Worlds Collide

Chapter 5

Avery's POV

I find myself staring out the window the whole time I'm in the cab on my way to the hotel room I'll be staying at for a couple of days until my next flight to my next destination.

Anyone else would have said it was a waste of time or it was tiring to run around across Europe without being able to see much of it in the first place. It never bothered me and I was happy to just take a bunch of pictures for my scrapbook with my vintage Polaroid camera that still worked beautifully and in favour of all the things I had captured with it.

Once I had arrived to my hotel room I carelessly dropped my bags before rummaging though my backpack to see if I'll need to grab anything from it before I make my way out with my camera around my neck.

I smile politely at the hotel staff on my way towards the elevator and pop my earphones in to push back my anxiety into the background so I could cope with taking a walk somewhere new. Most days I would be absolutely fine but the events from yesterday and the fact that the flight seemed extremely bumpy this time around had taken their toll on me but I wasn't going to lock myself in my room for hours because I needed to get out there and make fond memories. As well as observe the different people I will see in passing towards the Berlin Wall.

The walk did not seem that long when I started spotting the first signs of my destination. Tourists, people offering help, kids running around the leftovers of the wall unattended and parents having casual conversations with their friends about nothing important.

Before I make my way straight to my destination I make sure to swing by a cafe for a quick fix of caffeine for my jet lagged system.

Once I finish drinking my coffee I get up and head outside with my camera out so I would be ready to take any pictures that I see appropriate for my project.

For some reason I can't shake the feeling of being watched but I decide to blame it on the fact that I'm tired and a bit anxious. I decide to turn down the volume coming out of my earphones as well to help me cope a little better.

I take a few random shots of the scenery around me and put the pictures that come out into the inner pocket of my jacket. I step closer to the remains of the wall and inspect it as if it was a piece of art whilst the other tourists are asking their friends to take ridiculous pictures of them in strangest of poses.

I take a deep breath and look around myself slowly and can't help but wonder what goes on in the consciousness of all these random strangers that seem to be preoccupied with their own lives and problems until in the distance I see a very familiar silhouette of a young woman heading towards me in a fast pace. I notice that a few metres metres behind her theres a couple of men and a woman looking around frantically in the opposite direction of where she is.

The beautiful young woman never averts her eyes from me which makes me self consciously look behind me if someone is expecting her arrival.

By the time I look back at her she's right in front of me trying to catch her breath after her power walk and she practically rips her backpack off from her back and pulls out a black oversized hoodie.

"Hold this" she mumbles shoving the backpack into me and I take it without thinking twice. I watch her put the hoodie on quickly before the takes the backpack out of my grip again. 

"Um... do I know you? I think I've-" I start but she cuts me off by looping my arms through the straps of the backpack and adjusts them to sit on my shoulders. 

"I don't have a lot of time. I'm being followed by those three creeps. I need your help." She says sounding eerily calm.

I look past her shoulder at the two men and a woman still looking for someone frantically but getting much closer to their prey.

"Oh! Umm do you want me to call the police? I'm sure they could help you out? I mean I'm assuming you're a foreigner too but they should be cool with it. I can even come with you as a witness if you want me to? I have great memory when it comes to people's faces. I actually remember seeing you-" my rant gets cut off when the girl looks in the direction from where she came, puts her hood on and turns to me with this evil glint in her eye.

"You talk too much and too loud." The stranger says with an amused smirk and pushes me against the nearby piece of the wall and before I even have the time to come up with a mean comeback she grabs my cheeks gently and kisses me hard.

I gasp at the contact and I try to move to the side to break the kiss.

"I can't go to the police. I'm a dangerous criminal that's on a run from the law and the evil. Those guys there? They're looking for ways to get me and kill me because I killed one of their own this morning." The stranger glances to her right while whispering against my lips "so if you could just play along for a minute that would help a great deal and l  would owe you one for the cooperation." She added glancing at me again.

In that moment I wasn't sure where my best judgement went. Maybe it was the way her beautiful brown eyes showed genuine fear somewhere deep inside them and I felt like I needed to do all I can to keep her safe or maybe because her lips felt like fire in the best way possible against mine or maybe even the fact that she made me feel useful and needed in that very moment like no one has before but in that split second judgement I found myself pushing her hoodie up just a little bit to hold onto her sides as I pulled her closer and tilted my head for a better angle. Anyone would have assumed I had a death wish for getting involved with an assassin and kissing her in front of all these people and the uniformed trio that was looking for her.

The thought of her being dangerous snd endangering my own life would have seemed like a scenario of this dumb cop movie you see on TV every Thursday and anyone would say that I'm out of my mind for helping her. But the other side of me felt so ironically alive. It was addicting.

After what felt like forever we both heard some frantic footsteps and muffled swears passing us meaning that the threat was gone but neither of us wanted to pull back.

I felt the woman slide her hands from my cheeks, down to my neck and shoulders. I felt her sliding the straps of the backpack down my arms and she slowly broke the kiss making me instantly miss the fire that had started between us.

Only after she cleared her throat had I opened my eyes and moved my hands off of her as if touched a faulty wire and got electrocuted. I watched her take a step back and pull the hoodie off of her alongside of the crew neck knit sweater I never noticed she had on.

Even wearing black skinny jeans and an oversized white t-shirt she still managed to spark some sort of unfamiliar feeling in me. I wasn't sure if it was good or bad.

The girl silently took the backpack from my grip and stuffed everything  in there carelessly. She threw the bag over her shoulder and finally looked over at me with a small smirk playing on her lips.

"Thank you for your help. I enjoyed it very much!" The woman said quickly and was about to go until she felt my warm hand snatching her own gently.

"Wait! What's your name?" I asked sounding a bit desperate.

The woman smirked and leaned closer to my ear "Mila." She whispered and turned on her heel before she left.

I stood there watching her walk away and swallowed hard. After what seemed like forever it had hit me. I just made out with the most wanted woman on earth. She was the infamous Ripper.

And then it hit me again. If she asked me to take her hand and run away to live on the run forever I would have said yes then and there.