Reconnecting

Despite the exceptionally late time, Lena was sitting at her dinner table looking over some notes. For some reason though, probably because of the noise coming from the television, she couldn't bring herself to focus. 

Normally, the TV wouldn't have been used at all but today was a special circumstance. Her cousin was actually under her care for the day. He seemed weirdly engrossed in, not only the show, but also just the device playing it. It was almost as if he wasn't used to engaging with one. 

Deciding to take a break from her studies, she walked over to watch the show with him.

"Do you like this show?", she asked.

"Sort of.", he responded.

Lena had to pause to think about how to continue the conversation. 

"Hmm... Hey, how about I record some more episodes for when you next visit?"

"You don't-"

"You know just in case you miss anything."

"..."

"I mean, you can't follow along if you don't know what's going on, right?"

The boy stopped responding and when Lena looked back at him, he was no longer there. Blinking twice, she quickly scanned the room but couldn't find him still.

"Goodbye."

Lena followed the sound of his voice and was led to her front door. There, she saw Blake and his mom looking back at her. And all she could do was watch as the two of them left and the door closed, obscuring them from view completely.

*Buzz Buzz*
She awoke to the sound of her phone beeping, minutes before her alarm was set to go off. Rubbing her eyes sleepily, she checked her phone.

After a month of nothing but sitting in a hospital bed, Blake had finally been discharged and was back at home. But instead of taking it easy, he was busy setting something up in his room. he dragged his desk chair all the way across the room and set it against his window. Then he opened up the blinds, sat in it, and pulled out his phone.

His back was facing the window, and his phone was so pressed up against himself that only someone directly behind him could see what he was writing.

"It must be a real hassle doing this every time we need to talk.", his reflection sighed.

Blake responded by typing something.

"I've got no choice. Ethan knows where I live and if he's serious about finding me out, then he's definitely bugged and placed surveillance cameras in my room to see if I'm acting weird."

"Well, maybe he'd be more willing to let you off the hook if you hadn't messed with him so much towards the end of your conversation."

"That doesn't matter. You said you had something important to tell me so say it."

His reflection took a bit but eventually responded.

"Okay then. It's about Lena."

A few minutes later, Blake exited his room and passed by the living room. He stopped once he noticed the empty calendar stuck to the wall. As usual, his mother was sitting there, watching the TV with a blank look on her face. 

Pausing briefly to take a look at the current date, he then glanced back at his mother one more time before finally passing her by and walking out the front door.

The first thing he saw once he did was a black car parked in front of his house; just close enough to arouse suspicion, but just far enough to be chalked up to mere coincidence. No matter where he went, the car followed closely behind him. It was clear as day what was happening.

After walking a couple of blocks down, Blake came across a mall decided to go inside. He was already at the back entrance of the mall, so he entered through there. 

On his way in, he noticed a see-through room with a bunch of computer screens as well as a lone security officer sitting in front of them. At least he could find some solace in knowing that whatever could potentially happen to him would be captured on tape. 

Eventually, he found himself stopped at a fountain and sitting in front of it, the person he'd arranged a meeting with. 

Blake and Lena sat together, watching the crowds of people passing by and listening to the water splashing behind them. 

"Have you had any trouble with Ethan, by the way?", Blake asked.

"Ethan?"

Lena turned to look at Blake, who was now looking around at all the shops surrounding them. He seemed to be searching for one in particular. 

"The guy in the suit. The one who visited me at the hospital."

Lena shifted in her seat uncomfortably. 

"Oh him... Yeah, he asked me some questions before. I didn't tell him anything, but..."

"He may have bugged your house. You don't talk to yourself anymore, do you?"

"I never have! And why would he even bug my house?"

Never averting his gaze, Blake responded. 

"Because of your relation to me. So, be careful of what you say and do from now on. And not just in the house..."

He tilted his head as if pointing to something. Making sure to only move her eyes, Lena took a look and saw two men in suits sitting a bit away from them. One of them was Ethan. They didn't seem to be watching her, but that was probably just how they wanted to appear.

"So... You still don't want to involve the police?", she said.

"There's no need to. As long as we don't go near the pocket watch, they'll never find it. All we have to do is nothing and they'll lose interest in us eventually."

"What if they get tired of waiting and decide to... get rid of us?"

"If they really think we have what they want, then they can't. We're their only leads, after all."

Blake finally gave up his search and looked down as if disappointed.

"What were you looking for?", Lena asked.

"Hmm, I remember there being a pretzel place around here, but it's been a while, so maybe it's gone?"

"Oh that? Isn't that on the second floor?"

She pointed up as she said that, directing Blake's attention upwards. His eyes swept over the floors above him before looking down again.

"I see...", he said.

"Do you... Wanna go?"

It took a while, but eventually Blake nodded slightly.

With that, the two of them were off and their first stop was the shop Blake seemed so enamored with. The pretzel was soft, warm, and tasted exactly like Blake remembered it. Though, his cousin seemed much less impressed with it while eating.

"Do you know why you were you so curious about this place? It's good, but I wouldn't say it's anything special."

"Hmm... I guess I just have fond memories of it."

Once done, the two just walked around aimlessly as they made small talk, which always ended abruptly.

"So, how's school going for you?"

"I haven't gone in a while. So, I'm probably going to quit soon."

"Oh, well... A-Anything you want to take a closer look at here?" 

"Maybe a couple of things..."

They took a quick glance at any shop that caught their eye. Or maybe it was more accurate to say any shop that caught Blake's eye as on more than one occasion, Lena would lose track of him and later find him lingering somewhere.

She'd take her eyes off him for one second and he'd disappear without a trace. One time he did this, Lena discovered him staring at a wristwatch on display. Another time he did this, he was looking at a demo for a game coming out soon.

Lena's reaction time improved significantly over the course of their visit, and it even got to a point where she'd be able to catch Blake before he could even step away from her. Her need for constant vigilance made her trip to the mall much more stressful than it would have been if she were alone.

"Aren't you a bit too relaxed? Don't forget why you're here.", his reflection spoke.

The ominous warning came out of nowhere and it snapped Blake back to reality in an instant. He checked the time. Seeing that it was about an hour until two, he then checked behind him to see if he was still being followed. And sure enough, he was.