Lacunae

PROLOGUE

I entered an abandoned looking factory under a bridge in Portland, Oregon. I looked around and saw trails of shoes leading to a narrow alley. I followed it and ended up in another empty room full of destroyed wooden crates. I observed. There were four possible narrow pathways that I could take. But I wasn't sure which one. Then I heard footsteps.

I didn't turn around, I waited for the person to speak up, wanting to study his nerves, the tone of his voice, the pace of his movements. Every single detail that will help determine my next moves.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in a harsh tone when, I assumed, he saw me standing there looking like a lost puppy.

I turned very slowly. I put up my façade as the lost, little girl in the middle of the night before facing him. Then I began speaking timidly, with my voice cracking to add up for effects. "I-I-I was l-looking for a place to st-ay." I pretended to blink my eyes and shiver.

"What is a girl like you doing outside at this time of hour?" He asked. And as if it just dawned on him, he remembered his sniper gun peacefully resting on his right shoulder and pointed it at me. I wanted to roll my eyes at him for being such an amateur and for asking me that stupid question.

First of all, I was wearing a torn and muddy dress that looked like as if it hadn't been washed for ages. Second, I wasn't wearing any slipper and my feet were completely disgusting covered with dirt. By this time, he surely should have guessed that I was supposed to be a derelict.

I opened my mouth to speak again but was cut off by another voice, this time coming from where I was facing earlier. "What is going on here?" He asked with deep hoarse voice. If I didn't know better, I would have taken it as threatening.

The guy, who is stupid enough to forget that he had a sniper with him, answered the recent guy. "I found her wandering around here. She said she was looking for a place to stay."

"Face me my girl." The guy said.

I turned around as slowly as I did earlier. And jackpot! In front of me was the very person that I was looking for. Jack Rivers, the infamous human smuggler in Oregon.

When I saw him staring at me as I was with him, I put on the best act I could muster.

He walked around me like a hyena observing its prey. He was different from the first guy. He walked with air and confidence like as if nothing and no one can dare to go against him. He eyed me from top to bottom, as if scrutinizing me inside and out.

At least he wasn't as stupid as his look out. He knew that I lacked family, food, money, and a place to stay. At least that's what I wanted him to believe.

"Come, let me look at you." He invited and I obliged.

I took his hand that he held out for me. I purposely shook my hand like as if it's shaking with fear. And he bought it.

He patted my hand that was in his and said, "No need to be scared. I'm here to help you." If I could help it, I'd rather not be touched by him, but I've got no choice. It's part of the job and in this job, we do a lot of things that we'd rather not do.

I looked up at him with my eyes filled with gratefulness. "R-r-really?"

He broke out into a smug smile. "Of course. Come." This time he laid out his hands towards the pathway that he came out of. I walked slowly towards it while he followed suit with his hand on my back. I shivered at the feeling, but didn't let them notice.

At the end of the hallway, there was another room filled with men with rifles at the right and at the left, a big metallic door. He opened it and that was where all the acts dropped. When I laid my eyes on all the people who were in there, he knew that he needn't need to keep his own façade. He threw me on the ground and I lost balance. It took every part of me to not strangle him for doing that to me. But of course, I can't break out of my 'character'. Especially then, that I was already where I was meant to be.