Alice anxiously tapped her foot against the floor, repeating the small act over and over while she chewed on her lip, wondering what the fuck she was supposed to do. Occasionally she would stop all of her fidgeting, to take a sip of her sweet lukewarm coffee, before worrying about her future once more.
She had fucked up, this time she had really fucked up, and Alice wasn't sure how she was supposed to get out of it, because her visions weren't changing. Sure the path changed as new decisions were made, but the end results remained the same two options, and Alice wasn't sure if she liked any of them. The first being her death, which was an outcome she would do anything to avoid as Alice had far too many dreams and ambitions, her life hadn't even begun yet. But the second vision was the one that confused her, as she appeared to be running happily with a strange golden-eyed man, who in other visions tried to kill her.
Which confused Alice.
Because how could one outcome be her death, probably by this golden eyed man, while another vision was of the two of them together? Happy. An easy decision would perhaps be to take the second outcome, seeing how it didn't result in her death, but to Alice there was something wrong about that vision. The first thing being her own eyes, because in the vision they had been red.
Strangely enough the red eyes made her think of vampires from old tales, but Alice quickly forgot that silly idea. Instead she wondered if she somehow had been injured, and had gotten red eyes, but none of her solutions made any sense. Just like it didn't seem right for her to be that beautiful all of the sudden, like she had been filled with botox and got perfect skin somehow.
Alice actually wondered if she truly had turned insane, and these visions were nothing but mere imagination, but deep down she knew they were the future. Or rather different outcomes of the future, because nothing had settled yet, and Alice was going to do whatever it took to avoid both of these outcomes.
She wasn't entirely sure what they wanted from her, except revenge, seeing how she chose to break into their home and take all their values. But she knew they were coming for her, and wasn't about to give up. Alice's visions had never been very good when it came to sounds and language, but from what she could gather they had given Riley a visit, although he never got a chance to see who it was. They had pulled a hood over his head, and used strips to keep him in place. All Alice had seen was the strange golden eyed man from her visions, who had leaned over Riley, until he at last broke somehow. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she knew they had left him unharmed and Riley had clearly told them where Alice lived.
Alice was slightly surprised Riley knew it at all, and sad he had chosen to slip them that piece of information, because her next vision had been of these men standing in front of Paradise Motel. She could only be thankful she had left that morning, or she would have been surrounded and killed by now. Or at least Alice thought so, as no vision of that outcome ever had been shown to her.
But she knew these strange people were chasing her, and it wasn't just the man with honey colored curls, and golden. From what Alice could gather three other men were with him as well, one gigantic with brown curls, and another with bronze curls while the last was a blonde man, who seemed slightly older somehow.
What confused Alice was they all appeared to have the same golden eyes, which was the strangest eye color she had ever seen, but it wasn't the only strange thing about them. Alice had been inside their house, and although she had tried to forget it, she couldn't. She had seen pictures inside that office, which suggested these four men were older than they looked, and Alice could recognize all of them from that wall.
It only made Alice shutter, as that meant she was up against someone who might not be human, although that thought in itself was strange. Alice had never believed in anything supernatural, despite her own ability to see the future, and at the moment she tried to ignore the whole thing.
But Alice couldn't ignore her own situation, and with a sigh she looked at the map in front of her, which she had bought at a gas station not too far away.
And at the moment she was sitting at a diner she found along the highway, which very fittingly had been called "The Pitstop". The place itself looked like something from the fifties, and Alice was pretty sure nothing had been changed since back then, but not in the charming way. The leather on the booth she was sitting in felt sticky and smelled of something odd, and none of the food looked too appetizing, but it was a good hiding spot for now.
She wasn't even sure exactly where she was, as she didn't dare ask the waitress, and she had thrown her phone far away afraid they might be able to track it somehow. Riley had been the only one who ever used it, and Alice wasn't going to call him anyway, still feeling like he was the one who betrayed her.
But Alice was pretty sure she was somewhere in Washington State still.
After her visions yesterday Alice had fled from the mall and Starbuck shop, stuffing all the clothing she could into her backpack, and leaving the rest behind. From now on she would have to travel lightly, only carrying her backpack filled with clothing, her computer and a lot of cash.
But yesterday Alice had been confused, scared and unable to think clearly, and her visions had bothered her constantly as the future changed. It was like a overload of different outcomes, and it had forced her to seek shelter for the night at another motel, as far away from the Paradise Motel as possible. She had wanted to get some distance to Seattle, but until her visions calmed down she couldn't drive, and at last she had fallen asleep hugging her backpack, ready to leave at a moment's notice.
This morning she had managed to drive for an hour or two, before realizing she had no idea where she was going, and at last she had parked her motorcycle in front of the diner, and ordered a cup of coffee. But Alice still hadn't come up with a plan of where she was going to travel, but she had to get far away from Washington. But should she go south? Or should she try to reach Canada somehow? Or perhaps travel toward the east coast? Alice didn't have a passport, and no contact to forge one, which meant she couldn't travel outside of the states.
"More coffee Honey?" the waitress asked, as she came over wearing a far too revealing pink uniform, which did nothing for her body. Except making her seem even older, and Alice was pretty sure she was above fifty already. But she was nice enough, although Alice would advise her against using that much makeup and blue eyeliner.
"Sure," Alice muttered, and pushed her cup toward the waitress, who according to her nametag was named Denise.
"Someone is on a roadtrip huh?" Denise commented as she eyed the map spread across the table, and Alice could sense Denise was both curious and talkative. But it was just fine with Alice if she thought she was on some kind of road trip.
"Oh yeah… I intend to see as much as possible… i am just rather unsure what the end destination should be," Alice lied smoothly, and liked this new identity she was creating. She had never pretended to be on a road trip before.
"Oh darling, go to Florida!" Denise insisted. "My son did this a few years ago, and insisted New York was the place to be, but i am telling you, Miami is the place to be! They got a nice climate, palm trees, and is there anything better than to sit on the beach with a nice drink?" She tried to convince Alice.
Although her words didn't have the intended effect, all Alice suddenly could think about was New York. It was a good place to be if a person wanted to make contacts, and Alice would be eighteen in a year restarting her entire life. New York would be the perfect place for that, and it was big enough to hide for a while.
"Oh, what a great idea!" Alice smiled, and had no intention of saying just what part of Denise's idea was great.
"Oh trust me dear, you won't regret! Imagine being in the warm sun each day… gush everyone could use that once in a while," Denise sighed, and once more left Alice's table.
And Alice began to search the map, trying to find the best route toward New York, wondering where it would be best to stop for the night? Perhaps she should try to take a detour, hopefully leaving as little trace behind as possible.
But Alice never got a chance to think further about it, as yet another vision hit her, blocking the outside world completely, while she watched with horror as this new scenario unfolded itself in her mind. How these people had gotten so close already confused her, but she didn't have time to react or make a plan, as the door opened just as her vision finished.
And her vision had appeared too late, and she could only watch in horror as one of the golden eyed men stepped into the diner.
"Uhm excuse me miss?" he called for Denise, while Alice slowly sank down in her seat, desperately trying to come up with a plan.