⚕ these broken vows of hope ⚕

chapter two !

-BLAIRE-

Ever since she could remember, Blaire had believed in happy endings.

She believed that one day she would be fortunate enough to escape Van Cruz. To have freedom. To have someone she could lean on. And if she was being extra hopeful, to have a family.

Blaire believed anything was possible. If you just hoped hard enough.

So that's what she did.

As she held the brochure displaying Yamada Tech's internship details, she hoped that Bruce and Memphis were true in their words and concerns. She couldn't help but feel a little elated at the thought of having friends. She didn't think she ever had a friend. She had Minou but she didn't think a cat counted as a friend. She looked down to see her furry friend- pet - pawing at her jeans.

She picked Minou up and nuzzled her nose with the cat's. "It's going to be alright, isn't it?" she asked silently. The cat meowed in response.

Blaire couldn't tell if the cat was reassuring her or telling her she was a delusional loser.

She scrunched the brochure up and stuffed it into her jacket's pocket where she kept a small amount of cash, her mp3 player, and a pocket knife. She just needed to do this one more job and then she would find a way to escape.

Okay, Layla, Blaire thought you can do this as long as there's no killing. She exhaled. No killing.
She managed a smile as the bus doors opened and she walked in.

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

Blaire glanced up at the large building that was supposed to be her new hellhole. It was a tall structure with glass windows and two subsections. A spacious parking lot was filled with expensive cars that Blaire couldn't dream of having. Important looking men and women came in and out of the building and she couldn't help but feel conscious wearing her worn out jeans, white top and leather jacket among all these expensive looking people.

Eagerly, she wished to be anywhere but here. She felt like a measly ant cursed to live in a world where existence was a crime. She felt exposed; inferior-and she didn't appreciate that feeling one bit.

She tentatively walked into the automatic glass doors and was immediately welcomed by the rush and chatter of the main floor.

Artificially produced cool air contradicted the burning heat outside. Deciding she felt a little too breezy, she wrapped her arms around her waist--whether to warm herself, or to shield herself from prying eyes, she didn't know. She didn't dwell on it; that was to be pondered another day.

Blaire spotted the escalators-or at least that's what she thought they were. She remembered seeing an advertisement on the TV screen at the diner she visited occasionally during her time in Spain, and the woman in the advert mentioned escalators. It was a small detail-brief, and irrelevant, but Blaire grasped all signs of living outside the bubble she found herself in. Not to mention she'd never seen an escalator in person before and it intimidated her.

She didn't know when to step on the moving footholds and everytime she managed to brush her shoes on the metal steps, she recoiled. She didn't care about the looks she got from people passing her and effortlessly climbing up the steps. Or at least that's what she told herself.