I Will Love You Forever Pt. 2 Ch. 12

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kalamazoo707
kalamazoo707
1,662 Followers

"Why were you talking to them then?" Andrew demanded.

Ernie had just learned something else about Andrew. There were only two sides, his and theirs and there were no areas of gray. He was angry that he was afraid of Andrew. So what if he was friends with Kenji and Joel?

"I'm not friends with them... but I would like to be." Ernie said. "I don't know if you noticed, but they're two of the few that seemed to understand what was going on in class and I asked them for help."

Ernie blanched at the look of total disgust and anger that Andrew gave him. Part of him wished that he hadn't said anything, but the other part of him was glad that he did.

"You might want to be careful of who your friends are." Andrew said with a cool smile.

Ernie's pulse sped up at the barely concealed threat.

He hurried away not looking back. He could feel Andrew staring after him and knew that Andrew wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

********

Peter hoped that Kenji and Joel did as Trevor told them and went home. It had been a close call. Had he been a couple of minutes later, someone would have been either hurt or dead. He wasn't sure that he would have been able to prevent a second confrontation.

He was shocked and then worried when Kenji and Joel were still in the building. He recognized the student that they were talking to as someone from class and wondered what he wanted. According to both Kenji and Joel, no one in class spoke to them out of fear of Andrew.

As they approached the trio, Peter willed Kenji and Joel to leave and stole a look around for Trevor. He saw him just inside the doorway of another room and breathed a sigh of relief. To his further relief, Kenji and Joel left before he and Andrew could reach them.

Peter braced himself for another possible confrontation, but relaxed when he saw that Andrew only wanted to intimidate the student. However, he didn't miss the threat. He could see that the student hadn't missed it either.

It had become even more imperative that Andrew be stopped. He wasn't going to stop with Kenji and Joel. Peter cursed under his breath.

"What was that?" Andrew asked.

"Nothing, I was just complaining." Peter replied. "Let's get to class."

*******

The drive home was quiet. Each man was lost in his own thoughts. Kenji was thinking about the pure hatred and evil that he saw in Andrew. It had unnerved him more than he let on. The only other person that he ever saw with that much hatred in his eyes was his father. Like Andrew, his father had been driven to kill. Just thinking about what his father and Joben wanted to do to Patricia was enough to make his stomach churn.

Suddenly, all he wanted to do was go home to Patricia and the children and hug and kiss them. At that moment, he could have cared less about school and their future plans. He pressed down on the accelerator of the car and then immediately slowed down.

Kenji took several deep, calming breaths. The urgency to get home was still there, but the desire to finish school and provide for his family had returned. He looked over at Joel who was looking at him.

"Are you alright?" Joel asked.

"I'm fine." Kenji replied. "I was just thinking about my father. He was the last person that I saw with such hatred in him."

Joel was silent for several seconds.

"I don't know if I could have forgiven him." Joel said softly. "He was in on the plan to kill Patricia and then got your mother arrested as a spy."

"It wasn't easy." Kenji conceded. "Patricia forgave him long before I did. Today just reminded me of how all-consuming hatred could be. I had harbored some hope that I would be able to reason with Andrew, but it has gone too far for that."

"Will you kill him?" Joel asked.

"If I must." Kenji replied. "What are you thinking?"

"Definitely not about forgiveness." Joel replied. "I wish that someone would find him dead in his bed or something. And before you say it, I know; hate is a wasted emotion. But damn Kenji, our lives have been disrupted enough by that jerk."

Kenji didn't reply because there were times that he wished that Andrew would just disappear. Not on a permanent basis, but that he were just anywhere else but here.

"I understand." Kenji said but didn't elaborate.

Seeing that Kenji was going to say no more on the subject, Joel brought up a new one.

"Are we really going to help that guy?"

"Yes." Kenji said quietly. "He took a risk in coming to us."

"But he could be helping Andrew!" Joel protested.

"I don't believe that to be true." Kenji replied.

"Why not?" Joel retorted. "That bastard was one of the ones who broke my hand and laughed while they did it."

"You don't have to help him." Kenji replied.

"You still haven't told me why you think he's not helping Andrew." Joel said.

"He had two things in his eyes that Andrew Kelly doesn't have." Kenji said. "Humanity and the same fear that you had when we first met."

"But that doesn't mean anything." Joel argued. "He could still be working with Andrew."

"You are right." Kenji conceded. "There is that possibility. I suspect that one of the agents will investigate. Both of them saw us talking to him."

"Alright then, I'll make a deal with you." Joel said. "We don't go near him until they clear him."

Kenji hesitated and then nodded. He sincerely hoped that everything would be over by tomorrow.

******

"Are they alright?" Nick asked Trevor.

"They're fine, I sent them home." He replied.

"Do you really think that Kelly is stupid enough to carry a gun to school?" Nick asked.

"I believe that he is." Trevor replied. "I agree with Peter, this kid is nuts. I have a question, what do you know about his group?"

"Only that it consists of men from his class and that it's a relatively small group. The kid that was killed was a part of that group. Why?"

"Kenji and Joel were talking to a student from the class." Trevor said. "But according to Peter, the other students stayed away from them because of Kelly."

"Do you know his name?" Nick asked.

"Ernie something. I tried to intercept him, but I was more concerned about Peter and Kelly. The kid wasn't carrying and he was as scared as hell, but I want to be sure."

"Do you have another class with him?" Nick asked.

"Yes, I'll buddy up to him and keep you posted." Trevor said as he stood up. "Do you know when Charles is getting back?"

"He said sometime this afternoon. I'll fill him in."

Nick stopped Trevor when he got to the door.

"You guys watch your backs. This kid is dangerous and for god's sake, don't go to any meetings with him and his bunch. For all we know, he's armed them too."

"Understood." Trevor said as he closed the door behind him.

Nick looked at the closed door for several minutes. He paged his secretary, informed her that he was going to be out for the rest of the day and then headed to Charles' office. It occurred to him that he was there almost more than he was his own office and wondered what that meant.

*******

"Papa's home!" Ralph squealed and ran toward the garage.

"It's too early." Patricia replied. She hadn't been watching and listening to the passing vehicles as closely as Ralph had.

"He's home!" Ralph yelled again.

Now Patricia heard the familiar sound of the car as it pulled into the driveway and into the garage. Her first reaction was relief, the second was anxiety. Something must have happened that they were home early.

"Penny!" she called up the stairs. "They're home!"

She could hear Penny as she ran across the room and down the stairs.

As much as Patricia wanted to run to Kenji to greet him, she waited. She was aware of just how worried and frightened Ralph was. He needed reassurance more than she did. She heard the sound of books being dropped on the kitchen table and Joel rushing through the kitchen.

Penny met him halfway across the large living room and threw herself in his arms crying with relief. Patricia moved to the doorway of the kitchen and watched Ralph and Kenji talk.

Kenji was hugging Ralph so tightly that the little boy squirmed, but he was hugging Kenji as hard as he could. Kenji looked up and saw Patricia watching them and smiled at her.

"Where is pretty one?" he asked.

"She's taking a nap." Patricia replied.

She wanted to know why they were home early, but didn't ask. She wasn't sure that she wanted to know.

"Ralph, go pick out a book and I will read with you, I'll join you in a few minutes."

As soon as they were alone, Kenji hugged Patricia so tight that it bordered on pain.

"Kenji what happened?" Patricia asked hugging him back.

Kenji didn't reply but kissed her.

"I am just happy to be home." He told her. "We'll talk later."

He kissed her again and went to find Ralph.

********

Ralph picked out his favorite book 'The little engine that could' and waited for Kenji to find him. The book was below his reading level, but it was the first story that he remembered Kenji reading to him. As he waited, his little mind tried to understand why anyone would want to hurt his father.

He frowned as a thought formed in his brain. If they hated his papa because he was Japanese, and they hated his mama because she was black; then they would hate him and Marie too. A tear ran down his cheek as he tried to understand the concept of hate.

"Ralph?" Kenji called softly. "Why are you crying?"

"Papa, I don't understand."

Kenji sat on the floor beside Ralph and pulled him into his lap.

"What is it that you don't understand?" he asked.

"Why do people hate?"

"People hate for many reasons." Kenji replied. "Sometimes they are just afraid. Sometimes they are taught to hate by their family, but sometimes; they don't know themselves."

"Does the man who hates you know why?" Ralph asked.

"He thinks he does." Kenji replied. "His father fought in the war against Japan. During the fight, he was hurt and lost one of his legs. His son, the man who hates me; feels that this is my fault even though I wasn't there. I represent all Japanese to him. He feels that if he hurts me, then he hurts the Japanese that hurt his father."

Ralph gave Kenji a thoughtful look.

"Grandpa Hiroshi hated mama didn't he?"

The question surprised Kenji. Ralph had always been a little reticent around his grandfather, but it had gotten much better as Hiroshi's feelings toward Patricia changed.

"At one time that was true." Kenji replied. "But he has changed. Someday when you are much older, I will tell you that story."

"Can the man who hates you change?" Ralph asked.

"That is a hard question to answer." Kenji said. "Only he can answer that."

"Papa? Do people hate me and Marie too?"

"Niko." Kenji said unconsciously switching to the shortened version of his Japanese name. "There will always be people who hate. They are a part of life, but there will also always be people who love to balance those who hate.

You must always remember those who love you. Your mother, me, Marie, Grandpa Nick, all of us but it is also important that we do not spread the hatred. Do you understand?"

"Do you hate the man who wants to hurt you?"

"No, I don't hate him, but I will do what I must to keep all of you safe."

Kenji waited for Ralph to respond. When none was forthcoming, he began to read to him.

*******

Andrew relished the fear that he saw in Ernie's eyes. He knew exactly why Ernie was talking to Kenji. He wanted help with the class.

"Hey Pete, did you understand that crap from class?"

"Sure... I can help you if you want." Peter replied.

"That would be great, can you stay after dinner?"

"Sure, I have no place to be." Peter said.

They made it to the next class early. Andrew looked around clearly looking for Kenji and Joel. He saw Ernie sitting on the other side of the room trying not to look at him.

"Chickenshit." Andrew grumbled even as he smiled at Ernie.

Peter watched Andrew out of the corner of his eye noting the location of the bag.

"Damn" he muttered when he saw it on the desk. He had been hoping that Andrew would put it under his seat.

He saw Trevor sitting a few seats to the right and behind him. He had a good view of Andrew and his bag from that vantage point. They needed to talk before the day was over; the issue was doing it without raising suspicion.

"Oh, hey; here's my address." Andrew said suddenly. "I wrote it down for you."

"I was going to ask about that." Peter replied looking at the address.

"Nice area." He commented.

"It's alright." Andrew said. "But have you seen some of the houses that the Japs live in? They come over here, bomb us and they're living better than people who belong here."

"It isn't right." Peter commiserated.

He breathed a sigh of relief when class started. He wasn't sure of how much more of Andrew's racist rhetoric he could take.

Under the guise of taking notes, Peter wrote Andrew's address on a piece of paper. Pretending to be frustrated, he ripped the paper out of the notebook and stuffed it in his pocket. When they left class, he would drop it on the floor next to Trevor's row.

He turned around to glance behind him and caught Trevor's eye. When he turned around, Andrew was looking at him.

*******

"Are you going to let Ty know when you have the baby?" Susan asked Becca while they were having lunch.

That was the question that Becca had been asking herself ever since Ty had been arrested. Part of her wanted to do the fair thing and tell him, but part of her wanted to shield her baby from the ugliness that was his or her father.

"I don't know yet." Becca replied. "What would you do?"

Susan shrugged.

"I would probably not tell him, but that's me."

"All Ty talked about was having a son, another little soldier for the cause." Becca said. "I don't want my baby to be a soldier in a cause like that. Susan, I was so stupid... some of the things I've said and done to people who did nothing to me. Everything that's happened to me is my fault. I knew Andrew was wrong but I supported him only because I thought I loved him."

"The important thing is that you know that you were wrong." Susan replied patting Becca's arm.

"You're right... hey, was your grandmother really going to shoot Ty?"

"Oh yes and she wouldn't have missed." Susan replied.

"Becca, have you decided what you're going to do? You were half done with school when you went south."

"For now I'll concentrate on the baby and my parents will help me with that. Any grand plans that I had are on hold until the baby is old enough to go to school."

"Why couldn't you take a class a semester or something? I'm sure that your parents would help you with the baby. I could even help. What do you think?"

"I think," Becca said stretching, "that I need to have the baby first and then we'll see."

The truth was, Becca hadn't really thought beyond having the baby. She was thankful that her parents hadn't kicked her out when she told them the rest of what she had done. She wasn't about to ask them to help her with the baby so that she could go back to school. She knew that if she asked, they would help her, but it was time for her to start thinking like an adult. She was responsible for her baby and it was up to her to figure things out. Her parents had already helped her more than she deserved.

"Well, think about it." Susan said. "What are you going to do with the house?"

"Mom and dad want me to stay here so I guess I'll rent it out for a while. "

Becca hesitated for a moment.

"Thank you for being a better friend to me than I ever was to you."

"You're welcome, now; what names are you thinking about?"

********

Harlan's stomach growled noisily. The scent of the apple pie made his mouth water, but Eleanor had been firm in that he couldn't have a piece until dessert. To compound the gnawing in his stomach, the odor of meatloaf mixed in with the smell of the pie and baked corn...

He tried to distract himself by reading the paper. There was an update or lack of an update on the murder of Milton Vaughn. There were no suspects and no one had been arrested as of yet. The article made Harlan think about Andrew.

His response to the death of someone that he knew was... off. He acted surprised, but he didn't really seem to be. There had been no real concern or grieving.

A bad feeling replaced the hunger in Harlan's stomach. His one and only child was .....

He couldn't complete the thought. Andrew wouldn't... why would he? He knew the boy. Still Harlan couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong with Andrew.

His father, Andrew's grandfather; used to tell him that one could tell what a man was like by looking into his eyes. Harlan had looked into many eyes, especially during the war. Some of the eyes had death in them, some fear, some hatred and some of them... some of them had nothing.

The owners of the empty eyes laughed, talked and joked like everyone else; but the laughter never reached their eyes.

Like Andrew.

Suddenly, he had a need to see the gun that he had given Andrew when he came back from the war.

Harlan sat frozen in his chair undecided about what he should do. If he went into Andrew's room and went through his things, it would be a breach of privacy. The best thing to do, he decided was to ask to see the gun.

He didn't know what he would do if Andrew didn't have it, but why wouldn't he? Harlan turned his attention back to the newspaper trying to convince himself that he was wrong about his son.

********

After class was over, Peter stood up and picked up his books. This was the last class of the day and the last chance that he would have to communicate with Trevor. He had already decided that he was going to stick to Andrew like glue. He reached into his pocket and felt for the crumbled piece of paper and changed plans.

He took out a piece of gum and lazily chewed it. After a minute or two, he took the crumpled paper out of his pocket and spit the piece of gum into it.

"That didn't last long." Andrew said.

"I just like to chew the sugar out." Peter replied with a smile. "You ready to go?"

As they walked out, Peter threw the paper toward the trash can without looking to see if it had gone in or not.

"We've got some time if you want to study for that class." Peter said.

"Oh... I have some place to be." Andrew said. "I'll see you at the house."

"Suit yourself." Peter replied nonchalantly, "but I heard that Dr. Wallis likes pop quizzes and that they're as bad as his exams."

That stopped Andrew in his tracks. Indecision flitted across his mind. He was hoping to get a little target practice in before dinner.

"Let's go." He said after several seconds. He could always go before class in the morning.

Peter whispered silent thanks and followed Andrew to the library.

********

Trevor waited until the room emptied to retrieve the piece of paper that lay outside of the trashcan. He quickly stuck in his pocket and hurried after Ernie.

"Hey wait up!" he called.

It took three calls before Ernie realized that someone was trying to get his attention. He stopped, turned around and waited for Trevor to catch up with him.

"Hey, you were in the first class with me." Trevor said.

"Yes and?" Ernie asked.

"I don't know about you, but that shit made absolutely no sense to me. I looked around the room and it looked like everyone else was confused as I was. I was thinking about finding a study partner."

Ernie laughed.

"I'm probably more lost than you are. But not everyone in the class is lost. Do you know who Kenji Takeda is?" Ernie asked.

"The tall Jap?" Trevor asked testing the waters.

"Japanese." Ernie corrected, "But yes, him."

"What about him?" Trevor asked.

"He's at the top of the class and his friend Joel isn't far behind. But anyway, if you need help; those are the guys to go to. I asked them for help myself. We're meeting tomorrow during lunch if you want to come. You can ask them if you can join in."

kalamazoo707
kalamazoo707
1,662 Followers