Violet

Chapter 11 - Shadow Man

- You think you're smarter than me with all your bad poetry -

It was 7:45pm. I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, giggling softly as Max stood behind me, placing a diamond necklace around my neck with a grin. The sun was going down and we'd agreed to try to ignore the events from earlier, while Max agreed to keep his promise from this morning and take me out for dinner.

As Max clipped the necklace, I looked at myself up and down in the mirror. I was wearing a black, knee-length, lacy dress, with plain black flats and the darkest makeup I could find. My hair was tied back in a French plait that Max did for me. I wanted to wear my hair how I usually wore it - down with a beanie - but after Max's continuous pleads for me to do something 'even sexier' with my hair, I decided to give it a shot. Honestly, I really liked it. After examining my appearance for several minutes, Max held me by the waist from behind and grinned.

"Give us a spin, gorgeous," he chuckled.

I giggled softly and did as he'd asked. I turned to face him when I'd finished and wrapped my arms around his neck. I gazed into his dark, chocolate brown eyes. He was wearing a dark, black tuxedo and his hair was neatly combed to the side. I placed a quick kiss upon his nose before pulling away and grabbing my rucksack, throwing it over my shoulders.

"Let's go!" I smiled.

He grinned and held me up bridal style as he carried me down the stairs and out to his car. He sat me gently in the passenger seat and shut the door afterwards. Several seconds later, after he'd gotten into the car, we sped off into the distance, towards a place that I wasn't sure of yet.

It took around 20 minutes but eventually, we reached our destination and parked outside this massive, beautiful, 5-star restaurant. I stepped out of the car and gasped in excitement at this masterpiece of a building. I could just imagine the mouth watering foods that they served... and since Max was paying... that chocolate mountain lava cake was all mine! Well, it would be, if I wasn't so scared of getting over weight and then Max leaving me for some dumbass super model or whatever.

"This place is amazing," I breathed. Max chuckled in response and led me inside. I gazed around the room in amazement, taking in every little detail that made the scene absolutely breath taking. Max noticed how in awe I was and laughed. I realised why he was laughing at and blushed of embarrassment and annoyance.

"Hehe, sorry babe, you just look so adorable when you're excited," he smirked.

My blush deepened and I rolled my eyes. After Max checked us in at the registry desk, we made our way to our reserved table-for-two. He pulled out a chair and tucked it back in under the table after I'd sat down. He gave me a warm smile as he sat down in front of me. At first there was a lot of silence and gazing at each other... but eventually, I started a conversation, right after a waiter had came, taken our orders, and left to the kitchen.

"So... why can't people know about us?" I asked.

He stared at me expressionless for a moment. Then he cleared his throat and looked around, careful not to meet my gaze.

"It's uh... something I'm not really sure on how to say..." he tailed off.

"Well, don't you think I deserve to know why we have to be careful not to be seen too much together? Why we can't take photos together?" I snapped.

There was a pause. He sighed.

"The thing is... you... all the fellow orphans in Little Angel say that you're the chosen one and... there's this weird prophesy thing that says something like-"

"For the last time, I'm not the god damn chosen one!" I interrupted.

"Vee, please, that's not the only reason that-"

"Then why else don't you want people to see us?! Are you embarrassed?!"

"What? No, babe, of course not. Do you think I would've asked you to come out to dinner with me tonight if I didn't wanna be seen with you?"

I looked away. I knew that I was rude and I wanted to apologise... but I was silent. He sighed again.

"Listen babe... the thing is... everyone knows me... and I know almost everyone..."

I looked at him.

"So? What's your point?"

"Clearly there's someone trying to hurt you... if that person sees that you're with me... he'll know how to find you... you don't know how the people act around here yet... but it's dark... real traumatising... I don't want them to do to you... what they did to my sister... don't even ask..." He suddenly looked scared. He went silent.

"I... I'm sorry that I snapped... I had no idea you... I mean I..." I didn't know what to say.

"It's okay, Vee," he smiled weakly. "It's fine."

There was a long pause.

"I uh... I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick." I leaned over and kissed his cheek before standing up and walking to the ladies bathrooms, just so he knew that I wasn't trying to get away from him or anything like that.

I walked into the bathrooms and noticed that the atmosphere was quite airy for some reason. I decided to ignore this and walked into one of the empty stalls. As I sat myself on the toilet seat, the lights in the room began to flicker until the entire room went completely black. I let out a small yelp in fear and got up, leaning against the wall. I clenched the lock on the stall, my body shaking and opened the door. I stepped out the stall slowly, trying not to make a sound. I heard a low chuckle. It was identical to the one that I'd heard when I took the red pills. As I looked deeper into the darkness, I was able to make out a tall, human-like figure, standing in the corner. It suddenly zoomed around from corner to corner until it looked as if there were multiple figures, circling me, getting closer to me until I felt that I was up against a cold, brick wall. Suddenly, I felt hands pinning me down to the uncomfortable surface. I tried to scream but no sound came out. I was frozen with fear and shock. A hand suddenly met my face and shoved what I could tell was one of the red pills just by the bitter taste. After I was forced to swallow it down, I was hit in the head by something hard and I fell to the ground, becoming unconscious, just as the lights turned back on...

- Fuck all your ABC's Alphabet Boy -

To be continued...