I procrastinated so hard I finished this chapter. Taelia's POV, hope you enjoy.

I ran through the forest, a black shadow on my tail. Oh man. I fucked up, I really fucked up. Like damn, he was just a kid. Probably innocent. I mean there was always the chance with everyone but he was one of the guys who fought Xana. Braver than I was.

And I just fucking shot him.

Just one more goddam reason to hate myself.

Shit.

I was just about to reach my hideout when the shadow popped up in front of me out of the ground. It looked just like the shadow thing in the samurai suit. This told me 3 things.

1. There was someone or something after me - quel suprise.

2. This thing knew where I lived.

3. I was royally fucked.

"You ruined everything!"

It was talking to me...?

"You had a purpose to serve and you couldn't even do that right. It's time for you to die."

"Finally!"

Haha, honestly it was about time I died.

Not to this thing, though.

I pulled out my gun and shot.

A light blue ripple emanated from the entrance wound, destroying the shadow as it went. Soon it completely evaporated.

Huh, so it was electricity based. Lucky guess.

"Sorry, but not today."

Nobody was around, but that wasn't about to stop me.

When I died it would be on my own terms.

Um...well...now what? I couldn't just stay here. The Supercomputer was off, but still some electricity based thing was after me. That wasn't comforting. I could fight it but...

Honestly...

I was tired, I was so tired. So very fuckin tired...

No, I wasn't gonna deal with this.

I was going back to America. There was at least one place I was always welcome.

I headed back inside. There was no way to call my contact in America, she had no cellphone. She lived essentially off the map, just like me. I combed my hair and gathered my things. I would be out of the country by morning. All my papers were faked, but I brought them with me everywhere I went anyways. Just in case they could come in handy. I had another contact that could fly me out privately, under the radar. Hopefully.

I called the guy with the plane over a private line. He said he could get me out. I would repay him with my services, whatever he wanted that to be. From getting him a shiny rock to killing a man, and everything in between.

Thankfully this particular contact never asked for anything too drastic. We went way back. He was the one who got me here in the first place. I'd probably just get him lunch and that would be it.

Lunch for safe voyage out of the country. I was lucky to know him.

It sucked to have to leave. This little hiddey hole I had in this abandoned storage facility was great. It was amazing that someone would just leave a building like this all alone. It was those kinds of buildings I relied on.

Occasionally, some kids would think these buildings were haunted and explore...I could evade them easily.

I heard footsteps. Some of those kids were here now. Fucking great. I climbed on top of some boxes and then slid into the air vent system. I made as little noise as possible.

"Yeah, old buildings like this always have ghosts, didn't you know? Real scary." It sounded like a teenage female.

"Then why are we here?" This was a younger female. Siblings? Probably.

"Well I wanted to tell you something, but I didn't want mom to hear."

"But you did want the ghosts to know?"

The air vent creaked.

"Oh, shit!" The younger one exclaimed, "What was that?!"

"I told you, a ghost. You thought I was kidding?" The older one said in a deadpan.

The air vent creaked again. I scuttled forward. Any more, and the air vent might fall.

"Something's here! Something's definitely here! I'm out!" The little one screamed.

"JEN, WAIT UP!"

The air vent fell. Just my fucking luck. They screamed. I might have screamed...a little.

I had tumbled out of the little vent part, and so there I was, right in front of them. I dusted myself off and took a deep breath.

"Before you say or do anything, I will give you 100 euros to pretend this didn't happen." I pulled out half the money I had intended to pay my contact with for fuel.

They paused, as if I really was a ghost.

"...Dude, what?" The older one, she looked to be about 17? Maybe?

What was confusing about what I said?

"If you leave...and pretend you never saw me...I'll pay you."

"Did you...run away from home or something?"

"What? No. I mean, yeah, sure. Just take the cash and go, huh?"

She looked at the cash in my hand, and then looked at me. Come on, just take it already. Every second I stayed here was another second another spectre could come and kill me.

"Naw, you better keep it. You're gonna need it."

"I'm- I'm not a-"

"You're like the same age as my sister, alone in a warehouse, lookin all dirty, and you're trying to bribe me not to tell anyone you're around. If you aren't running from home then what are you doing?"

Before I could answer, she spoke again.

"Listen, keep the money. I gotta go get my sis. I'll forget this happened. Name's Haley. Whatever you're going through, I hope it gets better soon. Bye."

And with that she ran off...

Sometimes I forgot I looked young.

Sometimes I forgot people could be nice.

The kids from Kadic...the tall one...she was so protective.

I forgot what life was like for everyone else.

Oh well...it wasn't like I could go back.

I made my way to the nearest train station. My contact was actually quite a ways away, closer to the coast. I bought my ticket.

It was night by then, but I recognized this place. It was...Franz hid his stuff...where was it?

"Nice try."

Before I could register anything, my consciousness cut out.

When I woke up, I was back in the warehouse.

Shit.

Time Elapsed: half a day (I'm sensing a pattern)

Time elapsed since ch 1: a week, a day, and a half

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