a/n: it's been a long time since i've updated this story or anything at all. i've been wanting to continue writing this story for a while, but life has caught up with me. i know i put this on a hiatus, but I thought I'd update since this chapter has been sitting in the dust in my documents folder for a while now. I just now finished writing the rest of the chapter, so hopefully those of you who have been waiting for the update will enjoy it. i'm not sure when the next time i'll be updating, but hopefully soon. if i have time between school work and life itself, i'll update. =) so please, be patient with me. thank you!
4/25/12: new authors note: I decided to change a little bit of the ending of this chapter. I actually changed a few things in the first 3 chapters. I had a little trouble thinking of a way continue the story with what I had ended up with, so I decide to change a few things to stop my writer's block. So I think it's best to reread it again, to see the changed. And hopefully I will get a chance to update soon!
Chapter 3.
It wasn't a piece of cake for Haley to get to this point of her journey. She struggled for about two hours to three hours. As a sylph, it was easy to prance around an area covered in trees, rocks, and bugs without getting harmed. But in human form, she had the worst experience she ever had.
Her feet were bare, so every step she took, she flinched in pain because of the sharp rocks and twigs on the ground. Not only that, but she was bitten many times by tiny ants after stepping on a giant ant pile. The tree branches weren't exactly her best friends either. Walking through the trees left her with scrapes and scratches over her arms, legs and back. No wonder Nathan thought she'd been through something hectic prior to their meeting at the club.
When she finally reached the city scene of Charlotte, she didn't know what to do with herself. Everything was so bright and vibrant. The beeps of cars and blaring music astounded her, leaving her in complete shock. It wasn't long for people to start staring at her. Some gave her disgusted looks, mainly from women, while the men lost focus on the road as they passed her by - causing mini accidents and swerves on the road. It was probably because Haley was bare naked, clad in nothing but her jeweled necklace around her neck.
She had no clue how to soak it all in. Everyone gave her mixed signals and she wasn't sure if they were good ones or bad ones. But from the way she noticed the look in their eyes, she felt like she was the queen of the world. No one could take their eyes off of her.
It wasn't until she found herself near downtown Charlotte, where everyone in the city were enjoying their alcoholic beverages and electro music, when she felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
They blurted out obscene words that she couldn't understand which made her feel uncomfortable to even move an inch. Even though she had no clue what they were saying, she felt the negative energy coming off of them. The cold breeze didn't help either. She was shivering like a little puppy trapped in the rain. But luckily, someone made her feel safe and warm.
He gave her something that kept the breeze away. And she was amazed by the feel of the fabric and metal sewn into the piece of art she thought it was. She remembered one time, when she watched from above, a man gave a woman a gift and kissed her on the lips. She figured that was love. So she assumed that maybe this man, this human being, probably loved her too.
He was awfully handsome, almost as flawless as Paralda, whom was incredibly gorgeous. She wondered if he had fallen from the sky just like her? But Haley waited patiently for the tall man to answer her question.
Nathan was scared. So scared that he wanted to jet out of there, but her grip was too strong.
"Huh?"
"Do you love me?" she questioned again.
Nathan couldn't get his words out of his mouth. His eyes furrowed, confused on how she came up with such a question.
"Uh, what?"
"Do you love me?" she repeated.
He chuckled nervously. "I'm sorry, ma'm, but I can't say I do. We just met."
"But you gave me this. It's a gift, right?"
He cleared his throat as he glanced down at the grip around his wrist. It seemed like she wasn't going to let him go any time soon.
"Please don't be offended, but it's not a gift. I gave it to you because you're not wearing any clothing."
"Clothing?" she questioned.
She must've been a nudist. A crazy ass nudist. Clothes were like the devil to them. "Right," he mumbled to himself. "Um, we don't walk around naked here. We like to wear clothes." He tugged on the sleeve of his shirt. "That's why I gave you my jacket." He pointed to it.
"So you don't love me?"
"I'm sorry."
Her face fell. Then her grip around his wrist loosened.
He was relieved that she finally let go, but when he observed the disappointment written on her face, he felt bad for rejecting her. But there's no way in hell he was going to say he loved her just to make her feel better. There was definitely something wrong in her head to think she was something called a 'sylph'. Whatever that was.
He felt his phone vibrate, and pulled it out of his pocket. Glancing at it, he noticed that Jay sent him a text. "Where U at?" He didn't respond, but he thought it was a good excuse to leave. He returned his attention back at her.
"Look. I have somewhere to go. But if you know anybody in the area, you should call them." He started digging through his pant pockets and pulled out some change. "Here. There's a pay phone over there that you can use." He pointed behind her.
She furrowed her eyes at his hand that held silver tokens. She tilted her head and picked one up. Then she began observing the engraving of a man's head on it. "Ooh," she awed. "A picture of a human!"
He chuckled. "That's George Washington."
"Who?" she asked.
How could she not know who the first president of America was? Even the mentally ill knew who he was. She was definitely not from this planet.
"He was our first president. Didn't you learn that in school?"
"No, we don't have those kinds of things. We just have air and clouds," she said, happily smelling the quarter.
"Oh," he replied, his eyes looking at her like she was some kind of weirdo. "How old are you?"
She stopped mesmerizing over the coin and started thinking to herself. "I'm five hundred years old," she smiled. "Almost five hundred and one."
He chuckled. "500 years old," he repeated.
"Yep! I'm still young."
"Of course you are," he replied. Yet again, there was another reason to run away as fast as he could. He gently grabbed her other hand and placed the rest of the coins in her palm. "That's enough change for a few phone calls. I'm sure you'll be able to get in touch with someone."
Haley couldn't quite comprehend what he was trying to tell her. Enough change? She's definitely changed. Phone calls? Get in touch with someone? What's that mean?
Nathan nodded his head as he stepped back slowly. "So um, I'm going to go now." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "Hopefully everything goes well with you. Bye," he sang.
She played with the coins in her hand and looked up at him as he smiled half heartedly at her. He pushed his cap down and turned around on his heel. Then he quickly tucked his hands in his pockets and swiftly walked the other direction, leaving the lonesome girl alone in the middle of downtown.
Haley watched him quickly leave, briefly looking over his shoulder a few times before he finally disappeared around the corner. She wasn't sure what to do next. He said something about a pay phone, but she was lost and didn't know what he was talking about. He was her only hope. So she followed him.
"Nathan's been out for a long time," Jay stated, shuffling a deck of cards.
Le reached over the table to grab himself a handful of peanuts from a can. Trent popped open another soda bottle from the fridge and said, "He must've went to the bar."
For the past hour they've been playing card games. They wanted to stay up until Nathan came back to the hotel. They weren't just his band mates, they were his best friends. So of course they were going to be worried about him.
"But if he's not back after one more game, I'm hittin' the hay," said Trent, sipping from his bottle of soda.
"Why don't we just call him?" Le mumbled as he chewed the peanuts in his mouth.
Trent lightly slapped Jay on the shoulder. "You call 'em," he ordered, sluggishly.
Jay rolled his eyes and immediately pulled his phone out and speed dialed Nathan's number. After several rings, there was no answer. So instead, Jay texted him by asking him when he was coming back to the hotel.
"I guess I can understand where he's coming from. Things haven't been easy on him lately," Jay proclaimed, putting his phone away and finally dealing out the cards to each of his band members. "After his scandal a couple weeks ago and getting a law suit against him, I would want to be alone too."
"If only he told us why he hit the man," Trent stated. "He hasn't told us anything about it besides the fact that the guy was a jackass."
"A rich jack ass," Le corrected. "He was the CEO of another music label. I wouldn't have done something like that to someone like him."
"He wouldn't have done it if there wasn't a reason," Jay stated as he stopped dealing the cards and placed the rest of the deck in the center of the table.
"Well, it doesn't matter to me. I'm on Nate's side on this. Whatever the reason, I'm going to support him, except when he decides to run off in the middle of the night like tonight," Trent complained, looking at his cards. "I'm not staying up like this again."
"One more game because I'm getting hella tired. Please," Le begged.
"Alright, let's get this over with," Jay replied as he looked at Trent. "You got any twos?"
"Gold fish!"
Moments later, they heard the door open from down the tiny hall. All their heads turned in the direction of the sound and found an exhausted Nathan taking a step inside.
"Where the hell have you been, fool?" Trent questioned, placing his cards down and standing up to talk to him.
Le quickly traded a few of Trent's cards with his before returning his gaze back at the door.
"I grabbed a few drinks and then I took a walk," Nathan managed to share, closing the door behind him. He removed his shoes one by one before tossing them at a corner. He took his cap off, placing it inside the closet, and dragged his feet towards the other room.
"From where? Cuba?" Trent spluttered, following the fellow drummer.
"How much did you drink?" Jay asked. Instead of dropping his cards on the table like Trent did, he tucked them in his pocket. He saw what Le did earlier. He wasn't stupid. The game was just starting.
Nathan scratched the nape of his neck as he reached the edge of his bed. He thought about the psycho woman he met earlier. Maybe he drank more than he had expected and dreamt about the girl. It could have been a hallucination. Seriously, who runs around naked in the middle of the city anyways? Crazy people. That's for sure.
"More than enough I suppose," he answered, pulling his covers off his bed.
"Well, glad you're safe. We wouldn't want anything to happen to our drummer."
"Too late for that," he mumbled. "But could you hold more of your questions for later? I need to get some rest. It's been a long day." He climbed inside his bed and laid comfortably on the fluffed pillows.
Trent chuckled. "Hold our questions for later? This aint no press conference. This is us asking where the hell you were."
As he was just about to shut his eyes, Jay managed to ask one last question.
"Didn't you leave with a jacket on?"
It didn't hit him at first, but when he rethought about the question, he realized that the answer was yes. It wasn't a hallucination after all. She was real.
Haley frowned as she started itching her leg. There was a swollen red circle near her knee where a mosquito bit her earlier. She didn't think nature could be so cruel to her after all she's done to make it live this long.
"Mosquitoes, I demand you to stop biting me!" she cried out, in the wee hours of the morning.
People who were rushing to work walked passed her with looks of disgust, shock and confusion. Some even laughed and spat out a few insults at her. She ignored it and leaned back against the brick wall.
Last night, after her tall, dark, and handsome savior left her to fend for herself, she followed him. She followed him all the way to the hotel where he was staying. It wasn't a long walk. The bar was just a few blocks away. But it was confusing to understand the function of the streets. There were lights and signs that pointed in different directions. Multiple colors of green, yellow and red appeared above her a few times . It was like a colorful version of lightning flashing in the clouds, she thought. And she had no clue what any of it meant.
When he reached his hotel, she couldn't follow him any further. He disappeared through some revolving doors which, in fact, amazed Haley once again. She attempted to go through them, but she stepped away in fright. She was afraid to get hurt or stuck inside. So she decided to wait outside for him until he returned.
She didn't sleep one minute the whole night. Her body wasn't fully human, so she still had the energy of a sylph. They never slept. The only disadvantage of her new form was the fact that she was now vulnerable to physical pain. But once she begins to gain the soul of a human, her body would be able to endure everything that a human being experiences.
"Ah," she complained, scratching her leg excessively causing the area to become raw. It began to sting. It was something that she never felt before. It was a burning sensation as if her leg was on fire. And this was just a tiny little mosquito bite. Something a human was completely used to.
She winced at the pain and stopped scratching her skin off. Letting out a sigh, she tucked her legs underneath her and started playing with the metal zipper of the jacket. Then she heard a few honks and cries in front of her. She glanced up, only to find people sticking their heads out of their vehicles and whistling at her. All she could do was smile in response. Then she returned to the revolving doors and waited for the capped stranger to walked out of there. Not once did she recognize anybody who appeared from it. It's not like she knew exactly what he looked like. He kept trying to cover his face the whole time, but she caught a few basic features to help her.
"Get some damn clothes, lady! You're making the street look dirty!" a female voice spat out as they passed her up.
Haley looked up at the woman. "I'm not dirty!" she cried out.
She heard the woman guffaw before continuing down the sidewalk without looking back. "My ass!"
"Huh?" Haley furrowed her eyes at the last few words and tried to understand it. Nothing seemed to make sense. Ass? Wasn't that a donkey? I don't see any donkeys around here, she though. But then she heard a roar of screams and feet stomping from behind her. She turned around and found a sea of humans holding up signs like the ones she saw the other day filled with neon colors and sayings.
"AHHHHHH THEY'RE HERE!" they all screamed as they practically surrounded the entire front of the building. She could hardly see the doors anymore. And she couldn't let that happen. She needed to make sure she saw her savior before he left. She didn't want him to disappear.
She continued to observe everyone crowding and jumping up against each other. Every single one of them were covered in some type of colored fabric from head to toe. Their feet, legs and torso were completely clothed. Glancing down at her own body, she knew she was out of place. That's what he was talking about last night. She wanted what they had. But she had to find her savior first so he could help her out. He was the only nice one she's met so far. Every one else looked at her strangely or yelled her in the most impolite manner. Besides, she wanted to fulfill her duty of making someone fall in love with her fast and he seemed to be the right candidate for that.
She strode towards the crowd in order to get nearer to the door. The screams grew louder and louder. She tried to squeeze through, but people began to push her roughly to the side.
"EW! GET AWAY!" one girl cried out. "Put some clothes on!"
"I need to see someone," Haley replied innocently.
"NO WAY! We were here first!" a pair of red headed twins snapped in unison.
"But I need to see him!" Haley whined. "He needs to fall in love with me!"
A dark haired woman scoffed. "I don't know which one you're referring to, but I'm pretty sure we all want him to fall in love with us. So back off, ya bum!" She shoved Haley backwards, causing her to stumble and fall down hard on the ground. The pain was shocking. She never expected to be pushed and shoved in such a manner like this as a human being.
"Oh Haleyah," Sylvia whispered, watching her from across the street. "I told you this wasn't going to be easy."
It was hard to watch her best friend get tortured by a bunch of mortals who thought they were better than her. Like she said before, Haley didn't know anything about them. They were torturous, cruel and selfish creatures. At least that's what Sylvia believed.
She continued to observe the way the girls who were looking at Haley with disgust and shook her head. The pitiful blonde was biting her lip as she if she was holding back the tears building in her eyes. Haley's never endured the feeling of sadness before, at least not to this extent. And that angered Sylvia. She had no other choice but to use her strength to avenge the vicious girls.
Sylvia opened her palms and started moving them in circles as if she was gathering air in her hands. As soon as it looked like she accumulated enough, she raised her arms above her head and jolted her hands forward in the direction of the crowd. A gust of wind immediately pushed the four girls against everyone in front of them, their posters stuck to their faces like leaches. The wind was so strong, they couldn't control their balance. It made the girls and the people surrounding them fall like a cluster of bowling pins.
Sylvia chortled as the girls fell on top of each other. "Fools," she spat out. She glanced at Haley who was still bewildered and hurt, and swiftly flew over to her. She stood there for a moment, observing the tears falling down her cheeks and simply whispered some advice in her ear. "You can always come back."
Haley snapped her head in the direction of the voice and whispered, "Sylvia?" But there was nothing in sight. A slight breeze grazed against her arm before it slowly disappeared.
Come back? I'm not going back, she thought. I'm not going to give up on being human. I'm never going to give up.
The screams grew louder and louder. She glanced back at the crowd and saw flashes of light bursting from different directions like bolts of lightning coming from objects a few people were holding. Then she heard the chant again. The one from the other day. TRENT! JAY! LE! NATHAN!
She quickly lifted herself up off the floor and watched as the crowd began to reshape itself . They all moved together as if they were a school of fish following their mother. Then she noticed a vehicle waiting at the end of the sidewalk. It was black. It was a type of transportation that the humans used. At least that's what she observed when she was watching them from above.
Haley craned her neck to look in between people's heads and found a few men walking towards the car. She squinted her eyes in order to get a good look of the faces, but couldn't figure out what they looked like. But then a gust of wind managed to blow one of the guy's hats off their heads, causing it to land in front of the car, near her. The crowd roared. A large man ,dressed in black, immediately stretched his arms out to the people as if he was about to give him a huge embrace. He was trying to keep them away from the hat so the young man could quickly pick it up.
As he hurriedly walked over to grab his cap, Haley tilted her head to capture a glimpse of his face. She couldn't really recognize him, but from the shape of his lips and the perfect lining of his jaw, she knew it was him. It had to be.
The guy placed his cap back on his head and gave her one look. She smiled at him. He didn't think much of it and turned back around. The large man quickly guided him inside the car and shut the door. And a few seconds later, the vehicle began to move.
Her eyes moved with it and observed his silhouette through the dark tinted windows as it crossed her path. She knew it was her savior. It had to be. It just had to be.
"Wait!" she cried out. She tried to chase after it, but the crowd moved towards her direction. And she found herself stuck in between people as they pushed and shoved her. "Wait!" she managed to exclaim faintly.
She tried her best to pass through the moving bodies, but they kept stepping on her bare feet. She winced at the pain every time they planted their foot on hers. It reminded her so much of her journey through the woods. The twigs and rocks, especially the insects biting and munching on her skin. It was miserable. But compared to that experience, a shoe slamming against her feet was worse. No, a two inch heel was the WORST of the WORST.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" she belted out.
She bent down to grab her injured foot and peered through the gaps between people's heads. She was expecting to see the familiar black car there, but to her dismay, it was gone. Soon enough, the obnoxious crowd of shameless people began to disperse, leaving her in agony and sorrow.
"Great!" she groaned. "Now I have to find someone else to fall in love with me."
Nathan sighed deeply as he gazed out the window. With a furrowed brow, he thought about the woman he just saw in front of the hotel. She was wearing his jacket that he gave her. How did she know where I was? I told her to use the change I gave her to call a friend. Why didn't she use it?
Last night was a weird night for him. First of all, he was ambushed by some psycho man on stage that ruined their very first performance in six months. Then he saved a bare naked woman after taking some time to think for himself, only to find out that she was in her own little world. The things she said didn't even make any sense to him. She said she was five hundred years old and had a friend they couldn't see. She was strange. Really strange. He had a slight feeling that something must've happened in the outskirts of town. Because obviously a few patients escaped the looney bin.
"You okay over there?" Jay questioned, nudging Nathan in the rib.
He glanced his way and flashed a halfhearted smile. "Yeah," he answered. "Wher-"
Just as he was about to start a new sentence, his phone began to ring. He quickly pulled his cell out of his pocket and read the screen. It was their manager, Thompson, calling. He immediately answered.
"Thomspon, hey," he greeted.
"Hey Nate, how are you doing?"
"I'm fine. We're heading to the studio right now."
"That's good, that's good. . . . Um. . About the studio . . . ."
Nathan could hear the uncertainty in Thompson's voice. "What?"
"I just wanted to let you know something before you get here."
"And what's that?"
"There's a few people here from Tempo Records." Nathan immediately reverted back to that incident. It made him cringe. "… and they're here to settle an agreement with the law suit," Thompson answered.
"An agreement? I'm not agreeing to anything. I -"
"I know, I know, Nate. I just wanted to let you know ahead of time. So you wouldn't be surprised to see them here," Thompson cut in.
"Is he going to be there?"
"No, he's currently on bed rest."
"For Christ's sake!" Nathan exclaimed angrily, leaning his head back against the seat.
"What? Are you surprised? You practically killed the man!"
"That's one thing people need to understand.. I didn't kill him."
The rest of his band members turned their heads in Nathan's direction, aware of the conversation.
"Good thing you didn't or else matters would be a lot worse than it is."
"I know."
"Look, we're going to straighten things up for you. This will all eventually disappear and become part of the past. Just one step at a time," Thompson spoke.
"Yeah," Nathan answered, practically sighing.
"So just come to the studio and meet with them. Be calm and collected. Don't get angry or anything. This could be a good thing. I'm not going to encourage you to let go of your pride, but do what you think is best for the band and the music label. Okay? Whatever your reasons were, think of everyone else in this situation. Just talk to them, that's all. So don't make a big fuss when you get here, okay?"
Nathan was silent.
"Got it?"
"Yeah, I got it," he finally answered.
"Alright, I'll see you guys in a bit."
They both exchanged goodbyes before hanging up. He placed his phone in his lap as his band mates waited patiently for him to talk about what was going on.
"So ….?" Trent questioned.
"People from Tempo Records are at the studio," Nathan answered.
"Seriously?" Le blurted out, crushed peanut spewing out of his mouth. He turned around in his seat to talk to Nathan in the back.
"Yeah. They want to talk about the law suit. If they want me to confess that it was my fault for doing what I did , just to clear this whole controversy, I'm not going to agree to that. I'm not."
"So what are you going to agree to?" Trent asked, turning his head as well.
"I want him to tell the truth."
"And what's that , Nate?" Jay inquired. "You still haven't told us the whole story. So what is it?"
Nathan took a moment to glance at each pair of eyes around him and contemplated whether the story should even be told. Deciding whether to speak about the truth or not was a struggle every day. There was a reason why he didn't want to talk about it. But it would definitely help straighten up this whole scandal if he did reveal what really happened. The media wouldn't be so hard on the rest of his band members. But even if he did tell the truth, he wouldn't have enough evidence to prove his side of the story. There was no use of saying it if he wasn't going to win in the end. The other set of eyes that day could no longer be found. Besides, this man, Mr. Robertson, was a multi-millionaire. He could do what he wanted, when he wanted it. And Nathan chose to beat the living daylights out of him. Of all people, it had to be him. Although Mr. Robertson had a lot more power than him, he wasn't going to just give in and let him win.
"I can't," Nathan replied.
Haley frowned as she walked the streets of the city. She held the stone tightly against her chest, wishing that someone, anyone, would approach her and fall madly in love with her like she wanted. Her mission to make her savior say those three simple words was slim to none now that he was completely gone from her sight. She had no clue where he could be especially since it was a lot harder to travel by foot than it was to fly over the clouds.
"Paralda, why couldn't you have made this a lot easier for me by just turning me human," she complained, stomping her feet in the process.
"Wait, wait, cab driver!" a woman cried out in front of her, her free arm flailing in the air while the other one was dragging a halfway zipped luggage. A couple pieces of clothes were practically sticking out from it, waiting to fall out.
Haley stopped in her tracks, observing the enthusiasm in the woman and watched as she quickly climbed in the back of the yellow car. Shutting the door behind her, the vehicle jetted back on to the road, making her leave a piece of clothing on the sidewalk.
The pixie-looking blonde strode forward to grab the pinkish beige laced dress from the ground. She admired the beauty of the fabric just like she did with the leather jacket her savior had given her, and smoothed it over her cheek.
"Wow!" she gasped, feeling the silkiness of the dress. "So soft!"
She held it in her hands, unaware of how to put it on, and observed the people surrounding her. She was standing around the business area of the city where everyone wore business suits and skirts. They weren't exactly giving her polite looks either, but she wasn't worried about that. All she needed to understand was how to wear the dress.
A dark haired woman walked out of a building across the street sporting dark blue outfit. It had the same shape as Haley's. The top part was sleeveless with a gemmed neck line and the bottom was slightly flowy for leg movement. She glanced at the piece of clothing in her hands and then back to the woman's dress. She continued to do that in order to study where she was supposed to put her arms, head and legs. Then suddenly the woman raised her arm up, making a yellow cab show up before her, and she disappeared inside of it before the car jetted off.
"So they have powers too!" Haley smiled, remembering how sylphs always raised their hands to make wind, rain and etc. So she figured they made yellow cars come to them if they just raised their arms too.
Her eyes reverted back to the dress in her hands. She thumbed the fabric in satisfaction and decided to try to put it on. While standing at a corner of the street, she removed the leather jacket from her body, exposing herself to the people surrounding her. They all gasped in shock. She heard a few clinking-clanking sounds and glanced down at the silver coins falling out of the jacket.
"Close your eyes, honey!" a woman cried out.
Haley glanced in the direction of the voice and found a mother covering the eyes of her child. She smiled happily at them, but yet again, she was given a dirty look. She pouted and returned her gaze at the dress. She opened the bottom of it and slid it over her head.
"This is a public area, lady!"
"Go somewhere else to change!"
" I'll buy you dinner!"
"WHAT THE HELL?"
That's all she heard as she struggled to wear the rest of the dress. She was practically stuck inside of it just trying to find access to the arm and head openings. But soon enough, after fighting her way out of it, she finally put the dress on. There was just one problem. She was wearing it backwards. She thought the tag was for decoration. She didn't know that she put it on the wrong way.
Haley pulled the necklace out from under the dress and placed it above the fabric. Then she bent down to grab the jacket and wore it over her dress. She was now fully clothed like the rest of the humans surrounding her. She jumped in glee and heard the clanking sound of tokens in the pocket of the jacket. She immediately remembered to pick the rest of the coins off the floor.
After placing the coins back in the pocket, she twirled around in happiness and found her reflection in the tinted glass window of the building behind her. Her eyes widened at the sight of herself. She was surprised by her own image. For the first time, she actually looked like she was one of them.
He gazed at the man and woman sitting across the table from him. They had very stern, uneasy expressions on their faces. It was probably because they were nervous but determined to settle an agreement with Nathan. Something that would benefit their side of the situation and save their careers if they succeeded. But if they weren't able to achieve their goal, Mr. Robertson would probably fire their asses right off the bat and hire another pair to make a better bargain.
The man had on a pair of thick framed glasses and a navy blue suit with no tie. The woman had her hair up in a bun, perfectly pinned and hair sprayed to where it looked like it was painted on her head. She also wore a similar suit as the man.
"So Mr. Scott, I believe you understand why we're here," the uptight woman spoke. "So let's begin discussing how we can settle your whole predicament with Mr. Robertson."
"Go right ahead," Nathan responded coldly.
They could tell that he wasn't interested in having this conversation with them, but they weren't going to let it faze them.
"Well, from the papers we filed against you, it looks like Mr. Robertson charged you with battery. He accused you of intentionally punching him multiple times in the face area until he was knocked out, unconscious. He also charged you with verbal abuse. You threatened to kill him if he was ever in your sight."
He scoffed. "So he's basically saying that this was all of my doing. And that he didn't provoke me at all?"
"That's what he wrote down on the papers," said the man.
Nathan laced his fingers together and leaned forward in his seat. He darted his eyes at the two sitting in front of him. "Of course. You're on his side so you think he's the victim in this. But has he told you the whole story? Because if he hasn't, I'll be happy to tell you," he stated, politely.
"In fact, Mr. Scott, he did tell us the whole story which is why we're here. He brought us over to negotiate an agreement to keep your mouth shut."
"Wow," he cooed sarcastically. "You know the story and you're still on his side? What kind of lawyers are you?"
"We're not lawyers, Mr. Scott," the woman corrected. "We just work for Mr. Robertson. We're in charge of correcting all of his legal problems. And this situation was definitely a major legal problem."
"So you're like his hit men?" Nathan questioned.
"No, Mr. Scott. We are not hit men. We're his personal secretaries."
"I see. He hires people to fix his dirty work. Nice jobs you have there."
They both glared at him, the girl in particular gave him the meanest sneer.
"Whatever you say, Mr. Scott. We're not here to listen to you mock us. We're here because we revved up a solution to resolve this whole situation," the woman stated through her teeth.
"And what's that?"
"He's offering you a quarter of a million dollars to seal your lips about what happened that night."
Nathan let out a dry laugh and furrowed a brow at them. "Are you serious? You're offering me money to shut me up?"
They both nodded.
"If you've forgotten, I'm already making money. Besides, money's not going to fix this. The truth will. And I'm not going to give up on that. So go ahead and charge me with battery. But the truth will always be there. Just you wait and see. It will all unravel soon."
The woman sighed heavily. It was obvious that she wasn't going to get through to Nathan.
"You seriously don't care if you're charged with anything or sent to prison?"
Nathan had to think twice about that. Maybe being silent wasn't such a good idea if the consequence was jail time. But considering the damage he had done, it wasn't enough to put him in prison. Maybe some community service but not jail time. He wanted to protect someone. He wasn't going to let money resolve the issue.
"I'm just going to give you one last chance to take the offer. We'll make it half a million if you just settle with this negotiation. Because if you do, we'll lift the charges off of you, and you'll be done! You won't have to worry about anything else anymore."
"So if I don't agree, I should be worried, right? Is that what you're telling me?"
The woman stared at him blankly and clasped her hands together. "Mr. Scott, we're trying to make everything better for both of you and Mr. Robertson. It will clear everyone's plates. The media will back off and we can tell the world that we've settled the issue."
"With money," Nathan corrected. "If that ever gets out, then what will the media say then?"
"See, you don't understand Mr. Scott. We're paying you to shut up. To not say a word about anything that happened. Not a thing. Not even the money. It will never go out to the public. It will only be between the three of us and Mr. Robertson," the man spoke.
Nathan scoffed at the man's tone. He was practically gritting his teeth. "So we're just going to pretend to be chummy with each other as if nothing had happened at all? That's bull shit. BULL. SHIT!" Nathan exclaimed. "I'm not going to pretend to like that man. I am not. Especially not in the public." He was angry. He was fuming. To think that he was going to reconcile with this Mr. Robertson disgusted him. And in public? How could he do that to person he was supposed to protect? That would only hurt them even more.
The woman ignored his attitude and waited a few seconds before saying, "So is that a no?"
"I don't know, did it sound like it was?" Nathan replied obnoxiously.
"I guess so."
Nathan observed them as they both began to gather all their material. It wasn't long until Nathan reached his boiling point.
"You know, you two disgust me," Nathan spat out. "You know the truth. You know it! But you still ask me to keep my mouth shut just so you won't get fired from your fucking job. Just because he's a multi-millionaire, you feel like you should do whatever you can to feel accepted in his eyes. Especially you," he directed his attention to the woman. "Do you have any respect for yourself at all? Aren't you ashamed of this?"
The woman stiffened. Nathan could tell that he finally hit a sensitive spot. It was obvious that he finally cracked a little bit of her shell. But she ignored his sharp stare and gathered her things from the table.
"I do respect myself, Mr. Scott. But it looks like you've made your decision for the moment. So we'll be making our exit. I'm sure we will be back to make another deal that you can accept," she stated as she stood up from her chair. The man did the same.
"No matter what you do, I'm going to find the truth and he will be in jail," Nathan stated.
But before following his partner out the door, the guy took a moment to reply to Nathan. "Then we're going to work just as hard to prevent that from happening," he spoke strongly. "You know guy who hopped on that stage yesterday? He wasn't just anybody."
"Let's go!" the woman snapped furiously as she signaled him to get out .
Nathan sat there puzzled, wrinkles forming on his forehead as he watched them walk out of the room. He sat there, contemplating what he meant by that. All the theories of how the man managed to ruin their performance began to run through his mind. He remembered how Le said he didn't remember seeing him hop on stage. He must've walked in from the back.
Someone must've gave him access to the stage.
Haley shifted her position on the brick ledge at the local park. Her feet were so sore from walking and being trampled by evil heels that she just had to sit and rest. She had been walking for a couple of hours, observing every little thing around her to understand how it all worked. But it was all too overwhelming that her head began to spin.
"Hmph," she moaned, swinging her bare feet forward. "Stone, can't you lead me to the person who can help me?" she questioned, holding the necklace in her hands. "There are so many people in this world that it's hard for me to choose just one. I want to find a good heart so I can be a kind human because I really don't want to be an evil human. But I guess if I did manage to get an evil heart, I'll actually have a soul. An evil soul is better than no soul. Right?"
She grazed her thumb over the cuts of the dull, dark crystal that hung from the golden chain around her neck. She wondered when it would ever tell her if she was doing anything right. Making another human fall in love with her didn't sound like such a hard task to do. It seemed so simple. Find a man, make him fall madly in love with her and wait for him to confess his feelings. That's all she needed to do to become human. There were no other tasks that Paralda ordered. That was all of it and nothing more. But the moment she took her very first step in her human façade, it was more than what she had bargained for.
Suddenly, there was a roar of familiar screams coming from behind her. Haley turned her head to find what the whole commotion was about and found a crowd of screaming girls in front of the building that read Music Hall. Big posters of neon colors and dark letters swung in the air as the girls formed a gap for the entrance when a white bus arrived.
She watched carefully to see what was going on. Then soon the bus door opened and four tall, handsome men walked out wearing white suits and black pants. One looked like a girl with a pony tail, another had hair above his lip, the third one looked extremely beautiful, while the last one . . . the last one was her one and only savior. Her eyes immediately widened as soon as she realized who it was.
"YOU!" She quickly jumped off the ledge and started running towards the guys by the bus. "WAIT!"
The other members ignored it, thinking it was just a crazy fan, but Nathan stopped in his tracks as soon as he heard her voice. He looked up and found the girl from last night running recklessly across the street. Oh no. What the hell is she doing now? Doesn't she know there's on-coming traffic?
"Wait!" she called out again as cars began to beep at her. "I need to talk to you!"
"Oh man, " he whispered as he observed the woman. She looked different from yesterday. Maybe it was the outfit that she was now wearing. She looked less insane now that she was fully clothed.
"Nate, you know her?" Jake questioned as their security guards began guiding them away from the scene and into the theatre.
"Uh, no," Nathan answered, continuously looking at her over his shoulder.
"Come on, guys, you need to get prepared," Bull, their primary body guard stated.
He continued to watch her as she made it halfway off the road. She looked scared and frightened as the cars beeped and swerved around her. Something about her reminded him of someone. Someone close to him. It felt odd. He had this distinct feeling that he needed to help her in some way. He didn't know why, but she kept showing up.
Just as they were about to enter the doors of the Music Hall, Nathan took one last glance back at her and noticed one of the security guards dragging her off the street for her own safety. He was relieved to see that someone took the decency to protect the girl because if no one took action, he was going to do it himself.
"Hurry inside," Bull stated again as he pushed all the fans away from the band members.
"Ma'm, you okay?" the security guard questioned as he waved at the cars to move along. "You could've gotten yourself killed. I know you're a big fan of Stained Heart, but sometimes you have to think of yourself."
Haley furrowed her eyes at the furry faced man. That's what Paralda told her before she left. You must only think of yourself. That's exactly what she was doing. At least that's what she believed. She wanted to be human and she was going to do all she could to get that soul.
"I need him to love me," she mumbled.
"Don't they all?" the security guard stated, shaking his head. "You fan girls really need to find yourself a real man to love you. I know you all are bat crazy over all these boys bands, but they are stars. They are hard to reach. They're not normal human beings."
Haley listened carefully, but didn't say a word. She was too mesmerized by the large picture of the band members posted on the exterior of the building. The security guard scratched the nape of his neck at the awkward silence and walked away. She continued to stare up at the poster as she slowly walked towards it. Haley's eyes were fixed directly at Nathan's face. He wasn't smiling in it, but it didn't make him any less handsome. She was so amazed by the photo that she reached up to touch it, checking if he was really up there. To her dismay, it wasn't real at all. She frowned and reverted back to what the security guard was saying. They are stars. They are hard to reach. They're not normal human beings.
"He's not normal?" she mumbled to herself. "But I want to be normal."
She sighed deeply after realizing that she couldn't have his soul since it wasn't normal. He seemed like he'd be the perfect match, but she was wrong. Turning around, she found a couple of people still standing outside the building with their colorful signs. She heard one of the girls compliment another girl's shoes and the girl began pointing her foot out to show them off. Haley tilted her head, observing the girls and pointed her own foot out. When she did that, she noticed how dirty it was, filled with bruices and scratches,and how naked they looked compared to theirs.
Hmph. I need some of those. Shoes? Didn't they say they were shoes?
Immediately, a content smile appeared on her lips and she looked back at the group of girls. She quickly walked over to them and pointed at their feet. They all glanced at her, wondering why the hell she was doing pointing at the ground. "I want those," she stated.
"Huh?" one girl responded.
"Sh-sh-shoes?" Haley replied hesitantly. She didn't want to say the word wrong. "I want it."
"What? You can't have my shoes. They're mine," the girl snapped. "Go buy some at the shoe store."
"Hmm?" Haley questioned, looking at them without a clue what they were talking about.
"There's one around the corner. You can get them there," the girl advised, trying her best to shoo her away.
"Really? Around the corner?" Haley replied with a huge smile on her face.
"Yeah," they answered. Once Haley turned her head around, the girls immediately dashed away, running from her sight. They already felt the crazy vibe from her the moment she walked over to them, so they sped away as soon as they could.
"There?" Haley questioned pointing at the corner, but when she turned back around, she noticed the girls were already halfway across the street. She frowned and looked back at the corner. She decided to take the girl's advice and go there. When she did, she found the large bus from earlier. She looked at it carefully, thinking that maybe that was the "shoe store". As she continued walking, she noticed the bus door was opened. The driver had left for a few seconds to grab a drink from the vending machine inside and forgot to shut the door. Haley peeked through and entered the bus. She's never seen anything like it before. There were seats, tables, beds, curtains, cupboards, food, and other things that were in a typical tour bus. Haley continued to look around, awing at little items she found and made her way to the back of the bus. She pulled the curtains to the side and found a set of bunk beds. They were all unkempt and filled with little items that belonged to the band members.
She picked up one of the pillows and held it in her arms. "WOW!" she gasped. "It's like cotton!" Haley squeezed it even tighter and placed her face against it. It was as soft as the dress she was wearing. Then all of a sudden she heard voices from outside the bus. She stopped holding the pillow and looked towards the entrance.
"Wait, I forgot to lock it," someone stated as they walked inside. Haley immediately hopped into one of the bunks to hide herself. She peeked out for a little bit and watched as a middle aged man grab something from the steering wheel. He pulled out a set of keys and paused for a moment. There was a slight feeling he knew someone was inside the bus. So he stood quietly, turning on his heel, to look to straight down the aisles. Haley immediately hid back inside the bunk. The driver noticed the curtain at the back was opened. His eyes furrowed and shook his head. "Maybe the guys forgot to close it," he stated and walked out the door.
Haley could hear something close and a click a few seconds after. She figured he left, so she climbed out of the bunk bed. As she stepped back on the floor, she found a pair of shoes on the ground. They looked similar to what some of the people were walking around in. So she placed her feet inside one by one. She smiled happily as she finally put them on. They were a pair of Nathan's Nike sneakers which were a lot larger than hers. She had no clue it had to actually fit. And so she began testing them out by walking up and down the aisle of the bus. Sometimes her feet would slip out, but she'd place them back in, even if they were on the wrong foot. Since they kept slipping out, she dragged them along the floor.
When she was finally content about her new shoes, she dragged her feet back to the place where she entered. But to her surprise, the door was now closed. She furrowed her eyes and tried to push the door open, but it wouldn't budge. She began to panic and started hitting the door aimlessly.
"Why isn't this opening?" she questioned herself. "Open!" she cried out as she kicked the door. "Open I said!
what do you think? keep me inspired.