• Chapter 2

    As soon as the words were out of his mouth, my eyebrow began to twitch. No I didn’t attack him. No I didn’t scream at him. My eyebrow just twitched. A strangled cry came through my throat.

    “You…” I croaked out, “You… a*****e.” Of course there weren’t worst words I could say, but I decided to be the bigger person. That was why I sent him the dirtiest glare that told him how much I wanted to kill him without actually putting my hands around his scrawny neck.

    Kyle just laughed, the b*****d, “Now, now. There’s no need for such a pretty face to get all sour.” He acted as though he didn’t just threaten me by planting drugs and saying he would call the police.

    “Well, are you coming?” he asked mockingly as he motioned for the door.

    * * *


    I couldn’t believe that this whole thing was happening. I had to convince Kyle to let me get dressed in actual clothes besides my pajamas before we went outside. A shiver went through my body, as I hadn’t grabbed a jacket. It was surprisingly chilly for an April afternoon.

    “Cold?” Kyle purred, “I could always let you use my jacket.” I simply scowled at him and looked away in response. Even though I’m sure it would have been better than the current situation if I just trusted him, it was hard. It was hard to trust anybody these days.

    As we walked, I looked around the neighborhood I lived in. The skies were an eternal gray, most likely from pollution. The sidewalk beneath us was partly eroded from acid rain. A lone policeman with beady eyes overlooked everybody like a hawk looking over its prey. In an alleyway, two people started exchanging items. Probably drugs.

    A couple teenagers hung out on a porch, lounging on the steps. The oldest of them looked us over as we walked. Each of them had their jackets pulled back, purposefully showing the pocketknives sticking out of their pockets. Just another effect the war had on the world around me.

    “Almost there.” Kyle musically hummed, “Just a little longer.” Secretly, I wondered what would happen if I just killed him right there. Then again, I didn’t know where he placed the drugs, so it was a bad idea all around.

    I mumbled back to him, “Okay. That’s good, I guess. The sooner the torture is over, the better.”

    “Don’t say that.”

    “Why?”

    “It makes me feel bad.”

    “Good, you a*****e.”

    “That’s not nice. The only job you have is to help get information, really.”

    “Still an a*****e. You placed drugs in my apartment!”

    Kyle opened his mouth as though to say something, but stopped halfway. I wasn’t sure if this was because he couldn’t beat my answer or because he had thought of something more so clever, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. I hoped it was the former. I just decided that maybe I should stop talking, just in case.

    Eventually, Kyle stopped immediately in his tracks, causing me to look around. At this point, we were in the slums of my city. All of the buildings were abandoned and falling to pieces. Loose, broken bricks were scattered all over the ground. When I took a step forward, I heard the sound of glass breaking underneath my shoes. As I was taking in my surroundings, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

    There was Kyle, a finger over his mouth in a signal to keep quiet. Taking my hand, he began to lead me into one of the buildings. There, at the front of the entrance, was a pad that I had noticed before. Immediately, I suspected that it was a hair scanner, or maybe even an eye scanner. That was what was usually used for security for any type of building.

    Instead, he pulled out something shining. It glimmered a golden light when the sun hit it. It was a stick-shape, but strangely shaped at the end. It looked as though it fit somewhere, but the shape didn’t really fit anything my brain could rack up.

    “What is that?” I asked, as I had never seen such an item before.

    A low chuckle erupted from him, as though I was a young child asking a stupid question, “I was surprised when I first saw it, too. It’s called a key. People used to use them for opening up locked things before all the scanners were created.” As he said this, he lifted the pad to reveal a metal, square shaped thing. Another metal arm came out of the top of the square and wrapped around the latch of the door [which reminded me of the ones on school lockers].

    He then took the ‘key’ and inserted it into the metal monstrosity. Turning it, a clicking noise filled my ears. The arm of the thing opened, letting Kyle take it off.

    Curiosity filled my brain, “And what’s that thing?” Although I had a dislike for him, I couldn’t help but wonder. As I said before, I had never seen such devices before.

    “You know, being so eager to learn new things is an attractive quality in a woman.” He grinned, earning a scowl, “Okay, okay, stop with the dirty looks. It’s called a lock. It’s where the term ‘locked’ originally came from, if I’m not mistaken. Or maybe I am… Anyways, the organization uses these to make sure that no one we don’t want gets in. With all the scanners, they can be hacked by police, but with these babies, no one knows how to unlock them without a key anymore. So it’s perfect.”

    In a strange, strange way, it made sense. As I took in all of the information, a hissing ensued as Kyle opened the door. Steam poured out of it, warm against my legs. The man next to me, the one that I was now sure was going to be the death of me, grabbed my hand. As he led me into the building, my heart fluttered for just a second, a telltale sign of my surprise; I was pretty sure I hadn’t had that feeling in a long, long time.

    At first, it was pitch black in the building. Then, slowly, the ceiling lights began to come on. Groups of people stared for a moment, and then went back to whatever they might have been doing. A couple of them held weapons, which I’m guessing was for just in case. Huge machines surrounded us, each with a sea of monstrous looking buttons.

    A female voice, just hinted with Irish, echoed from one of them, “Yo, Kyle! Get your bloody arse over here, NOW!” Walking out from behind one of the monsters was a short woman who I would say was in her early twenties, if not younger. I wouldn’t have suspected the voice to come from her if she hadn’t spoken again.

    “There you are, you arsehole!” she yelled, waving a wrench at him threateningly, “Do you know just what your doing? I didn’t get to finish the scan on her records! No offense, miss.”

    “Uh… None taken.” I mumbled, even though I had no idea what she was talking about.

    Kyle heaved a nonchalant sigh before saying, “It’s not that big of a deal. Sorry you had to listen to all of this, love. The usually charming firecracker is Grace. This, Grace, is Lila.” Grace gave out a scoff to him, causing a ripple to run through her shoulder-length, orangey-red hair. Her eyes, which were a polished-looking brown, gave a look of animosity towards Kyle.

    “Nice to meet you, Grace.” I managed to bleat out, “What’s all this about scanning records?”

    Immediately, a blush came across the redhead’s face, “Oh, nice to meet you as well, Lila. The scanning… Well, it’s to make sure your not working with the government or anything treacherous like that. I won’t bore you with details.” A smile grew on Kyle’s face, one that you would imagine on the Cheshire cat himself.

    “I’m sure she would love details. In fact, maybe you should show her around a bit.” He announced loudly, putting his arms around our shoulders. As I pinched his hand off of me, Grace simply brushed it off.

    Her eyes softened as they looked at me, “Fine. Come on, Lila, let’s let him go flirt with some poor, unsuspecting lass.”

    As we walked away, I could see Kyle scowl as we walked away. With the scar on his face, he looked like some sort of serial killer. Then again, as we walked away, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. At least the thought of his blackmail would clear out of my mind. Or so I thought.