Living Hell (Louis James Moriarty short story)

Part 12: Unexpected Setbacks

Count Ridgewell's body lies on the ground, his blood pooling around him. 

"You did it, Lily! I'm so proud of you! You truly have what it takes to be one with us!", Louis's eyes beamed with pride and joy as he looked at Lily. "Since it's your first mission, I shall let you have the power to decide what shall we do to his body."

Meanwhile, Lily was still in a state of shock after committing her first murder. When Louis told her to decide on the corpse's fate, she felt a heavy burden in her heart and her stomach churned. Although for some apparent reason, she began to feel a little bit woozy...but she just brush off the feeling. 

Louis noticed she hasn't responded yet, so he called out to her. "Lily, what's it gonna be? "

But Lily didn't respond back again. She walked nearer to the Count's body; its sight almost made her vomit. "H-how about...you decide instead...", she stuttered.

"No, I insist. It's your first mission.", Louis said as his piercing cold gaze never left Lily's eyes. He leaned back against the wall, waiting for her answer. There was a moment of silence in the room; however, her silence is testing Louis's patience. "Well..."

"Oh...uhhh...", Lily tried to think of something, but the feeling of tiredness and sleepiness keeps on growing in her. Still, she tried to look strong in front of Louis. "How about...what if...we stage his death aaasss... s-suicide...where he left a note saying...uhhh...he regretted the crimes he committed?"

Louis raised his eyebrows as he considered her suggestion. "Hmm...alright...not bad of a plan...", he stared at the corpse then back to Lily. "If we're going to hide this as suicide, how will we do that so the coroner would also agree? Normally, victims would just slice their necks across. Or just hang themselves."

"Uhh...", Lily didn't think about that. However, she began to feel very drowsy; she tried to fight that feeling by pacing around the room and placing her hands on her head to think about Louis's question. "Maybe...maybe...not everyone knows exactly what's...like...going on in their minds?..."

"Hmm...a stab in the chest sure does look like a suicide...", Louis said in sarcasm.

"...Maybe...he just wanted...to get it done fast???", Lily said in between her heavy breaths. 

Louis noticed something odd in her movements, so he asked her with a concerned tone in his voice. "Lily...are you ok? I know it's a lot to take in from your first kill..."

"Yeah yeah...I'm still ok...", her back was facing towards Louis. She suspected that the broken glass from her tranquilizing darts must have punctured her skin when she dropped to the floor, and just having a tiny breach is enough for the sleeping drug to take effect. It also made her think that if they were going to clean up their mess, she decided to go for the 'easiest' one. "...and since we're doing this...can I be the one...who'll write his will or something?"

Louis took her word and her chosen task, "Alright then...", but asked another tough question, "...although...if the Scotland Yard suspected that the letter was forged or something was off in its contents and then began tracing it back to its original source, will you be able to handle that?"

Louis has a point. "Uggghhh!!!", Lily felt frustrated with all this; she thought that writing the letter would be the simplest one but she was dead wrong. "See? I told you you should decide!"

"No, no, no...it's alright, my dear disciple. This will help you gain experience in our future missions.", Louis reassured her. "I believe we can still make your plan work."

"Fine...I'll...go check his papers...for basis...", she started to walk towards the Count's desk, but every step she takes makes her want to give up on the task and succumb to that tempting slumber. She can't do what needs to be done anymore.

She hunched over the desk for support. Tears started to fall from her eyes, but she tried to contain her voice.

Unfortunately, her legs started giving up on her. She crouched down on the floor while grasping the desk for support, sniffling.

Louis noticed her collapse from across the room and went nearer to her. "Lily!", he placed his hand on her back for he was now really concerned about her, "Are you really alright?"

Lily couldn't hold back the tears anymore as she sobbingly apologize, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I didn't mean...to...mistake..."

"What? Mistake? You really did well today, Lily...", Louis tried to understand what she was trying to say.

"I...can't...do...it...", sadly Lily couldn't finish her words because she didn't have the energy anymore to fight against the sleeping drug from her broken darts. Thus, her eyelids began to slowly close.

"No...Lily...Lily...look at me, please? You'll be ok...you'll be ok...", Louis said as he cupped her face with his hands. Unfortunately, Lily couldn't open her eyes anymore and her body became heavier on Louis's grasp.

Louis became sad and dejected when Lily didn't wake up anymore, but his cold, calculating nature came back to him. "Well...this is an unexpected setback...", he looked to Lily once again, "...but she's too important to lose. We can still make this work." He laid her down on the floor and proceeded to do the things he needed to do.