(BlackHeart2) BLACKSOUL

Chapter 16

         I was sitting at the kitchen island scrolling through my phone when a news headline stuck out to me. My eyes went wide at the details. Last night someone sealed a home in with bricks on every door and window before setting it on fire. Three bodies have already been found in the rubble with no suspects yet. A shiver ran down my spine. How does someone even accomplish that? They walled every exit in with bricks and concrete? How? I shook my head, but got off the app and pulled up something else. A text with a reminder about what time I need to be at the event tonight.

        I'm nervous about coming out with Karl in some kind of 'introduction' to the fashion society, but I'm also excited. I never could have dreamed of a better life than this. I met my idol and now we work together. I'm coming out as his muse, the face of his brand, and designer for Chanel's spring collection. Little Mia could've never guessed this. I wish I could go back and visit the little Mia with silent tears streaming down her face, while she laid in her bed at night. I wish I could whisper to her that things will get better. That her dreams will start to come true. I wish I could give that little girl hope because I remember what it felt like to be in that kind of despair.

I hate crying myself to sleep. It reminds me of worse times in my life. Last night I shed a few silent tears and I hated the feeling of it. I just felt so overwhelmed after I realized even Julien, the person I was using to get rid of the stain of Dom, doesn't work for me anymore. I shook my head at myself and stood up. I need coffee.

        When I went to the fridge I frowned when we had no milk. I really don't like black coffee. I figure I may as well walk down to that convenience store on the corner and grab a small gallon of milk. I was already dressed, so I just grabbed my bag and headed out. Elio wasn't home. I didn't even hear him come in last night, so I wonder if he slept over at a girls house. Most likely.

 When I got to the lobby I gave a small wave to the front desk and the man who is always at the door. I see them every day so I like to be polite to them, unlike some people I've seen leaving this building with their noses upturned and their rude behavior.

        The sidewalk wasn't particularly busy or anything. There will always be movement in New York City, there are too many people crammed in one city for it not to be that way. Still nothing particularly stood out to me at first until my gut started telling me something was off. My female intuition is very perceptive and rarely wrong. I glanced around but again nothing stood out. 

I pulled my phone out just to have it in my hand, but for whatever reason I just pulled the camera up and angled it over my shoulder. Sure enough something caught my eye. Is that guy following me? I saw him outside my building and now I see him here. 

When I stopped, so did he. Coincidence or not? I had arrived at the store, so I just walked in and got a little half gallon of milk, paying for it casually.

        Now, I don't have pepper spray, but I do have a sample size spritz of perfume. I pulled it out and kept it in my other hand. When I exited the store I didn't see that man. Still, I continued with caution. He looks like a completely normal person that wouldn't normally stand out if he hadn't sort of looked like a person I knew. That's why I noticed him outside the building. He looked like a guy I'd gone to school with in LA, so I noticed him... And then I noticed him again when I walked down here. 

I decided to test this. Instead of continuing down the street I turned behind the building, or at least the corner you'd take to go back there. It took a moment, but sure enough the bastard caught up to me. I saw the flash of his gray shirt and I attacked. I sprayed the perfume in his eyes as soon as his face rounded the corner. And when he grabbed his eyes I started beating him with the milk carton.