Smoke Signals: Into the Shadows of Vengeance

I felt guilty for not doing more to stop Isaac and Tom from hurting that poor little boy. And now that I did something I might be their next target, but I can’t just stand and do nothing about it, I should attack them before they attack me.
I continued walking down the road and before I noticed I found myself in front of the small library where Theo was. I thought that perhaps going to the library might clear my mind and help me think of something to deal with Isaac, so I went in.
Inside the small library it was quiet, peaceful, and cozy. Rows and rows of books lined the shelves, each one holding a mysterious world to be explored. I saw Theo sitting at a table in the corner, reading. I approached him, “Hey.” Theo looked up and smiled: “Hey what are you doing here this early?”
I sat down across from him, struggling for a moment to find the right words to explain what happened this morning. “Well, I woke up early and went out for a walk, where I saw Isaac and Tom stealing at the market,” I began slowly.
“I hope you didn’t try to do anything.”
I looked guilty.
“Oh please say you didn’t.”
“I didn’t…..then…” he frowned, “just listen to me.”
He started giggling like crazy.
“Okay I’m listening.”
“They were stealing fruit, and then some kid that worked there confronted them, and they started running away.”
“Good they didn’t beat him right then and there.”
“Well….they didn’t really beat him there but the fool followed them and I followed the fool. Where I saw them in the street behind the market pinning him down on the floor. And I had to do something so I told them to stop…”
“And let me guess,” Theo said and I already knew that he knew what happened next, “they didn’t.”
“Nope, not at all, Isaac broke his arm.”
“Those fuckers……..”
For a moment we sat in silence, no one said anything.
Theo became very serious, he cursed and placed a hand on my shoulder. “That’s terrible,” he said. “But you couldn’t really do anything, he could’ve ended even worse if you weren’t there.”
I knew he was telling the truth and I felt a little bit better about the whole situation. “But now I’m worried about what they might do to me, I don’t think that Isaac will let this slide.”
“Good thing you also have friends, and a smart friend like me who can think of something smart.”
“And that is?”
“Well I don’t know now, I have to start thinking.”
We laughed. I was relieved knowing that I don’t have to face Isaac alone.
“We’ll talk to Leigh about it too,” Theo said. “Maybe we can figure something out together.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” I replied.
I felt much better after talking to Theo, he was always someone who approached any situation with a level head and a person you could always count on.
“Do you think it is too early to go get Leigh?”
“She is probably already up, let’s go.” Theo jumped out of his chair.
It didn’t take us long to get to her house, where we found her sitting in her backyard reading. She greeted us with a smile: “Hey guys, what’s up?”
“We need to talk about something really important.” I tried to sound serious. She started listening carefully when I explained what had happened at the market with Isaac and Tom. She never jumped in or tried to stop me, her attention was directed towards me, her eyes locked with mine.
“And now, we think that Isaac will try and do something to me, so we need to think of a way to attack him before he attacks me, because I don’t want to spend the rest of the summer break inside my room.”
“Well that’s not a bad idea.” Theo laughed.
Leigh looked very concerned. “We can’t let them get away with this, but we need to be very careful.”
The nodded in agreement. “What if we mess with their secret hideout?”
The adrenaline pumped through my veins.
“But the problem is that then they’ll need to find a new hideout and we won’t know where it is.” Leigh said.
“True but we could find it again, they don’t even know who’s gonna mess with this one, and they’ll start searching for that person, and Adrian will be off the hook for a while. Not a bad idea right?”
“True,” I agreed, “But what can we do with their hideout that will get them super mad?”
“We will burn it to the ground.” Theo smiled with an evil look on his face.
“We can’t just burn it down, that would be too dangerous,” Leigh looked worried.
Theo: “It won’t be dangerous if you control the fire. Now I am very thankful for the old scouting books I read last year.”
We brainstormed ideas until we decided to use smoke signals, that way the fire department will be alerted discreetly. Then Theo showed us how to craft smoke bombs using some simple materials like colored chalk and smoke pellets. It didn’t take us long to collect what we needed and we started working on our plan. It didn’t take us long to get ready, and we returned to their hideout to see if the air was clear.
Theo and I went near the hut while Leigh stayed at a safe distance to keep a lookout, if Isaac and his gang were close she would drop a smoke bomb to warn us.
No one was at the hideout, we even checked the inside where it smelled horrific. It was even worse than before. Theo and I carefully lit the first smoke bomb and a purple smoke began to come out, it was easily visible in the sky. Theo used a simple device made out of a cardboard tube to control the smoke. As the smoke went high into the sky we waited anxiously to hear the fire trucks. Moments later, we could hear in the distance the fire truck sirens. Our plan had worked and each second the siren was louder and louder. They arrived very fast, but we were long gone in a safe distance from the hut. With the firemen, police officers also came. The firemen put down the fire very fast and as the smoke cleared the hut’s secrets were right in front of the authorities. We couldn’t hear much because we were too far away but it was evident that they found the bodies of dead animals in the hut. The three of us turned and ran away so we wouldn’t get caught near the hut.
Our plan went smoothly, we expected that over the following days, the police would start an investigation to find whoever was responsible for the fire and the dead bodies. Isaac didn’t have a hideout anymore and he will probably stay put for a while trying not to draw any attention to himself. That should give us enough time to think of our next move.
We sat down in the park, far away from prying eyes and ears. In a quiet spot under the shade of a large tree we were safe, and we could talk freely. We were out of breath, and no one talked for some time, until Theo decided to break the silence : “I can’t believe we actually did it. It was really like something out of a book, with the smoke bombs and all that. Just wow.”
I laughed. “Well, it was your plan, and you always knew how to be dramatic. But to use the smoke signals was very smart, I have to admit it. It got the fire department’s attention in a couple of minutes.”
“Yeah, I agree guys but we have to be careful now,” Leigh said, she looked serious. “We can’t let anyone know that we were a part of this, because we could get into a lot of trouble.”
Theo nodded. “I agree with you. We need to lay low for a while, let things cool for a bit and in the meanwhile keep an eye on Isaac.”
“This gives us an advantage, and it is very important to stay one step ahead of them.” Leigh said.
“But what about that kid, the one they hurt this morning?” I asked, my voice stuttering. ”We can’t just leave him like that.”
“You’re right.” Leigh nodded. “We should go and check on him, just to make sure he’s okay.”
Theo also agreed. “Yes, let’s do that.”
The sun began to set, casting a warm glow over the park. The birds were singing, we were laughing, everything around us felt alive. As it became darker, it was time to go home, enough adventures for a day.
When I got home, I was welcomed by my grandmother. She was worried because my mother was nowhere to be seen. After dinner I lay in bed, I couldn’t shake off some bad feeling. My mother’s absence and the nightmare from last night haunted me.
“It is probably just a busy day for her, everything will be fine.” I repeated over and over the lies I told my grandmother.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and tried to concentrate to go to sleep. Tomorrow is a new day and everything will be alright. Sleep took over relatively fast after that, I fell asleep in my world but woke up in the darkness, an unknown world ruled by death.