N0 B0DY, N0 CRIM3 | Bang Chan

Mad Hatter

The next time Kiera Campbell woke up, she was met with a pair of cerulean blue eyes. She jumped and let out a string of curse words. The man let out a laugh as he continued looking at her. 

"Good morning, sunshine. Did you have a nice sleep?" He pulled himself away, so she could sit up. 

She groggily rubbed her eyes. "How many of you are there?" 

"Eight." 

"For fuck's sake," she shoved herself up to see him. 

His wide eyes were captivating. His eyes were such a bright shade of blue, she realized that they had to be contact lenses. A galaxy of freckles scattered across the golden skin of his cheeks and nose. She tore her eyes from him and glanced behind him. The door to her bedroom was still shut. "What's your name?" 

"I'm Felix." 

"Kiera." 

"I know your name. We all know your name. You're Channie's new obsession. I've never seen him so perplexed over a stranger before. He can't figure you out. None of us can. You're really something else," he shrugged. "We'll figure you out eventually." 

He was glad that she seemed to be doing okay after everything that had happened the day before. She didn't seem to realize that there was a bruise around her neck. Her voice sounded a little more hoarse than yesterday. It was either from the rope cutting into her windpipe or because of all the screaming that she did yesterday. 

"Who's Channie?" 

"Channie is Chan. You met him last night, right?" Felix tilted his head. "He said he was going to talk to you." 

"The guy with the gun?" 

"Gun?" Felix's eyes widened. "He had a gun?" 

Kiera nodded. 

He let out a huff and grumbled something that she couldn't hear. She opened her mouth to say something, but her stomach growled. She had hoped that Felix hadn't heard it, but his head had snapped back towards her. 

"Are you hungry? Do you want some food? Who am I kidding? Of course, you're hungry. You're probably starving considering you only ate breakfast yesterday. Don't worry, I'll feed you." He stood up and stuck his hand out towards Kiera. 

She hesitated, but grabbed it after a few seconds. Felix pulled her out of the bed. He gripped her hand tightly as he pulled her towards the door. "It's just us here right now. Well, Han is supposed to be keeping an eye on me, but he fell asleep. Can you believe that?" Felix scoffed. "They don't trust me, so they had Han try and watch me. What a bunch of idiots. You'd think they'd learn after a few years, but they never do." 

Kiera listened to him babble in silence. He jumped from topic to topic and all she could do was nod or hum along in agreement. She didn't know how old he was, but it was easy to see why the others might want him to be watched. He seemed scatter-brained. He was there, but it seemed like something wasn't quite right with his brain. 

The two meandered through the halls until Felix pulled her through a wooden door. He flipped on a switch and the two of them came into a kitchen. A small white fridge with an attached freezer sat in the corner of the room. A black countertop had been built next to it. 

A small section of cabinets had been built below the countertop. A white stove with electric burners stood beside it. There was even a small sink and a black hand towel laid over the oven handle. A bottle of purple hand soap and a bottle of dawn dish soap sat on the back of the sink. 

Off to the side of the room, there were two maroon booths that were sitting back to back. Felix dropped her hand and waved her towards one of the booths. She slid into one of them and turned to face him. With the maze of hallways that she had just been through, she wasn't sure that trying to escape was the best idea. Her stomach grumbled again as if it agreed. 

"Alright, what would you like?" 

She shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not picky." 

Felix nodded and turned back towards the fridge. He yanked it open and tapped his fingers on the door. He hummed and stuck his head inside to start rummaging around. A few seconds later, he came back out with a carton of eggs. There was a bright twinkle in his eyes. 

"Pancakes?" He asked. "I know you had them yesterday, but they're easy to make, and they sound delicious." 

"That sounds nice." 

"With chocolate chips?" He held his breath waiting for her response. 

"Even better." 

A cheshire grin lit up his face. He laughed and took the carton of eggs out of the fridge. He took a few more items out and started to dump ingredients in a bowl. "Do you like pancakes?" 

"Yeah, my mom used to make them all the time when I was a kid." Kiera smiled at the memory of it. "I used to wake up to the smell of pancakes and then I'd hurry out to the kitchen to eat them while they were still warm." 

"My mom used to make me pancakes before school sometimes." Felix began cracking eggs into the bowl. He paused for a moment realizing that he had talked about his mom. He very rarely talked about his parents, let alone with a stranger. 

He grabbed the whisk and began whisking the mixture together. Kiera watched in silence while he placed a pan on the stove and dropped some butter into it, so the pancakes didn't stick. She knew she shouldn't be so open with Felix, but something about his presence was comforting. 

He looked to be about her age, but he acted childlike. Whether he was doing it on purpose or if that's just how he was, she didn't know. Watching him in silence was a lot better than remembering what had happened the day before. 

Yesterday was nothing, but a hazy fog. She could remember bits and pieces here and there, but not all of it. Most of it, her brain had blocked it out, so she couldn't remember it. She was thankful because she didn't want to remember what had happened. She needed to think rationally if she wanted to escape. 

"Oh, shit!" 

"What? What's wrong?" Kiera snapped out of her thoughts quickly. 

"I used too much butter. Way too much butter." 

He let out a sigh and dumped the soggy half cooked pancake into the trash can.