[Open] Bourne Redundancy

[Carly Dean]

It seemed cliché, the sort of thing that someone might see in a spy thriller, not in real life. But in a way it sort of made sense to her, walking through a crowded mall to avoid detection, it had been a couple of weeks since she’d run away from home. She’d hopped a bus and made it to the city where she had spent most of her time in public forums. The good thing about having come from rich parents is that she had access to money in many different ways than just a credit card. Her parents had set aside a savings account that she could use whenever, so when she decided to go she drew a bunch of money from that before she left home. It seemed to make sense not to leave a huge paper trail behind her; she didn’t want to be tracked down. The very fact that she was running away from a happy home life would probably raise flags with the wrong kind of people. Thinking about all the mistakes she could or couldn’t make was getting exhausting.

Carly wished she could have enjoyed the mall a little more, perhaps go clothes shopping and then hit up an Orange Julius or something like that. Instead she was trying to be as incognito as possible, blending in with the crowd until she could figure out what to do about this whole mutant thing. She wasn’t wearing a baseball hat or a hooded jacket; she didn’t walk with her hands in her pockets or anything like that. She had a backpack but really that wasn’t that out of the ordinary when a lot of people her age around her were sporting backpacks.

“Perhaps I will hit up an Orange Julius…” Carly muttered to herself. “It’d save me from worrying myself to death.”

[Alice Velmont]

Alice was sitting on a bench, enjoying the ice cream she had bought moments earlier. People that gave off a happy glow fluttered about her, going in and coming out of shops with the latest fashions hung to their wrists in the respective brand bags. She often came to the mall, it was her favorite place within the city. The streets were filled with thugs, con men, police (that could be after her too for what she was) and desperate beggars. Inside the mall, however, you couldn’t walk in unless you appeared to have money and that possession made you safe to keep company with. The guards in every shop were also something to be happy about.

The feeling of safety was something Alice enjoyed greatly but it butted heads with her thirst for adventure. Right now, the only adventurous aspect of her day was having four large scoops of Amorino ice cream and eating them so quickly her brain thought it was freezing in her skull. She had come to the mall just to be with people – these people who wore Armani suits and carried around Gucci bags, with their perfect haircuts and pear white smiles. They were around, standing out in the crowd of average people, with average incomes and average lives – like her.

Alice sighed but something else caught her attention. It was someone from school, someone she hadn’t spoken to much but whose name she knew. Driven by the desire for companionship she waved to the younger girl and called out. “CARLY! Hey!” She was whipping her hand through the air, arm outstretched high, a bright smile on her face.

[Carly Dean]

For her part Carly resisted the urge to grit her teeth when someone called her name out, instead she just let out a soft sigh. It didn’t seem that she was going to be able to run far enough to get away from people recognizing her. She guessed she sort of stood out among the regular rabble no matter how hard she tried. She was part of a rich family and that afforded her clothing that didn’t have any wear and tear in it, a stark contrast when compared to regular people who wore the same types of clothing for years on end. Meanwhile Carly had never owned a shirt for more than a year so she was always prim and proper as it were. If some random student was going to identify her she suspected that she wouldn’t be able to remain on the run from her home for very long, her parents had resources like private investigators after all, police who they’d donated too, it really wouldn’t take them long to come back with results.

Carly didn’t recognize the girl sitting on the bench, not surprising though she wasn’t a social butterfly or anything. She did appear to be older, a skinny thing with brown hair, Carly almost felt a little sorry for her. Carly wasn’t a prize by any stretch of the imagination, merely coming in as average looking without her name brand clothing and two hundred dollar haircut, but she did have a reasonably good figure, an average bust line and soft curves. Skinny girls just didn’t have that going for them usually, a bit sad, but they still had it better than the fat girls at the very least.

”Do I know you?” Carly asked very pointedly, almost staring down her nose at the girl.

[Alice Velmont]

Alice’s clothes were plain, though not worn out enough to mark her especially penniless. Everyone knew about the “royalty” residents of highschool – the girls and boys who had everything handed to them on a silver platter and scoffed at the waiter just because they could. There was a very clear food chain established in every young learning environment and they were often at the top of it. Alice had started getting over her preoccupation with popularity and the protocol of ranks involved in cafeteria seating position around the age of seventeen, when she was suddenly struck with new life living inspiration. Whatever she had been doing previous to that age pretty much appalled her at present. The behavior of a brainless monkey came to mind.

While Alice had no real qualms with her appearance, she did figure she could use some boobs. It was more comfortable to be flat chested, she reassured herself with regularity. When Carly came over and asked her question, Alice grinned. “You do now. Alice Velmont. A pleasure to yell your name randomly in a busy mall.” She extended a hand for the girl to shake. “I’ve seen you around school. We were in line at the cafeteria once and I kind of dropped some mashed potatoes on your foot.” Her eyes circled up and she tapped her chin. “Last year I think.” She smiled as she looked to Carly again. “Remember me now?” Alice chuckled.

Noticing that what was left of her ice cream was starting to melt down her cone and onto her wrist, Alice spread a few quick licks across the creamy substance, slurped some of it and returned her attention to Carly. “Want to join me for some ice cream? Are you busy? What brings you to the mall?” Alice was patting the seat next to her with her free hand and pointing to the seat opposite her with the melting ice cream.