SPIDERWEB

"Where again are we?" Damien asked, looking out the window to some big building. It towered over them, around the height of a city work building but in the middle of a large estate surrounded by miles and miles of land with random pops of other buildings on them, "you didn"t even tell me where you were taking me and dragged me here."

"Pfft," Gradis giggled, pulling out a mirror and touching up her makeup, "where"s the fun in that?" She pulled out a lipstick bottle and placed it in her purse, "let"s go."

Damien got out of the car and went to Gradis" side, opening her door for her, "I"m supposing this is a business deal meeting?"

Gradis took his hand and got out of the car, swinging her purse over her shoulder, "yup, a long-awaited one."

Damien paused and looked up at the building again, his eyes scanning the exterior and counting the floors until he couldn"t look up anymore as the sun rays played with his eyes.

"Hurry up," Gradis called out to Damien, turning back when she noticed he wasn"t behind her.

They walked up the large front steps of the building and Gradis exchanged a slight nod with the bodyguards standing in front of the entrance and they stepped aside, opening the door for her. Damien followed in behind her, feeling the stares of the bodyguards on him as he walked in and returned it with a sly smile. As they continued down the hallway, Damien took peeks into the workrooms they pa.s.sed to try and get a hint as to what place this was, but was even more confused to find out they all looked like normal offices. The hallway seemed to stretch on forever and he had lost count of how many turns they had taken and how many rooms he had seen with almost identical designs. The building"s design seemed to play like a hypnotism game on the mind, your sense of direction seeming to diminish with each pa.s.sing of the identical room and falling deeper into confusion as each turn starts to look more like the last, but yet Gradis continued down the path, not the slightest bit fazed at all the twists and turns. It was like she had been on this amus.e.m.e.nt park ride so much she was immune to it.

Just as Damien"s legs started to wear down, the illusion of identical turns is interrupted by an elevator. It sat at the end of a roomless hallway, it"s presence alone left shivers on Damien"s skin. Like someone had pulled him out of a trance and left him in an empty room with only an elevator in front of him. He looked back to Gradis, who was of course still unfazed and followed next to her as she approached the elevator and pressed the b.u.t.ton, calling it to them.

Ding

The sound of the elevator slaps Damien out of his thoughts and he awkwardly followed Gradis into the elevator, his footsteps slightly hesitant. They stood in the elevator in silence for a bit while Gradis fixed her hair in her reflection in the gla.s.s doors of the elevator.

"The meeting will last an estimated one hour, we only need to go over some plans we made in a meeting before this one," Gradis grinned, locking eyes with Damien who had been looking at her through the mirror, "be careful, he"ll try to know more about you and might poke a few questions here and there. You don"t need to answer them, you"re my business, not his."

Damien looked away and glanced at the number in the corner of the elevator slowly rising. He had questions to ask but would rather just keep them in his mind, he had a feeling that was all she was planning to say this time.

The numbers continued to rise, going higher than 10 and they sat in awkward silence.

"I-"

Ding, the elevator doors opened before Damien could let out a word. He watched as Gradis walked out into the floor, forgetting the words he wanted to say.

Gradis turned back to him and sighed. She turned back around and walked to him, taking his hand in hers, "let"s go. You"re gonna make me miss the meeting if you keep stopping like this."

Gradis dragged him out of the elevator and led him down the halls again. Her legs were moving automatically and walking on the same floors she had been walking on for years now. The halls that were once confusing and scary now seemed like an overplayed game in which she could whiz through with her eyes closed. Yet, she hated to be here. Every moment in this building annoyed her and even though these halls were something she was used to, she knew very well how quickly they could suffocate her and slowly pull in, stifling her, She needed to get through this meeting and leave soon, as quickly as possible