Novel & Cerita How Could I Possibly Be Inconspicuous

I had exactly two options and one of them was slower dying and I had never been interested in dying slowly. I found a bunk in the labor worker section. Kept my head down. Ate when they fed us. Slept when I could. Kept my eyes on the floor during movement through the corridors. Maintained the specific invisibility of someone who has been invisible their entire life and knows exactly what it requires: not performing absence, but actually being unremarkable, actually being furniture, actually having nothing about your presence that would cause a pattern-recognition system — human or otherwise — to flag you as worth examining.

It wouldn't help to get upset and give myself away too soon. I heard voices outside my door, so laid back and closed my eyes. I find that pretending to be asleep and incognizant usually made people's lips loose. People are so stupid, just add a few wounds or a weakness of some kind and they totally forget who you were before. That works for me though so I won't complain.

A radio played faintly from an open window nearby. Two houses down, I didn’t look. Even though I was aware of the balcony. We walked at an unhurried pace, not too fast, not too slow. No whispered conversations. No tension in our posture. From a distance, we were just two cousins heading to lectures. Invisible. Exactly how it needed to be. But even as we blended into the crowd, I couldn’t ignore the quiet awareness at the back of my mind. Laying low didn’t mean no one was watching.

But I саn… If іt wеrе mе whо wаѕ kіdnарреd, аnd April wаѕ fасіng thіѕ сhоісе, I’d wаnt hеr to dо something. I would tеll hеr tо рut оn ѕоmе ѕnеаkеrѕ аnd dаrk, comfy clothes, dіѕguіѕе herself аnd рrеtеnd tо gо for a jоg іn the area. Nothing mоrе. Nо need to show uр іn hееlѕ lооkіng ѕuѕрісіоuѕ оr аttrасtіng attention.

Besides, she was determined to get her first kiss with him as soon as possible … Preferably that night. “How on earth do you manage to look inconspicuous when you go out? Before we became close, I would have imagined that you would take an army of security along with you if you wanted to go somewhere.” Ava questioned. “Oh, well. I like to be free as a bird and I’ve found that I can usually just don a pair of sunglasses as well as a face cap and most people will pass by me without even recognizing me. It works for me. Obviously, if I were to attend an important event or perhaps, I were to travel somewhere, then I’d have no choice but to allow my bodyguard and even a driver to accompany me.”

“Shit.” I muttered as we kept walking. “Yeah, we will need to be extremely quiet and invisible.” “Something I thrive at.” It was true, I got good at sneaking around, stealing stuff. My alter ego was a mastermind criminal. “I assumed you picked up a few tricks.” Waylon raised an eyebrow at me. “A few…” I agreed but didn’t elaborate. “Good. We may need them.” “I might need different clothes. People can’t see my tattoo and a woman walking around in her bra is something that people notice.”

He was reading something on a small tablet, the light from it turning the planes of his face silver-blue in the darkness. He had not looked at me since we left Silverstone. I told myself this was fine. Good, even. I did not want him to look at me. I had spent eighteen years learning that the moment someone powerful remembered or noticed you existed, it was because they had decided what to do with you next. Being invisible was safer. Being invisible was, at this point, something I had cultivated into an art form.

Lydia replied flatly. The silence pressed in. “I need to stay under the radar,” I said finally. “The stares are getting worse. The whispers are spreading faster than I can keep up with. I don’t know the rules well enough to defend myself.” “You cannot defend yourself,” she said immediately. “That is your first mistake.” Her bluntness stung. I suddenly felt like leaving, but I stayed. “Then what do I do?” “You disappear.” “I’m a dishwasher. How much more invisible can I get?”

A quick look told me it was prepared just the way I liked it, and I didn’t bother to wonder how he knew. We fell into step beside one another, strolling by the shops and vendors. I was surprised to see how casual he seemed, not worrying about being seen in public. “For someone in your…business,” I said, emphasizing the awkward word choice, “I wouldn't expect you to come out to such a place. So many people.” He smiled, taking it in. “That’s actually the beauty of it,” he said. “It’s much easier to hide in a crowd. One draw’s attention when one tries to hide.”

’ That sentence penetrated slowly. ‘Can I have been that stupid?’ I asked. ‘Should I stop seeing him – to be on the safe side?’ ‘Carry on as normal, but avoid situations in which you could be photographed. Remember, dim light or vast distance is no protection with modern software. I recommend good disguises.’ Abe got up to leave. I asked, ‘Is there a plan?’ ‘I need to check the room, preferably with you and your lover doing exactly what you did last time.’