When It Breaks

| TWO |

"Miss Evans!"

A banging sound greets me as I wake up, causing a ringing in my ears.

A groan escapes my lips as I try to peel my eyes open, but they seem to be glued shut. Eventually, I succeeded in peeling them open.

Someone knocks again, and I scramble to my feet only to lean back against the bed as my head begins to pound.

A hangover. Just what I don't need.

Just then, the cold air hit my body, causing me to shiver. The last time I checked, it wasn't that cold out here. Except…

At that lingering thought, I look down and shriek in horror, letting out an outraged cry which ends with a choked sound.

My breath begins to go off in pants as my mind travels a thousand miles per second.

I am naked.

However, that is not the worst part. The most shock comes when I see my body inked from my neck to my legs.

Willing my body to relax, I try to make sense of the situation. I trace the patterns on my hand but can't make any sense of them.

Knowing the lasting effects of the promise marking, I try as much as I can to make a few promises as possible.

Or did I get tattoos?

No, I would still feel the pain if I did. The only logical explanation is the promise marking, but exactly how many promises did I make? Just how much did I drink?

"What happened last night?" I ponder aloud, not being able to remember anything from after that man approached me.

The person knocks again, and this time, the knocking is followed by yells. Getting up, I scamper around my room, looking for my clothes.

Spotting my bra on the bed, I rush to get it. As I grab the bra, my hand comes in contact with a hard object on my bed.

I raise the white comforter and I'm met with the face of a man. Not just any man, it is the man from the party.

"What the-!" I pause, then let out an alarming groan, unable to believe that I brought home a stranger and had possibly slept with him.

My memories from after the parking lot incident are blank.

Taking a closer look at the man, I see that he has a unique mark on his neck.

It looks like an arrow cutting across a spellbook. It is familiar but at the same time not familiar at all.

It looks like a witch mark, but at the same time, not. He probably made a promise to a witch.

Sighing, I nudge him, but he doesn't regain consciousness. I then completely pull off the comforter, only to scream afterward as his lifeless naked body comes into sight.

His body seems to have been drained of all blood through his neck. My face pales, and I lurch backward, moving as far away as possible from the cold corpse on the bed.

"Miss Evans, what is going on in there? Open up, and don't make us break-in!" I hear a voice scream from behind the door, followed by a series of knocks.

Wide-eyed, I look between the door and the corpse, knowing that I would surely go to jail if anyone happened to see the dead man with me. I can't surrender before figuring out what happened to me.

Clenching my jaws, I put on the bra I am holding in my hands.

The next knock makes me grab a pair of jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.

"Coming!" I yell back, putting on a pair of black sneakers after wearing the clothes.

Grabbing my crossbody bag, I shove in my ATM card, a box of my favourite pins, alongside all the cash I have at home. Lastly, I take a piece of paper Lacey gave me before she died.

My hands tremble, but I force myself to move. Ditching my phone, I leave the house through the fire exit by the kitchen, going like a bat out of hell down the street and flagging down a cab.

"Where to, Miss?" The driver asks as I jump in.

"The next town!" I yell, and the driver zooms down the street.

He drives until we reach the next town, with me looking back every two minutes. Paying the driver, I climb down from the car.

The first thing I do is to withdraw all the money I have in my bank account before the authorities would get the chance to freeze my account.

I will be long gone from here before they can trace where the money was withdrawn from.

My mind is a jumbled mess as I try to fix the puzzles only to reach a dead-end all the time. I wonder how my friends are doing.

I don't dwell on that too much as I need to move.

Covering my face with the hoodie to hide the tattoos on my neck, I begin to look for a payphone.

The town is a large one, bigger than my town. After searching for a while, I finally find a payphone and dial the number on the paper.

"Hello," A woman's voice speaks from the receiver.

"Hi, um, Lacey instructed me to call you," I say to the woman, who pauses for a while.

"Felicity?" The woman asks, and I nod my head before remembering that the woman can not see me.

"Yes," I reply, clearing my throat. "I am Felicity."

"Where is Lacey?"

I sigh. "Lacey died four months ago."

"I am assuming that they found you, and you are on the run-"

I couldn't help but cut the woman off. "How did you know that? Do you know what happened to me?"

"You do not have much time! You have to find the mage, Helen.

"She's the only one who will help you prevent the inevitable and possibly stop history from repeating itself.

"Find me only after you have found her," The woman instructs.

"Where do I find her, and what history are you talking about?" I ask, my voice taking a higher octave, and the operator shoots me a weird look.

Two beeps come from the phone, and I groan, glaring at the blank screen as the phone goes dead.

Paying the operator, I storm out, almost crashing into a woman passing by.

"I'm sorry," I apologise and move to continue the journey to find the mage.

"Wait, can you perhaps help me?" The woman asks, walking to me, her cloak flowing behind her.

"How can I help you?"

"I am looking for my sister. Can you help me?"

I tilt my head a bit. Another habit I picked at a younger age. "I am sorry, but I cannot help you. I just arrived in this town, and I am also looking for someone."

The woman smiles, pulling the hood of the cloak off her head. "Then we can help each other. My sister lives in the mage town, but I have no idea how to get there."

I perk up. "I am also looking for a mage. Helen is her name."

The woman claps her hands in joy. "Jolly! We can go to the mage town together. By the way, my name is Lucy."

"Felicity."

(•)

Thank you for reading.