Watch Our Worlds Burn

Chapter 2 (Pt2)

Elise avoided eye contact, her gaze tracing the ground. She started:

"It was a few months ago, actually, and I walked into a money gamble..."

I was on a walk at midnight. It was dark and cold...

So cold...

I walked into a bar, trying to escape the freezing weather. That's when I met them actually...

On barstools sat three guys. One with whitish-blonde hair almost like snow and his grin like that of a leopard's. Yes... like a snow leopard. Next to him sat a tan guy with a dark presence who could intimidate anyone with just a look in their direction. His scowl seemed unwavering. The third was a black guy with a jolly and laid-back smile. Neither looked a day past 18 but they all seemed clouded by something dark and troubling...

I sat down near their seats and the blonde cast a quick look in my direction, his smile exposing his pearl-white teeth. I turned red and turned away. He scanned me once over before finally looking away, their conversation taking on a more hushed tone.

"When do you reckon you could get in there, huh Ace?" the blonde asked the darkest of them all. The guy smiled innocently.

"So rude of you to assume I didn't already hack into their accounts. All I need is a price tag," he revealed. The tan guy with dark hair's face formed a snarl.

"They rob people without even thinking about others who could rob them of THAT money," he muttered. The blonde laughed.

"Of course, Vince. We only steal from those who stole in the first place. Then they take the fall but we keep the money," he explained, his voice high with delight. By then I had already started recording them. They continued on, discussing plans that left nothing to the imagination. I tried my best to neutralize my reactions. However, the blonde turned around in his seat and his cold hand wrapped around the hand I held against my glass of Coke. I flinched in surprise and I looked up, my eyes meeting his pale ones. He smiled warmly but his expression seemed cold. I tried to move my hand but he held it in place firmly. I struggled to hide my conflicted state.

"You forgot to turn off your phone," he implied quietly, keeping his smile, "Best you stop recording now." My face flushed red.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I muttered, refusing to look terrified.

Because in reality, his pale eyes chilled me to the bone.

He clicked his tongue and looked down at my hand under the table.

"So if you pull up that hand, your phone wouldn't be on Voice Memos?" he asked with an eyebrow raised. I shook my head violently and glared at him.

"If you don't want me to report you to the police then don't talk about suspicious things," I replied angrily. He nodded in understanding.

"So you were recording then?" he reckoned. My face further reddened in its hue

"Let go of me!" I growled irritably, trying to free my hand. He seemed unmoved by my attempts to free myself.

"Then get rid of the voice recording," he suggested, no longer smiling. His friends were watching from behind him, Vince was expressionless and Ace looked scared.

"I could start screaming for help and warn the police," I warned, still trying to free my hand. Another smirk pulled up his lips and he further leaned in, now only inches away from my face.

"You think that would do anything?" he asked in a foreboding, taunting tone, his eyes darting around mine, "Even if you get rid of me, what makes you think there aren't hundreds of us, to replace the others? What safety would you be able to promise yourself once the others know you had me arrested?"