A Heart's Thoughts

Day 43-44

Cecilia flung open the door and entered the house, closely followed by Clover and Matthew, who was carrying Jack on his back.

Everyone was gathered in the living room but scurried towards the four once they noticed their bloodied clothes.

"What happened?" Annabelle asked Cecilia who was swiftly giving out orders. She stopped and put a hand on Annabelle's shoulder, looking grim. "I'll tell you later."

She looked past Annabelle and spotted Julian sitting on a couch. She stomped toward him, barely containing her anger. "What happened out there?"

Julian looked up at her, "it's as I said earlier, we were out exploring, I left for a bit and when I came back, Jack was gone."

Cecilia hissed and grabbed Julian's collar, pulling him toward her. Everyone around them grew silent as they spectated.

"Don't try to fool me, Julian. We found Jack at almost the other side of town, bleeding to death. There's no way those Ministry men had the time to attack him, transport him to the other side of town, and go back to you." She violently shook him and her voice shook with anger as she spoke again, "tell me what happened."

Before Julian could reply, Clover hurriedly pulled Cecilia's arms away from Julian and whispered, "come on, Ceci, not here. Everyone's watching."

Cecilia let out a few angry pants while glaring at Julian, before pulling her arms out of Clover's grip and leaving the room.

Annabelle walked towards Julian, looking worried. "what was that about, Julian? Do you know something you haven't told us yet?"

Julian shook his head as he straightened his collar, "no, I don't. I don't know what that was about." He eyed the door she left through, "but she must be really worried about Jack to lose her temper like that."

Anthony, who had silently watched the scene unfold from the side, left after Cecilia. He almost ran into her as he hurriedly entered the hallway, where she stood leaning against the wall.

"Cecilia," he breathed. He inspected her face and gently put his hand on her shoulder, "are you okay? What happened out there? And what was that just now with Julian?"

Cecilia shook her head, not bothering to look at Anthony, "I'm fine. We found Jack on the other side of town. Someone had stabbed him in the neck. We barely managed to stop the bleeding, but I don't know if he'll survive." She finally looked up at Anthony, angry tears glistening in her eyes, "there was a lot of blood, Anthony. He hadn't been moved there, he was stabbed right there."

"And you think Julian might've done it?" Anthony asked in disbelief. "That's insane, you know that. We've been friends for ages, Julian would never do that to anyone."

Cecilia shook her head and closed her eyes, "I don't know what to think. This whole situation doesn't make any sense."

She started walking away, but Anthony stopped her, looking troubled.

"If your hunch is right, and Julian really did that..." he paused, shaking his head, "I don't know what to make of this, either, but when we arrived at the scene, Julian seemed to be talking to those men from the Ministry."

Cecilia's eyes widened, "you mean he wasn't fighting them?"

Anthony shook his head, "no, he was definitely fighting them, but he was also talking while doing so. I had my earpiece in, but he wasn't talking to us so he must've been talking to those men."

"Well, did you hear what he was saying?"

Anthony shook his head again, "no, but when Jude and Felicia started attacking..." he looked her in the eyes, concern written all over his face, "he looked annoyed. He looked annoyed, and like he was caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing."