The receptionist was watching me. Her glasses were on the very end of her nose, magically managing not to fall. I couldn’t help but wonder why she wore them anyway… Obviously not to look through them, considering that her eyes were… well, placed much higher.

I gave her a smile, hoping that would make me look a little more like a normal polite person, and a little less like a criminal, who just shot his boss and kidnapped his colleague. I think it worked.

The colleague I mentioned above was nervously standing next to me. I wasn’t holding him by the hand anymore, because that would look, well, a little weird, but I knew he wouldn’t run. Maybe because he knew that I’m keeping a gun in my inside pocket. I just wished he’d calm down and try to attract a little less attention.

“So, a room for two?”, the receptionist gave me a meaningful smirk. “Only one bed, I’m guessing?”

Before I could reply, Vic looked up at her and blushed, now even more nervous.

“What? No! No, no, two beds, please.”, he quickly said. Then, realizing he just interrupted his kidnapper, he bit his lower lip and gave me a guilty look. I just smiled a bit.

“Yes, thank you, Vic.”, I nodded at the receptionist. “What he said. One room. Two beds.”

“Aaalright…”, she wrote something down, then took a key and handed it to me. I paid and headed to the elevator, throwing glances at Vic every now and then, to make sure he’s following me.

Surprisingly, he was. So far, he tried to run away just once, well, if we don’t count that time, when he tried to text the police, so then I confiscated his phone. In general, he wasn’t causing me too much trouble, and he was a good guy. I actually felt pretty bad for him. Basically, I ruined his whole life for a little more than five minutes, and I perfectly knew how bad that feels. Unfortunately I couldn’t let him go, not now, not yet. I needed protection, an insurance that the cops won’t get me anytime soon. And even if they found out who I was, they wouldn’t dare to come any closer, knowing that I was keeping a hostage. Maybe once I felt safe, I’d let him go. But first I needed some time to figure what to do next and make sure they’re not after me.

We found ourselves alone in an elevator for the second time that day. This time we both were calmer and less scared, at least it seemed so. Perhaps the reason was that now we knew we’re not going to die today, and that was a relieving thought, indeed. Suddenly Vic spoke up, which startled me and almost made me jump.

“…Feeling better?”, he asked.

“…Of course.”, I frowned. “Stop asking me that. I’m perfectly okay, I mean, why wouldn’t I be? Do I look like I’m not okay?!”

That sounded a bit harsher than it was meant to. I instantly regretted for being so rude.

“You just look nervous.”, Victor said calmly. “I’m sorry. I, um, I probably should just stay quiet. I’m sorry.”

I hesitated.

“…It’s alright, you don’t need to apologize. I can’t make you stay silent all the time…”

“Of course you can. You just kidnapped me and took my i-Phone, probably the most expensive thing I even own. It’s clear that you can do whatever you want with me.”, he smiled a little, slightly ironic.

“I see your point here.” I caught myself grinning a bit. “And, about the phone, you can have it back, if you want, I’ll just take the battery… It would be pointless to keep it, I won’t need it in two months anyway.”

Vic tilted head curiously.

“Oh? Why is that?”

I stared at the wall and didn’t reply. Sharing this wouldn’t be a good idea… Thank God, Victor quit asking and went silent as well. The elevator stopped at the third floor and we got out. The light in the corridor was weak, coming from the few windows in the opposite end of it, and some lamps, too old and too dirty to actually illuminate anything. Yeah, this definitely wasn’t the best hotel I could afford, but it was from the ones, where you can stay anonymous, and if you give enough money to the receptionist, they’d quickly forget you’ve ever been there. Shortly said, exactly the one I needed, even though I knew it wouldn’t be the most comfortable place to stay for the night. We walked in silence to our room. I stopped in front of a door and looked at the number, written on the key, to make sure it matches. And yup, that was it. Our room, 354. I unlocked and let Vic in, then followed him inside and locked it after us.

The room wasn’t looking any better than the rest of the hotel, but it wasn’t as bad as what I imagined. The furniture was poor – we had two beds, as promised, two nightstands, a chair randomly placed in the middle of the room, and a small table with an old TV on it. There was no carpet, but at least there were curtains on the only window. I drew them and turned to Vic again.

He hesitantly sat on the edge of one of the beds, watching me, like he was waiting for permission. I just nodded and sat across him, on the other bed, leaving my bag next to me. Then I pulled out the gun, removed the silencer and put them both inside. I hoped that would let Vic know that I wasn’t going to shoot him or threaten him anymore. His relief was obvious, but he didn’t say anything. I realized he’s probably afraid to speak after what I said, so I decided to break the silence first. I coughed.

“Um… Do you have a family, Vic? Wife, kids?”

Nope, I picked the wrong way to start a conversation, obviously. Victor frowned.

“I’m divorced.”, he smiled bitterly. “Didn’t work out. And no, I don’t have any children. If you’re asking me to find out if there would be anyone to mourn over me when you kill me, no, there isn’t.”

I looked down and sighed.

“I’m not going to kill you. It… It might seem otherwise, but I’m not a cold-blooded killer, Victor. If you think I enjoy this, keeping you a hostage here, I don’t. And I won’t hurt you if you don’t give me a reason to.”

“Vic.”, he corrected me. “Yeah, I figured this might be your first time to do something like that. You don’t look like someone, who just randomly kills people.”

That almost made me smile a bit.

“I guess I don’t, yeah.”

He tilted head slightly, thinking something.

“…Why did you do it?”, he asked slowly. “I mean, I didn’t like Terrence much either, even at all, but kill him? What for?”

I scratched my head, hesitating if I should tell him anything.

“The less you know, the sooner you’ll get out of here.”, I finally said.

“Right…”, Vic nodded. “Just… may I ask you something else?”

I shrugged, “Go ahead.”

“Is your name really Harry? Or that was a lie, too?”

“No… It isn’t. But to you, I’d like to remain ‘Harry’. As I said, the less you know, the sooner you’ll come home.”

“Riiight.”, he repeated, slightly frowning. “Okay, I get it.”

I took his phone out and looked at it, then I carefully opened it and took the battery out. I put it in my pocket, after that I looked up, reached and handed Victor the now useless device. He didn’t take it, though, instead he unconsciously flinched, as if he was afraid I was going to hit him. Realizing how he just reacted, he blushed a bit and hesitantly took it.

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, I just… I’m sorry.”, he murmured, his hand lightly shaking while holding the phone. “It’s not like I don’t trust you, I’m just… nervous… I’m sorry, I’ll try to calm down…”

“It’s okay, stop apologizing.”, I attempted a smile.

That just seemed to make him even more nervous.

“I’m sorry, I should stop… Oh, damn, I just apologized again, didn’t I, shit, I’m sorry…”

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Look, man, just, shush. Relax, okay?”, I smiled at him, trying to look as friendly as I could. He opened his mouth to say something, probably to apologize again, but I interrupted him. “Uh-huh, don’t. Shhh.”

I put my finger on his lips, still smiling. Vic froze, his eyes stared down at my hand and I realized I maybe went a little too far – he was still afraid of me, more or less, so I had to keep some distance, at least for now. Befriending my hostage is a bad, bad idea, and it would ruin my plan.

Like it wasn’t ruined already…

I coughed and carefully removed my finger from his face. Victor let out a relieved sigh, followed by awkward silence. Suddenly I took my bag, got up and headed to the door.

“I’ll go get some food.”, I announced. “Do you want anything?”

He shook head, but I silently decided to buy something for him too. I continued:

“I will lock the door, and we’re on the third floor, so I hope you won’t try to get away. I’ll talk to the receptionist downstairs to block all incoming and outgoing calls from this room, too, so don’t try calling the police either. I’m sure you won’t try doing something stupid, right?”

Vic nodded quickly.

“I won’t, I promise, I’ll just wait here.” His widened, honest eyes glanced at my bag. It wasn’t hard to guess what the reason was – he knew my gun was there, and wasn’t sure if I wouldn’t use it in case he tries to run. Actually, I most certainly wouldn’t, but he couldn’t know that for sure.

“Alright. I’ll be back in a few minutes, I’ll bring some food and drinks.”, I promised and smiled a little. Surprisingly, Vic smiled back weakly.

I left the room, locking the door after me.

While I was crossing the lobby, I noticed that the receptionist was watching me again. Why? Did she recognize me? Was I in the news already?

I leaned on the reception desk and smiled at her.

“Hello again.”

“Hello.”, she smiled back. “I hope you liked your room?”

I shrugged.

“It’s nice.”, I lied. “Look, my friend and I don’t really want to be bothered… We had a long trip and we need some rest. So would you please block all incoming calls to room 354? Actually, the outgoing ones too. I’d really appreciate if you do.”

The girl nodded. “Sure, I will.” Then she tilted head and gave me a curious look. I slightly frowned.

“What?”

“Oh.”, she looked away. “I, um, I just noticed you’re wearing sunglasses inside, too, and I was wondering why, I’m sorry if I stared too much.”

Ah, so that was it. A small smile of relief appeared on my face. ‘I wear them so you wouldn’t recognize me for my eyes if someone comes asking about me’, I thought, but I said instead:

“I had an accident a few days ago with the spotlights on stage… ‘cause we’re in a band, y’know, my friend and I. Since then light really hurts my eyes, they need some time to heal.”

What? Did I really just say that? That was it with no attracting attention. The receptionist looked at me, interested.

“Awesome, what’s your band name?”

Uh-oh… I looked around, searching for an idea. My eyes fell on a painting on the wall of a mermaid, or a siren, or whatever it was, sitting on a rock in the middle of a sea with a veil on her head. The picture was horribly painted and it made no sense at all, besides, the mermaid herself looked like a pink drowning monkey, but before I could think it over, I said the most random thing I’ve ever had:

“Veil the Sirens. We play… alternative-rock-pop-punk-electro-dubstep-opera, with folkloric and screamo elements.”

As I said. Too. Fucking. Random.

What surprised me was that the stupid girl seemed to believe me.

“That sounds… really interesting.”, she smiled widely. “You need to show me some of your music sometime.”

“Well, we’re just back from tour…”, I started.

“If you have any concerts nearby, call me.”, she added quickly and winked.

Oh, flirting now, are we? Everyone wants to get laid with a bandmember if he’s kind of good-looking. I smirked and for a moment wished I had my own, separate room… Then I thought of Vic and instantly regretted for even thinking that. What was I even doing?! I decided to change the subject and coughed.

“Um, so, where is the closest place I can get some dinner from?”

“Right outside and on the left. I wonder how you didn’t see it when you arrived.”, she explained, looking somewhat disappointed that I didn’t go along with her game.

I was probably too worried to pay attention to anything, when we arrived, I thought, but I said:

“I told you. My eyes are hurt, I don’t see well enough.”

And with a smile, I went outside.

* * *

Completely forgotten I locked the door, I kinda rushed into it, holding the bags with warm pizza and burgers in them, and crashed in it with a loud “Thunnnnnnn!”, followed by “Owwwwch.” After making sure my head isn’t hurt much, except of a small bruise on my forehead, I took the key out, holding one of the bags in my teeth, unlocked and came in.

“Brought some pizza!”, I announced, once my mouth was free and the bag was back in my hand.

Vic jumped a bit, startled when I came in, but smiled a little when he saw it’s me. However, I could see a strange worried look upon his face, and that alarmed me. He turned to the TV, which was now on. Obviously he had been watching something.

“Awesome… Um, Harry, I think you’d want to check this out.”, he said and threw me another worried look.

“What is it?” I sat next to him, but at some distance and looked at the screen.

Just in time to see my own face, right when a voice was saying: “The suspect is identified as twenty-six-years-old Kellin Quinn…”

Oh, no… Not that soon…

I stared at the TV for a few seconds, until I felt Vic’s hand on my shoulder. I turned to him, startled.

“Well, Harry… Or, as it seems, Kellin…” He sighed. “You’re fucked.”

END OF CHAPTER 2.