She is bleeding in my arms and I am helpless. Is this as inevitable as death can be?
'Drive Mia, just keep driving!' Deke was screaming at the top of his voice in the front seat. He was as agitated as any of us could be.
'I am Deke! I am driving as fast as I can. I cannot do anything more!' Mia was right. She cannot do anything more. All she could do was to cry out loud, fearing her friend may just slip away from her hands. And she was doing it perfectly.
'She will be okay, bro.' Sean whispered in my ear sitting next to me. 'She will make it through this. She will be alright.'
I was listening to them all and my mind was registering whatever they spoke but I wasn't looking anywhere else. I held Ayu in my arms, as close to me as possible, applying pressure where the bullet had pierced her right next to her neck, drenched in her own blood and praying to God that she'll make it.
'Rocky…say something, man!' Deke was screaming at me now. 'You are freaking us out!'
I was and I knew it very well. That was because I was mentally present there, at least not completely. My mind was replaying the scene that I would probably be haunted by forever if this doesn't turn out good. Like an instant reaction, my body reacted when the bullet hit her and she fell off the bridge. It was not too high up but it would still cause damage. I had rushed almost immediately she bounced off and I let her land on me. I didn't make it there on time. She fell on me but did manage to hit her head on the ground pretty hard. She was knocked out cold when I held her steadily and we weren't alone. Gunshots kept raining around us and I was there, holding her to my chest, covering her as much as possible to defend her from the bullets. I don't know if it was either luck or if they were dumb enough not to aim, we weren't hit by another one. While I held her, Mia and the boys had got a car and they came at the right time to rescue us. The bullets were repelled by the car's body as I lifted Ayu and slid along with her into the car. I was still holding her the same way I had before while Sean had her legs on his laps. I was still holding her close to me and I was still stuck in shock. I hadn't spoken a single word since I caught her and I had successfully worried my brothers.
My tears knew no bounds as they kept escaping my eyes with such great force. I was crying but I didn't take a single effort to stop it or even control it. My hands were trembling in fear and my heart was thumping against my chest, where now my shirt was covered with her blood. After nine years I got to see her and I got to feel her. After nine years, I surely don't want to lose her to a bullet. The disturbing part was that the bullet was, after all, aimed for her.
'Stay with me…' I kept thinking '…Stay with me, Ayu. Please….'
'I am sorry to ask such a silly question right now…' Mia began '…but where do we go from here? We are safe for the moment. We need to be safer and not to mention, get Ayu to a doctor.'
'Where do we go?' Sean replied as agitated as he can get 'We can't trust any place that we know now. They might probably be there already, looking for us. We really shouldn't risk it but we need to get Ayu to a doctor! I am not sure if there is a safe place at the moment.'
No other safe place left for us to even go to? I thought hard. I didn't understand what that meant. Why was any of this happening to all of us?
'We don't have one place to go…even one?' Deke was astonished 'I don't believe this is happening right now.'
He was right, I thought at the back of my mind. Three days back, we were aspiring musicians who played in clubs around the country, trying to make it big in the music industry. Three days back, we were three friends who had reconnected with a long lost friend after nine years and were joyful without bounds. Three days back, I was the boy who had rediscovered the passion that I thought, went away with her when she left me. Three days back, however, was the same day all these things decided to leave our lives almost immediately and put us on a path that wasn't just sticks and stones. Three days back, we lost our lives.
My head was so crammed with thoughts; somehow I let a single word escape my mouth.
'Home…' I dragged the word as loud as possible that almost everyone fell silent and turned towards me.
I hadn't looked up, hadn't taken my sight away from Ayu for even a second. I just uttered the one word that associated the one place I wanted to be right then. I wanted all of us to be where all of this started. I wanted to get back home.
'Are you insane?' Deke shot off his anger again 'How can we go home? They are probably already there! Isn't that the first place they'll look for us?'
'No…' Mia interrupted him '…I think Rocky is right. I don't think they look for us there right now. If you are smart enough to figure out this scenario, they're dumb enough to think otherwise. Besides, none of you are in real danger now. He won't kill you yet. In fact, he'll want Ayu to get through this so he can execute his plan.'
'What?' Was all Deke could manage after listening to what Mia had just said now.
'I'm taking you home now. Sit tight!'
The wheels kept going round and round as we were headed back home…the place where it began and probably the place where all this may end.
End…another inevitable factor in my life at the moment.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Darkness had become the predominant source that existed around them for the past three days of captivation. Mr. and Mrs. Harrow were in a mess that was tangled as badly as possible, they weren't sure if they would be making out of this ordeal alive at all. They've had another day that would make it to the top of the 'Worst days of my life' list and Mrs. Harrow had something now to remember it by.
'It hurts…' Elena was literally howling in pain as William tried to mend her wound on the shoulder. It wasn't a deep cut but she was bleeding profusely.
They were in a dark room with only a hole in the wall for ventilation. The moon was gracious enough to shed its light through the hole and helped William in his task then.
'Bear it, honey.' William was maintaining his composure and wasn't giving his wife much to ponder over after what they had just experienced.
'I thought we were done for.' She took a deep breath as she spoke again 'I cannot imagine what lies ahead for us or for the boys. I couldn't bear to see our children like that, Will. They don't deserve this at all. We don't deserve it too!'
'Uh huh…' William, usually a man of many words, wasn't really giving them away now.
'We will get through this, won't we? We will. Now I have faith, Will. I do.' She was now going off about their freedom with a sudden positivity that confused William.
'I have faith that our boys will get us out.' she continued 'All they have to do is to kill that girl. They will kill her to set us free. Our boys will do it for us, I know it. They don't have to fear or even pity her, Will. If such a ruthless gang is after her and want her killed, she must be very bad. We don't need any more nuisance in our planet than it already has. Our boys will be doing both us and the world a big favor, if you ask me.'
As genuine as the thoughts of Elena was, the fact that she wanted to be rescued by her sons by killing off some random bitch who put all their lives in jeopardy was as normal as any person in intense danger as this would be. For some reason though, William was extremely infuriated by her words.
'Can you get any more stupid?' his voice was furious and his face showed extreme aversion towards his wife. 'This is exactly why I left you when Rocky was born. You never think about anything else but yourself all the time.'
'Then why did you come back?' enraged, Elena took off too. 'I didn't ask for this. You didn't want me or our sons. You left us just like that and went away. Why come back after all those years. The boys were doing fine without you. I was doing great without you!'
'There it is again!' he yelled out 'You! The word 'you' comes in almost every sentence you utter. Only you were doing great. The boys were with my dad, growing up like orphans while you were out doing God knows what! What were you thinking Elena? I thought you only didn't want to be with me. You didn't want even our children?'
'So that is what you think of me?' Elena was crying now. 'Yes, I am a stuck up bitch who is obsessed about oneself but I am not heartless. Of course I wanted our children! I wanted our children to be great and strong and safe and everything a normal child would be. I also knew I wasn't the right person to raise them too. I knew I wouldn't do a good job…not without you. I left them in better hands. I wasn't far away too. Sister Benn knew this and I was in contact with her all the time. I am not you! I didn't leave my children completely. You were out doing God knows what. You suddenly show up one day telling me how much you love me and wanted to reform the family. What am I to do? I love you too. I love my family. Why does some arrogant bitch dying bothers you?'
She had let it out all at one moment that William needed time to catch his breath. He sat there, next to her in complete silence and expressionless that it actually scared Elena now. She let down all her anger and moved closely to talk to him.
'Will…I am sorry.' She began 'I don't understand any of this. Why are you agitated now?'
'Elena…' he slowly began '…why didn't you ask me where I ran off to?'
'I…' she was surprised by the question and was evidently taken aback. 'I was just happy to have you back.'
'Why didn't you wonder why we are kidnapped and why the boys have to kill a random girl to ensure our freedom?'
Now Elena was dumbfounded. She was baffled by the connection that she was made to realize by her husband and was pretty sure that she couldn't imagine any scenario that would make sense to her except the worst ones.
'Why didn't you think, even for a second, how the girl actually knew our boys' names or how they knew hers?'
Every question put forward by William was just taking her breath away and she was not ready to listen to more as her mind was already in enough jeopardy. Yet, she wasn't going to be let off the hook that easily.
'Why didn't you think about the fact that the she actually uttered my name then?'
After a deep breath, Elena managed to get these words out of her mouth.
'Will…do you know the girl?'
~*~*~*~*~*~
Tick…tick…tick…
The clock was the only source of sound that engulfed me as I sat in my room with Ayu, still in my lap, bleeding. The seconds seemed to move too slowly for me and I wasn't sure if I was breathing anymore.
Tick…tick…tick…
She was here with me, finally. After all the prayer and wishes upon probably a million stars, she was right here, with me…yet, so far indeed. She was lying lifeless in my arms and I was out of tears at the moment. The dry lines traced by them itched as I still kept my gaze unwaveringly upon her. The bleeding seemed to have stopped a little but I wasn't an expert here. The pressure I had applied then was still there and I hadn't moved my hand even an inch away. It hurt but not as much as looking at her did.
'Why did you have to do this to yourself?' suddenly, I chose to speak out to her 'Is this fair on your part?'
Completely aware of the fact that she will not reply, the fact itself pierced what was left of a strong frontal I put up against this ordeal, allowing it to crumble further.
'Do you know what I realized yesterday?' my tears were showing up again 'Do you even understand what I feel about you? Do you know…?' I bit my lip before I uttered the words '…that I love you? Why did you have to do this to me?'
Silence…yet again.
'Will you promise that you won't leave me?' I was now crying out loud, almost screaming into her ear 'Will you promise me, Ayu? Will you?'
I put my head down in disappointment and in pain. This wasn't supposed to happen…not now…not ever. No, I might actually lose her forever. Then again, fate has a way of playing in our lives all the time.
If I hadn't been there to feel this…I wouldn't have agreed that miracles do occur.
She held my arm, a feeble hold it was but it was like she was assuring me that she wouldn't leave me. It was like she had promised me now.
'Ayu…?' I whispered her name again.
Tick…tick…tick…
I drew one last breath as I closed my eyes fearing the inevitable. Then, it happened.
Bursting the doors open, Sean, Deke and Mia rushed into the room followed by Sister Benn and a couple of doctors. It happened so fast that certain things barely even registered in my head. Sean came to me and urged me to let go off my hold upon her. I was too froze to do anything myself and I had to be, basically, removed. Ayu was taken from my lap and then laid upon the bed where the doctors now swarmed around her.
'Rocky…come out now!' random voices filled my head, repeating the same words over and over again. They were asking me to leave her. But she just told me…she held my hand. I cannot let go now.
A great sense of pull was all that I was experiencing now. My brothers were pulling me against my will so that I would move. As reluctant as I can get, I found myself fighting against their combined strength and I was also aware that it was about time my legs started to fail me. My heart was pounding, reminding me of the very faint touch that I had experienced a while ago. It reminded me this…
'She heard you…She will be alright…Let go now…'
I closed my eyes one more time, concentrating on the echo that was resonating by the minute. She will be okay. I declared it one last time to myself and let go off my hold and went along with my brothers' pull. I slowly but steadily exited the room and the doors closed after me, with the doctors and Sister Benn inside with Ayu.
My girl…I found her yet…she might leave me again.
The fact that I realized that I've been in love with her all this time or the fact that we had just escaped from a mafia gang of various proportions or even the fact that Ayu is almost on her death bed seemed to have taken a place far away inside my mind. Right now, I had different thoughts running across my head, details that I had scarcely missed yet thought about only now.
How did Ayu know where to come? Who did she meet at the club that went up in flames? Who was that girl that she was so glad see alive? How did that girl know how to come here? Were they in this together?
Automatically, my eyes shut themselves averting it from the blinding thoughts that circled my mind. I knew I was overworking my brain but I needed to know why any of this was happening to Ayu. She ran away, I understand. I will not agree if anyone told me that she ran away to become…my head chewed on the word before I clearly thought about it…killer. I will not agree if my girl…my Ayu…would run away to become a killer. She was obviously made into one. What bothered me was how did she allow it to happen? The contrary thought suggests the one thing that I've been denying myself. She did not leave to become a killer!
Forcing my thoughts to stop abruptly, I opened my eyes to witness the sight around me. An eerie silence persisted around us as I saw Sean standing right next to the door, Mia comforting Deke on the other side and I found myself, glued and frozen to the opposite wall facing the room I had just been forced to leave.
I had no idea why my head was thinking about this but I was wondering about only one question over and over in my head.
Can this get any weirder?
Like my question had echoed through the silent waves of time, the answer banged right now on the front door. Yes, time says so. The mysterious girl who had helped us earlier, right on time, was now slipping against our front door, her left leg and right hand bleeding profusely. Looking at her, she was barely able to stand and all four of us stood there, dumbfounded for a moment, until her voice brought us back to reality.
'You guys mind getting a bucket to catch my blood or are you going to stare at me like you've seen a ghost?'
'Rachel!' Mia cried as she rushed towards the bleeding girl.
Rachel…was now the latest card played by fate in its ruthless game.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Elena Harrow was a crazy woman. Since her childhood, she's always hated responsibility. Taking over her mother's attitude, she barely lived to build a life rather lived on, just because. Despite her carefree and senseless attitude, she convinced herself that she needed to change he attitude and live a better life, as she was deeply and madly in love with William Harrow, who went about becoming her husband. In spite of her tries, her attitude had seeped in too deep within her; she found it hard to cope with married life. William had convinced her that children were the solution to her troubles.
'We'll have a kid…things will change!' she still remembers her husband's words clearly.
And so did they have. Sean Matthew Harrow came into their lives and he did seem to have brought a change in Elena's life. She got too excited about the change and decided to have a proper family. Just like her maiden family, she wanted to have three kids. She then had Deacon and things were still okay. When Rocky came, however, things had gone haywire.
William fought with her constantly during the first three months of Rocky's birth. The other two boys were too young to understand any of this and Elena, despite being the grown woman that she is, failed to wrap her head around this. Her instincts told her sooner or later, this rift was going to cause a greater disaster in her life. And somehow, she was right. William had disappeared all of a sudden. He never returned home from work that night. He never returned for a week after that. Blaming herself for this, Elena cried for weeks. She stopped caring for her kids and for herself. She kept questioning why the love of her life abandoned her for the very reason he once adored? She decided if she displayed the person that she was before to the world, maybe, just maybe, he'll come back.
She abandoned her kids to her husband's father, claiming that she didn't want anything to do with them as they had changed who she was and her husband didn't seem to like it. Claudius was aroused by this stupid conclusion and damned her decision over and over again to feed some sense into her head. Yet, she had paid no heed to the old man's wise words and allowed him to tell her kids that their parents were dead and to be raised as orphans.
Thirteen years, she managed to live her carefree life. She didn't care to realize the value of her life and for thirteen years, she kept looking for her husband and not once she had thought about her kids. Thirteen years later, her heart was finally relieved from the knot it was in for so long. Thirteen years later, William found her, out of nowhere, his eyes filled with tears, when they had their first embrace after a long…long time.
Her mind rushed with numerous thoughts. After the apologies and emotions finished flooding out of their hearts, Elena was eager to know his thoughts.
I'm back…she thought…I am the same woman you fell in love with, Will. We will not be split anymore. Tell me you love this!
But to her utter shock, the first words that came out of him was something she had long forgotten.
'Where are the kids? How are they?'
Dumbstruck, unable to answer the question, Elena still remembered the blank stare that she got from her husband.
Disappointment.
Under the commands of her husband, they went back to Canary Island, their mansion, to find their sons, all grown up, on the verge of becoming men. William's father had passed away and it was all too much for William to handle in such short notice. The only solace they had was the fact that their sons had accepted them and now they were a family. Elena was angered by the fact that she had transformed for William and hadn't noticed that even once. She felt worried about the outcome of the decision he'd made by leaving the kids alone and she was sure that William would be angry. Unlike to his true self, William had just reassured her that he was actually glad that all of us were safe and that he would never leave them alone. It was only then she had realized wherever William had run off to, he had faced something very huge that it had actually changed his life so much. Respecting and loving the fact that they did so much to save their love, Elena had remained silent and hadn't questioned her husband, not once, about where he had run off to. She decided that it was best for them to lead a new life now, leaving all of it behind.
Like her decision twenty one years ago, the decision she made back then now left her lingering in a state of disbelief and regret.
Elena was a crazy woman but a passionate one as well. Her whole freaky attitude was transformed by the entry of this one man, the one man that she loved and craved for her entire life, William Harrow had always shown her the right path. However, looking at him now, breaking down next to her was a disturbing sight for her. Yet she understood that it was natural for any person to cry after such a heavy confession, a burden that he seemed to have carried for almost nine years. Her hands over his shoulders that were cringing as her uttered every word that he'd kept a secret; Elena couldn't help but cry along.
My pillar of support is crumbling now…she thought.
'The things I did…' he interjected those words as he cried '…she helped me change. I was a bad person. She helped me change.'
He seemed to have repeated the same sentence for the tenth time in his narration. She helped me change. Elena was really worried about her kids now. She never forgave herself for letting her kids go as now she couldn't picture a minute away from them.
I have to make it up to them…for all the denied care. She always told herself that every morning she woke up. Now she had realized that there was a sizable threat upon her sons and for some twisted reason the girl had been involved there too.
The girl seemed to have more significance in her family's life than Elena expected. She did notice the connection the boys and she had. They must've been friends, she assumed. The truth that hid behind the connection her husband and the girl shared was nothing but unfair in various aspects.
Unable to calm her husband down or resist her worries, Elena Harrow found herself doing something she hadn't done in a long time.
She started to pray.
