Raising Hell

Pinkie Swear

ALEX'S POV

"Are you okay?" He asks as we walk down the hallway.

"No." I say and he turns and looks at me. "But I will be." I smile weakly. He nods and wraps his arm around my waist.

"So I hear your engaged?" He asks. I snort unattractively.

"Yeah. I think you too would get along" I joke and he smirks.

"We must have something in common if we both like you." He says and I stop to turn to him.

"Your nothing like Malak." I assure him.

"Better?" He asks.

"By a hundred times." I tell him. 

"Good." He says and starts to walk again with his arm attached to my waist.

******

I knock on the door and a tall woman with a low bun and glasses opens it. She inspects me over her bifocals.

"You're Alex." She says.

"Yeah. I am- I mean I was, your daughters friend." I stumble over my words. 

"Come in." She welcomed me and I stepped inside. She directed me to a chair and sat down next to me.

"I am so sorry for your loss." I say quietly.

"It seems that the city has gone through many lately." 

"If I could fix that I would in a heartbeat." I assure her.

"Is there something you wanted to tell me?" 

"I was there when Haley was shot." I say. She sighs deeply and looks down at her hands. "She wanted me to tell you that she loved you and her father." I breathe. She finally looks up with teary eyes.

"Did she suffer?" She asks.

"No, your daughter died peacefully." I lie. Anyone who gets shot in the abdomen doesn't not go down peacefully.  I knew that and I think her mother did too. She just didn't want to admit to herself. It probably hurt a lot, she went through suffering for a few moments before finally leaving the earth. In a strange way I am jealous. If it was me who got shot, I wouldn't have ever been kidnapped. I would never had these nightmares then when the sun comes up form into daydreams, ones that I can't seem to run away from.

But showing fear would be showing weakness, and weakness is what gets people killed. I can't risk feeling pain anymore. It's easier to become stone, emotionless. The one thing that is keeping me from doing so is Jake. He is the only one is the world who can keep me sane, or at least close to it.

"Thank you, Alex." She says. I nod and walk out of the room. I close the door behind me and realize I am closing much more than that, I am closing a part of my past, a part of me. One specifically that I don't want to give up.

***

"The president wants to talk to you." Jake told me, as I pass him in the hall. I stop and so does he.

"Why?"

"I guess you'll just have to find out." He says mischievously as he walks away. I roll my eyes at the attempt of mystery and walk to the president's office.

"Hi Mrs. Ringman. It's good to see you back." The receptionist said as I walked through the doors. I stop at the comment.

"Really?" I asked doubtingly.

"Of course. You might be a pain but I didn't want to see you gone." She says with a smile.

"Thanks." I say and walk into the room. The president looks up from his papers. He broke into a smile and gestured to a chair.