“Why don’t you tell me what you need and we can go from there?”
Seri huffed, and was about to rub his head at the tension headache beginning to grow when he froze, remembering he hadn’t washed his hands yet… Ugh and he had touched his belly already—ew…
Hands falling to his sides, he stared. What could the harm be? He was in trouble. At this point, he was avoiding Preston and his men by luck alone. What Seri needed…was to leave this planet. To go to one where Preston didn’t have as much power. Hell, he’d settle for a place to live at the moment.
Fuck it. “I need the kind of help that creates a new me. Because too many are looking for the current me.”
Seri frowned, what the fuck had he just said? Did it even make sense? His brain was too tired for this.
He shifted on his sore feet as Quill stared down at him silently. When the man nodded and turned away, leaving the bathroom without another word, Seri’s frown deepened. He stood there for a few moments, unsure of whatever the hell that was, before moving to the sink to wash his hands and wipe off his belly.
Quickly doing both, he left the bathroom and found himself hesitating right outside the door. He should leave… This was too questionable. It could be a trap, yet…
Hands clenching, even though he had the urge to flee, Seri walked back to his booth and sat down. He eyed the glass filled with a yellow tinged liquid sitting on the table, wondering if it was actually phosphorus infused ginger water or something else…
Seri jumped when a plate was suddenly set down in front of him. He glanced over and found Quill standing there. “I-I…didn’t order anything.”
Looking down at the food, it appeared to be seared salmon and rice. Strangely, if Seri had gotten to read the menu, it’s exactly what he’d have ordered, due to it containing the exact minerals he needed to promote a healthy pregnancy.
“It’s seared salmon. You’re a Water Nymph, right? Before you get suspicious, when I was growing up, I lived near a Water Nymph settlement. It was one of the meals they often fed those of your kind who were pregnant. But if you don’t like it, I can get you something else. Either way, your meal is on me.”
Plausible explanation, still…he wasn't sure how he felt about someone ordering for him…or paying… “I…I have money.”
“Save it,” Quill said as he slid a folded piece of paper onto the table. Again, without a word, the man turned and walked away.
“What in the hell…” Seri rasped.
Gaze flicking to the paper, he snatched it off the table. Angling a bit in the booth so no one could see what was inside but him, he unfolded it.
What he found inside was two words and a phone number.Save me…The paper said save me.He frowned and rotated it…brow raising. Due to the odd way the words were written, holding it this way it read,I’m Fine.
Seri pushedinto the public library, looking around at everyone, as if they were out to get him, because who knew, maybe they were. He wouldn’t even be there if the strange ass number he called hadn’t given him a website address to go to. Like, what was even going on? Was he in a spy movie or something? Strange numbers with automatic messages, even a code word. Well, code words. He had to say,‘save me’was a bit uninspiring.
But, whatever. He’d continue down this rabbit hole, because what other choice did he have? So here he was, at the library, about to dig deeper. Was it no doubt paranoid to think that Preston would somehow find him through his laptop, if he dared to connect it to the internet? Yes, it was. Honestly, he wasn’t sure why he had bothered to get one at this point.
The building had the ‘carved out of tree’ look going for it, which was a bonus point for them on their style choices. The inside was much the same, besides more straight edges due to the shelves holding the books.
He passed by the librarian with a polite nod, and started to follow the signs to the tech hub section. Despite having gone into a plethora of libraries over the last few weeks, it was still odd seeing so many physical books. It wasn’t that they were banned, it was just that so few were printed nowadays. Most things, books included, were purely digital now.
Luckily, with how the libraries were set up, while you needed a card to leave with anything, you could enter and use everything within the building without one. He only knew that as he’d been using the public restrooms in the ones he passed by on his way to this middle of nowhere town to ‘bathe’. Which was really just him washing down as best he could with a washcloth, soap, and water from the air and sink.
Reaching the area with laptops, he snagged one and found a small hidden alcove where he’d be able to sit in a way so no security cameras could see what was happening on his screen.
The laptop was like a brick. He wasn’t sure how old it was, but he hadn’t seen many solid-colored plastic encased laptops in his thirty-five years.
Wait…no…he was thirty-six now. His birthday had been last week—December twentieth. Seri had really spent five birthdays in that house… He’d just barely left in time to prevent this one from happening there.
Though…Seri wasn’t sure if that was his actual birth date. It was the date the orphanage had given him. The date he was abandoned.
Sitting down in the overly plush chair, he rested the laptop on his stomach and booted it up. Pulling out the small piece of masking tape from his pocket, he covered the camera. Sure, he was in public, and likely being recorded… Yet…it made him feel safer to cover it.
Laptop on, he typed in the website address. Oddly…what popped up was a black screen with the word User on it, followed by a flashing white cursor. He hesitated a moment before typing…
USER
Save me.
UNKNOWN
