Eleanor's Demise ✔️

Chapter 16: Weird

I need to come clean. I need to come clean. I need to tell Adam I'm alive. I need Adam to know that I still love him. Adam, I love you. Baby I never left you.

The words echoed in Eleanor's mind as she awoke with the name Adam at the tip of her tongue. She wondered who had heard her and where she had even slept. She had no memory of how she ended up on the ground of whatever this place was.

Eleanor missed Adam's company at this moment, but she couldn't go near him anymore. It was too much of a risk- even if he came to believe the lies she spouted at him last night. Hopefully they would forget about her at this point.

Eleanor was a master of disguise as she liked to call it and entered another store, bought another wig, and bought plain brown eye contacts. She didn't want to stand out whatsoever.

She looked like an average person now. The same brown eyes as the majority of the American population and the plain brown hair. Eleanor wished she hadn't left Josiah behind but it seemed that her pile of regrets just continued to grow.

She looked at her sides, the stench of vomit near her, but not on her. Besides her lay several people sleeping on the floor. She glanced up at the counters and the selection of alcohol on the wall. She was at a bar, realization struck.

She was aware she was still Eleanor's height, there was nothing that could be done about that, but her facial structure seemed different to everyone with the odd-looking contour she had on. She decided to step it up a couple notches, deepen the dark circles under her eyes and the creases of her cheeks and dimple.

She couldn't dress how she would have as Eleanor and instead bought some ragged clothes and walked around in fishnets stockings. The money she had might as well have been burnt by a fire because it was useless. She wanted to store it in a bank- but she needed an ID if she wanted to create a savings account. She had none.

She had headed to the nearby mall, with still a few thousand in her pocket. As she entered, she realized it would've been smart to spend it on an apartment, but this was too short notice. She wished she could go home to California and share her demise with her parents, but her nonexistent passport would probably only take her to another imaginary world.

"Excuse me miss." A voice called and as she was about to turn around, the smell hit her first. She had met this person before and the signature scent of sweet pumpkin hit her nose.

"Stephanie Cooper!" She shouted, her eyes meeting with the woman. She was absolutely shocked- she knew Stephanie Cooper was in New Jersey, that was her home- but the luck of meeting her that early in the morning at the mall was incredible.

"Yes, hello. You look like a very tall beautiful young woman, with proper measurements and some photoshop, we could get you on the cover of Rogue Magazine. I could see that face there- you look kind of familiar as well. Kind of like..." she paused for a minute, "kind of like Eleanor Carnegie. Hmm," she took a longer pause as she scanned Eleanor's body.

Eleanor stood frozen as she heard her name. She contemplated punching the woman and running, but was too frozen in place to move. Then Stephanie Cooper, model extraordinaire and possibly the best scout out there, spoke again, "I wanted to know if you would be interested in modeling? Those leggings sure do stand out and I would love to have you on the runway. Here's my card." The famous model spoke with such arrogance that just by intimidating Eleanor she couldn't refuse. "I've been Modeling for about twelve years now and I think you would make a great addition to Demeter Modeling Co."

"I don't actually have a phone." Eleanor laughed, bring a hand up to play with the long brown wig.

"Not at all a problem. Just here, meet me at this address tomorrow morning and my team can evaluate you. We have a few tests... I mean, to see if you'd do well on a runway or on the cover of a magazine or even both!" Stephanie exclaimed, her bobbed blonde hair shimmering. For a forty year old woman, Stephanie didn't look a day above twenty.