Karma

~Chapter 13: Shopping For a Thief~

I made my way out of the kitchen window and back into the busy streets. That's where I saw him. Ben and I came face to face. He looked panicked and in a rush. I had no idea why, I never asked. He simply stood there for a few seconds before nodding to me and running in the direction of Y'oll Diablo. I was confused, but also didn't care. I carried on and went to the water fountain from before.

As perfectly expected, Oliver was sitting there, waiting for me. He was reading a book, one I'd caught him reading a few times now. He pushed the brim of his glasses further up on his nose, and that's when he noticed me. He looked up from his book to meet my gaze and smiled happily at me. I would have rolled my eyes had he not been watching. I walked up to him and stuffed my hand into the small pocket of my fancy pants so he wouldn't see the tattoo.

"Hey!" He said as I further approached him. "How'd your breaking and entering scheme go?"

"Perfectly fine. Besides, it's not breaking and entering if there was someone in the building waiting for you." Any facial expression I had from before had completely drained from me. I really didn't care about being emotionless and seeming rude, emotions seemed entirely pointless anyway.

Because of what I said, of course Oliver was curious. "What do you mean? Who was in there waiting for you?"

"A gay death demon who likes pun-based shirts."

He smiled. "Well, you didn't show much emotion but at least you made a joke. That's a start!"

He only wished I was joking.

"Anyway! Mum is waiting at her favorite shop for us. She wants to buy you some new clothes." He grabbed my hand and started dragging me away. My panic meter starting going up immediately. A store meant walls. Walls that confine. Walls where you can't escape except for a door. A door which can be easily blocked off.

Everything about this screamed "hell-to-the-fuck-no".

I tried at least a little bit to resist but he kept on walking and dragging me. By this point I couldn't tell what would be worse; not resisting and getting trapped in a store or resisting and making a scene.

Before I could even decide what to do, I was already in the store. My shoulders scrunched up and I let my hair fall in my face while I starred at the floor. Mrs. Luck was walking around the store pointing out stuff that I could try on. I shrugged at all of them, not even giving them a second glance. I twiddled my thumbs uncomfortably as I followed her around the store.

At one point or another, I felt someone's hand brush my cheek as they tried to move some of my hair out of the way. I reacted on instinct and grabbed their arm with a hard grasp and gave them a death glare. Seeing Oliver's startled face made me relax when I realized it was just him doing his normal, stupid thing where he creeped up on you and did something.

I had always had my fair share of creeps. More than once I was offered to sell my body for a night in order for some cash to be thrown my way. Trust me when I say this; I have the utmost, highest and most undoubtable respect for prostitutes but I have no intention of being one. Ever.

"Sorry," I apologized and released his arm. "You startled me."

"Ah, yeah, sorry. I was just worrying about you." He shrugged and gave me a sweet, genuine smile. At times, this kid seemed almost too perfect. That creeped me out the most.

"Don't, seriously. The only person who needs to worry about me is myself." I told him, seriousness seeping out of my very being.

"If you say so. It doesn't hurt to be concerned though. Anyway, do you see any clothes that you like? Anything you want?

My eyes finally wandered anywhere else but the floor and Oliver. The store we went to was one that sold high quality, fancy clothes. Almost what someone would call a "boutique", something I never thought I'd ever step inside of. I glanced around the store and decided to walk around a bit too. Surprisingly, a dress was the first thing that really caught my eye.

It was black, and made of thick, soft fabric. It had long sleeves and the skirt went down not far past the knees. The bottom of the skirt had a sort of white fluff sewn onto it or something, but it really clashed with the dress and looked nice. The dress came with a little cape that had a hood on it. The cape was also lined with the white fluff and went barely past elbow level.

Oliver saw me stop in front of it and smiled his usual, dorky smile. "You like this dress?" He asked. I shrugged. I did, I liked it a lot but I wasn't about to squeal out my excitement like some prissy poppet. I just gave him a half smile. That was good enough for him. He got Mrs. Luck and she asked me to try it on. I grabbed a medium and went into a change room. A small for sure would have fit me, I don't have doubts about it, but I always preferred clothing loose fitting and baggy.

The change room was small and raised my stress level up a notch but I managed to survive. While I was in the tiny-ass change room, Mrs. Luck took this as her chance to get me to try on other clothes. She hung them over the door, and told me with her darling, high pitched voice, that she thought I'd look nice in them. I rolled my eyes at this and told her I'd give them a try. When I looked, most of them were fancy, uncomfortable shirts and skirts. I set almost all of those outfits in the "don't even bother pile."

First things first, before any other outfit, was the dress. Pulling off the clothes I had been given for today since my other clothes were dirty, I slipped the dress over my body, reaching my arms and head through the appropriate holes. Realizing I had put the dress on backwards, I promptly let out a shallow, "Fuck," and took the dress off. I repeated the process, this time with the dress facing the correct way. I draped the cape over my shoulders, put together the one large cotton button it had and looked in the mirror.

I looked gooooooooood. I know this sounds narcissistic and all, but this was the one time I got something decent to wear and a mirror to look in. After dancing around in the dress for a minute or two (I can't pretend I wasn't acting like I was at some fancy ball with the way the skirt twirled and fluffed) I heard a knock on the door, "Uh, yes?" I called to the knocker.

"How are you doing in there, Nikki? Do you like the dress?" The knocker, who I assumed to be Mrs. Luck, replied.

"Uh huh. It's nice."

"Did you want to wear pants under it? I found some brown leggings that would go really well if you wanted to try them with it!"

"Oh, uh, okay. Sure."

She handed me the leggings over the door and I put them on under the dress. I glanced back at the mirror and couldn't help but smile wide. It almost looked like someone new, a different person entirely. My hair was still the same bright red as usual, my eyes blue. I was the same person, but so different. I couldn't explain it easily. It's like I shared a body with someone else and suddenly we traded places.

I shook my head at my melodramatic-ass and started trying on the other clothes. At the end of the day, I ended up with three pairs of pants, four dresses, six shirts, four new pairs of shoes, a crap-ton of socks, and a large black, purple and gray duffle bag. I told Mrs. Luck I liked the duffle bag and it would be of good use to me for putting a lot of my important stuff in just in case one day I have to leave, AKA I want the bag to pack all of my stuff in because I'm leaving tonight. Thanks for the clothes though!

Tonight really was the night I was leaving. I couldn't stay here and just panic over what might be happening to Leo right now. I had to do something; I needed to find and kill Charlie Maddox, one of the members of Bloody Brothers.