The irritable sunlight shined upon my sleepy face, forcing me awake from the warm embrace of the blanket wrapped around me. My head was pounding painfully and I felt groggy as I blinked several times before moving and sitting up on the edge of my bed.
Across the other bed is Eve, snoring loudly while lying flat on her back. The blankets are tossed off her body due to her heavy tossing and turning during her sleep. She must have been having a nightmare judging by the way she kept muttering things under her breath that sounded like gibberish.
I extend the upward palms of mine at my contemplating face, then I shake my head to try to rid myself of this headache, placing my hands on the edge of my bed with one foot resting over it as I slowly stand up from the soft mattress. I glance towards the window, which shows me that dawn has already broken, making me squint my eyes in slight pain, but I am thankful for the light.
Turning to the wrapped bandage of my left arm, the knife wound is still oozing some blood out of the fresh scabs. It hurts a bit when touching it, but it will just be fine for a few days before I can remove the bandage. Although, it does not appear to bother me much since the wound will heal thanks to the stitches.
But now, there is something else that needs my attention. Something that has been bothering me all night long as I stare back at the window. My thoughts return to the conversation we had last night about her wanting to learn to be human again.
Eve never appeared to be independent or self-sufficient throughout her entire life, always following orders from others and letting them control every aspect of her life. This attitude stems from the fact that she has been likely had tragic upbringing as I mentioned before, but I would like to piece this puzzle one at time when we slowly get to know each other more intimately.
I sighed deeply while thinking of what I should do next, knowing something that I forgot to do earlier in my room. What was it that I needed to do? Was it the part where I almost died from assassin or…?
Yes, I think I remember now. I need to return to the police station and explain to them what happened with my first job, especially Helson and Mano. However, is it imperative to tell them the truth? I was questioning myself about this a day ago, but I do not want to lose my job as a detective so soon after becoming one.
But then again, I do what had to be done for the sake of preserving innocent life from danger. Even so, I am willingly to sacrifice anything to get the upper hand in doing what I believe is the greater good of everyone.
My thoughts are interrupted by Eve’s waking up, making me turn my head towards her direction as she opens her eyes wide at seeing me standing at the window. “Adam?” She murmurs, confused and surprised that I am awake so early in the morning.
“Morning,” I answer back softly, turning away from the window to look down on her beautiful face. The sight of her weirdly brightens my heart with warmth even though I just met her last night. She looks around the room before glancing at the door, wondering where we were staying overnight until realizing that it is our home. She blinks twice, looking at me again with an uncertain gaze.
“What now?” Her voice sounded worried, probably due to being woken up unexpectedly like this and not having any idea of what she should do next.
I chuckle, “do you have a vehicle?” I ask back, making her stare at me with bewildered eyes.
“A car? No, I don’t own one,” she answers.
She does not have a car? Then how was she able to stalk and follow me through this snowy flat area of wasteland for miles without getting lost or stuck in the snow? It seems like a convenient excuse but I am going to keep that thought because I do not want to give her any reason to distrust me nor suspect my true intentions.
“Oh… Well, then lets head out,” I say casually as if nothing really matters, making her blink in confusion once more, “and mind giving me my turtleneck shirt and trench coat please?” I ask, pointing at the clothes laid neatly on her bed.
“Uh, sure…” She mumbles, picking up my clothing and handing them over to me. I then wore my turtleneck shirt first before putting on my trench coat, making Eve stare at me with curiosity while I was dressing up. I then turned towards her with a smile, “shall we leave then?” I ask again, ignoring her curious expression.
Eve nods, following me to the door. We exit the room and move through the hallway of this hotel. The lobby is still dark as most of the guests are asleep and unaware of our presence. We had used the elevator before but I sort of forgotten where it leads to. I could use and enter my mind palace, but it would take a couple of seconds or minutes for me to reach the conclusion. Plus, I just woke up and I feel lazy about doing that right now, so I will try to consider something else until I can identify how I am going to get us outside.
“Lets take the stairs,” she suggests, looking at me curiously.
I nod in agreement, “sure.” we then head down a long flight of steps which ends into a small staircase leading downwards. We proceed and eventually find ourselves walking through a familiar open area, the public main lobby of Kike’s Hotel. Decorated with marble flooring, plush furniture and crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, the lobby is large enough for people to gather around its center table while others are sitting on chairs or stools scattered all over the place.
That is not our intention however, we just want to leave this hotel. I notice Eve staring at the front desk, presumably waiting for the clerk to arrive at his postal duties.
It was strange and funny of seeing her act like a robot and being in complete disarray with herself as she seems lost without knowing what to do next. It made me wonder if she has been raised just to be a living weapon or tool to fulfill the needs of other people. Or perhaps, there is more to her than meets the eye… But I guess it is best that we leave before anyone that might be afflicted with whatever group she was with is awake.
“Hey Eve,” I approach her slowly, “come on, lets go.” She did not respond to my words, still gazing at the absent clerk who had yet to show up in front of the counter. I sigh exasperatedly, grabbing her opened hand and tugging her towards me. After a few seconds, she finally turned to face me with an unamused expression on her face, restless eyes staring at nothing.
“I don’t know where we are going, Adam,” she mumbles under her breath, looking down at her feet as if they were bare. The coldness of the ground made her shiver uncontrollably, “I do not know what I need. This is all so confusing and…” She trailed off as her voice cracked. I could sense the sadness coming from deep within her heart, but there was no time for us to dwell upon such matters right now.
My face soften, trying my best to put her mind at ease, “it is okay, Eve,” I try to reassure her. Although, I have no idea what she was feeling inside, unless I decide to study her more thoroughly. “Just follow me and trust your instincts.” She nodded reluctantly, still keeping her eyes on the floor.
I led her out of the hotel, seeing the early morning of this snowy small town I landed myself into. The sun has already risen above its peak and the rays shone through the clouds, creating a beautiful sight for everyone to see as if it was painted by some master artist. I decided to let go of her hand, turning to her, “have you seen any vehicle here?” I ask.
She shakes her head, causing her long blond hair to flutter behind her, “No… I have not really been outside the hotel that long. I was simply…” Eve turned her attention to somewhere else, highlighting her guilt in stalking me all the way from here.
“Its okay Eve, I know why,” I assure her with a gentle smile. I could tell she was deeply troubled of committed to kill me, but that is understandable considering how much trouble she had gotten herself into getting away from those people. The whole reason I came back to the hotel with her is to have a loyal companion and tool at my side, but something tells me that she is more than that…a friend perhaps?
Eve looks up at me, giving a weak smile and nods, “okay…” She replies quietly. I notice her eyes looking around cautiously as we continue walking down the road until I spot a car parked in front of one of the shops. It was an old model white Ford truck, which I assume belonged to someone who worked nearby.
What should I do? Steal it or find and persuade the person to have his or her truck driven us to wherever I want to go. As I thought about what to do next, Eve suddenly stops in her tracks, making me stop with her too. I turned to look at her, noticing that she was pointing towards the truck I was eyeing before.
“Do you have lockpick by any chance?” I asked her, she nodded her head yes, much to my delight, “good, do you know how to use it?” She shook her head no, causing me to sigh and shake my head as well, “ah well, you can hand it over to me,” I told her.
Eve hands me the lock pick, “here.” I take it before asking a curious question, “why would you have them if you did not know how to use them?” I asked, causing her to hesitate for a moment before answering, “my…superiors just gave them to me as an extra gift,” she answers.
I stared at her, trying to discover what her superiors could be thinking when they handed her such an item. I wonder why her superiors even bothered giving her an item that she barely never used or trained on, but whatever their reasons are, I will ensure to use this ‘extra gift’ they gave to her.
“Whatever, lets just get into the truck and head back in the big city,” I approached with lockpick at hand, inserting it into the keyhole of the door. After a few tries, it finally opened after it fell off its hinges, causing me to grin in satisfaction.
How useful this trait I have. My dad always noticed that whenever I focus on developing a skill or talent, I inevitably become master of it within a few or couple of tries just by following my gut feeling and instincts. But then again, perhaps I am just born lucky with trait like this.
Never know I had this until my adoptive dad noticed it.
Once we entered inside the old Ford truck, I began to insert the lockpick in the hole near at the driving wheel to start the vehicle until Eve tap my right shoulder, making me stop what I was doing and look towards her, “what is it?” I ask her. She took out what appeared to be the keys of this car from her pocket, which surprised me as she said, “use it.”
I stared at her blankly for a moment before asking, “where did you get that?” I am confused because there are no spare keys in the ignition nor anywhere else.
She blankly stared at me while pointing to where the key ring hangs on the wall of her right window, “it was over there,” she answers simply.
“Huh, who would have thought.”
