Altered Bloodlines: Escape from Reality (Chapter 2)

  There was no way this was possible; I could only stare at the coat, my brain trying to grasp at any other kind of explanation as to why this brand new trench coat was doing in the alley still without a speck of dust. Mal proved me wrong, for there was dust on the front of the coat where you insert your arms. However, this failed to dispel the curse, which only had me looking around the alley, trying to find someone, anyone.

      "Someone was just here, watching us," Mal uttered the words which I refused to let out, the thought I wanted to deny, "Whoever it was couldn't have gone far! Aki, you call the police, I'm not letting this person just run away. I'll show them who they're dealing with!" Mal burst into a sprint before I could call out in protest. I pulled out my phone and did as Mal said.

      As I waited outside the front door, I saw Mal walking around the block; I've lost count how many times she walked around the house, and how many blocks she walked. She soon returned, grinding her teeth and clenched fists.

"There was no way I couldn't have found them! They must be hiding somewhere, I know it!"

"Mal, let's just leave it to the police to figure out—"

"No! I know how things work in the station. If there's no dead body nor any harm done, they hardly do anything about it."

"I'm sure your friends wouldn't mind helping though."

"We'll see, maybe my old partner can lend us a hand."

      Mal dialed her longtime partner, the police chief of Harrison; she was such a good officer who went up the ranks fast, so much so the police chief decided to mentor and worked with her on strenuous cases.

We sat in the living room while we were waiting, Mal simply paced around the house, checking all the windows while I remained on the couch with wide eyes.

"Mal, maybe we're overthinking this, we have no clue if that person is watching us or someone else—"

"I won't risk it either way, besides we should take care of that person even if it's not us they're watching."

Mal went out and warned all the neighbors whose house the alley went through of the mysterious stalker and questioned if they had any clue if someone could be watching them. Some had no clue while others believed it to be some a person they met sometime in the past.

      Mal was always a cautious girl, she never allowed for any possibility for loopholes, nor for any cranny or nook checked only once. Mal doesn't rest until she has exhausted all possible outcomes and ensure our security. This trait of hers naturally got more intense after becoming a police officer. She then went to the computer and wrote down all her findings thus far.

      It was already early into the evening when we heard a knock on the door, to which Mal rushed to let him in.

"Nice to meet you again Richter, though, by the sound of that phone call, we're not meeting each other again in the best of times," the man stated.

"I truly did wish we didn't have to reunite under these circumstances, but you're the only one I felt comfortable sharing this with Olsen," Mal directed him to the sofa.

Due to how he practically drags his stiff left leg on the floor while having Mal support him, the man seemed to have undergone something with his left leg. He was stout and tall, and due to worn badge he wears as a necklace, I assume he's already retired.

"Aki, this is my partner Jack Olsen. Olsen, meet my friend Akire Abramov."

He and I shook hands, he took his seat afterward, while Mal and I sat on the couch opposite to him.

"So, you think someone has been stalking you huh?" He folded his hands as he looked at me, "Mind if I get your version of the story?"

I told him and described the girl I saw, it wasn't any different from Mal's account, to why he asked for my version seemed unnecessary.

"Did you see the color of her eyes?"

I let my eyes wander; my nose scrunched the more I thought about it, "No sir, I did not pay attention to her eye color, she was too far to be able to tell."

Mal got up to show him what she wrote down, which left him squinting at the screen.

"Hm, whoever that girl was is the most bizarre one I've ever heard about," He then looked at Mal, "So you sure she was not from any house nearby?"

"I made sure of it; there was no event which involved her dressing as she was, nor was anyone able to identify her in the sketch."

He turned his gaze back to screen, "So you meaning to tell me this girl is not from here?" He looked at the sketch, then took out some files he was carrying in a suitcase. There he laid out ten folders, within containing a profile of the only redheaded girls known in the database of Lincoln.

      "I want you girls to look over them first, see if any of these girls match your sketch there."

As I gazed at the ten images spread out on the coffee table, I blurted, "None of these are her," I covered my mouth immediately after saying that. I hardly glanced at them, so I have no idea why I said that with such certainty.

Olsen raised one brow, "You didn't even compare them to the sketch, so how can you tell me none of them look like that girl?" He moved to the edge of the sofa and stared at me straight in the face, "Is there something you're not telling us, Ms. Abramov?"

      I shake my head, "Mr. Olsen, I promise I have no idea why I said that with such certainty. I must have been thinking of something else."

"Aki, if you know something you might as well tell us. He does have a point; it makes no sense why you can say none of them of her by just glancing at the pictures. Not even I can do that," Mal did the same as Olsen.

"Mal, if I could explain myself, I would, but I sincerely do not have a clue as to why I said that you believe me right? Look me in the eyes; you'll see there isn't even a point in me doing so."

      Mal turned to face me at gazed into me, the more she did, the further she frowned and squinted her eyes.

"This makes no sense; you said that for some reason, but she truly looks as if she has no idea why. She's telling the truth, she isn't hiding anything from us."

Mal's odd statement in turn only made Olsen shake his head, "You know how irrational that sounds? You're telling me this girl made a statement without any idea as to why she made it in the first place?"

She then thrust her gaze towards Olsen, "You never doubted my observations before, do you seriously think you can doubt me now?" She then raised her hand before Olsen could open his mouth, "I have no reason to bring you this way to spout nonsense. There is nothing neither me nor Aki can gain by hiding anything in times like these."

      Olsen sat back in the sofa, glancing at both of our expressions. He rubbed his forehead as if he caught a sudden migraine, "Okay, we'll just pretend she never said anything and analyze the girls in the picture and compare it with the sketch."

We proceeded to scan and make notes as to which features the girl shared in common with the girl in the sketch. Although Olsen and Mal saw in a match in some, I focused on the small details such as the shape of the nose, eyes, and other features that could narrow down our search.

      "Aki, trying to analyze it that way eliminates all of them, because none of them look exactly like her. So mind picking who you think looks like her the most?"

I looked at the pictures once more; suddenly an image flashed into my mind, it was her. From that image alone I noticed the most strange and impossible thing for her. Her eyes weren't blue, green, brown, or any normal eye color I've ever seen someone have. She had violet eyes, one feature that none of the girls came close to have nor do I think would ever have them.

      "Violet eyes," I whispered to myself.

"What's wrong Aki? You said something just now,"

"Oh, nothing!" I merely looked back at the pictures to avoid her stare. I mean, it may not be impossible, someone like me is rare as is, I almost feel like I shouldn't have these eyes either. I had heterochromia, the kind where each of my eyes is a separate color. By itself, it sounds normal until I mention my right eye is a natural amber color. Not anyone has amber eyes, some people may not even think it's real, but here I am.

      Mal turned my head to meet her eyes, "Aki, what did you say? I know you just remembered something else. Don't think you can pass this off as something you just blurted out."

"It's not important Mal, really,"

Mal tilted her head, brows raised, "Aki, you usually say most things out loud, sometimes without thinking. So if you tried to say that under your breath, it's because you said something you don't want others to know for one reason or another."

      I sighed and let my head droop, "I remembered something else about her, but you won't believe me the minute I say it."

"Just say it, Aki, I also saw her, so don't worry about that. I'm pretty sure both of us think we shouldn't even have seen someone like here around these parts. Not even any of these girls live close to us; they live in a completely different side of town."

      "Violet eyes, she had violet eyes," I shut my eyes upon saying those words. I knew how absurd it sounded, but it was what I saw.

I kept them shut until Mal suddenly took a breath in, "Then it wasn't just me."

"Wait, you saw that too?"

"Yeah, at first I thought it was blue, but the more I remember it, the more I believe there was a purple hue to her eyes."

"Do you girls seriously expect me to believe that the girl had violet eyes? There's no one with a profile like that here in Lincoln, or rather, someone like that doesn't exist."

We then heard something hit the kitchen window, Mal and I rushed to see who it was, while Olsen slowly approached it, standing behind me to get a view of who was outside with us.

      It was her. She stood straight in the middle of the window's vision, and simply shifted her gaze, making sure to stare at each one of us. She stared us dead in the eye, engraving the odd color of eyes into our minds. It was just as Mal said, under the sun her eyes looked more and more like a shade a violet than it did blue.

      "Well I'll be damned," Olsen goggled at her, then shook his head, escaping her curse, "You girls stay here, I'll have a chat with this girl, see what she wants from you two."

"Don't forget your partner Olsen, Aki can stay here to warn us if she starts running."

I have no intention of running, for I shall stand right here. I grip my head as the thought came into my head. I tried to shake my head free of it, it sounds insane, but whatever that was, it was not my thoughts.

Mal's eyes shimmered as she saw me pull my hairs in light of this invasive thought now in my head, to which she ran out the door, Olsen the following suit. The girl did not run; rather she turned to face them. I could hear their shouts from inside.

      "What do you want with these girls?" Olsen asked. The girl walked up and simply placed her hand on his forehead. Olsen attempted to move back but suddenly stood still. Olsen suddenly runs out as Mal tries to run after him. Next thing I knew I heard a car engine starting. The girl walked in through the door they left open, then grabbed my hands, "We are still waiting on your decision, my dear sister."