✓ Chaos Theory | Diego Hargreeves [1]

【CHAPTER ELEVEN】

—chapter eleven.

  ❛ the follies of a young broken heart. ❜  

ELODIE VERBECK HAD A VERY LARGE PROBLEM.

Well, to be fair, she had several very large problems. As most young adults do. Only, of course, her V.L.P (very large problems) were very much out of those late night crime television shows, like she was the side character sobbing in an uncomfortable police station chair mumbling about something or other, innocence and the like. Not because she was a crier; but because she was pretty sure she should be, at that point.

However, Elodie did not like to think about any of those very large problems. Acknowledgement meant accepting they were there, and she was the sort of person who simply ploughed through life with a knife and steely eyes and hoped that she never had to look back. And of course with that, came never being able to say 'no' when the ever familiar monotone voice of a cranky secretary called her on one of her few days off.

It did not help that she was never busy. She did try to come up with excuses, reasons for why she couldn't waste time on him - but they weren't ever enough. Outside of work, what did she even do? Maybe mess around with a modern-day Robin Hood then and again, but that was not 'busy', that was just...that.

Certainly not enough reason to not confront her father.

But as she walked the halls of the station, bandaged hands shaking and knees knocking against one another, Elodie really wished she had come up with an excuse for herself that time. Or had just not considered this at all. Or considered a little more -- there were a thousand things she could have and should have done, if she was being honest (which she rarely was). She had done this all on her own, dug the grave that was losing its appeal by the second and sent her own self off to her own doom.

A half dozen ways out rang through her head; a work emergency, or Ellis emergency...maybe she could change her address, her name...how bad would moving to Thailand and giving up on civilization be for--

"--you good there?"

Elodie startled out of her reverie to stare, wide-eyed, at the woman before her. Patch, that was her name, right? She had never spoken with the woman before, though she had seen her around then and again. Patch had to be new to it all, though, because no one kept that curious, wide-eyed look for long in that line of work. And that was especially truly in her case. Unfortunately.

She just nodded her head. Her hands crashed against her body. Trembling waves against polyester cliffs; pitiful offenses for an piteous villain. "Dandy."