind. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Merkel, who is that exquisite young lady?” The senator said not taking his eyes off Sasha.
Merkel knitted his brows and stepped forward to see who the senator was referring to. His heart sank when he saw Jason and Sasha.
“That’s Sasha, senator,” Merkel said before sighing.
The senator turned to look at him and said, “Who is she?”
“She’s Jason’s girlfriend from Los Angeles, she’s here for a brief visit.”
The senator looked unamused. He stepped right in front of Merkel with a threatening look and said, “Don’t you dare lie to me, Merkel, I can turn this place upside down. I know that outsiders are not allowed in the property, not even your children. Now, I will ask you again, who is she?”
Merkel had no choice. “She’s a former lamb. Jason purchased her last night.”
The senator smiled and said, “Good, I’ll see you inside.”
Merkel stood frozen on his spot. He could see Jason and Sasha laughing about something. He shook his head.
“I’m sorry, boy,” he said before following the senator inside.
***
“I have never been this happy,” Sasha said giving Jason a hug. “Thank you.”
Just as Sasha finished her sentence, Jason heard the door opened. He looked up and saw Chris.
"Merkel needs you," he said to Jason. "The senator just arrived, his meeting nearby was canceled and decided to visit."
Jason stood up. Wearing a worried face he said, “Warn the ladies, right away!”
“Relax,” Chris replied, looking at Sasha. “I already warned them, everyone is safe.”
***
Jason stepped inside Merkel’s office. He noticed that his boss looked worried.
“I need to send you and Veronica to buy me some stuff,” Merkel began.
“Buy you stuff? Why don’t you send one of your people?”
“You are one of my people.”
“I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant.”
“Veronica will tell you what to do,” Merkel said, waving his hand.
Jason said nothing and went outside. Veronica was standing there with a somber face.
“Nica, where are we going?”
Veronica was startled and nearly jumped at the voice of Jason.
“Hey, you’re here already,” Veronica said, forcing a smile.
“Where are we going?” Jason repeated the question.
“Just follow me,” she said, walking away.
“I need to tell Sasha…”
“No need, Chris already told her.”
Jason nodded and followed her to a waiting car outside.
Half an hour later, Jason looked outside and said, “Are we going to Jersey?”
“Yes, we are picking someone up,” Veronica said without looking at him.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Jason began feeling uneasy, and felt that something was not right. He pulled Veronica’s arm.
“Where are we going?”
Veronica’s face betrayed her. “The senator,” he thought, “Sasha.”
“I’m so sorry, Jason, I was jealous.”
Jason was furious.
“What have you done?”
“I called the senator.”
“Stop the car!”
Jason opened the door and jumped even before the car was able to fully stop.
Jason hailed a cab and returned home, his heart was beating fast. “No, oh God, please no,” he kept on thinking.
When he arrived, the place looked quiet as always, but he knew something terrible was happening inside. “No, please, no.”
He went inside through a back door. He rushed towards his room, careful not to let anyone see him. He burst open the door but Sasha was not there. He felt like going mad. He collected himself and tried very hard to focus. He needed to find her.
He ran towards Merkel's office, from afar, he knew something had happened. A group of talents was standing outside the office. He saw that some of his female friends were crying.
“What happened?” Jason yelled. “Where is Sasha?”
Chris heard Jason’s voice from inside the room and went out to meet him.
“Something terrible had happened,” Chris said to him.
“Where is Sasha?”
“She’s inside.”
Jason walked past Chris, opened the door and went inside Merkel’s office. He was shocked to see the senator lying on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood. He also noticed that the senator had a gun in his hand.
He looked around but there was no sign of Sasha.
“Sasha!” He called to her.
He heard a whimper from behind Merkel’s desk. He ran and saw Sasha cradling the lifeless body of Merkel.
“He saved me,” Sasha kept repeating. “He saved us.”
Epilogue
The bus station was teeming with people. They both felt like two castaways in the sea of strangers. People all around them were busy going on with their businesses. Jason wrapped his arm around Sasha, he wanted her to know that everything would be all right. Sasha reciprocated by looking up to kiss his cheek. She never felt so happy in her life. They have decided to go East, to Los Angeles, and if they felt like it, they could go fly to Japan. They had no concrete plans, they just wanted to be together. Anywhere would be fine, as long as they were together. “So this is how it feels like,” Jason thought to himself. “To love and be loved.”
While walking towards the ticket booth, he could not help but look down and watch the beautiful expression on Sasha’s face. She was not perfect, which made her ideal for him, she was broken like him. He bent to kiss her on the forehead. He loved the smell of her hair.
After they bought their tickets, they decided to grab a quick meal. There was a diner nearby and decided to spend their time there while waiting for the bus.
There were a few customers inside the diner. They were serving all sorts of food. Sasha picked a table by the window so they could see the scenery and activities outside. Jason smiled, she was like an excited little girl going on an adventure.
“What would you like to eat?” He asked.
“You decide.” She replied with a smile.
Jason could not help but smile back, her smile was very contagious.
A waitress approached them and handed them a menu. From the counter, a customer turned on the television and a news program was broadcasting the senator’s death. Heart attack, the news anchor said, claimed the life of the senator. The anchor also added that the senator died in his sleep while traveling to Washington after visiting an orphanage. Jason smiled, he thought of Chris, who was manning the business now for Merkel’s wife, “Not bad,” he thought, “not bad at all.”
