Sweet Serendipity

Chapter Three : Runner

A. Brandon

His crimson eyes watched her while she slept. Her body lie in a big, open, king sized bed, drowning in soft silk blood-red pillows and blankets. She looked restless. Bags were heavy under her eyes, and her skin was paler than usual... her hair was a little less radiant and lifeless than it had been before it all began, but she was still just as beautiful as the day he'd first set eyes on her. Compared to him though... she didn't stand a chance.

His tall lean body was wrapped in acid washed, ripped light blue jeans, the bottoms covering an old, worn pair of tan cowboy boots. His torso was clad in a black, collared long-sleeved shirt, that did wonders to stress his muscular, toned upper body. His face, though, was on a whole other level. His features were sharp, dark... sexy. They looked as if they'd been carved from stone in the picture of a God. His jaw was strong, and defined, and his eyes, though a frightening red, were alluring and captivating... like a person could get lost for days in just his gaze.

It was frightening, he was frightening... Everything about him screamed danger. But there was something so sure, so confident about him. Something that made her teeter between her feelings of fright, and those that made her feel safe in his presence. It was unnerving... the connected feeling between her and this dangerous stranger.

The tranquil thoughts of safety quickly left her though when he began to stalk towards her. Resting somewhere between the gait of a lover approaching his conquest, and a predator stalking his prey... at that thought her fear spiked.

She was petrified, frozen, unable to move from his clutches, or his gaze. And as he kneeled onto the bed beside her, her defiant eyes glared at him as her body felt too heavy to move. Like she was weighed down with heavy ropes, all she could do was sit and watch as his lips descended on her neck, gingerly kissing her collarbone and throat as his cold lips ghoasted over her skin, sending nervous impulses of fear and pleasure down her spine. She was tired, and weary, at least her body was... her mind though had never been so alive, she wanted to run, to scream, to kick and yell and punch and throw herself from her captors bed. But something within her would not let her leave, as if she were tethered to him by strong lines.

She only wished they would break though when she felt a sharp prick drive into her neck as a gasp left her. Her arms were pinned down to her sides as he straddled her small body beneath his own. She couldn't move, couldn't escape. She was trapped beneath the monster that haunted her every thought.

The sensation of having the life taken from her body was foreign, alien. It crossed a very solid line between pleasure and pain. It felt like he was drawing her out, torturing her in the most personal of ways... like he was enjoying pulling the life from her grasp.

Only when she felt the last shards of life still lingering in her system did he pull away, and by then, her eyes were already slowly coming to a close.

Her last thought being of those haunting crimson eyes, and Charlotte's smiling figure at the door wrapped in the embrace of another man. All of them sporting blood-red iris'.

Eyes flying open, Alice looked around, her breathing laboured and a thin sheet of sweat covering her skin as she tried to calm her racing heart. Tears spilling out of the corner of her eyes, she tried to muffle her sobs as she looked around her surroundings. She was still in the same SUV she'd gotten in hours before with Charlotte, but now, instead of her cute little suburb and picture perfect house, she was now in the big city in front of a large building towering above the city streets. Instinctively, her hand went to check her neck for puncture wounds, or cuts, or anything that could have possibly made her have such a dream.

It was then that she took haste in remembering the Brandon family line. She'd had dreams before, dreams about things to come. Dreams about people she knew, about places, about events, about her... and they were always true. They rarely came to her in sleep, but when did they... they were always true... always.

And now... she was scared.

Charlotte was there, she was watching, smiling, while Alice was being attacked by that... that thing... that man.

That monster.

And she did nothing to help her, nothing to aid her in anyway.

She was happy, she looked happy... like it was an accomplishment. This woman, this stranger that had promised to help her, to keep her safe had suddenly handed her life over to one who had so easily put it into jeopardy. It was then that Alice realized how stupid she'd been to so willingly go with Charlotte when she'd never even met her before.

At that point that Alice knew there was no way she could trust her. No way she could possibly believe a single word that came out of Charlotte's mouth. She had promised to keep her safe, and Alice knew now for a fact that she could not hold up her end of the bargain.

"Hey, so I grabbed you a french vanilla. I just have to run into the building and pick up some papers before we head out. How are you feeling?" Charlotte asked, suddenly appearing at the door of the vehicle as Alice forced out a smile and nodded her thanks, taking the hot beverage as she sighed and relaxed into the seat. Trying her best to feign a look of impassiveness. Trying to make Charlotte believe there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"I'm fine..." she stated with a small smile, wiping the tears that still lingered on her face from earlier. "I'm just gonna see if I can sleep a little more." she smiled as Charlotte nodded and reassured her she'd be back in about forty-five minutes to an hour because she had papers to sign, and documents to sort out.

"If you get bored, or lonely at all, you can walk in and ask for at the front desk and they'll tell you where to find me." she offered as Alice nodded her head with a tired smile.

Reaching behind her seat for her backpack, she opened it to retrieve her iPod as Charlotte watched her for a moment with an unreadable expression on her face before deciding that everything really was fine. With another smile, Charlotte finally turned on her heel and walked towards the building. Watching her leave, Alice turned back to her bag quickly and checked through her things. She had all her papers, her license, school papers, health card, I'D.'s, and a couple of other essentials. She had her mom's VISA given to her the other weeks, her debit card, and everything else she could need.

She was still dressed in her clothes from after cheerleading practice. Her hair was thrown up in a messy bun, stray pieces held back by a small band around her head. Tight black spandex pants and runners would made it easier for her to run if she needed too, and her purple sweatshirt layered under her black school windbreaker would make her warm and comfortable. Usually, she wouldn't be caught dead dressed in public like she was... it was cute, but it wasn't her style. But despite this her sporty clothing would help her blend in, and get around easier.

Pulling fifty dollars worth of bills out of her wallet, she shoved it in her jacket pocket before waiting to see Charlotte through the glass doors and windows on the front of the building. As she stepped into the elevator, Alice waited for a few seconds to make sure she wouldn't walk back out before opening the SUV door and diving out of the vehicle. Taking off down the street, she dodged through crowds of people, every few seconds checking behind her.

After a few minutes of running, Alice stopped and dove down the stairs towards the subway, grabbing a map of the city on her way. Paying her fee, she stepped onto the subway and scanned over the people who had stepped on with her before setting down into a seat by herself. Her foot vibrating nervously as she scanned over the map trying to figure out where she was going. The subway smelled, it was dirty and grungy, but she imagined it'd be the last place Charlotte and the blonde haired stranger would think she went. She needed to get as far away from them as possible. Because something told her that there was no way that Charlotte, or whoever was after her, was ever going to give up... and that possibility scared her all the same.

Walking off the subway on the opposite side of town, she looked around and tried to plan out her next move.

Buying a hat on her way, she lowered her hair until a messy bun at the nape of her neck and threw the hat on her head to try to hide her face a little better. Submerging from under the city streets, she watched a bus picking up the last of a group of people on what looked like a tour. She assumed because of the fact it was a big Greyhound coach, that it was travelling somewhere far away, and that was good enough for her. So running after the group, she dove into the line and smiled as she walked onto the bus and disappeared down into the seat near the back, watching the window wearily as the bus drove out of the city.

Alice was from Biloxi Mississippi, born and raised, and after traveling for a few hours with Charlotte, she'd ended up in Jackson. Now, after getting on the bus, she found out she was headed towards Hammon on the Fifty-Five, and then heading towards Beaumont, Texas.

Something about Texas seemed so appealing, like whatever it was that would help her, would be there. It was her best bet. And she had friends in San Antonio, so one way or another, hopefully... she was heading in the right direction to her salvation.

The bus ride was long, and gruelling. And eventually, after an hour or two into her trip... Alice fell back into the blackness of her dreams.

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