Tyrant (Lazaretto Sequel)

one

March 14, 2094

VAL

I shoved the gold key into the lock and twisted it open, instantly being met with the warmth of the apartment. Though in that moment, it didn't feel as warm, it didn't feel as inviting...it didn't feel like a home at all. I dropped my phone and purse onto the pale green mat just inside the door, realization hitting me. Austin is dead. The only person I had ever truly loved was dead, and he wasn't coming back. 

I didn't bother taking my keys out of the lock as the door stood wide open, the cool air of outside mixing with the warm apartment. An uncontrollable sob left my mouth and echoed throughout the empty walls. My hands instinctively covered my mouth as I felt hot tears stream down my face. As I continued to cry, no, scream, I took off my left heel and threw it across the living room, hitting a vase. The vase fell off the countertop and shattered to the floor, littering the carpet with shards of clear glass. The flowers that Austin had gotten me only a couple days prior lied drenched in water on the ground. My anger was quickly mixing with my sadness. I took off my other heel and threw it in the same direction, that time striking a frame that held a picture of Austin and me. It tumbled to the tile floor of the kitchen, breaking the front glass, adding more to the collection. My chest was heaving in and out rapidly as the tears continued to fall. 

After a couple of seconds my senses came back to me, and I immediately regretted my decision to throw my shoes. I ran over to the picture, not caring about the glass cutting my feet and legs. Nothing could have been more painful than the amount of hurt I had in my heart. I picked the frame up in my hands and wiped away the remaining pieces of glass. When I didn't think I could cry any harder, another sob escaped at the sight of Austin smiling and hugging me close to him. The picture was taken on our two year anniversary. I clutched the picture to my chest, crying over the man I lost merely hours ago. I smelled of smoke and desperation. My clothes were tattered and torn, and even burnt in some places. Closing my eyes, I remembered the last words Austin ever spoke to me.

The warehouse was burning to the ground while Lauren and I were fighting mercilessly against each other. I heard a loud noise and quickly turned around to see Austin lying on the ground face up with a knife protruding from his chest. I released the hold I had on Lauren and ran over to Austin's motionless body. 

"What have you done?!" I yelled as I shakily touched his chest. I heard the girl run by me into Lauren's arms where she hastily escorted her outside. Austin's face was black with soot and cut up from the girl's punches. I could feel my own hair sticking to the back of my neck and the side of my face from the ferocious heat of the fire all around me. I carefully picked up his head and laid it in my lap. I pushed back a couple of strands of hair that had fallen in his face. His eyes fluttered open at the sensation, and a sob wracked my body.

"Val," he choked. Blood tricked out of the side of his mouth.

"Shh," I cooed. "You don't have to talk." I realized then just how raspy my voice sounded. I wasn't sure how much longer I had with him before he was taken away from me completely. He shook his head subtly, his ocean eyes staring right into mine. They were slightly glassed over and full of regret.

"I'm sorry, Valerie." He only ever used my full name when he was being serious, and I squeezed my eyes tight as another sob left my mouth. He lethargically reached his hand up to grasp mine that was on top of his chest.

"I can't lose you, Austin," I cried.

"You've got to go. This place is going to collapse any minute."

"Then let it. I don't want to exist in a world where you don't." I let the tears stream unhindered down my cheeks, the coolness of them relieving my dry and heat stricken face. Austin took a deep breath, and I knew it was his last.

"Get the device," he whispered. "It should be on the table near the wall. You know what to do with it. I'll see you in a minute, my angel." He grasped my hand in his and brought it up to his mouth to kiss my knuckles and just like that, he was gone. His eyes finally closed, and I saw the weight on his chest lift. I cried over him until boards starting falling from the ceiling one after the other, giving Austin one last look before I sprinted over to the table to grab the device he was talking about. Thankfully it wasn't yet damaged from the fire. I gripped it tightly in my hand and ran outside just in time as the warehouse collapsed behind me.

Thinking back on that moment, I didn't think the girl had it in her. She was shy, and she mostly kept to herself, but something in her must have switched. I saw it the night I kidnapped her and took her back to the facility. She wasn't the same girl that was in the facility just months before. She was stronger, she was courageous...she was brave. 

The thought of the girl only fueled my anger, but I had plenty of time to plot my revenge against her. Instead of thinking of the girl that killed my boyfriend without blinking an eye, I somehow managed to pick myself up off the floor and saunter off to the bedroom. I lazily placed the broken frame on the bedside table, not bothering to turn on the lamp. The moonlight filtered in through the window, the blinds causing striped light to illuminate the bedroom and myself. I slowly took off my pants as I choked back the tears. I stepped out of them and lightly kicked them across the floor as I unbuttoned my shirt to let it fall off my shoulders to the ground. I touched my face and could feel the dried salt on my cheeks along with the soot and ashes from the fire. I looked to the unmade bed as another round of fresh tears threatened to fall when I found the shirt Austin had worn the day before laying at the end of the bed, tousled. I reached down shakily and picked it up, immediately bringing the maroon piece of cotton to my nose and breathing in his scent. I didn't try to hold back the tears that time as they stung the corners of my eyes. He always managed to smell of honey and laundry detergent, and I was addicted to him. 

I gently put the shirt on over my body and let it settle at the middle of my thighs before I pulled back the covers and climbed into bed, deciding to sleep on his side. I laid my head on his pillow and breathed in his shampoo. I closed my eyes as the tears silently fell onto the fabric below, dampening it. I pulled the covers up and engulfed myself in him. The cold bed was starting to warm up because of my body heat, but I knew it would never be as warm as before. I didn't dare roll over to see the empty space beside me, knowing very well that it would never again be occupied. So instead, I cried as the silence was dawning on me. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of the clock ticking, and the pieces of my broken heart crashing to the floor. I looked at the light blue walls that encompassed me, a small smile appearing on my face at the memory of painting them that color of blue to remind me of Austin's eyes. Whenever he wasn't around all I had to do was come into this room, and I was instantly relieved. The smile quickly faded and was replaced by more tears as I pulled the covers tighter against my body, tangling myself between the sheets. I closed my eyes and cried until the sound of his name no longer made me.