Code | ✓

code | 2

Chapter Two: Trouble

***

He stayed at her house until the early hours of the morning, not even noticing how long he had spent there until she noted on how she had to go to sleep soon or she'd be a zombie during the day. Axel said his goodbyes and then darted out of her window.

Axel dashed to his apartment and straight to his bed. Though, despite his best efforts, he only managed to get a few hours of sleep before he woke up.

Groggy, he got out of bed and thought about last night's events - the sequence of events not being able to leave his mind.

He got out of bed and dragged his feet out of his room and saw his roommate cooking breakfast in the open-space kitchen as the news blared through the nearby TV in the kitchen. He froze.

Axel felt dread appear in the pit of his stomach as he searched for his name in the news. But thankfully, nothing was there - nothing to do with last night's events or him. That was good news - for now. There was no telling how long things would be like this.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." His roommate said, to which Axel turned around to face. "Don't mind that. You know I like putting on the news while I'm cooking, even if it's just scrambled eggs."

Axel nodded, but managed to note the sweat that beaded down his forehead. He realised there that he needed a permanent solution to his problem - something that would ensure he wouldn't get caught despite anything. The news was just the thing that gave him his realisation, and thankfully just in time - he was still an unknown face to the media.

His roommate continued cooking, practically ignoring Axel's existence, causing the latter to spin on his heel and return back to his room.

Once inside, he fell back on the bed, his mind racing with ideas. What could be his solution? What could ensure he wouldn't have the cops hot on his tail? He was involved in shady businesses - ones that had very prominent paper trails and ones that would lead authorities right to Axel's doorstep.

Axel knew without a good idea, he was a dead man walking. Twenty years of life wasted on dumb choices.

Ages of contemplation led him to several ideas, but one that wouldn't leave his mind, despite the absurdities, was hacking the databases. Both of the businesses he was entangled with and the police that would hunt him like dogs.

It would get rid of his problem with the paper trail - his name would be wiped. And he wouldn't have to worry about evading capture, as his name wouldn't ever pop up in the first place.

Only, there were two problems with his master idea. One; his hacking skills were nowhere near advanced enough to do so. Perhaps he could crack the businesses he was involved in - they had terrible security on their databases. But the police databases were beyond his skill set, and if he somehow miraculously managed to get in, he'd leave behind a trace, practically inviting the police to arrest him.

Two; he didn't even own a computer. His last one broke, and with his already tight-funds preventing him from being able to pay rent on time most months, the chance of being able to buy one now was slim to none.

His best chances would be to find someone who both owned a computer and surpassed his level in hacking. Someone who wouldn't question his motives and, preferably, didn't charge.

And just then, an idea struck him.

And he was off.

**

Back in the street he ran from, he did his best to search for the house he had been in just hours earlier. Axel always considered his memory to be quite good, but this was proving to be a challenge - what genius architect designed a whole neighbourhood of houses to look identical? Did he accidentally press ctrl-v twenty times during his process?