Saving Lotte Sullivan | Collingwood/Carlton

89: Dinner from Hell

'Josh, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean-'

In an instant, the athlete made his way through the growing crowd and over to the unconscious man laying on the concrete stairs.

'Josh! Who is that?' Lotte yelled, feeling frozen in place. She searched around for a familiar face.

'NICK!' Josh yelled, struggling to pick his brother up off the stairs. 'CAN SOMEBODY GET HELP?' He yelled, terrified that his brother was already gone. Lotte suddenly made her way through the crowd, acting like she totally wasn't 9 months pregnant with twins.

She fell to her knees.

'He's bleeding badly' Josh said, desperately trying to apply pressure to Nick's wound. He made some kind of gasping noise, as if the air was being sucked out of his lungs. Pale and losing more colour quickly.

'WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?' Peter Daicos yelled, almost pushing Josh out of the way. 'NICK!' Colleen screamed too, while Maddie panicked in the background, looking for help.

Lotte, heart racing, looked up and around for help herself.

A familiar woman with long, brunette hair caught her eye, hiding behind a large pillar with a smirk.

'ELLA!' Lotte screamed, getting up and running over her, beginning the chase.

'JORDAN, HELP!' She yelled, pointing at her former workmate. Jordan De Goey looked over, uninterested. He didn't recognise either of them.

'First Jack Ginnivan, and now Nick Daicos...' a loyal Collingwood fan sobbed, from the stairs somewhere. Lotte wasn't even sure where they were. A warped version of Parliament House perhaps?

'And next, you. You for abandoning me here' Ella said, finally stopping and turning around. Lotte looked for an escape as the younger woman closed in on her. It was no good. Ella had backed her into a corner. Lotte's forgetfulness and naïveté had let her down once again.

'Please...please don't' Lotte stuttered, at a loss for words. Was Jordan still around the corner? Could he hear her if she screamed?

'I told you I couldn't live without you and needed you most, especially with Rhiannon, and you just left! For months!' Ella exclaimed, pacing around, her hand gripping something in her pocket. Lotte uncomfortably swallowed.

Jordan suddenly made himself noticed, standing a way back from Ella, actually walking with a teammate. Who was that? Ash Johnson?

'JORDAN! ASH! PLEASE!' Lotte yelled, looking over at them with desperate eyes. Ella smirked and laughed.

'No one's helping you now. After all, they all know what you did' she said, giggling.

'What I did?' Lotte asked innocently, terrified. She nervously swallowed. Jordan and Ash were watching, worried. But they weren't rushing to help.

'It's your fault Jack Ginnivan died, Lotte. You should have been here and then maybe I wouldn't have gone crazy again' Ella said, still smirking away.

'I didn't mean to do anything, I love Jack and I was always going to-'

Lotte suddenly screamed, absolutely terrified and pained as Ella plunged the knife into her shoulder, collar bone area. Jordan and Ash ran towards them, suddenly realising what was happening. But the path to the girls, to help just kept extending, and getting longer and longer.

On the ground, Lotte clutched her chest and glanced up at Ella, who smiled.

'You should've listened to your best friend Ashlyn all those years ago. I am insane' she said, before wiping the knife dramatically with her hoodie sleeve. 'Let's see, who's next. Trent? No, Trent's probably dead already somewhere anyway. Josh? No, you left him....I know. Darcy. My precious brother Darcy who you'd do anything for'