Paint the World Red with Me (Tord x Reader) (REWRITE)

Chapter 3: Unlocked Doors

(TW: A group of men being way too drunk, Tord being violent) 

The mall was huge, lined almost wall-to-wall with all sorts of stores and restaurants, kiosks scattered throughout the floor. There was movement going on everywhere I looked. Families with tired parents tugging along their kids, excited kids dragging their parents to a store. Couples walking with hands interlocked. Groups of friends chatting and laughing as they went. Singular people avoiding interaction.

We stood at the fountain in the center of the lobby. Edd checked the nearby map displayed.

"Okay, so I say we split up and meet back at the food court at 12. Sound good?"

Nods from each of us. Matt latched onto my arm, making me teeter slightly.

"Oh! Oh! Can we go clothes shopping? Pretty please?"

"It's up to her, Matt."

I chuckled softly at how excited he was and agreed to go with him. Tom joined us, regarding me with much more fondness than he had before. I guess that moment in the car was enough for him to deem me a friend. Matt practically dragged me off, seeming to know exactly where to go. I heard Edd shout after us.

"12 o'clock, Matt! And be careful!"

Somehow I managed to catch up to where he wasn't dragging me, but I had to take quick steps to match his long legs. It was going to be quite a while until 12.

—

I absentmindedly gazed out the window of the store we were in, taking in all the sights and sounds. Everything was so different and interesting.

Matt was looking through the racks in the summer section. He had pulled me with him, saying I needed a swimsuit. I told him it wasn't necessary, but he insisted that if I was going to be living with them, I needed to be prepared for anything. Whatever that meant. Tom was in a different corner of the store, shuffling through piles of t-shirts to find a specific one he wanted.

A flash of light blue passing by caught my attention. Looking at the man with the abnormal hair color, images of him entered my mind. Memories of him smiling, laughing, saying my name. I knew him. I dropped the bags I was holding. I raced after him. The only thing my mind could focus on was him.

Don't lose him. Walk quicker. This could be your only chance!

I emerged from the crowd into an empty area. The stores around had metal shutters locked tight, the kiosk sections vacant. The man was nowhere to be seen. I wandered this quiet section slightly, stopping in front of the bathrooms.

Suddenly I was yanked back into the dark hallway that led into the bathrooms. A group of men blocked off the exit. Empty beer cans littered the ground at their feet. They were drunk.

"What's a lost girl like you doing all alone in this part of the mall? Don't you know it's dangerous?"

I could smell the booze on their breaths.

"Actually, my friends are waiting for me nearby. I shouldn't keep them waiting, they'll get worried."

I made to move past them, but that wasn't going to work. One of them shoved me back. I hit the wall, and my head slammed against the tile. I fell on my butt. The impact must have stimulated something in my brain, because the memories came flooding back.

Gray Army. The war with Red Army. The man with the blue hair, who I now knew as Gray Leader. The man that was my best friend. Being in the private jet with him was the last thing I remembered. Then it was just...nothing. How I ended up on that street still escaped my grasp.