Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Nothing is as it Seems ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Krystal Taylor was the daughter of a very famous composer and musician who resided in Manchester, England, until something in her past had caused her to lose her memory... and parents. *Rest of summary inside*

Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.31.2009 | Pages: 5 | Words: 8.9K | Visits: 513 | Status: Work In Progress

Summary: Krystal Taylor was the daughter of a very famous composer and musician who resided in Manchester, England, until something in her past had caused her to lose her memory... and parents. She now lives in the States with her sister and sister-in-law and is believed dead throughout the entire world. Through this twisted little thing called fate, she is forced to go back to Manchester, though with no memory of what was there and who she had left.

~0~0~0~0~

Chapter 1

~0~0~0~0~

The sun peeked through the gray clouds after a complete weeks worth of raining in one morning. Everywhere the clouds had darkened; the sun was now shedding its warm light, and brightening the world.

This sudden change stirred a girl who was sleeping in the middle of class. Her friend sitting right beside her, who was diligently working, quickly stabbed her in the ribs, knowing it was her only weak spot, and quickly returned back to work.

The sleeping girl screamed and bolted upright on the sudden impact to her ribs, too quickly, and fell off the stool she was sitting on.

“What the heck, Ash!?!” she screamed at the cause of her fall.

“Excuse me, Krys. I would like to get through at least a day without your interruptions,” the woman standing at the front of the room glared at the girl slowly recovering from the shock herself.

“Sorry,” Krys mumbled, pulling herself up off the ground with the help of the stool she previously occupied. She turned to glare at her friend, but was greatly disappointed to find her absorbed in her work, too busy to notice a glare. She sighed; her blonde boy cut was starting to bug her what with the loose strands of her messy hair always rubbing against the back of her neck and forehead. She adjusted her glasses that had fallen askew in her sleep, and stared down at the blank paper she had gotten out to take notes on.

Krys attempted to glare at her friend again, but to no avail, as Ashley was busy adjusting her skirt. Krys was silently grateful that she was not being forced to wear one of those every day. She would have too many problems with it, seeing as how they were too short, and she fell off of her stool almost every day after being awoken to a rather unfriendly stab in the side. She wore the boys' uniform, which didn't cause too many problems for her, at least not once everyone got used to a girl that looked like a boy sitting in the same class as all the non-cross dressers. Eventually, though, once everybody actually got to know her, instead of stereotyping her and thinking it was just her hobby, they found that she could actually be sociable, at least once you start talking to her. She wasn't really the talkative type, but that, at least, gave her a little bit of leeway, and a couple more friends.

She got bored with just sitting in class, but instead, for fear of being stabbed again, she did not fall asleep; she merely began drawing random shapes and objects.

Once she almost had the entire paper covered with incomprehensible doodles, she felt eyes on her from all around her, like everyone in the room was intent on driving her crazy with stares. Sure enough, when she looked up, everybody in the room was staring at her, even the teacher at the front of the room was staring. She glanced around nervously, and even Ashley was staring at her with nervous and worry-filled eyes.

“What?” She asked, not sure if she actually wanted to know. Ashley nervously pointed to the front of the room. Krys warily turned her head to see what the source of the staring was.

Krys fell off her stool again, this time, though, taking the stool with her to the ground, upon seeing the source of the staring that was making her so uncomfortable. She used the counter as her new crutch to pull herself off the ground, seeing as her previous one was lying on the ground next to her. She stood carefully, as to make sure she wouldn't fall over for a third time that day. One time was enough, let alone three.

Krys glared at the boy standing at the front of the room, positive that her glare was visible even through her, if possible, messier bangs, due to his reaction. Whatever he was expecting, this wasn't it, because his face looked very taken aback.

“You're sick. Absolutely disgusting, you know that?” Krys almost whispered, but knew everybody could hear her perfectly due to the silence and tension in the room, everyone waiting for her explosion.

“Where do you get off being so—“the boy began much louder that Krys, obviously angry at the sudden accusation made.

“Shut up!” Krys yelled, interrupting the boy in mid-sentence, causing everybody in the room to jump.

“Krys don't make a scene,” Ashley said harshly, standing to grab Krys' shoulder to try and calm her down.

“I'll show you making a scene,” Krys threatened sharply.

“You know, you sure have a big attitude for such an effeminate guy, and a student, no less,” the boy scolded, clearly annoyed now, that he wasn't getting a say in this conversation that he obviously should be a part of, considering he was the one that sparked it.

Krys took three large strides from the back of the room to the front of the room, and stood about a foot in front of him. “I'll show you effeminate,” Krys said through gritted teeth. She brought her right foot up, and kicked him square on the chin, forcing his head back and causing his neck to crack.

“Krys!” Ashley yelled at the top of her voice.

“I'm leaving,” Krys calmly informed the teacher, without looking at her, and quickly walked out the door before she could oppose.

“I'm so sorry!” Ashley exclaimed, running up to the boy. “She's really unsociable at times. Please forgive her,” Ashley pleaded; then turned to run out the door after Krys.

Wait a minute… `she'? That was a girl? the boy thought, hoping he didn't offend her with the `effeminate guy' comment, not that it really mattered to him, considering how rude she was to him.

“I am going to kill her when she comes back,” the teacher scowled. “Are you ok? Do you want to go see the school's nurse?” she asked, turning her attention to the boy, much kinder now.

“Uh… no, I'm fine.” He replied, still confused about what had just happened.

~0~0~0~0~

“Krys! What did you think you were doing?” Ashley yelled at Krys once they had found a quite place to peacefully skip school.

Krys was sitting on the edge of a fountain, playing with a leaf; completely trying to ignore Ashley's nagging. The sun found it nearly impossible to penetrate the obstacle the trees posed; leaving the entire park completely shaded.

“Krys, listen to me!” Ashley yelled at Krys when she gave no sign of responding to the previously asked question. Ashley tore the leaf from Krys' hand and yelled in her face, “What were you thinking?”

Kyrs turned her head, as to not have to look her friend in the face, and folded her arms, pouting. “You know good and well what I was thinking,” Krys mumbled, “He was either a stalker or he was put up to it. There's no other way he could have possibly looked like that,” Krys glared at the trees at the other end of the park.

“Look, I don't know why he was there; he looked at least twenty years old, so I don't think anyone put him up to it, and by his reaction, I really don't think he was a stalker either, besides, he thought you were a guy. I think it was just a cruel coincidence. You really should have kept your head,” Ashley scolded again.

“Yeah, right. I'll show you cruel coincidence,” Krys mumbled, knowing her `I'll show you' lines really got on her friend's nerves.

“Stop it!” Ashley yelled, smacking Kris upside the back of the head.

“Come on, I was joking,” Krys whined, rubbing the back of her head.

“I don't care! You know I hate that line of yours,” Ashley shot back.

“Whatever,” Krys rolled her eyes. “I'm going home,” she stood up, turned her back on Ashley, and began walking.

“Heh, no you're not,” Ashley started, “You'll have to answer to Julie when you get back as to why you're skipping school,” Ashley yelled after Krys, since she wouldn't stop and listen.

Krys merely raised her hand and waved, much in the manner of someone waving a foul odor away, and completely dismissed what Ashley had said. Ashley glared at Krys' back, “You know, it wouldn't hurt if you learned at least a few manners,” she mumbled loudly hoping Krys heard.

“You coming with me or going back to school?” Krys called back to Ashley when she reached the edge of the road, deciding to ignore her last comment.

Ashley looked back over her shoulder in the direction of the school, and sighed. “I'm coming.”

Krys smiled. “Well, hurry up. The sooner we get there, the better,” Krys added in a mumble.

“What was that?” Ashley asked.

“Nothing,” Krys replied, nervously looking over her shoulder.

~0~0~0~0~

“Julie, we're home!” Krys yelled when she walked through the door.

“Welcome back,” came a voice from the kitchen. “Playing hooky, now, are we?”

“You know it,” Krys said walking into the kitchen and grabbing a bag of potato chips.

“So, who did we bicker with today?” the girl called Julie asked, turning around to face Krys. She was tall, once thin, though now her stomach was bulging due to her pregnancy, with reddish-brown hair, green eyes, and around the age of twenty. She was wearing jeans and an extra large navy blue t-shirt.

“What makes you say that?” Krys asked innocently, but with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“Well, your tone, for one thing, and the fact that every time you come home early, you've gotten into a fight with someone over something extremely stupid,” Julie told her smartly, smiling.

“You know, you might as well just say `I win, you lose. End of story.', but no~,” Krys drew out the O for a more dramatic effect to get her point across; “You have to show me up in everything, don't you?” Krys pouted.

“But, of course,” Julie beamed at Krys, obviously pleased that she had `won' another `fight' between them.

“Well, anyway, there's something I need to show you,” Krys said completely recovered, and on an entirely different subject. “You come too,” Krys said, now looking at Ashley, who was slowly edging her way out of the kitchen, just in case an actual fight did break out.

Krys walked out of the kitchen, and up the stairs, right next to their front door. The stairs creaked from years of use, and threatened to collapse, but it was an empty threat, seeing as it's been holding all three girls' weight for at least a year now. Krys lead the way straight through the door directly in front of the stairs, Julie's room, swung open the door, and marched in.

“Ok, so, why are we in my room?” Julie asked, unsure of Krys' strange behavior.

“Shut up,” Krys hissed. She quickly glided over to the window, but did not open the curtains. They were thin enough so that the person on the inside could see through them, due to the light on the outside, but outsiders could not see in, because it was not bright enough on the inside. “I knew it,” Krys mumbled, staring through the curtains.

“What is your problem, Krys? Why are you acting so weird?” Julie inquired, striding over to the window, ready to pull open the curtains, but Krys lunged in front of her, blocking her path.

“My problem,” Krys began, “Is that we're being followed. Have neither one of you noticed?” Krys spat through gritted teeth.

“No way,” Julie breathed, and strode towards the window again, but this time, was not intent on pulling the curtains open, but merely looking out through the curtains to see if what Krys had said was true. Ashley followed directly behind her, also shocked by the news.

There were three men standing on the opposite side of the road, and they all looked shockingly like college students merely loitering, but they were all wearing unneeded sunglasses, seeing as the sun had just hidden itself again behind the clouds.

“They've been following us for a couple of days now,” Krys said, leaning against the wall next to the window, her arms folded. “The blonde one has been following me, the brown haired one, Ashley, and the black haired one, Julie. They're keeping tabs on each of us,” Krys continued. “So, now that you know what's going on, please be careful, and, Julie, don't leave the house when Ash and I aren't here. We don't want them spying on us somehow,” Krys warned. “I'm going to bed,” she added, and walked out towards the door.

“What? It's not even three yet,” Julie commented. Krys just waved her hand over her shoulder, much in the same fashion as she had done at the park earlier that day, completely disregarding what Julie had just said.

~0~0~0~0~

“Come on, Krys,” Ashley coaxed the next day after school.

“No! For the love of God, no! I absolutely0 refuse,” Krys yelled, trying to force herself out of Ashley's grasp. “I am NOT apologizing!” Krys yelled.

“Oh, yes you are, Krys. You need to learn some manners,” Ashley said, very mother-like. “Oh, look. There he is. You are going to apologize,” Ashley whispered in her ear, a threat hidden somewhere in the last sentence. Ashley forced Krys in the same direction she was going, the direction of the boy Krys had kicked the previous day. “Hey, uh… um…” Ashley started, but bit her bottom lip, realizing she didn't know his name.

“Jake Daniels,” the boy said, realizing that she was searching for a name.

Ashley stared at him, she looked slightly shaken, and almost couldn't tear her eyes away from him. A smirk spread across Krys face as she slowly turned her head to look Ashley in the face. “I told you so. You owe me twenty bucks,” she said matter-of-factly. Ashley finally tore her eyes away from Jake, and shot her a look that told her something along the lines of Funny. You'll get your money when you apologize, ifyou apologize. “Dang it, Ash! That is not fair!” Krys yelled annoyed that she had to apologize to get her well earned money.

“Anyway, Jake, Krys has something to tell you,” Ashley told Jake, more in the manner of implying that her best friend has a major crush on him, rather than wants to apologize to him.

“Ashley, I have nothing to say to—Ash!” Krys yelled glancing over her shoulder to glare at Ashley for forcing her over, just to see her running away. “Argh! She knows I can't run,” Krys complained and sat down next to Jake. Krys sighed, “Anyway, uh… sorry about kicking you yesterday. I just kind of lost it,” Krys mumbled, still somewhat reluctant to the idea of apologizing.

“What? Oh, it's nothing; don't worry about it uh…” Jake paused, racking his brain for her name, hoping to get it right.

“Krys Taylor,” Krys told him, not looking him in the face.

“That's short for Krystal, isn't it?” Jake asked, now smiling at her.

Krys just glared at him, and cautiously replied, “…Yes, but Krys is just fine.”

“Are you—“Jake began, but was quickly cut off by a very agitated Krys.

“No,” she shot at him. “She died when she was twelve. It just so happens that I have that I have the same name as her, or are you just that ignorant?” Krys asked furiously.

“Right, but, I heard that she never really died, that that was just what was told to the press so they wouldn't pry any farther, but that's just what I heard. Anyway, how old are you?” he asked very nonchalantly, and not looking at Krys.

Krys was extremely startled that he would know something like that, but where he could have possibly heard it was beyond her. “Sixteen,” Krys said, glaring at him warily, then added, “You stinking pedophile,” the just got up, walked away, and was intent on never seeing him again.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Jake called after her, “I want an apology for that!” Jake got up and followed her, intent on getting an apology.

“Heh, fat chance getting one,” Krys said, not looking back, and walking the fastest she was allowed. “Are you following me?” Krys asked, very annoyed at the persistent Jake.

“Yes, yes I am,” Jake continued following Krys.

Krys stopped, smirked, and turned slowly to face Jake, “Pervert,” she said, then turned back and kept walking.

“Hey, that's not fair! You set me up for that, didn't you?” Jake yelled, running to catch up with Krys.

Krys shrugged. “Maybe.”

“You know, you have a really foul attitude,” Jake complained.

“Yeah, well, tough. It doesn't really matter anyway since I'm never going to see you again, now does it?” Krys told him, still agitated that he was following her.

Jake sighed. “I don't think it would hurt if you learned a few manners,” he mumbled.

A cold gust of wind swept by them. Krys scoffed, thinking of Ashley, who had said that exact same thing to her yesterday. “Heh, now, where have I… heard…… tha—“

Jake was surprised by Krys' sudden cut off, and turned to face her just in time to see her hit the ground. “Krys!” he breathed, and felt her forehead. It was freezing. “Please don't be dead,” he mumbled, and began rummaging through her book bag. Eventually he found her cell phone, and went through her contacts, and found Ashley's phone number. He quickly pressed the send button, and the phone began to ring.

“Krys, how long does it take you to apologize to someone? Where are you?” came Ashley's anxious voice from the other end of the phone, “I don't know what happened to Julie. Even after your warning yesterday, she left and wasn't here when I got back from school, and what's worse—“Ashley took a huge breath before continuing, but Jake saw his chance and cut in.

“Hey, it's me,” he said quickly, before Ashley could start talking again. “Ashley?” he asked when she didn't say anything.

“…Why are you using Krys' phone?” Ashley breathed, and sounded almost terrified.

“Um…” he started, still a little uneasy about how she answered her phone. He wasn't expecting that, he was expecting something more along the lines of a cheerful hello? “Krys kind of passed out,” he told her.

“Dang it, Krys. I told her to eat something at lunch. She knows she can't go all day without eating something. Could you please bring her home?” Ashley asked suddenly, throwing him off again. This time he was expecting something more along the lines of `Where are you?' or `I'll be right there' or some other kind of worry.

“Uh… yeah, I'd love to take her home, but there's just this itty bitty little problem. I don't know where you live,” Jake told her, hoping he wasn't too sarcastic with his last comment.

“Oh, right, sorry. Where are you?” Ashley said, a little airily, almost as if she wasn't even listening to him.

“At central park,” he told her, looking around at his surrounding, just to be sure.

“Great. You see the statue in the middle of the fountain?” Ashley asked.

“Yeah.”

“Ok, just walk a block in the direction that it's pointing, and our house will be the one on the right corner. Ok, well, I really need to go now. Bye,” Ashley told him quickly, as if avoiding an awkward question, and hung up.

“Well, that's easy,” he mumbled to himself, scooping Krys up in his arms, and started towards her house.

When he got there, he saw Ashley standing in the doorway, waiting for him. Her face was extremely serious, unlike her cheerful expression this afternoon when he had last seen her. She looked at Jake carrying Krys; then looked past them, anxiously, as if expecting to see someone else. She motioned to him, telling him to come into the house quickly but quietly. He did so, still carrying Krys. Ashley glanced back down the street before closing the door behind them.

Jake looked around the room, slightly nervous. The only light in the room was a small candle that Ashley was holding, but other than that, the entire house was completely dark, and looked as though no one had lived there in years.

“Follow me,” Ashley said, starting up the stairs.

He hesitated, still looking around the room. Shadows danced on the few furniture items in the small room, and along with the creaking noise the stairs made with Ashley walking up them, made the house seem almost haunted.

Not wanting to be left behind in the darkness, Jake quickly followed after the girl carrying the only light source. The stairs creaked and squeaked underneath his feet, and he could have sworn he felt the stairs sway once or twice. Hoping the noise would stop when he reached the second floor, he took a confident step onto what he thought would be solid floorboard, only to be let down when the floor sagged under his foot and squeaked in protest. He took another reluctant step towards the light source, only to be met with another squeak and the floor sinking underneath his foot. He continued this pattern until he had reached the third and final door at the end of the rather short hallway, the only room with light emitting from it, and walked in.

The room was dark, with the exception of the tiny candle with Ashley held, much like the rest of the house, only this room had more furniture in it than the room he was previously in. It consisted of a small, black, twin sized bed in the corner furthest from the door, with an end table between it and a black love seat in the corner opposite the bed. A circular white and black polka dotted rug lay in front of it holding a tiny black coffee table with a white rim. A black desk sat at the end of the bed, a small window in front of it with black curtains hanging over it.

“Sorry it's so dark. The power is out,” Ashley told him, setting the candle on the desk. “You can just put her on the bed. I'm going to go get more candles,” she told him, and with that, she disappeared into the darkness.

He placed her on the bed, though, like he was told noting that the floor was barely visible, covered with clothes and wadded up pieces of paper that had somehow missed the wastebasket. The wall was covered with sketches of what he guessed was Krys' work. He walked along the wall looking at the pictures, some of people, some of places, and some of inanimate objects. Every drawing was extremely beautiful and unique. One drawing in particular, though, caught his eye. It was of a man with slightly unkempt, medium length, black hair. The build of his face looked strong, and immensely handsome, with clear, bright blue eyes. An almost exact drawing of himself.

He froze, examining every detail of the picture from top to bottom. He felt like he was looking in a mirror, only this mirror had a signature which read `Krystal Taylor', and underneath that there was a date scrawled, which indicated that the drawing was done two years ago.

“She's got quite an imagination, doesn't she?”Ashley asked from behind him. He almost jumped, not knowing that she had come back into the room, but nodded in agreement just the same. She walked over beside Krys' bed and placed the newly lit candle on her bedside table.

Krys made an odd noise and rolled over in her bed. “you can leave now if you want,” she said not looking at Jake, but at Krys, “She'll be fine now.”

“If it's alright, I'd rather stay,” he told her, also looking at the girl on the bed.

“I said leave,” Ashley hissed, and out of nowhere, she grabbed his shoulders, pushed him out the bedroom door, down the stairs, and out the front door.

“Hey! Wait a—“he started, but Ashley slammed the door in his face before he could finish.

She heard a door on the second floor swing open and bang against the wall behind it. “ASHLEY!” a girl's voice screamed from upstairs, indicating to Ashley that Krys was now awake and her mind was functioning perfectly. She sighed and walked into the kitchen to get some dinner for herself while listening to Krys running up and down the second floor hallway, forcefully swinging open every door. “Ashley!” she yelled again.

“I'm in the kitchen, and please don't tear the entire house up,” she shouted upstairs, “And please be quite about it,” she added when she heard Krys stamping down the stairs, “Did you hear what I said about-“

“Ashley!” Krys screamed barging into the kitchen.

“Apparently not.”

“I want you to kill him!” she shouted in her best friend's face. “I don't care how you do it, just kill him!”

“What are you talking about?” Ashley asked, unsure if she really wanted to know.

“Jake! Who else?” she screeched.

Ashley stared. “Why on earth would you possibly want him dead?” she asked returning to preparing her dinner.

“Because he knows too much! He knows too much about that incident five years ago!” she yelled, expecting a huge reaction from the girl standing across from her, but she seemed unfazed.

“If you want him dead so much,” calmly walking over to the microwave and putting what she had prepared inside, “Why don't you just kill him yourself?”

“Because technically, he's not in my way yet, but if he ever does decide to get in my way, it would be too late. That's why I want you to kill him for me,” she explained slowly, struggling to keep her temper at bay.

“You know, you really need to learn to stop asking me to do everything for you just because you're hiding from the world,” Ashley accused.

“I'm not hiding from anything,” Krys huffed.

Ashley rolled her eyes. “Oh, really?” she asked, striding towards the very annoyed girl. “Then what do you call this?” she asked as calmly as she could muster, yanking the glasses off of the still very annoyed girl's face, and forcefully pulling at her short, blonde hair, which, in a split second, hit the wall behind her. Beautiful, long, black hair now gracefully fell from her head down to her knees.

She pouted. “I like to call it waiting for an opportunity, if you don't mind,” she said picking up her wig. “Thanks a lot. Do you know how long it took me to get this thing on?” she asked pouting even more. “You really shouldn't treat your older sister like that.”

“Just because you're two minutes older than me, doesn't mean you're more mature. If you want me to treat you like the older sister, then act like the older sister. In the mean time, I'll treat you however I think you need to be treated. And, keep in mind, you may be older by two minutes, but we're still the same age,” she scolded her sister, who was now trying to fit her wig back on her head, but to no success. “Are you even listening to me?” she raised her voice.

“Huh?” Krys asked and looked at her sister. “Oh! Yeah! Something about kitties, right?” she asked innocently.

Ashley sighed. Her twin really was hopeless. “I'm going to bed,” she mumbled, starting out the door.

“So, did I get it right?”

“It's getting late. You should get to bed soon too,” she sighed, walking up the stairs to her room, leaving her twin behind.

~0~0~0~0~

“I can't believe Ash! Making me come to school while she stays at home just because Julie isn't there. `Because you need to get out of the house' she says,” Krys complained on her way home from school. She took another breath, ready to complain some more, but was interrupted.

“Hey.” She spun quickly on her heel to see the face of the person whose voice she, unfortunately, recognized. Upon tuning she saw Jake's face. “Are you feeling any better?” he asked.

“Perfectly fine until you showed up,” she said, acid tainting her voice.

“Look, what is your problem with me?” he asked her.

She was about to reply with a very rude remark, but was interrupted by her cell phone, which decided to ring at that very moment. She was greatly disappointed, wanting so much to tear him down even a little bit, but answered her cell phone anyway.

“Hello?” she asked.

“Krys! You have to get out of here! The house was bugged! I've already found three! They know you're here! You have to get as far away from her as possible!” Ashley whispered as loud as a whisper would allow, all in one breath.

“What about you? You're not staying here are you?”

`“Don't worry about me. It's you they're after, not me. You have to get as far away from here as possible, undetected,” she said, again in one breath.

“But—“

“Just go!” she yelled and hung up.

Krys sighed. The closest option she had would mean having to live in hell for a while, but all in all, with the stakes as high as they were, she was willing to risk it. “Where do you live?” she asked Jake forcefully.

“What?” he asked more confused than ever.

“Could you please just answer the question, not give me one? Please?” she asked exasperated.

“Well, I have a hotel room not far from here, but I actually live in Manchester, England,” he said slowly.

“Perfect,” she mumbled, sliding a ring off of her left thumb, threw it on the ground, and crushed it beneath her foot.

A man sitting on a bench in front of them screamed, and pulled something out of his ear. Krys immediately recognized him as the college student impersonator who had been following her for the past few days.

“You!” she shouted at the man on the bench who looked up, shocked. “You made me break my favorite ring!” she yelled, but the man ignored her and merely pulled out a small hand gun from his coat pocket, loaded it, and pointed it directly at Krys' head.

A woman with two children screamed when she saw what was happening before her eyes, and pressed her children's heads against her chest in an attempt to somehow protect them. Others gasped, and others ran from the park for safety. Jake took a step back, shocked, but Krys only stared at the man holding the loaded gun. She sighed almost as though expecting this to happen, pulled her own hand gun out of her bag and shot the man. This time a chorus of women's screams echoed through the park, not just that of the woman with children.

“Sorry, everyone,” Krys said apologetically, putting her gun back into her bag. “Come on, we're going,” she said, now to Jake, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away from the scene and the dead body.

“Going? Where?” he asked, his focus leaving the dead man and returning to Krys.

“What are you? Stupid? We're going to wherever you live, obviously,” she said like it was common knowledge.

“Oh, okay… What?!” he yelled when what Krys said had clicked in his mind. “Let me get this straight,” he started, still being dragged along by Krys, “You're running away from someone for reasons unbeknownst to me, and now they've found you, so you want to go all the way to Manchester, England with a man you've known for less than two days, and turn my life into a living hell for God knows how long. Am I right?” he asked very annoyed with her forwardness.

She thought a moment, clearly reviewing what he had just said in her mind before speaking. “Yeah, pretty much,” she spoke matter-of-factly.

“You're hopeless,” he mumbled.

“How would you know? According to you, I've barely known you for two days,” she said.

“You just have to have the last word, don't you?” he asked irritated.

“But, of course,” she said happily, knowing she was successfully getting under his skin.

~0~0~0~0~

A/N: I've posted this chapter here just to see what other people think of it. Reviews are warmly welcomed. I also apologize for any grammar or spelling errors I may have missed.