An illuminated "OPEN" sign blurs my vision. I can't believe I'm actually doing this. I feel Alix's eyes on me from God knows where. I haven't had to use the communication device yet, thankfully. I'd rather save it for a last resort.
I let out a breath I don't realize I'm holding, before swinging open the door. A tiny bell chimes from somewhere inside the shop, greeting me. If only my reality is as uplifting as that noise.
Shelves tower over me on all sides, covered in odds and ends of all different sorts. A long table stretches out directly in front of me, glass covering over half of it to show off the weird things too expensive to be kept out in the open on a shelf. My entrance alerts someone in the back, because I hear some shuffling. It's only a few seconds before an older man emerges from the depths of the back room.
"Um, hi." I say, trying for a smile, but it probably looks more like a grimace.
The man regards me silently, before motioning me closer. "Can I be of service?" He asks in a low voice that rumbles when he speaks.
"Yeah, actually. I came for some questions regarding my grandfather. You might have heard of him?"
The man nods, sitting down on a scratched up stool that makes him shrink under the looming height of the counter.
"What is his name? I'll tell you what I know." He asks.
I don't know why I'm hesitant to answer. It's not like there is anything I have to be afraid of. I swallow whatever hesitance I once had, and say the words I haven't spoken for years.
"Paul Hollens."
The man's eyes immediately widen with recognition. "Is it true?" He blurts out. "Has he really been harboring a sixty million dollar locket with him all this time?"
Wait. I'm confused. How could this man know about the locket and not told anyone about it? Something this big is surely something very difficult to keep to oneself. There is something else in his expression, though. Something that I can read easier than a picture book with size thirty-six font. Greed.
"Yeah, actually. Do you know anything about it?" I ask, being incredibly careful not to show him the locket just yet. I made sure to hide it before coming in here for fear of this very thing.
"Well, um, I'll have to see it, you know, just to make sure." He stutters, picking up a pair of glasses lying on the counter in his hands and putting them on his face.
I know I shouldn't. Perhaps Alix will forgive me if I just walk out right now. But I want information, and if greed is what puts this man to sleep at night, then so be it.
"Of course." I say, lifting the locket up from where it's been laying against my bare skin, my body heat making it warm to the touch. I lift it up over my head and, tentatively, stretch my hand out and set it on the table.
The man tries to hold back his gasp, but he's so visibly awed and mesmerized by the locket that he doesn't do a very good job of hiding his amazement.
"My goodness." The man says to himself. "My goodness."
"Well? Do you know anything about its history, or maybe why my grandfather had it in the first place...?" I inquire.
The man hops off his stool, and rummages through a stack of papers on a desk not too far away, mumbling unintelligible words to himself. Eventually, he finds what he's looking for, and hobbles back over to me.
"Ah, yes." He says. "This locket is said to have been made in the early medieval times, by iron-workers. It dates almost all the way back to 700 AD. It was originally an ancient artifact given as gifts passed down generation after generation to the new queens of the time period. In the early 1700's, the locket was lost, and now, since it is right in front of me, has now been found."
I listen to this silently, dumbfounded. This locket is like, a million years old. I wait for him to continue.
"As for why your grandfather had it, well, one can only assume. I would guess that your grandfather got it from his father who got it from his father and so on. As for where they found it... you tell me. Who knows, maybe your grandfather was one day planning on passing it to you."
I recall the way the locket had been sitting in the bottom drawer of his dresser, it's golden surface gleaming up at me like floodlights on a car. It was almost as if the locket was waiting for me to find it, to put it around my neck, to put my own picture in it. Another thought crosses my mind. Wouldn't it have at least a little rust on it if it's really as old as he says it is?
I open my mouth to ask the man when a loud crash erupts from outside. I turn around immediately, expecting the worst. The window at the front of the store is shattered, a large rock the culprit, sitting on the floor not far away from the wreckage. Then I see the police. A voice comes through the microphone attached to my collar.
"Code red, code red!" Alix yells through it, and I can hear that he's breathing hard. He's probably running. He seriously got caught, after all this?
"What the hell is code red?" I shout back at him.
"Don't you ever watch TV? Get out of that store, and now! We'll discuss my repetitive failures when we're safe." He replies, and then his end goes silent. My cue.
The man watches the whole exchange with wide frightened eyes. I can't even imagine what he's thinking.
"Thank you!" I say hurriedly to the man, before tucking the locket safely away under my sweatshirt. With one last glance back at his frightened face, I'm running.
There are three policemen. One of them has a firm grip on a pair of handcuffs. But the handcuffs are attached to a prisoner. The shock of being in a situation like this knocks me over like a tidal wave, distracting me. I don't even realize they're armed until the barrel of a gun is pointing straight at my face.
"Stop where you are and lift your hands over your head slowly." I hear one of the policemen say calmly but firmly.
Time to move. I spring into action, running as fast as humanly possible away from the police. I hear shouting erupt from behind me, and the sound of a trigger being pulled.
"Where the hell are you?" Alix's frantic voice screeches through the device.
I turn sharp down an alleyway to the left of the pawn shop, turning just in time to avoid a bullet to the chest. The dead bullet clangs off the hard concrete of the walls. "Alley, about fifty meters south of where you should be." I say, biting my lip.
There's nothing from his end. Great. Now I have to outrun the police by myself. I may be somewhat fast, but it's not fast enough. The rumbling footsteps of two of the three policemen grow louder as they gain on me. Though their running might throw off their aim a little, if they get close enough... I don't want to think about what would happen to me.
My boots slam into the pavement, my surroundings flashing by like a movie. It won't be long until the alleyway will end and I'm running through forest. And there's a zero percent chance I'll be able to out run these brutal fellas. The wind claws at my face, biting at me like rabid dog. C'mon, Jess. You're not stupid. Come up with a plan, I think, racking my brain for some kind of intellectual input.
I spot a trash can, and pieces fly together, forming a plan before I can blink. I act fast. I can't afford to mess this up. I speed up my running, before whirling around and grabbing the trash can. I'm pleased to feel that it's full. The fuller, the better. It takes more time than I'd like to admit, but I manage to knock over the trash can in time to catch the policemen off guard. Sucking in a breath, I kick the trash can as hard as I can. It doesn't go very far, seeing as we're on flat ground and not tilted, but it does the job.
Two policemen running at full speed would definitely be caught off guard by a random spinning cylinder headed straight for them. I'm right, and their reflexes aren't fast enough to react. The force of the trash can knocks them over like pins, the trash can a bowling ball. While they're distracted, I hurry around the side of the building to my left, my eyes scanning around the environment for something to hide behind. Where in the heck is Alix?
To my right is forest, hundreds of miles of green in all directions. To my left is a brick wall.
Static bursts through the microphone, and I curse under my breath. He has to get a hold of me now? I hear the shuffling of feet around the corner and know I don't have much time to get under cover. The static continues, but nothing is said.
The shuffling of feet turns into a fit of yelling and I can practically feel the punches being thrown. Alix. He really did come to my rescue. I snap back into reality like the flip of switch, and my eyes sweep over something. A ladder stretching to the roof. Why didn't I notice this before? But, wait, there's a catch. The ladder is one of the ones you'd find in old fashioned attics or on some apartment complexes. It starts halfway up the building, meaning I have to jump.
Before I can think about it, I'm running and leaping up, my fingers stretched out, ready for contact with the metal rungs. My hands wrap around the smooth metal, fumbling for grip. They're covered in snow, which doesn't help my cause. Before I can regret my life decisions, I pull myself up, setting a knee on the very bottom rung and swinging my hands up to the fifth bar.
Silence emits from the alley the police followed me into. Because my life is a complete and utter cliché, I think I should get a move on.
I scramble up the bars, nearly slipping at least a dozen times. Finally, the roof is in close enough proximity to touch it. I quicken my movements, pushing myself up all the way....
Ah, cliché. I missed you.
The roof slips from my grasp, the icy surface providing zero friction. For a split second, I'm falling. My hands grasp for contact with anything, but all my fingers manage to grab at is air. But then I'm no longer falling. At first I'm confused, but then I see the familiar azure eyes staring down at me with that same smug look. Alix. He caught me. I'm not falling to my death anymore.
Suddenly, all the air comes rushing back into my system, and it catches me by surprise, sending me into a bit of a shock.
"Police. Alley. Prisoner. Locket. Sixty million dollars." I splutter, my words in their own little sentences.
"Princess, you gotta stop trying to be so impressive. Sometimes, the people with the real wits find the easy way to do things." He says, before setting me down. I'm uneasy on my feet for a few moments, but my vision finally stops spinning and the black edging my vision fades away into nothing.
"Why aren't we running? The police are--" I start.
"Relax. They're taken care of. I also picked up some hand-to-hand combat skills while I've been out and about. They won't remember a thing when they wake up." Alix flashes me a grin. "But we do need to go into hiding now, before they send backup. Let's camp out in the forest for about a couple days, and when they eventually tire of looking for us and they leave, we can head back to my little hideaway." He says.
"'We won't need the sleeping bag,' Alix said. 'We'll be fine,' Alix said." I grumble. "Look how much good that did us."
Alix frowns. "We're getting into my repetitive failures already, are we?"
I flash him a dangerous look, and he backs off.
"C'mon." He says, starting toward the forest. "We'll only go about a mile in."
I would have said no. I should have said no. But because of him, I'm probably a wanted fugitive. And based off of that man I met in the pawn shop, he wouldn't have any trouble spilling the beans about who I am if it means he can keep his belongings. So I follow, deflated.
We only get about a quarter of a mile before I hear it. A slight rustle in the trees, but it's enough to frighten me. I reach forward and grab Alix's arm, pressing my fingers against the inside of his wrist. I can hear his heartbeat speeding up, but he doesn't say anything. Did he hear it, too? Something rustles again, and then there's a loud thump, causing us both to jump.
"I hope I didn't crash your party." A voice says from behind.
Who is this mysterious voice? Think you know? Take a stab at it and guess in the comments. For those of you who haven't seen my schedule, not including this chapter, I will be posting on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturday nights before 9:00 PM (Pacific time). PLEASE leave feedback below, or vote if you want more because I always love to hear what you guys think! That being said, thank you bunches if you're still here!
~trebleclef18