𝕞𝕚𝕣𝕣𝕠𝕣𝕤 ┉✧ L.T.

/ chapter twelve /

[ The Paper Kites - Bleed Confusion ]

[ Beach House - Take Care ]

-------- PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC--------
7th of October
Ten minutes later

The engine of the car was running and we were still parked next to the Danube river. In my rear view mirror, I could see Alex; he was sitting on the back seat of the Spider, his eyes wide open, stuck outside, his face pale and terrified. His right hand was rubbing Elisabeth's shaking shoulder, as she loudly sobbed with her hands covering her face, sitting on the passenger seat.

One of us had to stay sane, and it had to be me.

I never saw what happened after a gun was pointed straight in our faces – even though some part of me wanted to know. We ran away, my eyes were away from the commotion in fear of watching something that would scar my already traumatized mind. We made it in the car in a matter of seconds, and I unlocked the door with my hands shaking so much that I almost broke the handle. My knuckles had turned white from gripping onto the steering wheel once we were inside. A flashback of the events was going on in my brain and the world around me was slowly turning white, too, as we were sitting inside our car, the dark windows hiding us from the outside world.

"Rose! Can we go back?" Elisabeth's cry tuned me back to reality.

"I... I need a minute," I said weakly, my strength slowly leaving my body.

Alex sighed; not taking his eyes off Elisabeth. I wasn't sure if he was worried or into her. "We're fine, it's over," he mumbled.

I felt like I was supposed to say something.

"They can't see us from outside, Beth. The windows are tinted."

Behind Alex, I could see that the crowd had dissolved completely by then, sirens were vaguely echoing in the distance, the blue and red lights of police cars were blinking.

I took another deep breath as the world around us started fading to blur. I wasn't sure if we wouldn't make it back if I started driving – I felt like I'd pass out. I leaned forward, onto the steering wheel, and closed my eyes in an attempt to make my heart stop racing.

"Somebody was fucking shot out there, Rose! Have you realised?", Elisabeth's right fist smashed against the dashboard. The polaroid I had taken with the fans three days prior, fell on her shaking feet as she wiped away the tears running quickly down her cheeks. "We don't even know if he's alive as we speak!"

"He was moving before we left," Alex continued rubbing her shoulder.

"Don't tell me that this didn't have to do with the shit going on in Jupiter. Someone burning down the bus, two people pointing their knives at us and now-"

"The knives had nothing to do with you. Or the arson; it seemed to be targeting The Scarecrows, the police agrees," Alex said, trying to calm her down, his head resting between the front seats. I could feel him staring at me. "Can you drive, Rose? You seem-"

"Of course I can," I interrupted him.

"You look like you're gonna pass out."

I shifted into first gear ignoring Alex, and then the shrieking sound of a phone ringing filled up the space. Aiden was calling me, so I pressed the green button on the touch screen of the Spider,  as I shook my head, trying to make whatever was drowning me go away; I gasped for air, my hands stretching to reach the surface of the ocean. Damn, though; it was so far away from where I was.