Lost in the Depth

Dead

When the ringing in my ears is gone, the sound of screaming replaces it. People burning. Innocent, ordinary people who were just too close to the building.

You want to see my dad, Julian?

I feel nothing. No guilt. No grief. Nothing.

I'll show you my dad.

I turn and walk away from the fiery catastrophe before me, stepping into my car and driving away from the crowd of people now gathered at the sight.

---

Antonio

God, please tell me, what the fuck did I do to deserve this?

Sitting- well, more like crammed- in the moving van, I hear a loud boom in the distance and I don't have to guess what it was.

I close my eyes, pinching my arm as if this is just a bad dream. As if I'll wake up any moment now.

How could she do this to me?

After everything. After all those times I thought we were more than just two people who throw insults at each other all day.

What's worse is...

I can't hate her.

I hate her choice. I hate how she betrayed me. But I don't hate her. 

I want to. But there's just something... it's the most insane thing. But not as insane as what she did.

God knows what's left of us. God knows which one of my friends I'll never see again.

I feel tears building up in my eyes but I push them back. Get your shit together, Antonio.

These people in this van are looking up to me to get them out of this. If they see me losing hope then it all goes to shit.

They've stripped me of my weapons but they made the mistake of tying my wrists together with duct tape. A few years back I learnt a trick to get out of this material. Duct tape can't withstand pressure or whatever. I never bothered to get into the details of it.

I bring my hands over my head and, in one quick move, pull them back down, pushing my hands apart as I do. It doesn't all tear at once so I keep repeating the movement. Once I'm out of the tape, I tear the one on my face off and get to work on the one around my ankles.

The others see me doing this and they begin to copy. It's already crammed enough as it is and the extra movement just makes it all a mess of sweaty limbs.

The drivers can't see us because of the wall separating this part of the van with theirs.

Again, big mistake.

I go for the door of the van, which has now stopped. Either at a red light, or at our destination. I hope for the former.

Just as I'm about to open the door, it's opened for me. And all my hopes for escape deflate in one second as I see one of the Cosa Nostra captains smirking at me with unhidden glee.

---

Rayna

"Rayna!" Alessia calls after me, running down the hallway to reach me. We came back to our base after the bomb. I already know she's going to give me another lecture just like my cousin. "Rayna wait up!"

"Not now, Alessia."

"Wait it's important!" I'm about to turn to snap something at her when she holds a phone up in my face.

A very familiar phone.

My eyes bulge out in shock.

No.