Amnesia

Lost

Mia's face turns pale as the blood seeps down her neck and onto the wood floor and the carpet that reads 'Welcome'.

Naoto drops to the floor, weak and devastated. He starts to pool up her blood in his hands, as if trying to scoop the blood up and put it back in her. But there's too much blood. It pools around her body and the blood soaks into Naoto's tan pants.

Everyone is silent.

The only noise is the sound of sobs.

No one moves. We all stare at the two lovers who are in a puddle of blood. The tears run down my face as I watch Naoto try to patch up the slice with his shirt.

"Naoto, there's no fixing it," Anne says quietly.

"I can! I can fix her. I can save her!" Naoto presses the shirt harder around her neck. Blood seeps through the light blue shirt.

She's already dead. She immediately died. But Naoto won't believe that, even though he knows the facts. He will deny it until she's buried in the ground.

If we don't die before we can do so.

"I didn't want it to go there," Jane says nonchalantly. "But she was warned."

"You killed her!" Naoto screams. He stands up and shoves Jane. All weapons point to him and he stops.

"No!" I cry. "We'll work this out!"

Jane turns to me and smiles. "That's what I want to hear." She taps the short man's shoulder. "Mike, hold him."

Mike grabs Naoto and puts his arms behind his back. Naoto's knees give out and he slips out of the man's hands. Naoto is too weak and devastated to stand. Mike pulls duct tape out of his bag and wraps Naoto's wrists together, detaining him. He stays on the floor, resting his head against the door. His eyes never leave his dead wife's face.

"Everyone put your weapons on the ground," Jane says.

We look around at each other, debating if we should. Anne nods to us, and we drop our weapons to the floor.

"Now I want everyone who's upstairs to come down and I want all of you lined up against that wall." Jane watches as we follow her instructions. Chris hurries next to me, grabbing my hand and squeezing it.

Once all of us are together against the wall, Jane enters the house. Cornrows follow, but Mike stays behind Naoto.

Jane walks up to Anne and lifts the bloody knife up to her cheek. "We can easily murder all of you. Just like we did in that market. But that means we would have to do a lot of cleaning up. And I don't like to clean."

"It's all of us against you three," Jose hisses.

"That's not true," Jane says with a laugh. "My guys are all hiding in the front. They hear a gunshot and they'll be on your asses in seconds."

"Then why didn't they come when there was the first gunshot?" Jose asks, chewing on his cheek.

"They saw it," she says. "They saw it didn't hit any of us. If one of you shoot and hit one of us, you'll all pay for it. Every single one of you."

"We'll leave," Anne says. "We'll get our stuff and go."

"Not so easy. I know you guys would probably come back and try to get your belongings because we won't let you have them. They're ours now."

"Jane-" Anne begins to speak but Jane cleans Mia's blood off on Anne's shirt. Anne stares at the blood, disgusted. She takes a deep breath and nods. "Fine. You can keep everything."

"That's what I thought." Jane takes a few steps back, eyeing us all. We're like frightened animals pinned against the wall. And she loves it. "If you guys try anything stupid, it won't end well for you. So be smart. Walk away from this. Find your own place, far from us. We have people on watch all day and all night. We'll see you coming, and we won't give you a second chance."