That Thing Between You and Me

35. False Alarm

I tried a sort of new technique with this, if you have any confusion, feel free to ask questions.

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Chapter 35 | False Alarm

"You meet a thousand people and then you meet one person and your life is changed forever."

-Love and other drugs

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It was 5:58 AM.

It had been almost three hours.

As he turned the ignition on, he had but one thought. He had to find her.

Andrew's hands clenched the steering wheel, his knuckles turning ashen. With gritted teeth he forced his eyes on the road. His wipers continued to wipe away the windshield, protecting it from the onslaught of the downpour. The thick cloud cover had reduced visibility. The car swerved on the road time and again, not akin to being driven at such a high speed in bad weather. But he couldn't care less. He was a man on mission. A mission to save a friend, a companion, a supporter.

It scared him. It scared him to no end how easily he had begun to care for the wretched girl. He was afraid of how she had a hold on him. It scared him how he was willing to risk any thing if it meant saving her. For a guy who had vowed to stay away the moment he laid eyes on her, he sure had changed a lot.

And then there was this thing that scared him the most? He couldn't fail her this time.

Not again.

Just as he whispered this to himself, his mind was assaulted by images of a girl, so similar yet so different, a girl from another time. Her black eyes, the ones that had haunted him for years, came back. Fate had a cruel sense of humor, that much he knew.

I found you...

He punched the steering wheel and then hissed in pain. It happened again. Once again, he had given her false hope. For he hadn't found her. He thought he did, but he hadn't. He had just been manipulated to believe that. And there was only one person, who had the courage and the resources to manipulate him. And that's where he was going.

Hang in, Mallory. This time I'll save you.

With a renewed sense of determination, his car sped down the highway; the torrents effort to slow it down all in vain. For he was a man on mission. And even as the thunderclap sent a shiver down his spine, he carried forward. Because in that moment, he was scared of a lot of things, but the impending storm wasn't one of them.

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(One hour ago)

With a flashlight in one hand and a handgun in another, Andrew opened the door of the old building. He winced when it creaked loudly, his senses alert as he looked around. It was close to dawn. Although hidden beneath the dense cloud cover, the sun was nowhere in sight.

His eyes scanned the neighborhood of the old safehouse of 'The Beasts'. It was Sameer who gave him the location. And even though, he knew better than to doubt the guy's technical abilities, he couldn't help the nagging feeling that told him something he didn't want to hear.