Game of Dice and Dominos (Domino Series #1)

"I'm telling you, it's him!"

"How can you be so sure?"

"I am! Send in some blood samples, then, if you don't believe me."

"Dammit, Zee, you never think things through!"

"Oh blah blah! So what? We found one of the heirs, one more to go!"

Timo heard the bickering of two voices -- male and female. He wakes up in what feels like an old warehouse. Everything is dark, and the only source of light is the moon shining from a small, cracked window high on the wall behind him. Timo squints, hoping to see better in the darkness enveloping him, but with no luck. He see two shadows -- no, silhouettes -- sitting in front of him.

One of the shadows -- the girl called Zee -- walked closer towards him, but kept a fair distance from coming into the light.

"Oh look," the shadow in front of him says, "he's finally awake."

Timo pulls his arms over to tackle her and make her show her face, but it only strains his wrists. He finds his arms tied to the armrests. He try to pull himself loose, but the binds are too tight. His torso is covered with layers of rope tying him to a metal chair. His ankles are also roped completely against both of the front chair legs.

He twists his wrists in hopes of loosening the ropes, but they are tied tight. There's no point in struggling out of these binds, but he figured that it's even more futile to demand captors to release him.

"There's no escaping, so don't waste your energy." The girl called Zee scoffs.

Timo clenches his fists and pulls harder. He feels the friction burning callouses on his skin as it rubs against his arm while he struggles. Sweat trickles down his forehead and his temples. He grinds his teeth as he tries to sort out his options. The penetrating smell of drenched wood and rusty metal is confining. It annoys him how the tables have turned.

I have become the prisoners of my prey. The thought made him let out a mirthless laugh.

"Ugh," The other shadow - the boy - groans, "I told you, we're wasting our time on him. We've completed our task, let's just go home."

"Aww come on, Darcy," The girl whines sarcastically, "Don't you wanna see how a little bear cub growls?"

"Would ya stop calling me that!?" The boy - called Darcy - complains.

Are they talking about me?

"I am not an animal now let me out of here so I can give you a piece of my mind you crooks!" Timo rebukes. His blood is boiling for these people and he is itching to see them in their cells.

If only I could get out of these binds.

"Not animals? Aren't we all?" The girl scoffs again. She's starting to really get on my nerves.

"Stop playing games with me you vandal!" Timo snarled as he continued to, aimlessly, squirm out of the ropes.

The girl's boots echo around the room as she saunters around the circle of light that shines like a spotlight above him. Timo wriggles to twist his chair, struggling to follow her steps, the chair's feet stomping on the wooden floors.

"Tell me," She taunts as he proceeds to squirm and writhe. "Do you really not know who you are?"

"Oh I know exactly who I am, and I know exactly what I'm gonna do when I break free of this chair!" He retorts through grinding teeth, his jaws bulging. "Now come into the light, where I can see your disgusting faces!"

Silence engulfs the room. Timo had almost believed that the shadows before him were merely shadows and not silhouettes of actual people until the floor creaked. He heard an owl hooting outside nearby. We must be in the middle of the forest. He thought. The girl shifted her weight to her left leg then spoke, breaking the silence.

"Very well." She declared, folding her arms. She kicks her right heel on the floor.

Slowly, she steps forward, letting the light in this small circle slowly envelope her and then shine on her completely. At that moment, Timo knew he stood corrected.

His eyes could not believe what they were seeing. It's like the light in the room doubled instantly. The girl's brown hair is a hue close to being red, the light glimmering on it makes it look like dark, fiery, magma. Her brown eyes gleam in a color like fire and water clashing together, almost golden like an amber--

Focus. He scolds himself.

Focus. Focus. Focus. He repeats over and over like a mantra for the second time. He can't let this girl's looks get the best of him. He needs to keep his head. He has to find a way to escape this place somehow. His stomach feels warm and he can feel it growling at him for not feeding it. Right. He remembered that the last thing he ate today was a bite out of a few pancakes at the coffee shop with Joe.

Joe. If only he was here, he'd know what to do.

His throat feels like a desert -- coarse and dry. He gasps for air, fortunately the air is humid tonight and the smell of damp wood indicates rainfall earlier while he was passed out. He frantically looks around for any materials he could use for his escape, but the darkness outside this small circle of light proved to be treacherous.

"If you're trying to look for a way out of here," The girl chuckled. "Trust me, it's pointless."

Timo takes a deep breath. He needs to stand his ground to somehow show these people who's boss. It's embarrassing enough that he's the one tied to a chair. He needs to gather his thoughts. Timo takes another deep breath and--

"Who are you people?" He demands with every ounce of determination he could muster.

"That's none of your business." The girl retorts with a mocking smile. "See, you're in no position to question us," she lowers her body just enough that her face is levelled with his,

"'Coz we're not the ones tied to a chair." Boop. She taps his nose as if he were a child. She sneers and stands straight back up.

"Why don't you untie these knots and I'll show you who you're messing with." Timo commands. Although, he is starting to give up on the fact that these thugs would have any decency to let him go.

"Why bother keeping me here anyway?" He exclaims. "You won't get any ransom money from me, newsflash, I'm an orphan."

"Yeah, no." The girl rolls her eyes and her playful eyes fade into a serious glare. "We're prepared to offer you a deal--"

"As if I'm going to make a deal with you criminals!" Timo cuts in. They're playing mind games with him and he's not about to give in. But all his senses backfired when the girl uttered a name that sent a pang straight to his chest.

"Jeremiah and Naomi. You know them, right?" The girl spills out so casually it makes his skin curdle.

"Mommy, why do you and daddy have to go?"

"Daddy and mommy have to go to work, sweetie."

"How dare you speak of them! How do you even know them?!" Timo snarls. His eyes burn as he glares at the girl in front of him, his nostrils might as well puff out smoke.

Red. Everything is screaming rage and chaos. The deafening sirens, I could drown out but not the sight of the--

"Ahh so you do know them?"

"Know them?!" Timo scoffs. He spews every bit of disgust at her through his throat. "I was their son!--"

"They had no son!" She silences him with those words.

She's lying. A part of him says, but another part of him screams that she's telling the truth. But how could he trust her? She doesn't know anything about him, that's impossible!

Or does she?

The smell of damp wood is slowly replaced by the smell of smoke. His lungs feel heavy. He's already panting yet he still couldn't breathe.

The smoke was getting bigger... BOOM!

"One of the gas tanks exploded!" One of the firefighters said. A few more run into the scene carrying a larger hose. More trucks are coming and the sirens are getting louder.

"Kid, it's best if you step aside."

Red. Red. All he could see was red. His eyes were dry from the smoke and some particles flew into his eyes but he didn't care.

He couldn't look away. He was petrified.

"Timothy! Timothy!" Sister Madeleine calls for me to set the table. Lunch is served again at the orphanage. But her voice sounds much ... younger?

"Timothy. Timothy!" The voice yells again.

"Timothy! Are you okay?" It was the girl. How did she know my name?

"H-huwer thay," He mumbles, out of breath. He looks up and sees the girl's expression shift from concern to blankness.

"What?"

"Who were they?" Timo repeated, slowly. His voice is shaking.

"They were close friends with your father. He asked them if they could take care of you and they agreed with open arms." Her expression was unreadable as she narrated what happened.

Timo stayed silent, not really knowing how to react or what to feel.

"Jeremiah and Naomi loved you as if you were their own." She pauses then sighs. "But sadly they were struck by a horrible accident--" She pauses then opens her mouth to say the next words but he cuts her off knowing exactly what she was about to say.

"A fire." Timo says in a dark voice.

A scream. He is immediately transported to that scene, the suffocating air too dry to let out tears.

He is back at the warehouse when he notices hot tears rolling down his cheeks. They were making up for that day when they were not able to roll down the eyes of the eight year old Timo..

She watches him for a few moments then nods. "Yeah." Then she looks away.

He had almost imagined her expression shift back to concern and maybe something else... Sympathy? Pity?

But he couldn't care less. The last thing he needed was these strangers' sympathy. He wills himself to pull himself together. He can't let his emotions get the best of me. He still can't trust anything she says.

"Still don't believe me? Huh?" Zee cocks her head on one side then speaks. "Okay then, what's your name?"

Timo eyed the girl, contemplating whether or not to give his name. They already knew his parents' names, it wouldn't hurt if they knew his, would it? They might even know his name already, so why bother asking? Timo glowered at her, not saying a word. When the girl thought that enough time passed, she rolled her eyes and spoke again.

"Timothy Carter's your name, right?" The girl uttered nonchalantly. He was flabbergasted. "That's what you think you know. Your real name is Timothy Apollo Truscott. You're one of the missing heirs. Well, you're the found one out of the two. The other one is the Everlune heiress," Zee said those last words slowly as if she were drilling them in his head. 

"Just because you know my parents and you claim to know my real name doesn't prove your story's credibility," Timo says, steely. The girl let out a sound that resembled a growl. She opens her mouth to argue but the boy chimes in.

"All right, all right." Finally, the boy, called Darcy, decided to speak. "Enough of this."

He stands up and walks into the light -- towards Timo.

"Hey! What are you--" Timo resisted. He grabs his hand and twists it palm-side up. Timo's arm burns from the friction and he can't help but let out a yelp.

"Look," The boy says, firmly, his grip is strong. "birthmarks on your palm."

He points the pigmented patch of skin outlining the border between his palm and his fingers. He also points out the little patches of pigment at the middle area of his fingers between the two lines of the joints.

"So what?" Timo derides. He clenches his palms shut and the boy retracts his hand immediately. "Those are birthmarks. I was born with them. That doesn't prove anything." Timo says dismissively.

"You weren't born with those. The patterns on both of your hands are identical. It's clearly artificial." The boy argues. Timo looks over at his other hand and as much as he'd hate to admit it but he's right. The pattern is identical.

"Those birthmarks mean you are from one of the royal families." The boy continues, a dark expression painted on his face.

"The Truscott clan to be exact." The girl adds. Her expression remains blank. "You are Truscott's lost heir and we plan to bring you back."

Timo is at a loss for words.

"Now," The boy speaks again with a darker and more intimidating tone.

"You ready to hear that deal?"

🍁🍁🍁

Boy that chapter was long. Phew! (2008 words).

Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know if you did by voting 😊.

Also, what did you think of the reveal of Timo's identity 😉😉.
Let me know your thoughts by commenting!

Thanks and I hope you enjoyed your time here!! See you soon!!

Update: No, it's not, me from the past, it was a short chapter compared to the other ones XD.

-axeli 💞