When It Breaks

| FOUR |

"Are you okay in there?" Lucy asks from the room.

Silence greets her as I don't speak.

I can't speak.

I can only stare at my naked reflection in the mirror. Each tattoo is as confusing as the previous one.

After we leave the convenience store, more like after Lucy drags me away from the store, we find a hotel, and Lucy pays for a night. I have not been able to speak since then.

"Fine, take your time but don't dwell too much on it. The guy would have killed me had you not done what you did, so don't feel guilty," She concludes, and I hear her footsteps leaving the door.

Guilt. A feeling, at the moment, I do not feel. It was self-defense, and I know that.

My mind brings up a round of new theories about the tattoo, which I have to admit are scaring the crap out of me.

I look down at my arm, the place where the tattoo used to be. It is now as smooth and spotless as a baby's skin, which draws one more question to my mind.

How are my tattoos related to the man's death?

Taking a quick shower, I get dressed quickly in the clothes we bought earlier, not forgetting to wear the hooded sweatshirt.

I step out of the bathroom to find Lucy sound asleep on the bed like nothing ever happened.

Laying beside her, I struggle to fall asleep but fail as my mind gets even more troubled.

Later, I finally fall asleep, but only to wake up a little over four hours later from a nightmare I can no longer remember. Try as I might, I cannot remember what I dreamt of.

"You okay?" Lucy asks after switching on the lights.

"Yeah, I was just lost in thought."

She nods and goes back to sleep. Knowing that I will not be getting any more sleep tonight, I choose to meditate.

***

The next morning, I feel a lot better than I did the previous night. Lucy wakes up at sunrise.

"Good morning," she greets me, and I reply with a lazy smile.

Her face softens. "How do you feel now?"

"I feel fine, don't worry. Let's head out. We have a long journey before us."

She nods, and we get dressed. We eat breakfast on the way as we follow the trail I made on the map back to where we stopped.

"Tell me, why are you looking for a mage?" Lucy asks, kicking a small rock out of her path.

"I have to find someone," I reply, simply.

We reach the next town. In the next twenty minutes, we are hoping to be able to get a cab.

Booking a flight is not a good idea as the cops would be at every border, airport, and checkpoint.

The safest way to travel is through towns. That way, I could blend in easily.

After the next path, we arrive at the heart of the town, the busiest side of the town.

It seems like the main road as people are going about their daily activities in a rush.

Lucy and I join the crown and try to navigate through. Not the safest thing to do, but it's the only thing way we could get through at the moment.

Clutching my bag tightly, I push through the sea of bodies with Lucy following closely behind me. The next thing I feel is a hand groping my butt.

"Hey!" I gasp, turning around to push the culprit, who turns out to be a brown-haired man in his early twenties.