Scars Bleed Gold

Secrets, Fistfights, And Snowflakes

I shot up from my seat and sprinted after the girl. If her phone was recording, we could be royally screwed. I had to catch her before she could do anything. I threw the door open and quickly scanned the hallway, spotting her running down the hall to my right.

"Hey! Get back here!" I yelled as I started chasing her. The girl looked back at me and I caught a glimpse of her face: It was Zoey, the same girl who turned me down just yesterday. Zoey turned a corner and ran down a staircase. I grabbed the corner wall and swung myself around, keeping my momentum and almost falling down the staircase. I barely caught a glimpse of Zoey's foot disappearing as I reached the landing. I ran down two steps at a time, trying to resume chase only to see her nowhere in sight.

"What the hell? She can't have just disappeared..." A student walked by me. I decided to ask him if he saw where she went.

"Hey man, did you see a girl with a pink jacket running by here?" He pointed to the nearest closed door and walked away. "Thanks..."

I walked over to the door and twisted the handle, gently pushing it open. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me with one hand while scanning the room. It was a large, apparently empty office. I could only think of one hiding place for Zoey to be in. I slowly turned my head and there behind the door frame, was a nervous looking Zoey. If I hadn't closed the door I wouldn't have even seen her. I glared at her before addressing her.

"I have words to speak with you." I said as I pointed at the girl. "What the hell were you doing there?!"

"You first! What the hell was that thing?! Why were you talking to it?!"

"She's not an it, Zoey!"

"She? You say that like it's a person, but as far as I know people aren't invisible, and don't appear as a freaking skull-demon-monster thing in recordings!"

"Goddamnit, you were recording?!" I took a deep breath and lowered my voice. "Zoey, listen to me. You need to delete whatever you have on your phone of her, and not mention this to anyone else. This... I know you probably don't like me, or even want to talk to me, based on how you reacted to my question yesterday, but I need you to do this favor for me. This is really important."

"You still haven't answered my questions! What was that- What was she? Why were you talking to her? Why should I keep this a secret?"

I sighed, thinking how to answer without giving away too much. The last thing I need is another person in on my little secret, the more people aware of her, the more likely someone will slip up and Mal and I will get caught.

"Uh... You're a film major, right? So you know those sci-fi movies with the kid and the cute little alien?"

"You're telling me she's an alien?" She said skeptically.

"What? No! I meant that- Okay, the easiest and honestly most vague way I can explain it is the government is the bad guys, she's the thing the government is trying to catch and dissect, I'm the kid who stumbles upon her and helps her escape. Like in those movies."

"So you're helping an alien from outer space hide from the government?"

"She's not an alien, or from another planet, at least as far as I know. I haven't asked her how she came to be so I'll just assume the birds and the bees, but other than that pretty much. Please Zoey, I need you to delete it. This is really important to me..."

Zoey nodded, then looked away as if thinking. She then reached into her pocket and slowly brought her phone out, unlocking it and tapping on the screen a few times.

"She kind of reminds me of something I saw on the internet..." She said before tapping the screen two more times, then shutting off her phone. "Alright, video's deleted. I better be doing the right thing here, if she causes the end of the world or something, I'm gonna make you sing soprano."