Chapter 60
Celia
“What do you want from the store, Soren?” I ask, huffing and puffing from running down the sand.
Soren decided that he would lay out on the beach today and soak up the sun. He sits in a chair with a book in his hand, his green eyes meeting mine.
“Find a few games for us to play,” he says, “could be fun.”
“Alright! I’ll be back soon!” I smile and turn on my heel, trying my best to run through the sand as fast as I can since one of the guards are waiting for me in the car.
“Stay safe!” Soren calls out.
I give him a wave and turn towards the house, picking up the pace. I move as fast as I can and hustle through the house, wiping off the leftover sand before getting inside the car.
The drive is calm and there are barely any other cars out and about. We make it to the small grocery store in record time and walk inside. The guard grabs a cart from the front of the store. I walk inside and greet the employees with a smile, already finding a few things that we need at the front of the store.
I pluck things from the shelves, tossing them inside the metal grocery cart. The solider loses his once calm and casual demeanor from the car and has turned on his work mode, looking and observing the nearby spaces of the grocery aisles with a scowl and glare.
We find our way to the board games. I toss in a couple decks of cards, a set of dominos, and even a chess board. While looking at the rest of the games, my eyes land on a few strategy ones. I grab them and inspect them, pursing my lips as I read the descriptions.
Would Soren enjoy these games? One is a so called ‘escape room in a box’ while the other is an intricate game of world domination and war. If the other games are too simple, then these must be a good way to keep our minds sharp, right? Right.
Out of the corner of my eye, movement catches my attention. I look up from the boxes, leaning to the side to try and see what it was.
Goosebumps slowly form across my skin, the back of my neck tingling from anticipation. I swallow the lump that forms in my throat and place the boxes of games inside the metal grocery cart, looking up at the solider.
His eyes meet mine and he steps forward, approaching me.
“What is it, princess?” He quietly asks, his voice just barely over a whisper.
“I think…” my voice gets caught in my throat, the possibility of Bianca or one of her allies or cronies being here in the seaside town making me feel so nauseous. “I think there is someone watching us, James.”
“Where did you see them?” James immediately straightens his posture and begins to look around the aisle. I move behind the cart and point down the aisle. “Stay here. Do not move. I will be back soon.”
James leaves my side and disappears down the grocery store aisle.
I am alone with nothing but a car full of food and board games to protect me. My anxiety bubbles inside the back of my mind, unable to leave me alone as the possibilities of what can happen begin to flood my consciousness.
What if it is Bianca? Would she be willing to kill me in a place is public where everyone can see?
She would. The grocery store is quiet and there are barely any employees that are working today. Even the roads were close to silent with James and I being the only ones driving down the light gray asphalt. This is the perfect opportunity to kill me and to escape with nobody to watch or catch her.
No…I can’t think this way. I cannot allow my paranoia to overtake my mind and body. If I am to freak out, it will only make my chances of survival slim to none. I will have no control over what happens and will be stuck in time, frozen, and ready for her to find and kill me.
I wonder what Soren is doing right now. Is he still on the beach or did he decide that the sun is too much to handle for today so he went back inside? I wonder what he would have done if he were here to accompany me to the store instead of one of his werewolf soldiers.
I look around the aisle. The person from before stares at me from the other side, a sick and twisted smile on their face. Their eyes are covered with black sunglasses and they wear all black clothing, obscuring any physical trait other than their sickly pale skin color.
I abandon the car and immediately walk down the grocery store’s aisle. My pace quickens and the person turns to the side, running away.
“Hey!” I call out after them, turning the corner as soon as I reach it. “Get back here!”
They do not respond. They do not turn around to mock me. They instead lead me on a wild goose chase around the grocery store.
My mind is a mess. It runs a mile a minute as I duck and weaves through the many lanes of food and clothes and other miscellaneous items. I use sight of them one moment and I can see them the next.
My heart pounds on the inside of my chest. My hands grow clammy as I try my best to navigate my way through the clothing section. Just as I am about to turn the corner, my face meets James’ chest.
I gasp and feel him immediately tuck me behind him. I hold onto his shirt and look around, following him as we approach our filled grocery cart.
“It’s time to go, princess,” James informs me. I nod in return, eager to leave.
We walk to the cashier, which is a moody teenager who takes forever to scan the items. James makes the decision to leave my side, going to fetch the car as I gather up all of the bags into my arms.
I basically run out of the grocery store and meet him at the car, throwing them into the backseat and getting inside after them. James is quick out of the parking lot, driving just fast enough as to not cause or arise any suspicion from any nearby civilians.
An unsettling feeling lingers in the back of my mind. I look out the tinted window as James calls the house, alerting the other solider that they may have been compromised and that we may need to move.
I feel anxious the closer and closer we get to the home.
What if we are leading Bianca straight to us? What if this is exactly what she wanted? To spook us into running home, to show her exactly where we are living.
The thought makes me nauseous. I close my eyes and take deep and slow breaths. My mind wanders to Soren.
I hope he’s okay. I hope that the person I saw in the grocery store is nothing but a local creep and that we can stay here in paradise together.
The unsettling feeling doesn’t leave me alone. It eats away at my mind and forces me to think of what I need to do to survive.
