The Girl And The Mafia

A Ring And A Room

"Is that who I think it is?" I could hear Will's footsteps coming towards me and my hologram of an aunt, but my eyes were glued to hers. I wanted to reach out, to what exactly, I don't know. Strangle her? Scream? Or just touch her shoulder, just to ask why on Earth she would do something like this in the first place.

Kaede rushed to the doorway and peaked out, startled she turned the lights on and hurried to grab the disk placed on the floor and turn edit off. The image of my aunt facing me vanished physically; however, mentally it was imprinted into my eyes.

Over and over all I could see was her small frame carrying a poor dead body, along with five others. Maybe she was forced to do it, yes, she didn't have a choice she had too. I couldn't loose the closest thing I had to family, I hadn't even had a real conversation with her yet.

"What are you doing with that?" I was now watching Kaede take out the chip and walk towards the door.

She paused for a moment, looking back at me. She looked almost remorseful, almost. "They're going to come and collect these soon, if were caught with them we'll all be tried for treason to the Command."

Without another word she walked out of the room, leaving Will and I in a distinguished silence.

Will was no longer looking at me the way he had before, the look of wonder and carelessness was now replaced with sympathy and question.

"We should leave, they're going to do room checks soon," The look on his face began to fade away and he once again hid his emotions from me, "I'll walk you to your room."

We passed Kaede poking her slender fingers into a camera that I hadn't noticed before; tucked up into the ceiling, hidden within the wooden paneling. Will waved her goodbye, once he turned we began jogging towards the stairs.

A slight throbbing began in my ribs, I pushed the pain away from my thoughts as we moved. Glancing sideways I noticed that they had removed the bodies, all that was left were the ends of the ropes used to hang them.

We reached the stairs and bounded up the two flights that lead to my floor. Though it only realistically took maybe a minute to climb up the steps, to my aching body, it felt like ages. Every stair meant a laboring lift of my leg, a lift that sent shocks of electricity up my body. I didn't want Will to think I was too weak, so I pushed on without so much as a wince. 

Will didn't let up with the running until we rounded to my door, looking the same as all the others besides the hair tie I put on the handle so I could find the room. Just as I went to walk into my room, two men dressed in all black riot gear came around the corner knocking on a door far down the hall.

"Shit." Will whispered under his breath and shoved the both of us into the room. For a moment he seemed frustrated, but like always, it faded as fast as it had came and he was on the move. "Put this on." Always with a plan.

He pulled a chain that I don't remember noticing from around his neck. On it hung a simple ring, gold band twisting into a large white diamond with three smaller black ones on either side of it. The inside of the band was withered down from being worn so much, but it was still beautiful.

"Will," I looked at the ring in his hand. Instead of waiting for me to ask, Will took my left hand and placed it onto my ring finger. The ring itself fit onto me like a glove, but it felt foreign on my skin anyway. "Will, what the hell are-,"

"Just shut up and act like you love me," His face said anything but that, yet he pulled me over to the couch, and turned on the TV. Before I knew it his arm was around me, pulling me into him and sending fireworks into my skin.

Unlike my own, I could feel how steady his heartbeat was against my back, "Just let me talk."

Right as the words left his mouth the door to my room flung open, and the two men from the hallway came waltzing in. "Octavia Cieder." Not a question, but a statement, "Sir, our files only say one person lives here. Follow us for questioning under the rules and enactment of the Command."

I couldn't see the faces of either of the men, they were covered head to toe in gear. In each of their hands was a square piece of glass, but it seemed to be teeming with life. On the glass were lists of names and numbers, from my guess it was all of the room assignments compiled together.

The one closest to us went to grab Will, but he kept his grip on me tight and his voice calm, "I'm sorry, there must have been a mix up in the system," He grabbed my left hand and glanced at me lovingly, a look I was too astounded to return, "We just got engaged, the request for a room change mustn't have gone through yet."

The men glanced at each other, it was hard to read their faces through the tinted glass covering their eyes, but the one that had tried grabbing Will was now tapping away. "What did you say your name was?"

"William Belum," He spoke clearly and confidently, "Floor Twenty-Five, originally."

The man kept on tapping away, but I could feel the other man's gaze pinned on us. Without a second of hesitation Will turned and planted a soft kiss on my forehead. I would like to believe that such a small gesture wouldn't have put me out, but from my position, I was about to pass out from shock, or pain. "So much chaos for a wedding, right honey?"

A soft laugh left his lips, and I realized that this was where me playing along came in. A similar laugh escaped me and I eased into his hold with a smile still hugging my lips, "Not too much, I'd hope?" My voice sounded lighter than it had, and Will gave a reassuring rub on my shoulder.

"Alright," The man who had been relentlessly tapping away finally looked up, "Congratulations, by the way, and please stay in your rooms until further notice. If the need arises meals will be delivered within the hour. Thank you for your faith to the Command."

Without another word the team left, and a sigh came from both Will and I with the shut of the door. But the sound of a lock turning on it from the outside sent a chill down my spine, even down here there was still a way to be trapped.

We sort of just sat there either in silence or shock, I couldn't tell which. After a few minutes of a sitcom playing to fill the silence, Will spoke, "Do you- Could I...," He took a breath, "The ring, it was my mom's and I-,"

"Oh yea," I pulled the elegant ring off of my finger and placed it into his hand, "Of course." We sat in silence for a few more moments before I chose to break the silence, "Engaged, huh?"

He let out another soft laugh, and more butterflies churned my stomach, "Yea, sorry about that," He let his hand rub the back of his neck, after placing the ring securely back on his chain, "If they had caught me here without a reason I would have been tried for disobeying orders, I've already had enough run ins with the Command as it is."

I didn't  bother to ask about Will's mother, or about his run ins, or even why he chose to pretend to be married to me instead of making a run for his room. I was sure he could have made it; he was fast enough to get there before anyone would see him. However, there was an unspoken rule when I lived in the orphanage, if they didn't tell you, you didn't ask. Under these circumstances, I knew it was best for this rule to apply.

"So what now?" I asked, watching Will as he played with the ring between his fingers before placing his back under his shirt.

"Well, the entire compound is under lock down." He gave the door a glance before continuing, "They will drop off food and clothes, but with a murder it could be days before they let anyone leave their rooms."

Trapped, for days. "Days? Is that really necessary?" I tried my best to sound calm, but on the inside I was screaming to get out of here, to be anywhere but here.

"Guess you're stuck with me for a while."

Edited 6/25/2017