Deception

Chapter 5: The Watcher

Previously in Deception:

"...And nothing else compares

You are
You are

Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go." We finish. The crowd all stands up and so I curtsy.

"And she said she couldn't sing." Niall laughs into the microphone. I cover my eyes and decide to walk down back to our seats. I feel so thrillingly alive.

I am about to sit down when someone taps my shoulder. I turn around to a grown man in a suit.

"Can I have a word with you Charlie? In private?" he says. I look at him and all the thrill leaves my body, welcoming in the trepidation. He knows. He's here to take me back home. I am done for.

I turn around before following him and search for Niall. He's looking right at me and gives me thumbs up. The last thing I see is Niall's extremely boyish grin as I follow the man towards the library section.

Chapter 5:

We sit on two chairs in front of the fiction aisle. So many thoughts are swarming in my mind so I shut them out by thinking of Ellie. I think of the look in her eyes as he strangled me.

Then all of my thoughts disappear.

"Excuse me for not introducing myself formally. My name is Marcus Payne." He smiles, flashing me his pearl whites. I nod at him, not sure what to say. I glance back over across the coffee shop and see Niall talking to a group of people, smiling and laughing. I should have never come.

"How long have you been playing the piano for?" he asks. I scrunch my eyebrows at him and tell him that I don't play. I tell him it was stupid for me to go up there and do that. Then I apologize for upsetting him.

"Upsetting me? Charlie you have talent." He grins.

"I won't play the piano again. It just isn't for me."

"Well you are an exceptional pianist but that wasn't what I was talking about." He says, folding his hands over each other. I blink at him.

What the hell is this guy even saying?

"I believe with some training, you could be an amazing singer. I was supposed to come to this thing with my son tonight but he had practice so I went alone anyway. It's not my job to find talent, that's part of the music department but..."

"What are you saying? I don't sing!" I half screech. Someone in the aisle turns and scolds me. If I weren't in front of someone in a suit I would flip her off.

"I am saying you could. We have a lovely music and literary arts department. Plus, the crowd really liked you." He smiles as if he's sure of it.

"But how does that have to do with training?" I ask.

"My apologies. I am the Dean of Admissions at the Marson London Academy, a couple miles downtown." He says, bringing out his phone and showing me a picture of the university.

"That is beautiful really. But I really..."

"Oh bloody, you aren't eighteen are you? I should have known." He says, running his hand through his light brown hair.

"I am nineteen. Its not age, I just don't have the money right now nor do I have any interest in singing." I shrug and stand up. He stands too, fixing his tie.