The only Hope

Hope’s pov:

I opened my eyes.

After I had flapped that out last night, I heard them talk about me for several minutes. The guy with the afro calling me damaged goods. The red haired guy getting pissed and then apologizing, saying how he would talk to me today.

Damaged goods.

So I was ‘goods’ here too, as with Korse. I was nothing more. The longer I thought about it, the more I wanted to leave this place. ‘No survivors’, the redhead having to take a huge risk bringing me here, and again: ‘damaged goods’. I was definitely not wanted here and they had made that very clear to me. Today I was going to leave.

I was up, even before the redhead and shortstuff walked in.

“Get up, we’re gonna start with names.” Well good fucking morning to you too. I sat up in my bed. This time it went better than the last time I tried. The redhead did not look so well. He was pale and I could tell from his eyes he hadn’t had much sleep last night.

“My name is Party Poison, this is Fun Ghoul. The guy with the fro is Jet Star and the blonde kid with the sunglasses is my brother, Kobra Kid. Now, what’s yours?”

I was confused by the names he had given me. “What?”

“What is it?” Redhead, or ‘Party Poison’, did not look very happy now.

“Your names. They are not normal names.”

“I know, they are our Killjoy names. Problem?” He sneered at me.

And then it hit me. These guys are Killjoys? These, sorry, amateurs? Well, if he can sneer I can do it as well.

“You call yourselves Killjoys?” I grinned. It was my turn now.

“Yes. Do you have a problem with that?” Poison was getting more annoyed with the second.

“Oh no, it’s just that you came screaming at me, although I had your gun and I could’ve shot you. The blonde dude hates my guts because I was about to shoot his brother. And then you dare call me damaged goods, like I’m some sort of product you can just bring home, but then throw away. Just… Very professional.”

There, that will teach them.

“Well, I’m sorry you think about it that way.” Poison clenched his jaws.

“Okaaay, so… Can you tell us your name?” Fun Ghoul interrupted our staring contest.

I hesitated, but I decided to tell them the truth. “Hope.”

“Hope… Just Hope?” Poison clearly wasn’t satisfied with my answer.

“Yes, just Hope.” I narrowed my eyes.

“Uhm, okay.” Ghoul again. “Lovely name, but you’re not a Killjoy?”

“No, I’m not.” There was more, but I felt like they did not deserve to know. At least Poison didn’t.

“Oh, okay… Well, your fighting was really good. Could you explain that then?” Ghoul tried to save the last of our failing conversation, but Poison had ruined it. He was staring at me as if I was a spy, a traitor. His entire attitude had changed since yesterday. It couldn’t only be the lack of sleep, could it?

“I don’t want to have this conversation right now.” I turned away.

Poison got a little upset. “Why the fuck not then?”

“Because you’re acting like your beloved brother did yesterday!” I sneered.

I could see Poison counting to ten. He then reacted to my sneer. I was surprised.

“Fine, we’ll have this conversation later. Right now we need to take a look at your wounds.” He walked over to me. My body reacted by suddenly moving itself, far away from him.

“What are you doing?” Poison got angry with me now. “We’re doing this for your sake, okay? What did I tell you about being a bit more grateful!?”

I started to pant again. Ghoul noticed. “Gerard, please…”

That must be his real name. Before I could even look at him again, he stormed out of the room, leaving Ghoul and me in confusion.

“He’ll be back, but cut him some slack. He’s had a rough night. His brother is still mad at him, he doesn’t know what to do with you… And I mean that in the nicest way possible, he wants to protect you.”

“Protect me?” Ghoul came closer now.

“Yes, but don’t tell him I said that. He uhm… He thinks that there’s a reason why you were at that place we found you, why Korse kept you there…”

I shivered hearing his name, then I spoke softly. “So… That’s what he’s already figured out, huh?”

Ghoul looked up from my arm he was examining. “Oh, you gonna tell me he is right?”

“I… I don’t really wanna talk about it.” Ghoul understood and continued.

“Ghoul, can I ask you something?” I decided to break the awkward silence we were in.

“Well you just did, sweetcheeks!” He said without looking directly at me. I smiled.

“No, I mean… Why are you so nice to me? Or do you still feel guilty about knocking me out?” I grinned and Ghoul looked up now. He threw his head back and sighed.

“Uhm, there are three reasons. One being that I indeed feel guilty. The other being that we have to live under the same roof together, so why not get to know you? And the third… Well, I have to touch you and come close to you in order to clean up your wounds and stuff, so I just want you to be comfortable with me I guess.” He continued investigating my other arm and legs.

“You’ve got a point there, about living with each other. Why aren’t the others more like you then?” I stared at the ceiling.

“I don’t know. Well, I do and part of it is what I just told you. About Poison, remember? He’s in a shitty situation right now… As for Kobra Kid, he almost saw his brother getting shot. Jet does not really seem to care, although you actually scared the shit out of him. Same with all the others I think.”

I started laughing. “What? I scared the crap out of four grown men, who call themselves Killjoys?”

“You actually did, believe me. But there is something else you should know, I think…” Ghoul stopped what he was doing.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, you are not actually the first person we rescued.” Ghoul gulped. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, I’m sorry.”

“No, you were about to tell me something.” I sat up.

“It turned out Korse personally came back for her and killed her right in front of us.”

I stared down at Ghoul. He had buried his face in his hands. “So that’s what Gerard meant with ‘taking a huge risk’?” I asked and Ghoul’s eyes widened.

“How do you know his name?”

“You called him that earlier, just like he did with Mikey yesterday.” I looked away. Am I not supposed to know their names or something?

Ghoul reseated. “Just don’t call him that yet, okay? Our names are quite personal information and if Korse finds out…”

“I understand, don’t worry.” I smiled down at him.

Ghoul stood up. “As for the story, you should ask Poison about that… It’s his and Kobra’s story. But he will only tell you if he trusts you enough.” He walked out of the room, but then came back.

“I get that…” I placed my legs next to the bed.

“Well, your wounds our fine, but you need to shower and clean yourself. Otherwise they won’t be fine…” Ghoul got me a towel and underwear and handed it to me. “You think you can handle that?”

“Yeah, sure. Thanks. But Ghoul… Could you tell me your real name as well?” Ghoul made his way to the door, but then turned around one last time.

“Yeah, it’s Frank.” He smiled and left the room.

Notes