Agent With a Shotgun

Fifteen

The ride back to the cabin was silent, no radio playing, no conversation, nothing. The air was thick with tension between the two. It was obvious Colton was angry with the way his jaw clenched and unclenched every few seconds, never once turning to look at Amelia. Amelia could feel the anger radiating off of him so she chose the smart option of not speaking or looking at him either in the off chance he might get more angry.

Her ribs ached from where the metal bar slammed into her, an obvious bruise beginning to form already. Each small movement sent a small jab of pain through her abdomen making her tense up every now and then. She tried not to make any noise when she felt discomfort but failed occasionally, it wasn't clear on whether or not Colton heard her though.

Colton pulled into the driveway with rough movements before shutting the car off, jumping out immediately and slamming his door shut. Amelia followed after him quickly and quietly, wanting to get to her room to avoid the confrontation that she knew was coming. He unlocked the front door and Amelia immediately pushed past him, making her way towards the back.

"Where do you think going?" Colton asked making her freeze her steps, his tone angry.

"To bed. I'm tired." Amelia responded quickly, avoiding eye contact.

"No you're not," Colton told her, stepping closer, "What the hell were you thinking back there?"

"I was thinking that Dickens just shoved a note from Wilkins into my hands as he bumped into me on the street," Amelia shrugged, "so instead of letting him get away, I followed after him. There is nothing wrong with that."

"Yes there is Amelia!" Colton shouted suddenly, "You went after him unarmed, you had no weapon on you. You weren't thinking! He could've had a weapon on him and you would've been walking right into a trap. How stupid can you be!"

That made Amelia scoff, "Stupid, really? Don't lecture me on being stupid here Colton, I did what you would've done."

"No," Colton said, pointing a finger at her, "you acted impulsively by going after him alone, and look what happened. You got hurt and he got away."

"He got away because you fired a shot off at him." Amelia argued.

"I turned the corner and saw you on the ground with him standing over you, of course I fired a shot off." Colton argued, throwing his hands in the air.

"Well maybe if you hadn't made me wait for you outside then none of this would've happened." Now it was Amelias' turn to throw her hands up in exasperation.

"Do not try and turn this around on me." Colton glared at her, pointing a finger at her accusingly.

Amelia let out a bitter laugh, "I'm not trying to do anything here. You're the one who made me wait outside or walk down the street to avoid talking to people. Why is that, huh? To me, it seems like you don't want anyone to see me with you-" Amelia cut herself off when the realization set in, "oh my god." Coltons' face dropped as he dropped his hand back to his side, regret shown on his face.

"Oh my god," Amelia whispered to herself again, "you don't want anyone to see me with you. No one knows you asked me to help you, or that I'm here. Why? Are you embarrassed?"

"No Amelia it's not like that." Colton rushed to say, taking a step towards her.

Amelia stepped back though, "Then what it is! Huh? Why does no one know I'm here? Why did you not tell anyone? Why did it take a fucking serial killer to come back from the dead for you to reach out to me? Why did you abandon me five years ago? Huh! Tell me why!" She couldn't hold it in anymore. All these years of not knowing and just wondering why and holding everything in was finally bubbling over, tears blurring her vision as she looked at him.