I Fell In Love With The Devil

Chapter 31

Levi's credit card was still in my bag which made sense since I hadn't emptied it. I'd need it tomorrow but right now, I had to figure out how I'd get into Prada without getting caught. The rain had eased off and a drizzle was all that remained of the storm. The temperature had risen and the humidity in the air had skyrocketed. My runners squelched with each step down the stairs into the underground train station. The water pooled into the drains and I joined the line of sleeping homeless people against the far wall. Some were awake and smoking or drinking, the majority though were unmoving and breathing deeply. I waved at the group of awake people and offered them a small smile, after all, they were still part of society and they had the right to be treated as normal people. But then what was a normal person? What made someone normal? Do they look a certain way, dress a certain way, act a certain way, have exactly the same things as everybody else, are their personalities the same, what about their morals? If I asked someone to define normal, would they be able to? Life's biggest questions. I rolled my eyes. I couldn't even come up with a definition but I knew for certain that, in any possible way, my life was not normal. There were still a few hours to daylight, enough to get in another snooze. 

I'd struggled to sleep for the last few hours, constantly tossing and turning, waking and sleeping extremely lightly. I ended up just staring at the stairs, hoping that no one I knew would venture down. If someone did, they'd drag me back to Levi's house and I'd have to endure being in the same room as one of my parents' murderers. I'd crack immediately and spill everything to all his friends. I could survive, I was so close to becoming the cat instead of the mouse. X had given away their base right from the beginning, I'd just been too dumb to see it. "PRADA IS HAUNTED BY DEVILS: ONES THAT KISS AND ONES THAT KILL." Devil that kisses: Levi. Devil that kills: Theodore. All I had needed to do was open my fucking eyes. It wasn't hard to figure out and I was kicking myself for taking so long. 

As soon as I knew the sun had risen, I leapt up and quickly readied my bag. I'd been stupid when fleeing, there wasn't a gun or any ammo to protect me. I pulled an oversized T-shirt over my existing clothes and climbed back up the staircase before walking out into the exposed street. The day was a grey version of the night. Rain was still falling and with no wind to push the rain-heavy clouds away, I expected it to hang around for the day, and most likely the next. I found a small cafe that opened early and slipped inside. I dumped my bag beside a table in a corner and sat down on the cute wooden seat before picking up a menu. Since there was basically no one inside, a waitress was by my side within a minute of me sitting down. 'Can I get you anything?' she asked in the usual chirpy, polite voice that all waitresses used.

'Yeah, an energy hit would be great,' I yawned. 'What's the strongest you've got?'

'A triple espresso,' she replied.

'I'll have that aanndd...' I trailed off to look at the menu. 'A BLT, please.'

'Will that be it?'

'Should be, cheers.' I placed the menu back in its little holder as she recited my order to make sure she got it right. When I nodded, she spun on her heel and left to prepare my breakfast. I was going to make sure that today was the last day that I had to run from Theodore. I was going to turn and face the monster before I tired myself out and missed a step, slipping onto the blade of a sharp knife. I was so lost in my thoughts, I didn't realise that the waitress had delivered my food until she tapped my shoulder. 'Excuse me, but are you okay?' she asked.

'Oh, yes, I'm fine. Thank you.' I dug into the food and sighed. It was delicious. The coffee was extremely strong but I wasn't looking for something sweet, I wanted something that would recharge my batteries real quick. The BLT vanished in no time and the coffee soon after. I leaned back in the chair and watched the street slowly fill with cars and the cafe fill with customers but after half an hour, I wasn't feeling great. Maybe it was the espresso. I clutched my stomach as I made my way to the counter. 'Excuse me,' I said.

The waitress that had given me my food popped her head up, 'Yes?'

'I'm not feeling great. Is there a bathroom here?'

'Uh, yep. Just down that hallway and on the right. You should see the sign.'

I nodded my thanks and hobbled through the maze of tables then down the hallway to the bathrooms. I was almost at the door when I had to pause and throw a hand out to stabilise myself against the wall when my stomach did a three-sixty and a crushing wave of nausea wobbled my legs. Something did not agree with me or my stomach. I gagged and quickly covered my mouth with a hand. I pushed off the wall, burst into the bathroom, ran to a toilet and slammed down to my knees just as I vomited into the bowl. A sense of dizziness drifted over me and I held onto the rim to keep myself from toppling over. My vision started spinning and I couldn't focus on one thing. I vomited again, only just getting it into the bowl. My hands trembled and sweat coated me. I could feel the temperature in my body rising and I squeezed my eyes shut as my stomach cramped enough for me to see stars. I groaned and fell sideways into the wall of the cubicle. I barely registered the blow but I did try to put a hand out to stop my fall. The door banged open and the sound echoed through my head. Footsteps from every direction. Boots. I groaned and spasmed on the ground. Someone was talking but all the echoes inside my head had become a roaring white noise from which I couldn't distinguish any differences. I clawed at my clothing, trying desperately to get rid of anything that could be trapping in heat. The last thing I remembered was a fist to the face and an explosion of pain. Then... nothing. 

Bits and pieces, here and there. 

A blurred conversation. 

Some lights. 

Echoes of footsteps. 

The rattling of metal. 

A gleeful smile. 

Impenetrable darkness. 

I gasped and my eyes flew open to black. My heart rate spiked. I stared straight ahead until my eyes adjusted. I was in a tiny room with a glass floor-to-ceiling window facing a hallway, laying on a stiff bed. A red light flashed in the hallway. A camera. There was a small mirror above a sink attached to the concrete wall and toilet on the opposite side of the room which was about two metres away. The room was freezing and I was in shorts and my oversized tee. Perfect for the conditions. There must have been something in the food I ate to make me so violently sick. But what causes that type of sickness? Nothing I knew of. Did someone spike my food or was it an accident? Actually, it wasn't a fucking accident. You don't get food poisoned and have this shit happen to you. I dragged my hands over my face and groaned silently. My stomach grumbled, empty from my earlier puke show. I breathed deeply to calm my racing heart; panic never did anybody any good. But I still had one unanswered question: where on the fucking earth was I? I was in a cell of some type in a tiny space. The most logical conclusion I came to was X's base. Although this was not how I expected to get into X's base, at all, I was gonna have to make it work. My life was literally in the hands of a tightrope walker. Every step had to be careful. One misstep... bye, bye. God, I had to work on my positive mindset. Someone began whistling the famous theme song from Jaws and even though I was freezing, I reckon my temperature dropped another ten degrees. I swallowed loudly and pressed myself into the mattress in an attempt to make myself invisible. A tremor ran up my spine. I knew who was coming and how they delighted in scaring the living daylights out of me. 'Piper,' they whispered slowly, dragging out the sound of every letter. I refused to look towards where I knew they would appear in seconds.

'Piipeerr,' they sang happily. 'Don't look.' Silence. 'Ra!' they yelled as they slammed their fists into the glass. 

I flinched and looked up.

'Hello there.' A sly smile spread across Theodore's face and his eyes glittered dangerously.