Soulmates

Chapter 6

The men stood staring at me, their mouths gaping open in shock. I flashed them what I hoped was a charming smile.

"Hello, there. My name is...uh..." I didn't want to tell them my real name. I don't know why. My instinct just told me not to tell them anything about me, and definitely not to trust these strangers. "...Lily." I finished.

"No." The first man spoke almost as soon as I had finished my sentence.

"Pardon me?"

"No," he repeated.

"No...what, exactly?"

"No, your name is not Lily. It's Beth Montgomory, you live in Town Three, and you were born on the first of April sixteen years ago." The man said without so much as blinking.

"Holy-" I started to speak, but the man interrupted.

"You did badly in primary school but blossomed in high school, and now you're a straight-A student. You don't have many friends because of your bad attitude, but you've been best friends with Jas Wilson since you were five. You have tried to remove your countdown many times and have been punished for it repeatedly. I just thought I'd say all of that before you tried to feed us any more lies," he finished.

"How do you know- wait, did you say 'the Third Town'? Is that what it's called? Are there other towns nearby? And what the hell do you mean by 'punished'?" Sure, I should have been worried why these guys knew so much about me even though we were complete strangers, but they could provide me with answers, and that was really all I cared about.

"Come with us." The second man said, and he turned and started walking away. The first man followed him. I hesitated for a moment, but then I figured, what was the worst that could happen? I jumped out of the truck and started walking. Then powerwalking. I broke into a light jog, then a sprint. Damn, these guys were fast. When I finally caught up, they both moved aside slightly without looking at me so that I could fit in between them.

"So...where are we headed to, boys?" I linked arms with the two men. I don't know why. I guess I just felt strangely confident, and I wanted to have some fun. It looked like we were headed towards a big building, almost a warehouse. Except it didn't look like the stereotypical warehouse. Instead of being dirty and having boarded up windows, it was clean, and the windows were large, sparkling, and every single window had its shutters drawn up. The more I looked at it; I thought less of it as a warehouse, and more of an office building. Surrounding the large office were more, smaller buildings, but they were all offices as well. It seemed, however, that the one we were about to walk in to was the main one. Behind me, there was a large car park, filled purely with the same type of trucks that we had come in. They all looked identical from the front, but if I tilted my head slightly, I could see the sides of them, and they all had different symbols on them. Some had a large zero, made up of tiny little numbers, starting from 1, and ending at 10. Some had a picture of a flower, petals falling from it. There were a few with intertwined sticks that I thought looked like DNA, and a few with two roses that were so close, their thorns fit into each other like puzzle pieces.

"We are going to headquarters," the first one said, still not looking at me. Instead he just stared straight ahead.

"Yeah, because that doesn't sound at all cheesy," I muttered.

We walked for only a few minutes, and as I predicted, we were going to the largest building, the one in front of us. We didn't go through the front door, though. Instead, we walked around to the side of the building. The second man felt around the wall for a bit, then his hand came to rest on something, and he yanked on what looked to me like air. However, as a small square portion of the wall swung out, I discovered that it was a handle (and a very well-hidden one at that), and the portion of the wall was a sort of secret door. Inside, I expected to see a staircase or anything that resembled an entrance to the building, but instead I saw the inside of a metal tube, and then darkness.

"I don't understand..." I turned the first man. "This looks like a garbage chute."

"Yes."

"Yes it looks like a garbage chute or yes it is a garbage chute?"

"Yes." The first man took the handle from the second and held the door open. The second man took a step towards the door and carefully put one leg inside the tube. The second leg followed, then his torso, and when his whole body was inside the tube, he pushed off and disappeared.

"Your turn," the first man said shortly.

"Alrighty then," I said after a short pause. I put one leg in and looked to the man for approval. He nodded, so I put my other leg in the chute and slowly lowered myself down, and before I knew it, I was falling. It was like a giant slide at a theme park; steep, winding constantly and slippery as hell. And I loved every second of it. At the end of the chute, there was a rough 50-centimeter drop to the ground, and because I didn't expect it, I stumbled. Naturally, because the world hates me and knows I despise everything cheesy, a handsome stranger caught me. I steadied myself and looked up (he was almost freakishly tall) at him to say thanks. His big green eyes caught mine as his face split open in a huge grin, and for a moment, I was speechless. Then the butterflies hit.

"Shit," I groaned.