4.

Was that what she thought it was? She couldn't risk looking back again so she swerved into the cafe standing on her right and sat at a small table. People watching.

Ordering a lemonade, she slipped into the chair opposite her with her back facing the crowd before taking out her compact. She popped open the lid and lifted it to her eyes, scouting imaginary wrinkles while looking at the people walking behind her.

Woman in red pantsuit. Man with toupee. Girl with mother and Barbie in hand.

No no no.

These were all too obvious, stood out far too much in a crowd. She was looking for someone… inconspicuous.

Someone who could disappear when standing next to a wall.

She sighed and put her compact away. Paranoia was not her friend. But no one could blame her. She couldn't even go to her father's funeral. She had to mourn her father through word of mouth. Vaughn had told her about it.

 She could count the number of people who came on the fingers of her hands. Seven of them to be exact. She could have been eight. She could have. But she wasn't.

The waiter gave her her lemonade and she sipped it slowly. Closed her eyes.

Think about the sky. Think about the sound of the people talking and laughing behind you. Anything but Dad. Anything.

Well, anything except Vaughn. Or Will. Or Francie.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and opened her eyes again. It was, after all, a beautiful day.

She was turning around to get her bag when she saw it. Her. When she saw her. She was average height with average looks. She didn't stand out; wasn't astonishingly gorgeous or revoltingly ugly. She was perfectly normal, dressed in shades of gray. She was slightly gray herself.

And she was looking for her.

~:~

Sydney came out of the salon a new person. Her hair a chic blond bob, makeup once again applied to her face, she felt like the Sydney of the old. With the Sydney of the new's problems.

But that didn't matter now. For the moment at least, she was free. And that knowledge filled her with a happiness that she almost didn't remember. She wanted to tell someone but she couldn't so she wrote it on a piece of a napkin and watched it float in the air.

I am free.

TBC…

I know… really really short but this was all prewritten and I just wanted to go with the "flow" and this is what came out so next chapter soon. I promise.

Review~!

-Jenn