Carry Me Home - A LEGEND trilogy (Marie Lu) fanfiction

25: June

I've never been like Day, who can put together a disguise so fast. But like Day, I can also elude my bodyguards. Even a wound by my side cannot stop me. After all, it seems to heal fast. It only needs few patches now, though it will leave a scar once it fully heal. And since I don't want to endanger Pasco's dignity or the trust that my bodyguards have for him or whatsoever; I decide to work on my own.

My apartment is seven stories up. My bodyguards were so ordered not to keep me like a prisoner (even though that's how I feel). And they know that I hate the thought of people watching me when I sleep and so I lock my bedroom door. That gives me the advantage to escape through my window and scale down. I've carefully decided what I'll wear in order to blend with the shadows and evade the guards outside my building when they do their rounds and look up. Thankfully, I don't need to keep my room's window open while I escape; a sturdy ledge wide enough for one person to stand lets me stay for a moment to lock the window. Three stories into my escape, I notice two guards making their rounds under; I shrink back to the shadows. With the complete black of my attire, I perfectly fit in the picture. Four stories later, I am back to the ground. The next patrol will arrive in two minutes, and before they arrive, I shall start moving with my disguise.

I pull the hood of my jacket over my head, hiding most of my face. I keep my hands in my pockets, and my head lowered as I walk faster. I hear footsteps behind me but keep going, never wanting to be suspicious. I hear the people behind me stop and talk in hush voices. Immediately I bite my lower lip, waiting to be called out. But a few seconds later, I hear their footsteps start and completely vanish, and I sigh heavily. I turn onto the next block and finally close my eyes, breathe in and out, trying to calm my racing heart. Though I don't have any trouble with my bodyguards, they somewhat piss me off. But they are there to keep me safe from the outside, and right now, I am all alone to fight whoever will try to hurt or kill me again.

* * *

Day's words are clear.

"If you could come to Babel tonight at around twenty-two hundreds... Then, I'll tell you everything."

The Babel Hotel is about three blocks from my apartment. I didn't catch a ride there, knowing that it will indeed be suspicious — or that I'd been clearly suspicious of everyone since the incident. I reached the hotel fifteen minutes after I eluded those bodyguards doing rounds at my apartment building, and that was thirty minutes ago. The time currently reads 2242 hours.

I've been standing outside the hotel ever since I arrived, waiting for Day to arrive as well. But I haven't seen him. Vehicles have rushed past the street across from me, and at this time, the lights from the JumboTrons and buildings illuminate in the night sky in a certain glow. As the night goes on, the streets of the Republic slowly become more and more isolated.

I bite my lip and mentally ask myself, 'Where are you now, Day?'

A tall man instantly moves beside me, leaning against the same wall I am leaning on. His face is very well hidden, with the baseball cap he is wearing. He is fit and lean underneath his shirt and dark jacket. I am about to move further from him when he asks, "Waiting for someone, beautiful?"

If the voice was not familiar for me, I know that even with this injury of mine, I would certainly kick the hell out of him. But knowing such voice, the endearing so sweet... it's impossible not to think twice.

Day turns to face me with a smile and adds, "Are you?"

I return the smile as well and reply, "You're late."

"I'm not. I've been waiting for you to call. I bet you don't have your earpiece with you. When it turned late, I decided to check here if you ever came."