Secrets of our World: Chapter One

Chapter One: Murder Gone Amuck (This chapter is through the perspective of Skye)

It was early Saturday morning, I should have still been in bed catching up on my sleep, yet there I was in the main lobby of an office building. Just by my lonesome self because nobody else was to been seen. It turned out that the building was basically deserted because many of the workers had already moved into the newer office building. You know a small business that grows so much that it has to relocate in order to accommodate space for everything. I know what you’re thinking. All this makes this office building important to me how? It really doesn’t. The fact is that my mentor, if you will, sent me here.

Of course with my luck, not two minutes after I walked into the front doors, somebody else did. I scrambled to find something to make me look less suspicious, for I didn’t want to be kicked out of the building. Fortunately, to the grey-haired lady that walked passed me, it appeared as if I was inspecting some boxes and marking off information on a clipboard. In reality, moments before I ran to said boxes and hurriedly picked up that same clipboard and scribbled imaginary words of importance on a random sheet of paper.

I gave a sigh of relief as the lady obliviously passed by me. Not surprisingly though, before I even had a chance to take another breath, the sound of the front door opening echoed through the partially cleared lobby. However, an unexpected sensation of hair bristling on the back of my neck followed this. Then I noticed the reason for the jolt to my system. A very strange man had just entered the lobby.

With the way the man carried himself, it seemed as if he demanded respect from anyone and everyone. With the authority and meticulous presence that he had about himself, you thought twice before asking him if he actually belonged in the building. His method beat my boxes, yet made him stick out like a sore thumb, which was good for me but bad for him. Either way, he appeared as if he had the right to be there, but the chill that ran down my spine made me think differently. Added on was the fact that my eyes were drawn to his tight fitting, dark gray shirt that displayed a masculine body rippling with muscles. On top of that, he also wore black jeans and black combat boots. Not your normal apparel.

It was sort of a split second decision of mine, but I decided to leave my post at the front desk and follow this out of place fellow. I mean, this guy seemed like someone that Marie would warn me about.

Wait a minute! I’ve never told you about my mentor, or as I call her, Marie. She’s a spirit that “haunts” me. Ok, so she doesn’t really haunt me. It’s more like she visits me in a nice manner. Though it is kind of scary to see her materialize out of thin air. There’s also occasions when she throws her voice into my head and we have a little chat in my mind. Oh, and of course she’ll pop up in the occasional dream or two. What’s that look you’re giving me for? You think I’m pulling your leg? You stopped believing in tales similar to mine when you were a wee little tot?

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m not kidding.

It’s time that you start believing.

Enough about my abilities and Marie. She absolutely hates it when I talk about her. Let’s go back to the man I was trying so hard to follow. I mean, this man was skillfully weaving his way through the maze of offices and hallways. I kept losing sight of his baldhead. I was getting lost, and I was just doing the following. Thankfully, the man finally decided to get inside an elevator. Guess who else took said elevator. Bingo, I did.

The pale man had already managed to push the button of the floor he wanted and was waiting for the doors to shut when I slid between them at the last minute. I outstretched my hand and I acted as if I was about to press a button, but then recoiled my hand so it appeared that I was headed to the same floor as he was. I was now intent on following this strange man.

Call me stupid, but I decided to try and strike up a conversation with him.

“Hello, Sir?” I waited for some sort of acknowledgement. I didn’t receive one. Of course I persisted though. “I mean… I swore… Do I know you?”

Again, he remained unfazed by my questions.

“Excuse me? Do we somehow know each other? You seem so familiar.”

The man finally seemed to realize there was someone talking to him. He turned his head in my direction and his cold gray eyes locked with my auburn ones. Before I had a chance to say anything, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. A woman got in, but didn’t press a floor number. It looked as if we were all headed to the same place.

The woman in the floral print skirt held a box full of paper and files. I wouldn’t have paid much more attention to her, but I noticed she was pregnant. Pretty far along too.

When she shifted her weight, leaning on the other foot, she dropped some of the contents of her box on the elevator floor. I instantly bent down to retrieve them for her.

“Thanks. One really appreciates small favors when you look like this. I really shouldn’t be here. I should be at home relaxing, but these people want this building cleared out ASAP!” she told me as she sighed and tucked a loose strand of her black hair behind her ear.

“You’re welcome. By the way, I’m Skye,” I told her.

“Annalee”

I shook hands with the nice woman the best I could and our conversation ended. My attention returned to the man who had quietly been watching us the whole time. Though he gave me the impression that he was trying to hide behind a newspaper. He acted like he was reading, trying almost desperately to go unnoticed. To make it appear like I wasn’t staring at him, I glanced at the front page of the paper instead. It said something about a man escaping from prison. I skimmed the article as I waited for something to happen. I started doubting myself, thinking that I followed the wrong guy.

Suddenly, interrupting my quality reading time, the elevator came to a jerking halt between floors. The force of the halt caught me off guard and I had fallen to the ground.

As I sat on the floor sort of dazed, I heard a scream. Annalee’s scream. Dizzily, I tried to stand up, but was unsuccessful.

Back on the elevator floor, I found the reason for Annalee’s scream. The man had a gun. His cold stare locked on me.

Before I was able to stand up and try to defend myself, he knocked me in my temple with the butt of his gun.

My world faded away, as blackness overcame me.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As I came out of my unconscious state and was able to sit up, on a stretcher that is. I also had a massive headache.

“Please ma’am, lay down. You’re going to be all right,” a young paramedic at my side told me. “Now if you can remember your name and any other information, it would help us out a lot.”

“My name’s Skylar. I don’t really need your help though. I think I’m ok,” I tried to reassure him. “Oh, wait! What happened to the other lady, Annalee?”

“She was rushed to the hospital. She and her baby are doing fine.”

“Oh that’s good.” I started to get up and walk away.

“Ma’am, please. You shouldn’t be up and walking. You could have a concussion.”

I forgot about the rambling young paramedic though when a familiar voice floated into my head.

“You saved them both. The woman and her baby,” Marie spoke to me.

“How did I save them? I was unconscious!” I asked her.

“He would have killed them if it wasn’t for you.”

“How did I stop him?! Again, I must point out the fact that I was unconscious!”

“He works in mysterious ways. You were not part of his plans. Therefore he did not carry out his murder. He did not see it as an option anymore. He basically fled the scene he created.”

“He was able to leave before the paramedics arrived?”

“Yes. He was the one that called them here.”

“Why? One minute he wants to murder somebody, and then the next he’s saving lives? Who is this man?”

“Did you notice anything specific about him?”

“Other than his odd choice of clothing? No.”

“The newspaper?”

I stood dumbfounded for a moment, and then it hit me. “He was the man on the front page! That was his irony of reading the paper. He was the escapee. Vince? Yes! Vince was the name that was given!”

Marie had already left me when I made the miraculous discovery and I was stuck in the real world again. In the real world, I only caught a glimpse of a green shirt before I was caught in an unsuspected hug.

“Skye?! Skye?! Are you ok?!” he asked me. “I saw most of what happened. The creepy man. The gun!”

“No Parker, I’m not ok. We seem to have a murderer on our hands.”