Loose Ends - Book One

Levi ~ Okay Cinderella

After about twenty minutes of walking into the city, I finally spot an unoccupied gas station. The vacancy probably has something to do with their seven-dollar supreme gas.

As soon as I step inside, the smell of old candy and cigarettes hit me and agitate my headache, resulting in what's most-likely a concussion, now.

There's an entire aisle of first aid and medicine to my right. The shelves were lined with bandages, painkillers, and all types of hydrogen peroxide but no syringe. Vicky needs me to go into a pharmacy, but I'm battling paranoia, even in a small and empty gas station. From the time I was a child, I've been looking over my shoulder, unable to shake the feeling like someone's getting closer. Today is the first time that anyone has gotten the opportunity to get their hands on me. I've never been more afraid of having someone in my life than now. All I can think about is how I'm going to keep this from Vicky.

I take one more loop around the medical stuff, then decide to at least get bandages for my head. I bring my items to the front counter and the dude starts ringing me up.

The store's doorbell goes off and the door swings open, followed by a girl in a denim jacket. She quickly walks over to the first aid with her head down. I don't see her face, at first, but I do see long, unruly black hair. With her back turned to me, I watch her pick up a couple boxes of Band-Aids. Then she starts examining various bottles of wound cleaner. Is she hurt? I can't tell, but I'm waiting to see, for some reason.

She turns around a second later, and she's not hurt. But what I see takes my breath away, making me inhale sharply.

Her eyes look like something you'd take right out of the pot at the end of a rainbow. They're golden brown like pools of honey. They're light, and they complement her skin that's just a few shades darker than her eyes. They look fierce, but also like they're hiding something. She has secrets - maybe painful secrets. I can tell she's strong from the way she lifts her head and searches the store. She's got a don't fuck with me vibe, which leads me to believe that something - or someone - forced her to be that way. Who hurt her? Why am I wondering?

She continues to survey the store until her eyes land on me. We are now making eye contact. I only allow it for a couple of seconds before I break it, but it was enough to throw me off. She looks like something out of a fantasy that got placed into the real world. Something wildly beautiful.

Nonetheless, the cashier takes my money, and I get the hell out of there. That was probably weird as hell, to her. Feeling's mutual - I undoubtedly just freaked myself out. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what I just felt, but it was new and new makes me nervous. Once I was a good ten yards away from the gas station, I glanced back. Having a life on the run has allowed me to see a lot of faces for only a short amount of time. Somehow, she's the first face to stick.

Following my usual route back home, at some point within the subtle city business, I hear noise echoing in the distance. It's a loud, shattering sound and it's not far from where I'm standing. I stay put long enough to hear something else break, followed by a shout:

"Pussy!"

I turn my head in the direction of the commotion and that's when I notice some guy in a T-shirt with a tattoo on his neck, swinging around a bat. He's behind some old, brick building that's been vandalized with graffiti and knife carvings. A few seconds later, a second guy in a hoodie comes out, who seems less interested in their activity.

"This is not even your car."

"Why would I beat up my own car, stupid?" T-shirt laughs and smacks Hoodie upside his head.

"Let's just go. You might be able to get away with this, but I won't."

Losing interest, I'm about to turn and proceed home when what I hear next stops me in my tracks.