Viviana's cheek was swollen from the guard's punch when she tried to force her way through the gates. It wasn't unexpected—she had foreseen it in the brief glimpse of the future she had in the taxi—but desperation drove her to try anyway. Now, walking with slouched shoulders and a bruised ego, she crawled around the area, horrified. Things had not gone the way she had planned.
Kicking the dust and pebbles on the pavement, Viviana felt hopeless. "This is not how it should have been. What do I do?" She rubbed her cheek as it stung, feeling all the negative emotions, like everything was about to go downhill. "I should be angry right now! I should want to break everything that comes into my sight, but why do I not do it?!"
She touched her chest, the heart beating inside seemingly unbothered by the occurrences of the day. "Is it because it is just my soul trapped in here? Is it because the heart belongs to her that I can't be as angry as I could be? I don't like this feeling. This is not like me." She was worried now. The feeling of being alien in the body made her feel irritated. She wanted to be synchronized in soul and body, but she was not, and now the only thing she could feel was desperation in her soul.
She threw her head back and looked up at the sky. "What is the meaning of this? Why did I get stuck here? I want to go home!!! Please!" Her voice cracked when she pleaded to the skies, but there was nothing she got as an answer. Then a light flashed in her eyes, and she saw a vision, causing her to fall to her knees.
"You! Give us all your money, or we will beat you up!" Three men stood in an alley holding bottles of beer, threatening her. The pain of a bottle crashing over her head stung for a moment, and then there was the face of Magnus somewhere in the background, and the flashback ended. Viviana's eyes widened with shock, her throat tightened and she looked horrified.
"No!" She exclaimed. Viviana held her head, which was hurting due to the vision, and she paled. "No! I can't get caught! How the hell would he know where I am?" Now her heart, unlike before, stirred. A weird feeling took over her, and she felt as if a derailed train had made its way into her chest and was now beating against her ribcage. Her throat instantly dried up, and she looked around defensively as if trying to see if someone was following her. The feeling that she had ignored since yesterday because she thought her misery would end today now gnawed at her, as nothing had gone according to plan, and she needed to hide.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted the car slowly tailing her. "D*mn it!" she cursed under her breath. "How did I not notice this?" She cursed again and instantly took to her feet, rushing with all the strength she had. As soon as Kiera caught her rapid motion, he drove faster. "Does he think he can outrun a car?" Kiera's lips curled up mockingly. He stepped on the accelerator and drove faster, a thrilling feeling bubbling in his chest.
Viviana, on the other hand, straightened her palms, moving her arms to and fro rapidly, her cheeks flying as she made her escape. She looked around for somewhere she could dodge the car as it was catching up to her on the straight road. Just then, Viviana spotted a narrow street where it would be difficult for the car to fit on the first attempt unless the driver was highly skilled. Her lips curled up cunningly, her chest beating hard, high on adrenaline. She ran past the street without turning in, and so did Kiera. Just when they were a few metres ahead of the street, Viviana slowed down, turned around, and ran backward towards the street.
Kiera, who was accelerating, was shocked at the sudden change of direction. His eyes widened, not expecting Leo to do such a thing. "Haha!I tricked him." Viviana chuckled loudly and ran into the street.
"Haha! We tricked him!" A voice rang in her head after her own chuckle. It was very familiar, sounding like that of a young girl. The sudden feeling of déjà vu took over Viviana, and as she ran, she saw a dusty figure emerging from nothingness running ahead of her, as if a memory was being unlocked in her mind. A girl with two braids on each side was running ahead of her, laughing in the most innocent voice she could imagine. The girl slowly turned around. "Who are you?" Viviana, who seemed to have momentarily forgotten that she was being chased, thought she was chasing the girl, wanting to catch her. She was desperate to do so, her hand stretched out. "Wait! Who are you?"
The laugh of the little girl rang in her head, and she saw the girl turn around slightly. The uncanny resemblance to herself was horrifying. "Wh-?" She was only able to utter those words when she stumbled upon something, falling face forward on the pavement. She managed to avoid injury, but she looked up desperately to find the girl, who had now disappeared.
"What was that? Was it me? Why—why does Liora have such a memory of me?" Her nose felt itchy, and warm tears poured from her eyes. They were not Viviana's tears, she knew for sure.
"Hey, you! Boy!" Viviana's thoughts were interrupted as the three men from her vision appeared, just as she had seen, with empty bottles of beer in their hands.
"I don't have any money," she spoke before they even had a chance to ask for it, trying to look past their legs to see if the figure of the girl was still there.