The Past Awakened (Distorted reality book 1)

Chapter 4- Eyes

-1 week prior-

*Kurtch*

*Kurtch* *Kurtch*

Taking photos of her from the car, I'm pretty sure she's the one. I've been on Madison's tail for a few months now, and I think it's time to make my move. It's time to infiltrate her life and gain her trust.

Mostly staying on the outskirts of things with my other cases, it wouldn't be the first time I've been required to get personal with a case for the satisfaction of my clients. Even more specifically, it's not the first time he's required me to do so. With as big of a case as this one is, it's no surprise he's requiring me to do so. She's important, so it makes sense that he wants me to be certain that Madison is her.

Seeming to be naive and relatively innocent, it should be easy to gain her trust. By doing so, I'll get information that can't be found elsewhere, and be able to easily bring her to him. Though we live in a time where you can find almost anything about anyone, some things still remain hidden. Secrets people keep offline, whether they are simply trying to portray themselves as someone they wish they could be or manipulating people's perception of them to hide a darker side of themselves. The internet can be a good or bad place depending on your understanding and use of it.

She is beautiful, but it wouldn't be the first time I've been hired to search out a pretty face.

I'll have to be careful on this one.

The problem with that is, that they tend to be the most dangerous ones to go after.

-5 days prior-

Watching her from my car again, I sip on my coffee while she types away on her computer. She runs a blog, and that seems to be where she makes her income. Though not a bad job, it has her caught in a loop. Her life is seemingly scheduled out the majority of the time. Not necessarily a bad thing, it sure makes my job easier, but that's the problem. It makes it easy for others to follow her too. Any creep that decides to keep their eyes on her, as my job requires me to, can follow her easily.

She gets up and makes her way out of the shop, and I act as if I'm any other normal stranger without my attention focused on her. She gets in her small black car and drives away. Presumably back home to spend the rest of her evening there like any other writing day for her. Following pursuit, I make sure to stay a couple of cars behind to not let her notice my tail on her.

-2 days prior-

She puts her bag in the car and makes her way to the gym. This is something she does about a couple of times a week for the most part. Though I have noticed her skip at times if she does a lot of venturing out of the house that week already. Something about being around others doesn't seem to settle well with her. I assume she has social anxiety like most other youths these days, but hers seems slightly more severe than the average case. She doesn't even seem to have any friends that she hangs out with besides her roommate Bailey. They met in middle school, and with what I've dug up on Bailey, I assume she was the one to initiate the friendship. Seeing them together, she seems to help Madison come out of her shell at times.

Honestly watching the two interact has made this case not as bleak as most others. The average case I get is to dig up dirt, find out if a client's suspicions are true, and on a few occasions, solve a case that has fallen through the cracks of the legal system. But this one, it's been enjoyable and that's what's beginning to bother me. She seems like such a good person, it feels wrong to keep eyes on her. The only reason I have is because of how badly he wants to confirm her identity. He seems as though his intentions are good this time, and that's what I keep holding on to.

-Right before infiltration-

I've planted the seed and now all I have to do is wait for it to sprout. Bumping into her "accidentally" shouldn't be too hard now. All I have to do is wait for the perfect timing, and hopefully, she'll take the bait. I'm not sure how far I need to go with this, but he seems as though he wants me to form a relationship with her.

"Every young woman dreams of a charming someone to come along and sweep her off her feet. Be that somebody and her trust will be all yours."

His words were convincing, but they make this whole thing all that more questionable.

Should I drop this job?

Almost willing to do so, the only reason I don't is that I know if I do, someone else will be put on to take over, and who knows what they will do. Most people that surround him aren't all that good. Heck, I don't even consider myself all that good. If he needs someone willing to manipulate this poor girl, there's no telling what kind of creep will be put on this case next. So, I have to be the one to do this. At least that way I can be sure she'll be safe.