No strings attached / Leon s. Kennedy

Chapter 13 - Amber

Amber

Leon opens the door, and for a split second, I freeze, my heart slamming into my chest. He's standing there, wearing nothing more than a black shirt and jeans, casual, completely relaxed as if he wasn't expecting me to come charging in. His eyebrows raise slightly, a mix of surprise and confusion crossing his face, but not enough for him to be caught off guard.

"What do you want?" he asks, his voice calm. Too calm. Like he doesn't understand what's boiling beneath the surface, or maybe he just doesn't care.

I can't answer. I can't even look him in the eye. My chest feels tight, my breath shaky, and the anger inside me is the only thing holding me together. Instead of speaking, I focus on what matters—his apartment. That's where it is. It has to be.

I push past him, not saying a word, not meeting his gaze. Tunnel vision sets in, the world narrowing as I shove him aside, feeling his body give way under the force of my urgency. I don't care how he looks at me or what he thinks. There's only one thing on my mind, one thought ringing so loud that it drowns out everything else.

I storm inside without a second glance. My hands are shaking, but I don't stop. The need to find that letter burns in me like fire. My heart is racing so fast it feels like it might explode, my breath catching in my throat as the panic grips me harder with every second that passes.

Inside his apartment, everything blurs, the edges of reality distorting as my focus hones in on my one goal. The world around me fades into the background, Leon's presence almost forgotten. It's like being underwater, submerged in the chaos of my own thoughts, and I'm drowning in them. Every word he says becomes distant, muffled, like he's speaking through thick glass.

"What are you doing?" I hear him ask. "Amber, stop."

But I can't stop. I won't stop. His words barely register, blending into the background noise. My hands move frantically, opening drawers, flipping through papers, throwing anything aside that's not what I'm looking for. I rip through his things with no regard for order, desperate to uncover what I came for.

Leon's voice comes again, closer this time. "Amber, seriously. What do you want?"

I can hear the frustration in his tone, but it doesn't matter. Nothing he says matters. I feel like I'm suffocating, like the air in the room is pressing down on me, and the walls are closing in. Every drawer I open that doesn't have the letter feels like another step closer to losing everything.

Where is it? My mind screams, the panic rising with every second. I feel the crushing weight of it, the fear that if I don't find that letter right now, it will be too late. I'll lose everything.

The world is too small, too suffocating. I can't breathe, I can't think, and every heartbeat feels like it's crashing against my ribs. My hands keep moving, ripping through everything, desperately trying to find it. Leon's not even interfering, just watching as I tear through his things like a madwoman.

I move toward his desk, the one place I'm convinced that if the letter is anywhere, it has to be here. My heart hammers in my chest as I yank open drawers, my fingers rifling through papers, searching every inch.

But there's nothing. Why is there nothing?!

My breath catches, and I feel a surge of panic like a wave crashing over me. My mind is spinning, the desperation gripping me tighter. There has to be something here. 

Before I can tear through more, I hear Leon's voice—louder now, almost a shout. "Stop it!" His hands grip my wrists, spinning me around to face him. His grip is tight, almost bruising, as he holds me still. My whole body freezes, standing like a statue in front of him.