Nila stares aimlessly at the floorboards as Adrian finishes his story. Lost in his words and the mere pain in them. It's hard to imagine just how quickly a person can be changed by one horrible moment in their life. To be honest, it's still a mystery how she, herself, has managed to keep her head held high above the rising waters of troublesome situations in her life. That thought, is what finally brings her conscious back into reality. One of those "troublesome situations" are occurring right now.

'I just need a right moment,' she ponders, her eyes diverting to the gleam of silver metal poking slightly out from under Adrian's mattress.

It's a good thing that he hasn't noticed it. Never once has Nila ever seen Adrian angry or furious in the month that she's known him. In all honesty, she doesn't really want to.

Adrian sighs, and pushes himself off of the plushy, maroon coloured sofa and wanders around the room, pacing back and forth.

"No one ever knew about that night, my mother being the master of deceit, ordered her colleagues to discard of Varia's body immediately and make sure no word of the murder ever get out. If it were to spread out into the public, she would have to explain herself. If she did that, they'd know of her relationship with Varia, her plans, since the lower working class were still clueless obedient little servants that didn't have enough money to flee to Earth and of me. The lower class still thought that the world was ending and Eden would be a safe place due to anti-radiation panels. Which was fine for them to know about since they were poor and wouldn't be able to go to Mars to spread the word. My mother is a pain like that. And I was a problem because if people knew she had a 'heir' of sorts, she could be assassinated and little baby Adrian could be raised into a new and improved ruler of Eden. Other than that, she was ashamed. So, she kept me hidden. However, because she's immortal....I had to be non-existent..forever," his breathing turns shaky at the last few words that he utters, his eyes clouding over with memories of loneliness. "Now, she only comes to me when she needs help or something along those lines."

Nila shoots her eyes up at Adrian with a confused expression, throwing her arms exaggeratedly in front of her. "Then why do her bidding?!"

"Well, I always hoped that if I could prove to be useful to her than perhaps she might...I don't know. That I could get  some type of recognition that she loves me or that I'm her son. So far that hasn't happened yet," he grumbles, his head suddenly feeling very heavy on his shoulders. He realises that his fingers are digging into the skin on his palms and stops immediately. He can't have new sores, they take too long to heal.

Adrian skims a hand through his thick, blonde hair and strides back over to the sofa, turning his back to Nila as he bends over slightly to search through the drawers of the coffee table. Letting out a 'Hmph' of triumph when he discovers a box of bandages in one of them.

'This is your chance!' her brain screams. However, she finds herself sitting on the edge of her seat like a statue whilst her heart takes part in a heavy metal concert inside her chest. 'Do it!' her brain prompts again and Nila forces herself into action and pulls the flask out from under the mattress along with the red sheets of Adrian's bed.

Nila shouts as she lunges herself on Adrian's back, earning a yelp of surprise from her captor. They swing a little to the right, a little to the left. Once Nila gains her balance, she swings the sheet around and pulls of the lid on the shiny little flask, letting the clear chemical pour onto the sheets. About now, Adrian starts to panic and attempts at throwing the girl off of his back but ends falling over himself in the process. For a short, sixteen year old girl, she's rather strong.

"Ah!" they both scream as they go down.

For a moment, Nila feels as if she can't breath as she takes short winded breaths. Adrian's weight pinning her down. However, she still tries and snakes her legs around his waist, holding the sheet over his mouth and nose. He flails his arms and legs in a panicked frenzy. At some point, he managed to get out of Nila's hold but it was too late and his eyelids hang half closed as he starts to daze off. Adrian's grasp around her arm that she had held around his neck loosens its grip and his fingers slide limply to the floor. Once Nila feels confident that he's unconscious, Nila pushes with all her might against him. Beads of sweat trickling down her forehead.

'Why are you so heavy?' she asks herself.

Gritting her teeth, Nila grunts as she shoves Adrian's unconscious body to the side and she sits upright immediately. Letting out desperate, quick breaths. Then she glances over at the pad by the door, then Adrian, the pad, then Adrian.

"There's no way I'm carrying you over there," she mumbles, grumpily.

Regardless, she only has little time left before he wakes up or someone comes scurrying into the room due to all the racket earlier. So, she ends up settling for the key that maid had informed her about that Adrian holds on him. Heart racing, she shoves her hands down the pockets on his jeans, the few on his black shirt but to no avail. Nila can feel her heart drop and starts banging her fists against the unconscious guy in fustration. But as she does so, the material of Adrian's shirt shifts a little and gives away the sparkle of something silver against Adrian's pale skin. Her eyes widen with excitement and she grabs the tiny, delicately made silver chain and rips it off of him. A key, almost identical to the other one dangles in the air. The only difference are the black printed numbers labelling the back of it. R# 12003.

Nila starts to laugh joyously as she bundles up the chain in her hand. Being too distracted by her victory, she doesn't notice Adrian's right hand twitching on the ground slightly. Nila stands up, shooting Adrian one last glance to make sure he's still down and proceeds to walk towards the door. However, Nila suddenly feels something tight wrap around her ankle. Too tightly, that it hurts. Everything seems to happen in a second, first it starts with Nila looking down at her leg, Adrian's fingers gripping her ankle, then Nila's leg being pulled out from under her. The air hits her face as she falls, the only noise she makes being a surprised gasp before her forehead makes contact with the open drawer of the coffee table.

------------------------

Dear Sancturary,

As president of Eden, I, Earleen Chaucer cannot allow you to run this abomination of a society. I truly sympathise with your attempts to go against my government. However, I'm afraid that your futile existence cannot continue any longer. Especially since you have some things of mine. Perhaps if you were to find these things and bring them back to me, I just might be flexible enough for a compromise. You may have seen them, three teenagers that go by the names: Riley, Nila and Kaitlyn? I greatly advice you to give me back my property as you are messing with not only my company but my clientele's wellbeing.

If there is any way that I, or my employees can assist you in regards to surrendering and handing my merchandise back, please, do not hesitate to ask. The sooner the better. In fact, you have got a week. If they are not handed over to the Tower by sunrise Monday morning, I will be forced to take more dire action than a Rhino Infestation. Perhaps, I could try out my new missiles if the situation gets that far? Consider that your first and only warning.

Sincerely, Earleen Chaucer.
President of Eden.

{E}

------------------------

Nila scrapes her fingertips against the cold, smooth tiles. Her senses slowly coming back to her. When she finally opens her eyes, the first thing she notices  is a dusty, cracked ceiling. Cod webs creating labyrinths in every corner of the room. A groan escapes her lips and she sits upright, bringing her hand to find the source of the stabbing pain in her head.

"Oh great," Nila sighs as she looks down at her hand which is covered in a crimson red liquid.

When she looks around the cramped room, there are numerous shelves holding cleaning chemicals, funky smelling boxes of wipes, buckets, bars of fancy-looking soap and brooms, mops, vacuums and dusting equipment are being overtaken by dust bunnies whilst they're hidden behind shiny, brand-new looking cleaning robots. The door ahead of her looks older than those in the other rooms she's been in. It's colour is that of beige sand, the hinges are rusting and brown and the substance that the door is made out of is withering and thawing away. The only access she has to the outside world is a window with a square of thick, inch wide glass in the door that shows a white and washed out hallway.

What surprises her most is Adrian's face, which suddenly pops into her line of sight in the window. The expression on Adrian's face tells her that he's certainly not impressed with the little stunt she pulled earlier. Exactly how long has it been? An hour, three? A day?

"I see that you're awake," Adrian mutters with a glare in Nila's direction when he opens the door.

Boy, if looks could kill.

"I have something for you," he continues.

This sets off an alarm in Nila's mind and she backs herself up against the wall as Adrian strolls in. His sour attitude shown through his stiff, loud movements. But the worst of all, for once, Adrian isn't speaking as he would usually, happily and excitedly. Nila watches intently as Adrian slowly pulls something out of one of the front pockets in his jeans and notices something transparent, sharp and pointy. On one end of the object is a tube in which a murky liquid is held. It's a needle. Nila can't help but shiver. Lightning running up her spine. God, does she hate needles. How many has she had since the draw? The answer: way too many.

Nila swallows the knot forming in her throat. "What's that for?" she asks meekly.

"It's for you," Adrian answers matter of factly, preparing the needle.

Eventually, his cold gaze meets Nila's and he squats down beside her.

He sighs, 'I'm disappointed in you. But oh well, it will take me a while but I can forgive you. However, that can't go happening again so the sooner this gets done, the better."

Nila's eyes widen and the hairs on her arms, legs and neck rise up. "The sooner what gets done?"

"It's okay," he growls, gripping Nila's forearm in a vice like grip to stop her from moving. "Can't you see that all I want is to help you?! When Dr Phillips is finished, you'll be untouchable. Think of it as insurance, my mother wouldn't be able to use you for her clients or herself because you won't be able to d-" he starts to rant but stops himself before he says too much.

Nila immediately notices that a cat has seemed to have caught his tongue and gives him an odd look. Eventually connecting the dots.

"I won't be able to what? Die?!" she yells.

She always knew that this would be coming but she had always expected that she would've escaped before then. Nila shoots off the ground like a frightened cat but Adrian holds her down, her head hitting the tiles and her back scraping against the cold tiles. It seems that the world doesn't seem to have the wellbeing of her skull in mind as she takes into account how many hits it's taken.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Nila yells, throwing out her hands in front of her for protection.

Luckily, Adrian hesitantly obliges, noticing the urgency in Nila's deep blue eyes. "What?" he asks in a mono-toned voice.

"If you really love me, you won't do this. I, I can try this. But not if you make me immortal. I..can still love you. I mean," Nila furrows her eyebrows as she stares back into Adrian's piercing gold-hinted brown eyes. One of her hands sneakers up his neck and rests gently on his cheek. Nila gives her captor a sweet, convincing smile before continuing. "I did have feelings for you once. To be honest, they haven't really left.." she mutters lovingly, her voice almost a whisper.

However, Adrian still holds the same cold and unforgiving expression on his face and all he does is smirk in reply. After a minute of having a silent stare off, he finally replies and buries Nila's hope six feet under the ground. "Oh please, I may have a soft spot for you but I'm not stupid. I know you don't love me, yet, nice try though," he sneers and pushes down on the needle, the freezing tip of it just scraping Nila's arm.

Nila struggles to keep the needle away, the veins in her arms showing as she puts all of her strength into pushing Adrian away. Adrian brings one of his hands up to Nila's face to cover her eyes and make her blind to what's happening but with a burning determination running through her, she brings her head down close to Adrian's right arm and bites down. Hard enough to draw blood. There's a metallic taste in Nila's mouth when she eventually pulls away, Adrian does too, grasping his arm with his other hand whilst still sitting atop of her. That's when she sees opportunity and she punches Adrian in the temple area which sends him off balance. Nila sends another blow his way, but this time it's a kick and she gets him right in the nose. Adrian's head flings back, much to Nila's delight, a little waterfall of blood trickles down his chin.

However, Adrian doesn't share the same feelings. He stands up, stumbling and almost falling over but he maintains his balance after a few seconds. There's rage in his eyes, Nila can swear she can see flames burning. Adrian wipes his mouth and spits a mouthful of blood into a bucket on the floor. Before Nila gets herself up off the floor, he takes one step forward, raises his other foot in the air and quickly slams it down on Nila's stomach in outrage. Leaving Nila gasping on the floor, holding her stomach.

"If you won't go to him," he spits, pointing a slim, shaky finger in her direction. "Then I'll just bring the doctor to you."

And with that, he slams the door shut behind him with a bang, locking it before storming away.