Pink Walls

Day Two [Part IV]

"Keep your head down."

"Why did you come for me?"

Daniel stepped into the bedroom dressed in black from head to toe with nothing but his face and hands showing. He had his duffel bag over his shoulder, though I was sure that I hadn't seen it when I had done a sweep of the bathroom.

Maybe that's what he hiding. But why? I got off the bed and clasped my hands behind me, to prevent my bloodstained gloves from touching anything. "Let's go."

"You don't make unnecessary efforts for those who don't deserve it," he continued, "so why did you save me?"

I stopped in front of the door and thought for a moment. Of course, I didn't know what he wanted to hear and I wasn't going to stress myself figuring out the mind of a moody teenager. "My paycheck is counting on you staying alive."

"You're lying."

I shut my eyes and took in a deep breath. When I opened them again and turned around, Daniel was right in front of me.

With him so close, I was able to see just how much damage he had taken to the face, and just badly they must have hurt. I could only imagine the other wounds he was hiding beneath his clothes.

He had cuts on his lips and bruises along his cheekbones. There was a dusting of red on his cheek where 'Sonya' had hit him and his left eye was slightly swollen.

I also noticed that his jewelry was gone. I didn't know whether asking what happened to them would push the wrong buttons, so I didn't. The kid had gotten enough punishment for drugging me, he didn't need me making things worse.

That made me wonder how Olly was doing—and suddenly Wednesday seemed too far away.

The last time I had seen him, I was sure that something had been on his mind but I couldn't bring myself to ask. He was the sort of happy that Daniel pretended to be so it was hard to imagine that anything could bother him.

I hope he's okay.

"I know who you are, you must know that," Daniel took a step forward, settling himself right in my personal space, and I was dragged back to the present. "I don't know what your name is but word on the streets is that you are Ron Cisco's lover. Either that or you're The Ghost, and that can't be it," he laughed and swiped his hand through his damp fringe to slick it with the rest of his hair, "or I'd be dead three times over by now."

"This," I scolded myself for letting my thoughts drift so far, "isn't the time. We need to go right now."

I pulled open the door and held my hand in the direction of the fire escape. "Hope you're ready to do some climbing."

He huffed and stormed past me, clearly not happy to be ignored.

With a sigh, I stepped out of the room and watched him climb through the window. I shifted my gaze to the door leading out of the apartment and contemplated dealing with the person that would be patrolling the hallway now.

In the end, I decided not to push my luck. If they managed to shoot their gun at any point during the fight, I'd be outnumbered three to one.

I picked up the throwing knife the hitman that was now passed out on the floor had pulled out of his shoulder, and inspected it for a moment before shoving it into my coat pocket.

"I'm definitely going to need to burn this coat." I groaned and walked to the fire escape, thinking about how I'd break the news to Alex. I couldn't bear to think about how much blood had stained it by now. It wasn't salvageable, not by Alex's standards anyway. And I couldn't keep it without getting mugged on the way home.