"You don't strike me as a professional criminal."
"That's what makes me so good at it."
"Okay, then why would a 'professional criminal' work for Marques?" Kia asked him. They both sat against the wall, as Kia was still in pain and Stevenson told her why he had kidnapped her.
"The guy knows how to make good deals," Stevenson said. "But why would he send both you and me to the same place, without telling us about each other?" She asked as they both thought for a moment. "No idea, I was told that whoever may be looking over the area would work for Harrison.", "And everyone knows how that works out," Kia said. "Why do they hate each other so much?" Stevenson asked, being new to working with Nickolas. "Think about it," He added, "They have the same type of company, mostly the same jobs. So shouldn't they work together?" He asked. "But that would also give them reasons to go against each other," Kia answered. "But," She said right after, "If you were the one to kidnap me, how do you not know where we are right now?" Kia asked him, referring to the fact that neither of them knew where they were.
"While you were unconscious, I was dragged, and punched in the gut for the second time today, over to the woods. I was knocked out right after that and we ended up here." "By who?", "Well thanks to Nickolas and his dumb jobs, there are some people who may or may not want me dead at the moment.", "And for what?" Kia asked, concerned. "Robberies, murder. Nothing really important, being honest." Stevenson said. For a moment Kia stopped to think of what she had just been told, to make sense of everything. "Let me get this straight," She started to say, 'We're probably in a house's basement, somewhere in the woods. Lost.." She said turning to her left to face him. "Seems about right," he answered.
"Well damn, I thought my day couldn't get any worse."
"I think you shouldn't be saying that."
"And why not?"
"Did you not understand the part where there are some guys down to get me?" he said, turning to face her as well.
"Yes, but I don't care"
"You should," Stevenson said, letting a breath escape his mouth. "Why?"
"Because now you're stuck with me. And something tells me those guys didn't just disappear off the face of the world."
"So that's an issue?" Kia asked.
"...Wha-.. Yes, it's an issue. I might die, or you might die." Stevenson said, taking a moment to look at her before turning to look straight at a wall in front of him. "I won't let you die," Kia said, with a humorous tone. Looking at the same wall. "That's not how it works," he said, seriously.
"I am Death, honey. I decided how it works." She said, laughing. "Yeah, okay," he said, laughing as well. "Keep flattering yourself there 'sweetheart' but no matter how you see it," He said, laughing less than when he started. "You can't do anything about it.", "Just watch," She said. Staring at him, as he spaced out looking at the wall.
"You're the last person I would trust, but due to circumstances right now, I don't think we have a choice," Kia said as she got up from the floor.
"What are you thinking of doing?" Stevenson asked.
"Flying to the moon…. Getting out of this place."
"Are you sure?" He asked, getting up next to her. "Because you look like you're gonna faint."
"Yeah, of course. I'm fine." She said as they looked at each other for a bit. "Yeah, but you might want to be ready to catch me. You know, just in case." She said as they then walked off to the staircase.
But before then they both saw a dark figure pass by a small window opening near the ceiling of the room, near the wall they were staring at.
"Did you see that?" Stevenson asked.
"Uhm…"
"The correct answer is no, no you didn't. Now walk faster."
He said, pushing her toward the staircase by her left arm.
"Is it locked?", "I'm guessing-" He was about to finish saying.
"Did you turn out the lights?"
"No. How could I?" She answered. They stood by the door for a second while the lights turned on and off. "Then we might have a problem."
Steven said, looking around. "Do you know if you murdered anyone, and they might have turned into a ghost out for revenge?", "No, but I wouldn't be surprised." He said. He reached over to the wall on the other side and kept pressing the light button.
"Well, that's not working," Kia said, trying to open the door again.
"Creepy flashy lights in the basement we're locked in? That's some horror movie shit right there." Stevenson said. Still trying to keep the lights from flickering.
"That's just great, cause you hate horror movies."
"Tell me about it,"
Before either could react, they fell through the ground. Once they fell, they landed on cold stone tile flooring.
"Did you hear that scream?" Stevenson asked, a moment after they fell.
"Yes," Kia responded, catching her breath. "I'm the one who screamed!" She turned around and lay flat on her back.
"That was a high fall, are you okay?" He asked. Looking up at the opening on the floor they were just at. They both stayed on the floor for a minute. "Please kill me..." She whispered.
"I'll take that as a no…"
~~~~~~🗡~~~~~~
A minute or two later they finally decided to get up and figure out where they were.
"Well, this is a nice change of scenery," Stevenson said while Kia turned on a light.
Even with the lights turned on, half the room was still very dark.
"It's a wine cellar... And not a nice one either." She said looking around it. "I was being sarcastic."
"See, Sunny. I brought you to an escape room. Like you wanted for Christmas two years ago." Stevenson said while they both walked around the old wine racks. "Gee, thanks a lot," Kia said with a sarcastic tone. "You missed the holidays now that I think about it."
"Yeah well, when your family consists of sociopaths and murderers. You tend to hate the holidays."
Kia said as she moved over to an old and broken desk.
"I'm sorry, but what's the point of this conversation?" She asked, turning to him. "To lighten the mood. But that might be useless, seeing how we are stuck again."
"Can you reach the opening we fell through?" She asked, walking back to where they originally were.
"No. Who do you think I am, Slender man?"
"Might as well be,"
"Wow, how funny… But that's way too high up." Stevenson said, walking back to the racks.
"You're not my favorite person today." She said, jumping up and down trying to reach the top.
"I'm not your favorite person on any day." He said, rolling his eyes at her. He sat down on a chair nearby.
She turned around and looked at him long and hard, but all she saw was the man broken by years of tragedy and pain, forced to do the indefinable.
He slipped a smile after turning around to see her walk back to the desk.
"Why are you smiling?" she said sitting next to him. "I never want this moment to end." He whispered. Barley heard, looking away. "We're trapped in a wine cellar. Underneath the basement where we were brought after being kidnapped, might I add, where we were also trapped in." She said, seeming concerned. "If anything you shouldn't want to spend another second here."
"Anna, I haven't seen you. Or spoken to you for eleven months. Give me a damn break." Stevenson said, turning to see her face. But she turned away.
"Well," She sighed, "It was for the greater good." She said, getting up with a cold expression moments after. "For who, you?" He muttered. Getting rid of the smile that was on his face a second ago. "How did that help anyone?" He asked Kia. "My issues aren't there. So knowing them, I kept those issues away from them." She said, staring at a wall. Not looking at him. "Is that why Robbert spent an hour 'pretending' like he didn't cry." He said, upset looking at the back of her head. "Or why Juliette refused to talk to anyone for two weeks.", "Look-", "No, no. Explain to me why, for the fifth time in your life, did you feel the need to run away. That didn't fix anything for you, did it?", "Well, it worked the other time. Didn't it?" She asked, her back to him. "You know damn well it didn't." He snickered. "What was I supposed to do?", "Ask for help."
"To who, to you?" She asked, finally turning around to him. "Yes–" He started to say, getting up. But she cut him off.
"I couldn't. Know why? Because you're never around!" She said, upset. "That's not true. I-"
"You have always said that I can come to you. But you're never there! Where were you when my parents died? Or when I almost died too. Anytime I do need you, you're nowhere to be seen." She shouted to him.
"The world doesn't revolve around you, Susannah! You're not the only one with issues here." He shouted back at her.
"Yeah, I know that. But you don't like to talk about your issues."
"I said I would be there when you needed it, but-"
"But you weren't. That's the thing." She whispered. "You weren't…"
"I know and I'm sorry. But it's not like I tried not to be."
"Then where were you?" Kia asked, mad and upset.
"Stuck in situations like this. Trapped like we are now okay!" He yelled out. "I know that doesn't cut it, but it's not an excuse. I swear."
"I'm just saying. When I was dead I didn't have these kinds of issues with you." She whispered to him. "Great way to make it better. You're great in serious situations. You know that right?" He said, Sitting back down. "This is all your fault..."
"I'd expect it by now. You probably hate me now…"
"No. I've hated you since we met." She said, sitting back down at a chair near the desk.
"Great, thanks. I love knowing that…"
"Steven…" She whispered, again.
"What, Hanna?"
"You never answered me about the ghost thing…"
"An, do you think right now is the best time to bring that up?"
"Yeah, because doors under desks aren't supposed to open, at least now by themselves." She said, pointing to a small trap door slowly opening under one of the desk's ends. To the opposite side of them.
"...You might have been right about the dumb ghost."
He whispered to her.
"Holy cow…"