I walked away from Crystalline Spa with my chin high and my shoulders squared. However,
my hands shook
as I shifted the shopping bags and after a minute of
aimlessness
down the sidewalk, I had to stop moving entirely - because while I was ’here’ I was still doing the same thing as in the forest.
> I need somewhere dark and safe where I can think. Don’t believe there are too many caves just waiting in the city for me. Because Victoria made me feel helpless for a moment. Because she confirmed that this protection I’ve been enjoying has a condition I can’t meet. I just can’t look at what she is offering without my prejudices... I’ll be left exactly where I knew it would end up and I won’t go through that again. Watching someone’s feelings change when reality has thrown them a ’curveball’ that they refuse to swing for. If she’s going to protect me until she doesn’t, I might as well live somewhere more worthy of a princess. While it lasts. Well, even if I don’t go swimming with her, I’ll get to swim when I feel like it. <
But most importantly out of everything I read was
one particular line
- [immediate access to digital locks with successful online booking]. The listed monthly rate made me wince, especially when factoring in the required
deposits
.
If I thought I hadn’t spent more than $8800 on her card altogether before...
"Well, I’ll be doing it now. But it’s fine, I still have more to sell. And who cares about debt anyway? I certainly don’t."
Mumbled curses in my native tongue went out alongside tapping the keyboard. The whole
process
required me to use the individual numbers on the bank card. For the first time ever,
technically
, I’d be ’online shopping’..
It also involved using the prior residence listings and the official dates on my new
driver’s license
. I hadn’t really thought about it, but this BK actually got Helene’s birthdate
exactly right
, I think.
"They must have found Helene’s actual birth records. At least that will be somewhat less suspicious if people look into me."
Collecting my bags of bought clothes and jewelry box, I started the hike through the city toward the ’Argent Quarter’. When the access code and
link to their app
finally arrived, a feeling of satisfaction solidified around my choice to
upgrade
my accommodations.
And when I was starting to feel a little more put back together... with
distance
from the spa and that woman... my phone buzzed with
two new messages
.