A Journey, A Coincidence, A Memory

Chapter 27: Lara

January 21, 2022, 7:00 pm

I need to find shelter; it's literally freezing right now.

I am exceedingly scared if Maisie left or not, but I hope she's here. I walk through the frosting streets of London and make my way to the London Eye. I enter through the ticket station and sit, leaning against the wall. It might look like I'm a lost kid, but I'm just trying to keep myself warm.

I wish I had my phone around, but it is at the motel with no battery. It's desperate. Euphoria faded away and depression took its place; it's been doing that for the past four days. I regret what I did, I never knew it would turn upside down. I should've thought wisely before I made a foolish mistake.

With my misery visible on my face, some people do think I'm a lost kid, but I'm just a pathetic teenager who's facing personal problems.

A girl about my age then came up to me. "You Lara Jacob?" she asks.

I'm in utmost confusion. I have never met this girl in my life. "Yes, I am ... how do you know?"

"Oh, sorry if you think I'm a stranger, but I'm Rose and I just came here to find you as your friends couldn't."

Friends? I only had one friend in this country not more than that. "How do you know my 'friends' and how do you know me?"

"Well, my mom is the aunt of Richard and the colleague of Maisie's mom. That's basically how my mom knew them and brought them to our house. That's where Richard and Maisie told me about you; including your physical appearance," she explains.

So I guess Richard already arrived; I completely forgot about that and Maisie is still here, so that's good news.

"Where's your house at?" I ask.

"About two miles from here, follow me," she instructs and I do so. I trail her behind on Oxford Street and head to her house.

Some familiar faces are then seen, and I instantly recognize who they are ... a walk is never peaceful for me.

Those police officers never give up. They come running towards me in a mood of exasperation; that doesn't look good.

I immediately pull Rose away from the police and head to somewhere safe.

"Why are we running?" she asks irritably.

"Because I'm currently encountering a police chase," I say sardonically.

She answers in terror, "What?!"

"Just ... follow me!"

We run in between buildings, so that it'll be easy to lose them. However, those police officers are in a mood that's preventing them from losing us. Basically, I'm going to get arrested when they catch us.

I run like a speeding car, but even that doesn't seem to work. The police officers started using police cars to chase us which is definitely not good. My brain needs to work; it needs to think of something. I have to save this innocent girl's life too since she's getting involved in a police chase she didn't cause.

A flash of memory flows through me; it reminded me of a vital moment that can help me through this. I might have fear of it, but my courage rises when I climb up a building along with Rose. We reach the top, and see an enchanting view. Along with that, we also see and perfect hiding spot. We quickly rush off to that place by doing parkour. I can't believe I'm actually doing parkour.

We climb down a building near our hiding spot and we sprint towards it like an unstoppable hummingbird. We quickly hide behind the boxes in between two buildings and I could see helicopters flying over us. I just hope they don't see us.

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Minutes passed by, and we haven't seen a single police vehicle in a while. Rose breathes in and out, literally panicking from what we just did.

"I- I- I never knew you've been through this," she panics.

"We got caught in the airplane when we weren't supposed to be on board, so that's why the police were chasing us like chaotically," I remarked.

"At least we're safe."

"Yeah, but how do we head back home?"

"I- I- don't know-" that's when she suddenly passed out.

"Oh no! Rose!! Wake up! Please wake up!" I scream out.

Some random man in a professional outfit comes to us and says, "Rose? You okay? Rose!"

"She- She's not waking up!" I inform.

"Oh, you must be Rose's friend. I'm her father, Mr. Leonardo, and don't worry, I'll get her to the hospital."

They leave and I follow them to Mr. Leonardo's limousine where they drop me off at their house and head off to the hospital.

At first, I don't believe that this is their house, but I then realized that Mr. Leonardo was in some expensive clothes and had a limousine. I guess Rose's family is rich. I knock on the door of their mansion and a woman who looks just like Rose lets me in.

"You must be Lara, I suppose," she says.

"Yes, I am," I reply in depression. I knew what I just saw had stuck to my memory badly.

"Hello then, Lara. I am Mrs. Caroline, Rose's mother. Where is she by the way?"

"She passed out, and her father took her to the hospital."

"What?!" she shouts in shock. "Oh no, I hope she'll be fine. Come on, head in Lara." And that's when I enter their extremely modern mansion.

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I spot Richard and Maisie running towards me from the other end of a hallway I entered.

"I'm so glad you're back, Lara! And they also have chargers here for our phones, so I charged yours and mine." Maisie reports.

"You have? Could I have my phone?" I ask and Richard hands it over to me.

I swipe to my apps section and go on a calling application. I select my mother's name and press 'call'.

Richard gasps, "Lara, what in the world are you-"

"I don't want to go through my pain of regret anymore; I have to tell my mother the truth." I interrupt.