Lyfers: Amnesia

Chapter 15 - Time Is Running Out

 Stress was flowing into her veins, poisoning her every steps as she progressed further into the building, her throat and stomach tied up from too much anxiety, nearly making her nauseous. No matter how he promised her it would be alright, Claw's recommendation of killing anyone she needed to if she were to be in danger worried her, and she had a hard time hiding it. Following the police officer, Dove could feel her heart racing into her chest faster than ever. From a perfect, problems-free student, she was now a gang member, about to commit a crime that could send her to jail. Calm down, she thought, it's easy peazy, grab the files and run away. Nothing hard there. Walking along the corridor that led to Detective Kwann's office, her footsteps sounded like they could betray her at any moment, and when the policeman asked her to take a seat and wait there, she sighed of relief; she still had around a minute to mentally prepare herself. She sat on the plastic chair and looked around. Nobody else was there, and it eased her. She lifted her chin up to peek at the cameras, hoping that named Tracer really put them out of service, or else, she would be screwed. Nevertheless, she needed to trust her gang, her family. It would be alright. She wouldn't deceive them. She would repay them for the second chance and the protection they offered her.

Suddenly, an alarm went on, sounding violently against the cramped walls to the point she had to put her hands on her ears. Detectives began to leave their offices and swarmed towards the entrance of the police station, signaling her the start of her mission. After she inhaled deeply, she jumped on her feet, and started to run along the hallway, reading the names written on the doors as fast as she could. She stopped when she reached the one where D. Kwann was inscribed, and pushed the door without any hesitation. Nobody was inside. She closed behind her, rushed to the desk and started to search into the first pile of files waiting patiently on its right. Several names of well-known politicians were written on some of them, between all of the others aliases she didn't know, but no sign of documents relating to her gang. She put them back in place in a hurry and sought into the second stack, faster than she did with the first one. However, seconds passed, and yet she hadn't found what she needed. Tension raised into her entire body, sweat formed onto her forehead; no sign of Amnesia anywhere. She crouched down, quickly digging into the drawers, but her phone vibrated into her jeans' pocket, indicating she was running low on time. She muttered a fuck, continuing, until a locked one caught her attention. She took the knob, pulling on it, vainly. She felt herself conceding to panic when her cellphone vibrated again. She had no time anymore, but there was no way she would come back empty-handed.

– No! No it can't be, I-I can't fail like that! I can't!

She collected all of her forces and pulled again on the drawer; it opened. And her intuition had been right, since on top of documents inside of it was one with the name Amnesia scripted on it in big, black letters. With a victorious smile on her lips, she seized it, hid it under her top and sweatshirt, and ran outside of the office.

But when she attained the entrance, her triumphant feeling let place to a frightened one: in the middle of the room, Claw was held at gunpoint by several cops. They were screaming for him to not move and to throw his hands up in the air, while he looked down on them with an amused expression, as if he was enjoying that situation. For a second, Dove wondered about what to do to help him out, yet, she remembered what he told her, and followed him and Ether's orders, leaving the place without waiting for him.

Exiting the police station felt both like an alleviation and a bother; she was out, but he was still in. But she had to stick to the plan and crossed the road, then entered the cafe Ether had been talking about. She sat right next to the window, observing anxiously the building in front of it. The more minutes passed, the more she could feel nervousness rising into her. She wrapped her arms around herself, holding the files she risked so much over close to her. She couldn't afford to lose them after what she just did. In a way, succeeding this mission and being able to show her loyalty towards Amnesia gratified her, but in the other, she still found it hard to believe that she would now be a criminal. Not that she would grow to hate what she would become, quite the contrary; she was just shocked on such a change. She got out of her thoughts to observe the police station again; still no sight of Claw. At this exact moment, she wished for him to be able to get out without problems. Ether had sounded trustful of his abilities, but why was he taking so long? Did something go wrong? He seemed to control the situation earlier, but the waiting put her nerves on the edge, and she was imagining all kind of scenarios. She also hoped the rampage he would have caused would be enough for the officers not to remember her face, especially the one who received her claim. Of course she gave him a fake name, but he could also be able to recognize her, and that made her concerned too.

When her phone rang, her heart leaped into her ribs, and she grabbed it so fast it almost slipped from her hands. She tightened her grip around it to avoid losing it at such a critical time, and picked up, holding it to her ear:

– Y-yeah?

– Out. Now.