Three Hearts Left Intact

Chapter 29: Acting Gig

Kaila was frozen in front of the door long enough that she felt numb. Knowing not only her life was on the line worried her, she would do anything to make sure Lain wasn't in pain. But now she had the chance to make sure she'll never be hurt again. Rubbing her chin, Kaila took one step out of the house feeling a rush run over her whole body. One not of fear or joy, but of caution. Throughout the entire time Kaila's been here, she had yet to encounter a Hound. And that was something she wanted to avoid for as long as possible.

Taking one of the deepest breaths of her life, Kaila stepped out completely beginning to walk away from the home. She felt every part of her body shaking, she was nervous from head to toe. She opened the door at the end of the hall that led into the facility slowly, poking her head out she could hear a group of people coming down the hall. Shutting the door quickly and quietly Kaila quietly stood to the side waiting for them to pass.

She could barely hear them through the thick cement walls. Leaning against the door frame she barely heard their voices as mumbles until they quickly faded. Waiting a few seconds, she cracked the door open again seeing the hallway empty.

Deciding now would be her chance she snuck out into the facility on her own. Tip toeing down the direction away from the voices down the hall, she began walking through the labyrinth of white surroundings. Kaila was constantly on edge, every time she stepped down it seemed as though the floor thundered beneath her.

Trying to remain calm she passed several different locked doors all with whiteboards with names written on them. Her eyebrow raised seeing at least twenty doors with different names written besides them, given the exception of one door with no name. Just as she was getting to the end of a hall she felt her heart fall out of her chest. "Hey!" A voice shouted at her from behind.

Freezing as if she were paused she shut her eyes hoping they would just go away. But instead all she could hear was the rumbling of footsteps getting closer to her. Feeling a hand tap her back, Kaila turned around nervously. Behind she was met with an elderly woman around the same height as herself wearing a lab coat with a clipboard in hand.

"What're you doing here?" She asked Kaila looking her up and down.

"I...I...I um was..." she felt her breathing quicken and sweat droplets begin to form. Looking around the room she noticed that besides all the doors had clipboards. Taking a quick peak at the one in the woman's hands she could make out that it was in fact a questioner with the name of the room she had come out of right at the top. "I-I just finished questioning someone." She nodded trying to hold herself up confidently.

The woman cocked her eyebrow and put her hands on her waist. "Really?"

"Y-yeah..." Kaila played off slyly coughing.

"Who's room did you just come out of?" She tested.

"Um..." Kaila looked to the closest door to her and read off the name scribbled on the wall, "Riley."

"You're in charge of Riley? I thought Nate had her?" The woman looked genuinely confused at Kaila.

Trying to play it off with laughter she shrugged it off, "nope, that's me. It's my...s-shift to check on her."

"Well then why aren't you in your lab coat? You know it's procedure we stay in them at all times. You wouldn't want a Hound mistaking you for one of them."

"Oh...that...I-I must've misplaced it. I took it off to-to...use the bathroom and I left it...uh, somewhere. But when I went back for it, it was gone." She forced a smile out.

The long pause the elderly woman made whilst processing everything was pushing Kaila off edge. "Here come with me, we have a few spare ones in the broom closet in the lounge." The woman offered looking less suspicious of Kaila. Nodding in agreement, Kaila began to follow closely behind the woman.

"And you realize you were going the wrong way, the conference is that way." She pointed the opposite direction. "Remember, it's getting close to the big day. We have to have conferences every afternoon now to check on the girls health before we send them off."

"Big day?" Kaila uttered back.

"Yeah, you know. When these girls get put up on the board. We just have to run through diagnosis's with everyone else to make sure they were healthy before we submit all the papers to Lauren." She noticed the woman shiver.

"Oh...yeah that's right. I blanked out for a second." The woman continued to make small talk with Kaila the entire rest of the time they were walking. Finally getting to a white door similar to the rest, the woman grabbed an ID badge from her pocket and unlocked the door. Holding it open for Kaila they both entered.

Luckily for the small girl, nobody besides them occupied the room at this moment. "It's right through there." The woman pointed to a small door in the back behind a small couch.

Nodding and smiling, Kaila walked over and grabbed herself a lab coat. Putting it on she looked back at the woman in front of her. "You ready now?"

"Yeah..." Kaila was still wary but feeling like she could easily blend in now she felt somewhat more confident.

"Good, the conference is about to start in ten minutes. We should head over there now." Taking the lead once again, the woman began walking towards where they were suppose to be. Using this time to her advantage, Kaila looked around trying to map out in her brain the layout of this place.

"Wait!" The woman confusedly stopped right in the middle of the hall and turned to face Kaila. Meeting one another's eyes Kaila felt panic begin to rise in her body. The woman once again eyed her up and down as if she were searching for something.

"Yes?" Kaila asked gulping down harshly.

"Where's your clipboard? How are we suppose to discuss everything when you don't have Riley's data?"

Feeling herself coming down from her near panic attack she took a breathe. "Oh that...I must've forgot it back at her room." Kaila rubbed the back of her neck.

The woman in front of her groaned clearly annoyed with Kaila. "Then let's get it. Luckily it's on our way there. Is this your first day or something? You seem...lost?" She asked Kaila.

Trying to avoid eye contact she laughed nervously, "is it that obvious?"

"Just a smidge, don't worry about it. I remember my first day. I was a mess. I nearly had the auction pushed back a month because I messed up some data on the sheets." The woman laughed.

Continuing to play along with the act, Kaila laughed back. Once the woman turned her head away, Kaila couldn't hide back her shock anymore. Her eyes bulged and she felt her hands get clammy. 'AUCTION?!'
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off