Princess of AMBER

Chapter 16

      I moved farther into their apartment with Sharlene, dragging her along with me. Loosening the grip on her neck, I looked straight in her panicked and tear filled eyes. She coughed few times to get the precious oxygen back in to her lungs. Her body was shaking from fright, hands, with little no strength, clawing on my arm. It made no effect on me.

I pulled her very close to me and said straight in her face: "Where is Kyra?"

Sharlene blinked, few tears leaving her scared eyes, as she tried to cower away from my threatening form.

"I.... I don't know, Bryce...." she whispered hoarsely.

"Don't lie to me, Sharlene!"

"I swear! I don't know. I haven't seen her for a whi....." her words were cut short by the pressure applied to her throat again.

"Stop with this bullshit! You are her friend! You should know!" my voice hit her face. A girl in my hand winced by the harshness of it.

Her head was shaking from side to side, showing me, she knew nothing, as she was unable to voice a single word.

"I need to know.... I need her...." I said to no one in particular.

       I felt a slight pressure applied around my waist. First, I didn't pay attention to it, as my whole focus was on nearly dying girl in front of me. It got tighter and I felt a warmth of air hit my abs through fabric. My gaze fell on the unknown source nearly under me.

Laura.

    Her hands wrapped around me, her face buried in to the fabric covering my stomach. I felt her hot breath hitting me hard, her small form shaking. It appeared to me, that she was crying, her sobs - silent.

"Please! Let her go.... Don't be sad......" she squeezed me tighter.

       Sad? I was not..... My head moved up. In the dark brown glass decor, I saw my face. I felt mad, angry and all kind of other emotions, but the only one visible was the sorrow and pain. The expression I have never seen on myself before. It looked so foreign, I looked so strange in my own eyes.

"Please don't kill my friend, Bryce! ..... Please.....please..... please stop it...."

      From the shock, I released Sharlene's neck. Laura on other hand was holding on to me tight as ever. My hands were free, but I was unable to find a space or use for them, after a while I let them hang freely on the sides of my body. Laura was making me uncomfortable, as her body was still glued to mine. What have happened? I felt like the world around me have stopped. What she said me.... what I looked like.... what I have done.... I almost killed Kyra's best and most precious friends. Reality hit up on me and I managed to get my senses back.

They still did not answer my question.

"Where is Kyra?" I said more calmly, afraid to flip back in a pit of rage.

"We don't know. Believe us, Bryce." Laura said between her sobs. "After an accident, her father took her away and said nothing about her whereabouts. We will be allowed to meet her only after her condition gets better."

"Don't you have any idea, where could she be?"

I managed to pry Laura's arms away from me and now looked at her tear soaked face.

"I guess somewhere safe. Maybe closer to her father?"

"And where would it be?"

"'AmberSol' - most likely." came a soft answer from Sharlene, who was partly hiding behind a furniture.

     She had a reason to be scared for her life. A bruise was starting to get noticeable on her neck. I almost killed her - the crazy infected robot, who walks around the city and takes the life's of innocent people. Starts to look like the things people say, are true.

     I look down at Laura. A red patch of blood covers a spot on her head where the nearly white hair meets her face. I gently take a strand of hair away from the injury, to see better of my horrible doing.

"You better take care of this." I turn around to leave the room of two frightened girls. Before I do, I decide to give them very important advice. "Lets try not to cross our paths again. I might not be the same person, as I am now."

"Bryce?" I can barely hear Sharlene's whisper. "Please, don't hurt Kyra...."

"I won't."

I exit their now destroyed apartment. I just pray, no one heard the incident.

****

     My emotions - my most vulnerable spot. I cannot control them properly and now I am not even able to hide them. Weakness. That's why it is so easy to read humans, their thoughts, their intentions, their overall feelings. A blank face can hold so much information, and no one can have a slightest idea, of what is inside the head of the person or robot wearing it.

     On the street everything seems to be the same, as it was couple of minutes ago. People walking clueless of my presence between them. I notice an incident have happened on one of the roads. Some policemen are questioning the people involved in the problem. A couple of police robots too. It is a biggest threat in Amber for me. Not the human ones, but the android models from MELAXO. I saw their structure, adding their programmed data, they are a force to be reckoned with. Without them, humans would be helpless, if something bad happens to their little perfect world.

     An object placed on the police car takes my interest. Dark green glasses, almost black looking. A part of police equipment. Not only capable of shielding the bright sunshine, but filled with useful apps to help them in their work. I casually walk past them and snatch the piece of equipment, making sure no one notices me. A perfect piece of shielding off my emotions.

    Now I have to find 'AmberSol'. Hopefully Kyra is there. I feel like longer I go without her presence, the quicker I loose the control of myself.

This have to end.