Tell No One

Chapter 17

They sat on the hill for a while longer, just staring as the new day started. Kiera had time to reflect, in this small breather she was given. No doubt she would be tracked down soon. By that time, she needed to have reached the next city and disappeared into the crowds. From there...

Kiera missed home. Sitting on that cold autumn morning, Kiera missed her mum more than anything. Deep inside, she knew she hadn't healed. She was still hurting. She wasn't ready to be alone, and right now she felt more alone than ever.
Kiera looked at Mera, his head tilted towards the sun.
He looked happy, but his face also held a kind longing. Kiera looked at the sun too, felt its rays against her face. When a moment of peace would come again, she didn't know. Suddenly, without warning, Mera disappeared, the reaching tendrils of shadow dissolving in the sunlight. It was time to get going.

***

Kiera ditched the car nearer to the city's centre, as an attempt to make her harder to find when the police eventually did track down the car. She was on high alert, twitchy at every movement. It took 3 more hours of driving, but finally, the looming skyscrapers and sprawling metropolis of Newbank spilt over the horizon. Boasting a residency of over 200,000 it was a far cry from Kiera's smaller town and a great opportunity to lose herself in the populace. But, traversing the streets, Kiera felt at a loss for where she would go now. Sure, she and Alana had come to Newbank once, to hang out in the big city, but that didn't mean Kiera knew it. It was a stranger to her. 
The roads were busy, a steady stream of vehicles and foot traffic that made Kiera's senses go into overdrive. It was way too crowded. She didn't know what she was going to do here, but right then, she made a plan of action.
Her top 2 priorities were to:

A) Gain distance between her and the stolen car

B) Avoid people at all cost.

Which, Kiera thought, was going to be difficult. In fact, she started to rethink her decision. Sure, she would be able to hide, but in a virtual media blackout- She threw her phone way back at Shelia's, not trusting its GPS- Kiera's opportunist approach of coming to the city was going to haunt her. Kiera kept closer to the buildings, keeping her head low, her brown locks a veil between her and the passersby, regretting not picking up a hoodie instead of one of Shelia's sweater. They didn't pay her much notice, but each solemn face that passed was a reminder that she was playing with fire. 
As Kiera walked, she watched as the streets became more desolate- gone were the well-maintained tarmac of the busy business centre, and instead, Kiera saw it replaced with potholes and cracks as the buildings changed to residential flats. Everything was more cramped here, more closed in- there was a certain presence of desperation. To Kiera's delight, however, the streets and roads were mostly deserted. If Kiera had to guess, it had to be late morning, well into the average person's working day. Kiera allowed herself a breather. Standing on the side of the street, Kiera realised something else; she was hungry. She'd been so concentrated that she hadn't even registered just how hungry she was. Looking back, she may not have eaten for over a day. 

Kiera picked the flat that looked the least alive. She'd had a special criteria when she was looking; any cars, lights or curtains that were closed, and Kiera moved onto the next block of flats. But this set, this set looked perfect. Sliding up to the door, Kiera narrowed her eyes at the frosted glass. She was going to have to break it if she wanted in. As quietly as she could, Kiera placed her hand near the door handle and pushed through. The glass shattered into a million different pieces, pulverised into dust before any could touch the ground. The end result was a basic cloud of white, which drifted silently to the floor. Kiera gave a small smile of appreciation, before reaching round and opening the door from the inside. 

The concrete floor masked her footsteps enough as she made her way inside. Black stains of gum cluttered the floor, and the air smelt faintly mouldy. A thick layer of dust covered the windowsill of the stairwell. Kiera was slightly repulsed at the sheer number of insect carcases that coated the sill, crusted bodies splayed on their backs- but she had to laugh at herself on this one. Being disgusted by dead bugs but not her own actions. Cresting the last of the stairs, Kiera regarded the last two doors of the complex. The cheap faux oak doors were imperceptible from each other, identical if not for the curled font of "36" on one and "37" on the other. She was going to have to make a choice. Ultimately, she knew picking either one wouldn't matter- either there was a person when she opened the door or not, that was out of her control- the outcome would ultimately be the same. Picking "36", Kiera pulled the knob towards her with a sudden force, viciously disembowelling the door in one swift movement. The sound ricocheted about the stairwell, and Kiera winced at her stupidity. Looking over the bannister, however, she saw no movement and quickly moved on. With the locking system inoperable, the door opened smoothly with a tap from Kiera's boot. Inside the apartment was dark, the entranceway only lit up by the filtered sunlight from the other rooms. Closing the door behind her, Kiera worked quickly to secure the rooms. She did a thorough sweep, checking each space with clipped, defined movements as to where anyone could be. Satisfied, she returned to the kitchenette. A quick root through the cupboards turned up an instant ramen meal, which she was nearly salivated at. Whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, Kiera thought of another asset that could aide her at that moment- the T.V. 

As it was right now, Kiera could only guess how much the public knew- if they even knew at all.  Setting down her bowl of instant noodles on a battered, worn coffee table in the living room, Kiera seated herself in front of the old analogue TV. Turning it on at the wall, Kiera was met with a face full of blinding static. Scrambling for the remote, she eventually figured out how to get it to the right setting to view the channels. Kiera moved from the TV, grabbing her noodles from the table but still sitting on the floor. Flicking through the channels, Kiera was met with a static picture of her face. Startled, Kiera finally registered the woman's voice speaking over the top;

"-is thought to be armed and dangerous. We urge you to report it to the police if you think you see her, but we must implore you that at no cost should she be approached." Kiera barely looked up, scoffing her noodles. She wondered if there was any more in the cupboard.
"Well, who would've guessed." The screen had zoomed out to reveal the two reporters seated at the typical glass desk most news stations had. There was a photo of her played in the background, smiling, The face next to hers had been blurred out.

 The man addressed the camera- "That the 20-year-old college student Kiera Wilder would've been the acclaimed killer, that has ravaged the public for months."  Kiera recognised the photo. She even knew the identity of that blurred out face. But that meant...

"That's right, John." His female correspondent replied. "It just goes to show that anyone can be a killer; they can be your neighbour, your doctor, your teacher, or even your friend. Truly, if this is any evidence, there is no status quo for what a killer should, or could look like." The woman addressed the camera sternly, her face filling the screen. 

"Speaking of friends-" The man was talking again, a warm smile on his face. "We have been joined this morning by a close friend of Kiera's, Alana Parr." The camera panned out to reveal Alana, perched on a chair next to John. "She had kindly joined us today at a very short notice, to give her take on the whole situation." Kiera stopped eating, intrigued but wary. For someone who joined on 'short notice', she looked remarkably put together. In fact, she looked the same as she always had- even her trademark smile was on her face. She certainly didn't look like someone who had just found out that her best friend was a deranged killer.

John turned to face her, the smile never leaving his face. "Go ahead, Alana." 

Alana gave a pleasant smile, charming even. "Thank you. Although, before we start this for real, I would like to clarify; Kiera isn't a friend to me. That bond was severed the first time she took a life." Alana spoke the words softly, but there was a hard flint edge to her voice. "Kiera doesn't have a friend in the world right now. That's no way to live." Alana was on the verge of choking up. John gave her a sympathetic smile, whispering her words of encouragement. Alana regained her composure. "Which is why I am working with the police, and have given myself over completely to helping to catch her and stop her for good. Kiera-" Alana turned to face the camera, her eyes misting slightly. "Please, please if you happen to be watching this, please turn yourself in." For Kiera, everything else faded. It felt like they were next to each other as she spoke those words when in reality Kiera knew they were hundreds of miles away. "Please, Kiera. If you don't, they'll catch you." Alana paused. "And they will find you." Kiera did not listen to the rest of the interview but instead watched in a certain numbness at the image of her best friend as it flitted around the screen. Her words didn't register, but Kiera watched as that last reminiscent of her old life was brought in front of her eyes again and again and again. And in that instant, Kiera knew everything had been irrevocably changed. Alana left, and the spell was broken. Kiera lifted her hand to her cheek, where the tears had cascaded down her face and had left trails. The pillars of what once was had crumbled. Shelia was dead, and Kiera killed her, and now Alana had vowed to make sure she didn't get away with it. The tides were changing, and whereas Kiera was once the hunter, she was now to be the hunted. And with Alana on their side, the beginning was the endgame.