Walls

10

The laptop stared right back as Abbie plugged her phone into the device. The bed dipped beside her as Elias observed over her shoulder with boss-like authority.

With a little clicking noise, the computer displayed a 'New Device Found' message.

"Can't you hurry up and be quick about this?" Elias breathed behind her.

Abbie rolled her eyes at his impatience. She was aware that they just stole a laptop from the front desk of the very motel they were staying in, but everything about that morning was kicking her moral values out the window. She just wanted to go home as fast as possible.

"I'm trying!"

"You don't look like you're doing anything," Elias shrugged, his lips tipped downwards.

"The phone is a literal fortress and the laptop is having a hard time installing the companion-"

"Fine!" Elias cut her off raising both his arms in surrender, "I don't want to hear it again."

He rose to his feet and disappeared into the little ensuite which wasn't the epitome of cleanliness, but still satisfied the basic requirements.

Despite how wildly Abbie rolled her eyes, she hoped that Elias had stayed. He gave off a strange warmth that her body quickly got accustomed to. She felt cold without the heat.

Once the device connected, the screen prompted for a password. Abbie wasn't surprised. In fact, she had expected it. The loud sigh that escaped her lips was expected too.

"Don't tell me it's another password," Elias yelled from inside the ensuite.

"It's another password!" Abbie stuck her tongue at the closed door, "What did you expect?"

The door cracked open, and his head popped out, "I'm starting to think that you have no clue what you are talking about."

The heat rising to her cheeks had nothing to do with the fact that Elias was calling her incompetent, but it had everything to do with the fact that his very real abs were out on display.

He had taken off his shirt and was probably tending to the patch of blood across his chest. It looked blurred out and almost non-existent against his olive skin.

Elias took her wide-eyed shock the wrong way.

"Not to insult you or anything, but you aren't exactly delivering on your promise, now are you?" he crossed his arms across his chest, causing them to bulge at places that made Abbie's heart flip unceremoniously. She wasn't proud.

She snapped her mouth shut and narrowed her eyes at him, "Wait and watch!"

He let out an amused smile, "Just saying."

With that, he disappeared behind the door as it slammed shut. Abbie made a face that felt stupid a minute later. What was wrong with her, anyway? She shook her head before diving back to the laptop.

***

The location blinking back at her on the screen wasn't anywhere she had been before. A quick search on the internet told Abbie that they were at someplace called Weeper's Creek. It was miles away from Angelora.

The funny thing about the phone was that it had only one back door she could crack. It looked like it was specifically tailored for her to break into. But once she was inside, it was more than easy to disable other safety measures. It was as if her subconscious knew exactly where to look.

But the not-so-funny thing about the phone was that it had a receptor for a signal pinging off it almost every second. Like a telephone tower, but not so prominent. Something about the program looked wrong - it was not working.

Elias was still inside the ensuite, and Abbie had a feeling that he was taking his time grooming himself just to avoid being around her. But that was not important - the signal on her phone was.

Digging deeper, she came upon a sketchy block that had been placed on her calls. She couldn't make calls or receive any apart from one number - The one that left a strange message on her phone calling her Agent 23.

The keyboard clicked as her fingers glided across the keys, trying to figure out where the strange signal was coming from. Judging by the state of her morning so far, she was not surprised if someone had installed any spyware on her phone to track her location.

Her mind focused and her eyes glued to the bluish screen of the laptop, she was completely unaware of anything happening around her. Which was why her heart almost gave out when a shrill ring echoed right beside her.

She jumped out of her skin, a tiny hand pressing to her chest as if to calm her racing heart. A shrill ringing echoed in the direction of a greasy white telephone which hung right over the headboard.

Who could it be? What if it was the front desk looking for the laptop!

She decided that maybe she could lie about it as well, what more could she lose?

Still taking deep breaths to calm her heart, she approached the device with caution. It had the imprint of a very oily hand wrapped around the receiver. Not very clean, but the telephone worked apparently very well.

Her face pinched and she could feel a mild shudder passing down her spine as she picked the receiver and placed it a little bit off her ear so that the cold plastic was not touching her skin.

"Hello? Abbie?" a voice echoed on the other end of the line.

"Er..."

"Abbie! Oh, thank God! Is this you? Abigail, talk to me!"

It was a man and a voice that she couldn't exactly place. There was a slight Indian accent that Abbie had never heard before.

"Who is this?"

Silence.

More silence.

Then, booming laughter.

"Haha, very funny. I almost fell for it."

Abbie swallowed. She was not exactly sure who the man was. But by the looks of it, he seemed to know her. Maybe this was her way home.

"I'm sorry, but I don't recognize you...?"

She made it sound like a friendly question, not even an outrageous statement. She made it a point to chuckle a bit at the end for added effect.

"Are you kidding me?" The man laughed louder, and Abbie couldn't figure why. Her amnesia was not something to laugh about - at least it was not to her. But the man did not know about that - about her amnesia or her thoughts about it.

"Alright, fine, Abbie. I'll bite. It's Suresh, from Acute Inc," he chuckled.

"Suresh? From Acute Inc?" That was what her ID card had on it. Was he a colleague? A friend?

"Yeah, yeah, Suresh Batra, the handsome man you guys promoted to the boring 27th floor. Honestly, you'd hear me complain more if it isn't for the awesome air conditioning. Not that the 18th floor had shitty A/C, but you know me - I like my keyboard when it is as cold as solid ice."

She had no idea who he was. But he knew her.

He knew her. He knew her! He was probably her way back home. She had to tell him to get her out of this funk, however much it was going to cost. She'd work her head off to pay him.

"Suresh?" Abbie flinched at the nasty crack in her voice. She heard it over her thundering heart, and she was positive that Suresh did too.

A short stretch of silence later, Suresh cleared his throat, "Are you alright, Abbie?" Clearly, he heard the crack. Damn it!

Abbie wanted to scream that she was not fine. NO! She was definitely not fine at all.

But she shrugged and dropped a casual, "Yeah, I'm fine."

A deep breath later, she braced herself, " But I have to tell you something."