Guided by secrets

Lost

Omg thanks so much for 207 reads, I am honoured! Can we get to 230 reads in a few days? Thanks so much anyway and I hope you enjoy this chapter (warning: I'm going to leave a huge cliff-hanger so be ready for that!) But for now, byee!♥️

It really was a shame that we didn't get one of my dad's cars. My father-being the Prime Minister-had quite a hobby for expensive cars. I was really excited, thinking that we would get his white Porsche, but no such luck; 'an expensive car will draw a lot of unnecessary attention to us', the Chief explained. So instead, we got several Volvos XC40 and two Jeep Grand Cherokees.

Jeeps were common these days, everyone had them.

I put on a pair of ripped jeans, hoping my Mum would not see me because she would highly disapprove of such 'baggy fashion statement'. I decided to wear my favourite sweater, a warm, light blue one, saying #rebel on both sleeves. Of course, I was the opposite of a rebel, or supposed to be.

On the inside, I always felt really annoyed when someone said: "you are such a good girl, Cleo!" I know they meant good, but still! So now, I had a chance to be myself, not the person everyone knew and should supposedly be a 'good girl'. I could go out there with nobody judging me if I behaved inappropriately. Even the feeling felt...amazing!

I got out of our grand house, always so empty, but always so full, of memories, of fun times, of times where it could not provide me the happiness I needed, and times that I wished I would stay there forever.

What if I never come back?

What if I get discovered and kidnapped?

All kinds of random thoughts swirled in my head. But what if... I pushed them all away and started walking towards the now overloaded Jeep.

Time lapse: half an hour later

I never knew my country had so much...countryside and farming...

The whole landscape was blue sky and green fields for more than half an hour.

Wait, where the hell where we going? That thought hit me. As far as I knew, my house wasn't that far away from the central city! I jerked forwards, suddenly scared.

"Chief stop! Where are we going?"

Realising I sounded a bit pathetic, like an innocent, scared little girl, I changed my pitch and growled, "STOP THE CAR NOW!!"

Chief still didn't stop the car but said, "we are going the right way Cleo, you just sit tight and wait. We will arrive in approximately twenty minutes."

I don't know why, but his words calmed me. It maybe was the calmness of it all, or just that he was : The Chief. He would never want to harm me...or would he? I decided to stay quiet and count the seconds in twenty minutes, to prove to Chief that it was going to be much much more.

Time lapse: twenty minutes later

Okay, maybe the Chief was right. It was nineteen minutes and some seconds. Okay, and maybe I was behaving a lot like a baby, to count all the seconds and sulk like that. Fine.

We got out of the car and Chief gestured me to look at a building opposite us. Great.

It was a quite tall building, but seemed very simple somehow.  The walls could really use some painting, as they were full of moss and dirt. It was the only 'dark and dirty' thing in the area. The rest of the buildings were lovely light pink or light blue houses, and a nearby park full of well-taken care of greenery.

So Chief was really serious about keeping a 'low profile'; I had at least thought of a four-star hotel. Not that I was spoilt or anything...but probably had grown up in a more...extravagant environment.  Yes, this was nothing near three stars. It was probably one of those..what do they call them? Ahh, hostels! Ughhh. Sorry, but there was no way I was going to stay the night in that place.

"Chief! Where did you bring us? I know you want us to be unnoticed, but we could at least have chosen a hotel! What even is this place?"

Now Chief gave me a hard look that I would never had even imagined on his always-smiley face. "Cleo, grow up. You are so, so young and you never understand, do you? You do not have money. After your daddy died, your economic levels fell increasingly. You have no money for extra maids and cooks, no money for expensive cars and no money for expensive hotels. Do you understand?"

I felt like a rock had hit me hard in the face.
It was the first time anyone had talked to me like that. Like I was a stupid little girl that knew nothing. I was also surprised by the informality of his words...was he acting being posh in front of my parents for many years this whole time, I wondered.

How dare he, though! No one disrespected me like that! I was so angry, I was about to start shouting and thinking of going to my Mother to fire the Chief.
However, I was in a place, God knows where, where there was no Mother. I never even suspected that the Chief and the soldiers might not protect me. I thought that because my Mother payed them to, they would protect me to the best of their abilities.

Still, I had no proof that they wouldn't, but a feeling inside me was playing over and over. What if they don't? What if they are against you, Cleo? What if they are the bad men who you should hide from?

I realised then, I was totally and utterly, so fucking scared.