The Peace War

      For my entire life, my grandfather taught me that I should always analyze my environment so that I can make the most rational and most beneficial decision to my situation. Now the same man that taught me this is going mad over the loss of my sister. It may sound it bit sinister, but I find this whole thing somewhat funny. Do not get me wrong, I care about Hope, but watching my grandfather who I admired for quite some time lose his cool is amusing. Then there are the rest of them. I never really thought anything of them, but the way they are all behaving is telling me a lot I never knew before. For instance, my grandfather’s assistant Christopher is behaving the most out of character; he seems more worried than even I should be, but his not the most interesting of my grandfather’s workers. The interesting one is John; he is certainly behaving strangely, so strange in fact that if my grandfather were not out of sorts he would have noticed by now.

     I guess it is about time I analyze my environment so I can make the most beneficial decision to my current situation. Since Hope’s disappearance or “kidnapping” my grandfather has taking extra precautions to keep me safe, so first I have to find a way out of this cabin in the woods. From what I have seen so far, there are ten guards including Christopher who will be my focus for my escape. The other nine guards have been taking nearly perfect shifts and rotating without fail for the past three days while Christopher moves freely. My best shot of escape will be to use psychological warfare to pit a few of the guards against each other to mess up their rotation. I already started this with the two guards named Conner and Mike who both have girlfriends waiting for them.

    Conner does not seem to like the fact that he is here while Mike hates Conner’s complaining so I used this to my advantage by telling Mike all of Conner’s complaints, and it seems to be taking affect perfectly since the two are at each other’s throats. The other seven guards are not so easy to manipulate, they seem kind of like puppets already, but that does not matter because soon Conner and Mike will get into a fight drawing the other guards’ attention allowing me to walk out the front door. Just has I planned, I heard the fight begin, walked out of the cabin proudly with my notebook in hand, and ran into the woods to first gain distance before I plan my next move. After a short while in the woods night fell, I did not plan to do this at night but then again I did not have a watch and the trees and clouds get in the way of the sun. I had to find a place to sleep for a while and wait until morning, as my grandfather says, “If you run blind in the dark, you are sure to run into something”. Funny thing is Hope taught he meant you‘d run into something good if you have blind faith, she can be a little dense sometimes but I love her none the less, which is why I will be the one to find her.

     “Chris…Christian!” a familiar voice called out to me from a dark void “Christian! Please run!” it warned me as I recognized the voice. “Hope, is that you? Where are you?” I asked screaming into the empty void. “You’re not safe Christian; don’t worry about me, just get away from them!” Hope yelled at me in a tone I never heard her make before. I tried to ask her more questions but suddenly I awoke to the sound of the guards patrolling the woods, first thing I did was to try to run but from nowhere Christopher grabbed me and covered up my mouth. “Be quiet, I’m on your side” he whispered as he removed his hand from my mouth “Do you know a way out of these woods?” I asked to waste no time on explanations. Christopher nodded and sneaked though some bushes as he gestured me to follow. We soon made it out of the woods and into his car “before we start driving, I think now will be a good time to define a few things” I said ready to get some answers to questions I had for a while. “What do you want to define?” Christopher asked as if he was ready to pour his soul out to me.

     I cleared my throat and asked the obvious “Why are you helping me?” Christopher took no time and answered, “I feel like you’re the best option for finding Hope”. “That is a clear lie, my grandfather has plenty more resources than I do for finding Hope,” I stated a little upset at the immediate dishonesty. Christopher let out a small sight then said, “I said I felt you were the best option, however, I can’t lie about a feeling.” He spoke as if he was trying to hide something more but I felt it was not important so I asked, “At the moment, what do you think happened to Hope?” Christopher wasted no time again and stated, “I don’t really know, which is why I want to make sure she is safe.” “Then start driving please. Let’s not waste any time,” I said as I opened up my notebook and began to read.

     “Are you fond of that notebook? I see you with it a lot,” Christopher, asked clearly trying to make small talk as he drove. “Fond isn’t really the correct word to use,” I said flipping through the pages of the notebook with no real reason. “What do you mean?” Christopher asks with strange amount of comfort in his voice that made me feel a bit at ease. I gathered my thoughts and explained, “You wouldn’t say you’re fond of your body, so just like my body I am not fond of this notebook. I just have a need for it. I’ve also been writing the most important things I learned in it since I was young so it feels like a part of me.” “I see,” Christopher said with a warm smile that caught me of guard. “Where are we going?” he asked while slowing down to an intersection in the road. I guess I really did not give it much thought before but just how would I find Hope, plus there is the dream I had “What did she mean I am not safe,” I accidently mumbled out. Christopher asked, “What was that?” and I quickly responded, “It was nothing, I think we should head somewhere secluded for now.” Christopher said, “I think I know just the place,” he took a left turn, and soon we were at another cabin but this one was in plain sight in the middle of a chopped down forest “Is this your idea of secluded? My grandfather’s men are not stupid enough to not check all the cabins in the area,” I stated a little aggravated.

    Christopher got out of the car and said, “Trust me; even if they were to come here, they wouldn’t find anything” I decided to trust Christopher and got out of the car and followed him into the cabin. In the cabin, Christopher opened door under a rug and lead me into a dark hidden basement; he turned on the lights and I saw the room for the bomb shelter that it was. “Did you make this place?” I asked curious, Christopher only nodded, for some reason I was expecting him to tell me some story about how he built the whole place and supplied it with guns, food, and medicine. I do not know why but since that dream, I have been feeling a strange connection to the world around me, even stranger is that I am just accepting that Hope somehow contacted me in my sleep as if it is normal. It is best if I do not think about it too much for now but the feeling is getting stronger and I know that I have to sleep and try to establish another connection with Hope. I laid myself down on the couch lined against the wall and used my notebook as a pillow “I need to rest for a while, is that okay?” I asked Christopher but he seemed to be in deep thought about something so I went to sleep anyways.

     I entered a black void but it was different this time, rather than complete darkness there was now small lights scattered all around like stars. “Hope!” I called out at the top of my voice and just like that Hope was standing right in front of my face “Christian, I am so happy to see you,” she said giving me a hug. “I can’t believe this, you’re actually here,” I said amazed at the situation, Hope seemed very at ease and even happy but then again it would be unusual of her if she were not happy. “Where are you right now?” Hope asked me. “I am in some kind of bunker with Christopher” I answered even though I felt I should be the one asking the questions. “You’re with Mister Christopher…wait here while I check with Mister Razor,” she said as she disappeared leaving me to think of what was going on and how Hope seems to have so much control of it. Hope seems to be able to fade in and out of this place but as for me I am stuck here and what's more she said Razor, one of my grandfather’s prized unofficial workers but she does not seem to be worried. Is Hope just being her super positive self or is she really in no danger, before I could finish my thought Hope returned smiling “sorry I took so long but Mister Raphael is having a hard time accepting my abilities” she said casually. Raphael was my grandfather’s worker with the obvious ulterior motive; he was suspicious from day one so it is not hard to believe that he would kidnap Hope while making it look like something harmless.

    “Hope, what happened to you?” I asked worried, she took her time then said, “I don’t really know, there was an explosion in my room, then these men showed up, and Mister Razor and Mister Raphael saved me”. She really didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know but I guess I’m glad that she is safe and happy. “Do you know where you are?” I asked. Hoped thought about it then left me alone again, most likely to ask where she is. No matter how I look at it, something does not make sense, the way I see it there are three possible explanations; the first is that Raphael faked a crisis to take Hope without a struggle, but if that was true, there is no way that someone as loyal as Razor would help him with that. Another explanation could be that someone was after Hope’s life and Raphael and Razor happened to be at the right place at the right time, but that relies too much on coincidence. This leaves the third explanation that I think is most likely, I dismissed my second guess since it relied too much on coincidence, but that may be the point. It looked like a coincidence on purpose because someone wanted to frame Raphael and Razor, but for them to go as far as to use Hope means that they want to get some kind of reaction from my grandfather. That all could only mean that, the one behind this whole thing is one of my grandfather’s workers and I do not know how close to my grandfather this person could be.

     Hope returned with a sad look on her face, I asked, “What’s wrong?”, and she explains, “Mister Razor said it may not be safe to tell you, I explained to him you were my brother but even Mister Raphael was against telling you.” The two of them must have come to the same conclusion I just came to so their playing it safe. “I understand,” I said patting Hope on her head not so much for her but for me to feel better. “I have to go Christian, please be careful,” Hope, said as she left which woke me up from my sleep to see a blanket over me and Christopher on a laptop. For now, I am okay with knowing that Hope is safe and that at least Razor will try to keep it that way, but there is the matter of which one of my grandfather’s workers is a traitor.

     Christopher is a suspect. After all, he has all the means to pull this sort of thing off and even though he may try to hide it, it is clear that he strongly resents my grandfather. I doubt it though, I am sure he would not do anything that involved putting Hope in any kind of danger “Christopher, what did they say happened to Hope?” I asked ready to narrow my real suspects. I clearly caught him off guard since he stumbled around his words a little bit until he clearly said, “I didn’t know you were awake, the official report is that Hope has been kidnap by Raphael and Razor, but that is too unbelievable”. Then it is just as I thought it is all just a set up. “Why do they believe it was Raphael and Razor?” I asked making sure to be thorough in my thinking. Christopher explains, “There was video footage of them in the room and taking her before it exploded but even that looked a bit weird to me”.

     That is just what I needed to hear. I was foolish to think that just one person could pull this off by him or herself and get away with it. It had to be a collaborative effort meaning that almost my entire grandfather’s workers are against him, which is funnier than anything else is giving the type of person I thought my grandfather to be, but I guess Lou as outlived his usefulness as my role model. “Christian, what are you thinking?” Christopher asked me, I looked at him then said, “It’s clear you haven’t figured out that this was an inside job”. I could tell I confused him simply by the look on his face. “What do you mean?” Christopher asked. I shook my head and explained, “To keep it short, Hope is safe, a few of Lou’s men are working against him, and some on his side seemed to have been separated from him.”

    “Are you sure about all of that?” Christopher asked as if I just confirmed something for him, “I am completely sure of everything I just said” I responded. Christopher became very at ease and I was not sure if it was because he knew Hope was safe or that Lou was in danger “Why did you suddenly changed the way you address Lou?” Christopher asked. I laughed quietly to myself then explained, “I changed the way I addressed him because I need to sever my connection to him in order to grow, plus he was never really fit for the title of my grandfather”.

    I realized that Lou was more of a teacher than a relative to me a long time ago but, I decided to ignore it since I wanted some kind of family. Now I think that the only family I need is Hope, so since she is safe this may be the best time to use the confusion to take Lou’s position and use his power for my own objectives. “What do you want to do?” Christopher asked me, I hesitated but decided to tell him “I am going to use this to my advantage and take Lou and his enemies down a few levels.” “How do you plan to do that?” Christopher asked me with a smile, I sat up, opened my notebook, and explained, “I am going to fake my own disappearance, this will throw off Lou’s enemies who I am sure had nothing planned for me. With that I am sure their movements would change a bit and that’s where I will need you to help.” “What would I have to do?” Christopher asked ready to help, I was a little happy and explained, “All you have to do is watch for the changes in Lou’s workers, they should be obvious for you to see and report them back to me.” “So I’ll be acting as you spy,” Christopher said getting up, “if you’re going to go through with this then there’re a few things you should know,” he explained as he grabbed a gun. I was starting to get nerves and it only got worse as Christopher shot a hole through his own hand, but when I saw the wound heal, I became very irritated. “You see, I am somewhat immortal and the same goes for Lou,” Christopher explained putting to gun down.

    “I am not amused” I said gripping my notebook in anger “there is no reason for such extreme demonstrations, all you had to say was that you were immortal and I would have believed you.” I continued as I realized that somehow I already knew about his and Lou’s immortality. “Sorry, I thought you wouldn’t believe me unless I showed you” Christopher explained sincerely “you are taking this better than I thought.” he continued as if he was about to reveal more shocking news. I took a deep breath to relaxed and said “To be honest, I am having a mental overload but I have conditioned myself to keep my wits about me.” “You are very mature for your age, I am surprised at how prepared you are” Christopher said in an impressed tone.

     I have been planning to take Lou’s power for years so it’s only natural that I am prepared for anything, even though I laughed at myself for a few of the scenarios I made, but it looks like the most ridiculous ones will prove to be the most useful. “Christopher, I need you to be ready to give me your full support.” I said standing up to shake his hand. Christopher shook my hand back and said, “You can put your faith in me, I will do my best”. I never really believed in relaying so much on someone but as I stood there shaking Christopher’s hand I felt that I could trust him even better than I could ever trust myself.