04

MY MUSCLES GOT tired quick enough.

I was so out of breath that I suspected having an embolism or complete respiratory failure. The pain from all the strenuous running was catching up as the high wore off.

I placed my palms on my knees, panting hard.

The street in front of me was completely dark with no streetlight to illuminate what lay ahead. There was close to no visibility. The wind was cold against the exposed skin of my face.

The trees all around me were eerily quiet, and there was only the faint chirping of cicadas and the rush of water somewhere. I felt vulnerable, being out in the open with the possibility of anything jumping out of the shadows at any time.

Trudging along the path, dried leaves crunching under my shoes, I fished around in my backpack for a flashlight.

I aimed it at the street ahead and saw nothing but trees. I walked further. I walked until my legs felt like jelly and my arms were tired because of holding up a flashlight.

Suddenly in a distance, I saw a light. With newfound hope, I broke into a run, my exhaustion forgotten.

It would be the most embarrassing day of my life if I ended up going back to the mansion because there was nowhere to go to amongst the ghostly trees.

I hadn’t told Al anything about this plan of mine. Neither had I told Lola but I suspected she would figure it out. She was smart like that.

Relief flooded me as I saw small buildings and diners scattered on either side of the street that lay before me under the hill. People were bustling about, no doubt returning home after a long day of work. Families were sitting in diners which were bursting at the seams.

As I moved further, the trees branched away to reveal more roads and a couple other buildings which looked a lot like motels. I prayed they were. I was tired and falling into bed with a satisfied appetite seemed like the equivalent of living a dream.

I knew I would have to face making further plans the next morning, but I didn’t let it bother me. I was going to take small steps and figure out what I would do next.

I wasn’t going to lie—not having a plan felt horrible.

Hunger dug its inescapable claws into me and so I made a beeline for the nearest diner, desperate enough to not look for traffic before I crossed the road. I was starving, and the diner seemed to have some empty spots.

The blinding white neon sign that said 'Downtown Diner' burned my eyes, and I pushed the door open quickly and quite literally ran to the empty seat by the window.

The diner looked retro, or it was probably just very old. Every table had one of those jukeboxes that played a song for a penny. The seats were a very pale pink and the tables were so white that they hurt my eyes a little.

Waitresses with white aprons walked quickly and briskly along the aisles, serving dishes that smelled like heaven itself. I was so ready to order.

There was also a small bar to the left side of the place where most of the noise was coming from. A bunch of guys were sitting at the chairs near the counter and talking loudly. There were at least seven of them—they didn’t seem to be there together, though, judging by how far they sat—and they obviously had no public decency—extracted from how loud they were.

My attention was diverted when a waitress came over to my table. She looked cheery even though she had probably been working for a long time. Her hair was escaping her high ponytail and falling into her face, and she seemed to have stopped trying to push it back. Her makeup was subtle, and she was wearing a white apron which was surprisingly unstained.

"What can I get you?" she asked, smiling brightly, pen lingering over her pocket notepad.

"Two cheeseburger," I breathed out. Cheeseburgers usually took very less time, and very less time to get my food sounded great right now.

She quickly scribbled it down and lifted her lips in a small smile. "Anything else?"

"No," I shook my head.

"Alright then," she looked up from her notepad and grinned mischievously. "If you're lucky, that'll be paid for by those boys who can't keep their eyes off," she winked, and left before I could ask her what she was talking about.

I looked around trying to figure out what she said, and sure enough, three guys from the bar were now looking at me. Not in a creepy or stalkerish way, but more in a curious way.

Nevertheless, I looked away.

I’d never had to deal with such stares. Even when people did look, recognizing me, they looked away quickly—the effect of the tall and armed bodyguards who usually surrounded me.

But now, I’d have to get used to it. Get used to knowing that every time I went out, I was just as vulnerable as the other people around me. Maybe even more, because I knew about almost nothing about how things worked around here.

I knew no one in this town, and it only just hit me that I could count the people I talked to everyday on my fingers. It was a jabbing kind of realization that made me wonder how the loneliness hadn’t driven me away earlier.

How long had my father thought he could keep it up? I understood that he was terrified after the death of his friend, Raymond, barely off the property of the Shade Mansion, but it didn’t mean I was constantly in danger.

Raymond’s death, I had always thought, was caused because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time and not because someone was out to get dad and I.

I broke out of my reverie into reality when the same waitress from before had come back, balancing a tray with a plate on it on her arm, even thought her other hand was free.

She set the tray down and smiled. “Your second cheeseburger will be here shortly,” she explained when I cast a questioning glance at the lone cheeseburger covered in a blanket of fries. She added, “We’ve got a lot of takeout orders today.”

“It’s no problem,” I waved it off.

I opened my mouth to ask her what her name was, but she was already gone before I could look at her name tag.

She seemed to be a busy woman.

I picked up the cheeseburger, the fries resting on top of it falling off, and took a bite into it, barely keeping from groaning at its deliciousness. I always had a weak spot for cheese.

I went in for another bite when I felt the seat dip next to me.

I jerked upright, whipping my head to see who had come up to just sit down next to me without permission. I noticed that the seat from across me was occupied too, now.

The guys from the bar.