x
463Please respect copyright.PENANAv1eZo21EaK
463Please respect copyright.PENANAo05mttuLdF
I had to blink a couple of times to ensure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me.
I gawped at the opening. "You see that too, right?"
463Please respect copyright.PENANA9jRZJChmZY
"If I say yes, will you close your mouth?"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAWgKF99Hfmr
I solemnly nodded.
463Please respect copyright.PENANACrhUPlRdps
"Then, yes."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAD0nMBphUcl
My mouth opened wider.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAezPQdU0bKX
No tricks were played. We had reached the end of the forest – we had actually, finally, reached the end of the forest!
And it screamed liberation from hours upon hours of boredom. No more counting trees. No more guessing what time it was. Oh, what sweet joy it was!
463Please respect copyright.PENANAzDOQV3E6RB
Wasting no time, I charged towards it, at last exiting that wretched forest. The entrance to the forest was actually a park that stretched a fair distance into the town. But one element I admired most about the park was that it had man-made pavements – as well as other man-made objects such as the occasional trash cans and benches. But, the special thing about pavements was that it beat the filthy, bacteria infested forest floor.
463Please respect copyright.PENANA41qikjHmuF
I took a deep breath. "Smell that? That's fresh air and freedom, that."
463Please respect copyright.PENANA1F5JrsnUDi
"I'm pretty sure the air was fresher in the forest," I heard Everest mutter, but even his frostiness couldn't breakthrough the bubble of joy that build itself around me.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAHs2PrI1uZw
So now we needed a new plan, and for the sake of my sanity, I hoped it would be easier than that uphill battle we pulled off back in the forest. This one needed to promise security, it had to prevent public residents from going "Hey, isn't that the girl with the cure to cancer?" It needed to deliver us to 87 Marshall Avenue, Canaby Street, London, namely Reynolds Corporation.
463Please respect copyright.PENANA7VpkhtffCO
Thankfully, I was a master in all things concerning improvisation.
463Please respect copyright.PENANA5EmMB5RiIS
"So, here's what we're going to do," I said at the same time as Everest did.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAY6FaoESQJO
After spending a moment frowning at each other, I decided to go ahead and continue.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAjBx7FbL2BU
"There's a nearby train station—"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAEbWB6J0ojt
We synced again.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAXTpnjybsh0
"We'll take the train to—" And again.
463Please respect copyright.PENANA0jNBA2wm30
"Bromley—" And again.
463Please respect copyright.PENANA43JXt6ueXa
"Stop."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAwIO0f5ZkzF
"You stop it!"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAK0Awr12NNz
He stopped.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAh4ZJmsR1JE
With that, I chose to continue once again.
463Please respect copyright.PENANATMyPCQHje4
"We will take the train to—" The fifth time we syncopated, I audibly groaned.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAHH7MezMnuU
"You know what," I marched back into the forest, – yes, I actually did that – thieving a stick from the floor, then walked back to him. "Whoever holds this, speaks!" I commanded, waving it in his face.
463Please respect copyright.PENANANuJEotMH0s
Glancing at the branch, he looked ready to retaliate the biased reality of it already being in my hand.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAEbZ0IhwGtv
"Yes, good. I have it," I interrupted, before he can speak any further. "Now, for the third time, we will take the train to Bromley, and from there we take one of those expensive trains to London—"
463Please respect copyright.PENANABGvRaI7PE9
"C2c trains."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAS7k8dzXXsx
"You are not holding the stick!"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAxlJdnA3CPK
He took it from my hand. "The c2c train will take us to Carnaby Street–"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAfrQcZdX7L2
I took it back. "And a short walk from Carnaby Street Station should—"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAcSx0oKcZrQ
"Leave us at the doorstep of Reynolds and Co." Everest completed.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAtAZdeeBghm
"I'm sorry, are you holding the stick?" I inquired. "No? Then, let me finish!"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAYN91k4CcPT
He seized it from my hand and threw it into a trash can about twelve metres away. The clank of wood against metal established dead accuracy.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAuQkg5TJwtC
I raised my eyebrows. "Cool... hey!"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAjSULsBxP1Z
"If you are quite done wasting time, the front reception of Reynolds Corporation closes at seven pm."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAqgfb1R2wu8
***
463Please respect copyright.PENANARSdAILu6oA
It was when we came out the park that I realised the gloomy colour of the sky. Usually, skies are associated with vast water coloured canvases – or something along those lines; all poetic and pretty. However, the sky right now didn't look so much like the water colour itself, rather like the murky water that's used to clean the brush.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAGb2lKC6iwo
"It's going to rain soon," Everest made it a point to inform me.
463Please respect copyright.PENANATrhY7hMzBK
"Is it?" I mocked. "Because judging by all the blue in the sky today, I was beginning to regret leaving my sunglasses behind."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAw4mh61pNKr
Just as I said it, it started to rain. But, the look he was giving me could have morphed the rain to snow. It was a when we were about a block away from the train station when I saw it. A department store! And I think it would be a safe bet to assume they sold clothes. Clothes! Normal clothes! Not the glittery mess I was doomed to wear for a week straight! Normal clothes that didn't need to be lifted off the ground for every step I took. Normal clothes that would let me walk at the same pace as Everest!
463Please respect copyright.PENANARTygN6LwJf
I just knew there and then, that my prayers had not gone to waste. Immediately, I started in the direction of the store.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAyXMFf8YCp7
"What are you doing?" Everest swiftly approached me, upon realising my own movements were in the opposite direction to his.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAxaxoFKl6gU
"I'm going in there," I announced, gesturing to the heaven incarnation of a building.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAfFo3MNWq0x
"Have you lost your limited brain cells? That place will be swarming with people. A new outfit is the least of your concerns."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAriWIKA7EwS
"You've lost your brain cells, if you think I'm going to take one more step with you and away from my freedom!"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAeNkHfsVB72
"What freedom?"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAQ0VNr53C2b
"From this dress, you apathetic block of granite."
463Please respect copyright.PENANALVVpfA5I4m
"You will just have to cope with it. You can't go in there."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAl1ihLJDmY4
"Of course I can! I've got two legs, haven't I?" I smiled through the glare he sent. "Well, see you in a bit!" I stepped away.
463Please respect copyright.PENANA5WeXOgfMk0
He caught ahold of my arm without turning. "202, you are not setting a foot in there."
463Please respect copyright.PENANA48gmoTbUBI
"Yeah? Watch me," I smirked, prancing away. However, my prancing was short lived, when his stone hard body abruptly halted in front of me. Once an obstacle, always an obstacle.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAZMhnnFlEhR
"If anyone recognises you in there –and believe me, by the looks of the headlines – they will, all of this will be for nothing."
463Please respect copyright.PENANA7HkfNxnS6t
"Keyword 'if''," I pointed out.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAmb1lF2WGmG
"Have you really travelled this far through that forest, to be caught for this? You are only walking closer to your death right now."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAup6im65KDR
I shrugged. "I mean, walking in this dress alone is killing me, so the way I see it, every step I take, regardless of where, is bringing me closer to my death." I half joked. Half. "Besides, if you think that dancing around London in a glitter coated dress won't draw attention, you've got another thought coming."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAQhUz2n2PGU
And so he did. Think, that is. He thought for another moment. After a third moment, dedicated just for the thinking, he spoke and stepped aside. "You have five minutes."
463Please respect copyright.PENANACsNnxFpbIq
Ah, I knew I'd through to him.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAPVWiR6zvrl
Just then, a flash of light attacked the sky, shortly followed by the sound of thunder. British weather.
463Please respect copyright.PENANASjMfEnJyLr
Upon entering the store, I immediately noticed the lack of customers in the building.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAwMRTkVE0Tj
"About 'swarming with people'! It's practically empty!" I emphasised. "And look, they have sunglasses! We definitely need those. If we're on an escapee, we need to look the part or it's just ridiculous."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAi3Y87SEeTu
"Get what you need, and get out," The mountain spoke.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAb7eAN1zgek
A thought pondered my mind. "Have you got money?"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAgCTxbP9Yiq
"No."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAfsxcXWte4k
"How are we going to pay, then?"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAthKTXd1SZB
"Get what you need and get out," he repeated.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAFydbLAzVHW
Oh.
463Please respect copyright.PENANA5bbbG8j2PS
Oh.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAsXJ6ifDLp1
I gasped. "That's stealing!"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAUCay8VF739
He gave me an empty look. "You have four minutes and thirty three seconds."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAXgBcGR0uuT
Convincing myself it was in need of an pure desperation, and that I'd return the money, I ran around, picking up a black hoodie, a t-shirt with pineapples on it – those were always nice, not particularly the way they taste, rather the way they look, highly aesthetic – and a pair of black jeans (Everest threatened to abandon me at the airport if I dared to pick out clothing that was brighter than navy blue on the colour spectrum. "Draws less attention," he said.)
463Please respect copyright.PENANAMArLI2I6Xa
"I'm done!" I sang the last word out.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAbplbmfli8v
He gave my clothing selection a cold look. "Pineapples?"
463Please respect copyright.PENANArMLTMJWtBE
"Yeah, and...?"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAkE5UTmcSZd
"Those are lighter than navy blue. Put them away."
463Please respect copyright.PENANArwHhi6wIr3
"You are not serious."
463Please respect copyright.PENANADfNrfHeLco
"I am."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAIdw0AY5FHO
"What did pineapples ever do to you?"
463Please respect copyright.PENANA4Lw5yMAnox
"Nothing to write home about. But, what they will do to you if you wear a t-shirt like that in public, might be.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAdSYfOlxNNN
"Don't you think you're being a tad dramatic? You can barely see the damn things anyway."
463Please respect copyright.PENANALsKLZUbVpc
"You have two minutes and nine seconds. Get something darker, or nothing."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAB99G6VjARg
Just then, a lone flash went off, followed by several more of the same flash. Either the weather had found its way inside the building, or someone just took several photographs of us.
463Please respect copyright.PENANARcWEtvZzZz
Turning around proved it to be the latter.
463Please respect copyright.PENANADm28ojeAOy
Everest moved in the direction of the flash, but I beat him to it. In a heartbeat, I pinned the cameraman — and judging by the size of his camera, it would be a safe bet to call him a paparazzi — to the wall, and effortlessly seized the camera from his hands as if stealing sweets from a child.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAQyUeTkRsO7
I could break it. But I don't know the troubles this man went to buy it.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAjrF9VvFqxP
"How much does your camera cost?"
463Please respect copyright.PENANA2S5iSQsmjv
"What are doing?" Everest interfered.
463Please respect copyright.PENANA3dFDRpENYB
"Shut up," Without breaking eye contact with the man, I repeated, "How much?"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAT2tPodnWhK
"T-three thousand pounds."
463Please respect copyright.PENANA3fImyRpFGU
Shoot! I can't break it!
463Please respect copyright.PENANAwQokRKEclL
"Damn, what is it, like 4k ultra HD or something?"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAskPkXNNlTU
"202!" Everests growl brought me to my senses.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAjF7YYiK3qW
I could always ask, or rather, threaten him to delete the photos, but from my pre-fame lessons with Amanda, I heard these guys had backup for the backup.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAFs90fxERNG
Looking at his precious camera, the pap looked ready to burst into tears, any second now.
463Please respect copyright.PENANA4Bwetbx1At
I couldn't! It was three thousand pounds of this man's money!
463Please respect copyright.PENANArCfy1Bf09G
But Emerald, it's also your life on line.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAYo1TBnWjJ3
Fair point...
463Please respect copyright.PENANAUt3UXVb4uQ
Suddenly, the camera was yanked out of my hands.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAjzQB95ixuC
"Everest!"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAEYLvkX6iv1
I realised my reaction was little too late, when I met his eyes. Eyes that promised destruction.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAA3xAIpKnVM
"No! No, please. Not the cam—" The paparazzi's pleas came to a halt, when in an instant, what once was his beloved camera, crushed into a fragmented mixture of glass and plastic under Everest's hand.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAsDiPyLkocq
Damn, that was brutal. I felt that in my heart. And it wasn't even mine. Gazing at the man, well, he looked as if it was his literal heart that had been crushed.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAWR7ymhDQfi
What flashed across his face the next moment, was pure fury. I didn't blame him, I'd be pissed off too if someone broke my three thousand pound camera. But frankly, he must have been suicidal if he was thinking to pick a fight with Everest.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAs05eR8NnqA
A green glister on my wrist captivated my attention. Amanda thought it would be all poetic for Emerald to be wearing emerald at the launch evening, hence she had a small emerald stone embedded into a bracelet and forcefully demanded that I should wear it.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAnmkkjkMrz6
Letting go of the man, I took swiftly took off the bracelet and tossed it to him. "Consider this as a debt paid." I leaned – threateningly – close to him. "But, if anyone hears about this, I will throw you off several cliffs."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAi0V4o3FtvI
Before we could attract anymore attention, quickly and slyly, we egressed out of the building, and I can shamefully admit, it was with the clothes.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAGLfSyV7b9q
"That was mean," I pointed out to Everest, as walked to the train station.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAusc5AquyMX
"If you want to be back at the Front that badly–"
463Please respect copyright.PENANAqA6PklGKK4
"You know that's not what I meant."
463Please respect copyright.PENANALESdzwuAhy
He stopped. "You and I have an empire size of a security team on our footsteps. You cannot afford to feel sorry for people, right now."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAvxAPouiwr9
Easy for you.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAk6AHg6hbff
"We need to change," I averted the conversation.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAJoK8i8Wsw5
He didn't say anything for a while, and then, "There are toilets in the train station."
463Please respect copyright.PENANAUwaL2a9FKm
Ew, I thought, but didn't say anything more.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAi47AfCW1Js
I soon came to realise why the store empty. All the people were in the train station. Ah, rush hour; the very spontaneous invention that kindly demonstrates how human civilisation can deteriorate in the space of... well, an hour, to be technical.
463Please respect copyright.PENANAYVzvul2zHm
____________________________________________________________________________
Author's note:
463Please respect copyright.PENANA0WtMsVPXwP
So, I'm sure Everest's gentle manner in this chapter has assuredly made him grow onto you.
463Please respect copyright.PENANA3UN4LVO6ce
Alright, enough with the rubbish sarcasm, what do you think of Emerald and Everest's criminal – but they can't really help it, because desperate times call for desperate measures, and besides, Emerald promised she'll pay them back – behaviour?
463Please respect copyright.PENANASrRQX5NjBp
Please like, comment, and share. Thank you!
463Please respect copyright.PENANAH86cseldeG
-Ruth
ns 172.70.131.174da2