My Eyes on Him.

Elle’s POV

Truly, the wall was magnificent. They did not lie about that.

And the gate was just as imposing. It was tall, dark and heavy. You could tell that the metal was made of the very best. 

So as I stood in front of it, searching for a way to get him, I was plagued with lots of thoughts about the other things that were said. 

How true were they? 

And how dangerous were the truths?

What could they possibly be hiding that would make them isolate themselves so much. They basically covered a lot of lands… in fact, it was like a city of its own within another city.

However, no matter how scary the truth may seem, nothing was about to stop me from going in there. 

It was simple. I would just tell them I’m looking for a job. 

Surely, in a place as big as this, they must have some kind of vacancy.

That was what I thought twenty minutes earlier and the twenty minutes before that but no matter how long I had spent there, there seemed to be no sign of Hope.

No one was coming out. The gate had not even opened for a single fly to pass through.

I looked around to make sure I was in the right place and I was.

It was a very place Mara told me about.

“Go to the East gates, that is the easiest entrance to get. The other gates are rarely ever open.”

I remembered her words clearly so how come I had been there for almost three hours and there had been no sign of life. Not even a voice had been heard on the other side.

I let out a deep sigh, feeling my hope starting to dwindle.

The thought of giving up began swirling in my mind, but I ejected it as soon as it came in.

I had one thing on my mind and that was my father’s image. Never in a million years would I have imagined him in such a situation and I knew that if he had any kind of consciousness, seeing himself like that would break him up apart. Seeing that he couldn’t even hold himself up let alone protect me like he always said was his life’s mission, I knew it would shatter him. Fortunately, he couldn’t see any of it but I could.

And I didn’t want my father to be remembered like that. By anyone. Not even his blonde, light eyed girlfriend.

Something I had not had a time to ask him about.

Something I may not be able to ask him if he doesn’t get better.

I turned, gulping down another bottle of water. Once again, Mara did not make a mistake.

“You need to carry at least five bottles of water. Trust me, you will need it. Until you get into that gate, you will have no choice but to stick to what you have because there are no stores around to get anything conveniently.”

My eyes ran down the gate and to keep my mind busy, I began to imagine all sorts of things that could be going there.

If they were pushing others away, could it be that they were operating some kind of illegal activity?

It seemed like the only plausible scenario. 

According to Mara, if my father knew I was coming, he would lose his mind.

Why else would he react that way?

Perhaps, he knew something about the place or perhaps, it was just a normal sense of fear.

Fear of the unknown.

Whatever. They could operate whatever they wanted to, nothing was going to stop me from getting that stone and I was ready to wait until that gate opened.

I lowered myself on a balanced ground, waiting.

Then—

I heard a sound. 

Engine sound sliding down the road…towards me. 

Without much hesitation, I jumped up and in a quick calculation, I decided it was better for me to hide behind a small tree. 

Yes, I wanted to get in, but I also couldn’t help the fear of the unknown that twisted my chest. I felt it was better for me to see whoever was coming first before exposing myself to them. 

So as I hid behind the tree, I closed my eyes, praying it was something positive.

The engine sound got louder and without a magician touch, I knew they were close.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and realised it was more than one car.

Two gigantic SUVs. 

I still wasn’t sure about exposing myself so I just decided to remain there, hoping that once the car went through the gate, I could sneak in. 

But to my horror, the one behind opened and walked forward so the one in front, pulling the door open.

He bowed. 

Odd. 

But a moment later, I got a little understanding of what was going on. Just a little because I really couldn't make proper sense of it.

As soon as the first leg touched the ground, slowly followed by the second until the full body came out of the car majestically, my mouth dropped to the ground.

But that wasn’t all that happened.

As I stared at the figure who stood, looking around as if he was searching for something, a tight knot balled in my throat. 

He had his hands dipped in his pocket, and my eyes ran up slowly. He was donned in dark clothes that suited his silhouette to perfection. Certainly, his tailor had to have had his finger blessed by the goddess herself.

His dress shirt was rolled up all the way to his elbow exposing a work of art only you only saw on TV presented as a tattoo.

My eyes continued, not stopping until it got to the top.

Chest was as wide as a pallet and from the slightly exposed opposite side of his chest, I could already tell the title on his arms were nothing compared to what was plus start on that chest looking wall he called a chest.

His face, his hair… forget his tailor.

The goddess must have settled down to create him herself.

Perhaps, she just wanted her to be amused by how many hearts he could break because without being told, I already knew that would be the order of his life. 

Apart from my mouth dropping to the ground, a shudder had coursed through my body, like a lightning was trying to wreck me. 

I staggered, my fingers flying to my head as I attempted to hold myself up. 

Silence stretched for a while as I slowly started to gain myself back. 

Then as I lifted my head up to his direction, I heard it. 

“Come out from wherever you are. Right now!"

It was no request. It was a straight order—one that made me swallow hard.