Flawless: Gazelle [COMPLETE]

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

It was nighttime, it was dark, and I was alone.

That wasn't exactly the best predicament for a young girl to be in.

Panicking mentally, I spied an apartment building not far from where I was standing, and deemed it a safe place to stay the night.

Fun fact that I may have forgotten to mention—Brianna was impeccably afraid of apartment buildings. God knows why; she had a beautiful sword to fight off all attackers. I snorted aloud. Gosh, I was so fluent in sarcasm it was practically my mother tongue. No, but honestly, she was a rare victim of batophobia, which basically meant she was afraid of heights and being in close proximity to tall buildings. It was an extremely ridiculous and irrational fear, since skyscrapers surrounded us nowadays, but if it meant I could have a safe night's sleep, then I wasn't complaining.

In light of my mental banter, I had unknowingly arrived at the apartment block. Up close, the skyscraper looked intimidatingly tall, its shadow looming over me as it towered over the city. Brianna definitely wouldn't have the guts to come here. The reflective glass windows on each floor and the grand lobby with marble staircases and crystal chandeliers showcased just how expensive a single flat would be. Whoever lived here must be filthy rich.

I would have been perfectly content just sleeping in one of the meeting rooms lined by the 3rd floor (at least, that was what the sign outside the elevator said), but I saw an old withered security guard sitting by the reception desk, and inferred that trying to sneak through under his watchful gaze would be totally impractical.

I was proven correct when I saw him yell at a young man, who weirdly resembled Liam by the back of his head, for forgetting to bring the resident's card that activated the elevator. Doppelganger Liam had laughed, then swiped the security's card instead. I witnessed the horrifying moment when the old man's eyes literally bulged out of his sockets and his face puffed up until it weirdly resembled (why did I keep saying "weirdly resembled" in my head?) a blown-up tomato. That was how angry he was.

Just my luck, however, that soon the poor man couldn't hold his bladder and escaped to the men's room. Seeing a great opportunity, I dashed into the emergency staircase and scrambled up to the third floor. Seeking refuge in the grand yet plain meeting rooms, I curled up and slowly slipped into silent slumber.

* * *

I woke to music, Johann Sebastian Bach, to be precise, and couldn't help the smile that made its way to my face. I loved J.S. Bach, and whoever was playing this song had great taste. Fugue in G minor was simply magical.

"And the sleeping beauty awakens," a voice said, causing me to yelp rather girlishly and jump up, slamming the intruder onto the ground.

I had begun self-learning karate ever since Brianna had oh-so-easily kidnapped me. It wasn't safe for me to be wandering around with no self-defense skills whatsoever.

I peered down at the writhing boy beneath my feet, and with a gasp of surprise, realized abruptly that it was, in fact, the Doppelganger Liam whom I'd seen last night in the lobby.

A closer look told me that it was actually Liam.

Oh.

Dusting off his jeans, I helped him up, and we shared a moment of simultaneous silence until he started laughing.

"Nameless Girlie, you might not be able to throw a punch," I cringed internally as he mentioned the time he had "followed" me after school, "but you sure can defend yourself!"

I was about to attempt at a witty reply, when his phone chimed. Reading the text, his face paled and he deleted the message, shoving his cell back into the back pocket of his jeans. "Ex-girlfriend," he informed me unnecessarily.

I stared down at my feet awkwardly, then decided to make a run for it. Trespassing was illegal, and though I highly doubted it, there was still a slight possibility that Liam was actually an undercover cop. Why else would he be playing Bach to wake me if not to get on my good side? However, before I could bolt, he seemed to have predicted my notions and had blocked my path.

His quick reflexes just caused me to panic internally. Yup, he was totally an undercover cop.

He chuckled again. He seemed to love laughing at my expense. "As much as I want to be a secret police officer, I am not one, so you don't have to worry."

Had I said that aloud?

I rolled my eyes. "That's what they all say. Look, Anderson, I know trespassing is illegal, and all that other crap people spew about the corrupt law, but I genuinely don't need you to lecture me and I certainly couldn't care to hear it. So, I would be utmost grateful should you please just let me leave without attracting unwanted attention."

He laughed again. "I'm not going to scold you; trust me, I've done my fair share of breaking the law. In fact, I'll leave the responsibility of yelling at you to your father."

Yeah, my father? Responsible? Was this some type of alternate universe? Did dragons exist? Was there a creepy psychopath hunting me down, ready to kill me—oh wait.

"What I do want to know, however, is why you were camping out in the meeting rooms here. They aren't exactly your definition of comfortable," he continued.

At his expectant look, I shrugged, looked him in the eyes, and lied. "Ran away for the night. Had an argument with my mother. All that typical teenage adolescence."

Lying was second nature. In such a cruel and selfish world, not lying would be equivalent to not breathing. You'd die and get trampled by the aggressive people of society. Simple as that. Growing up as a fighter, I knew that fighting meant playing dirty. You just had to in order to win.

Liam seemed skeptical about my excuse, as if he knew that Mama was in faraway Switzerland, still healing, but before he could interrogate further, the fire alarm went off in a shrill concession of beeps. Lost in the sea of people pushing to escape danger, I took off and soon, the glass building was nowhere in sight.

Wasn't it ironic that a fire had caused me to lose my home and get in all that trouble, yet at the same time, another fire had saved me from pouring my guts?