The list of power and ruin

Chapter 1 Alicea

As Alicea arrived laughter already filled the room. She had just walked in through the open door of her friend's apartment. Alicea's dark brown eyes wandered to the living room searching for her friends. Three girls made themselves comfortable on the soft carpet, all of them having a fancy glass of red wine in their hands. The room was enlightened with many scented candles, which left it smelling like pines and vanilla with a hint of cinnamon. It was early December and one could feel that this apartments owner was already in a Christmas mood. The fireplace was light up and provided the room with a pleasant heat. She now felt ready to take off her scarf, shoes, gloves and coat she wore due to the freezing cold weather outside. As soon as Alicea heard the chatting of her best friends, she started to feel better. Her day was stressful, so she couldn't wait to spend some quality time with them and relax a little. She put her coat on a hanger and fixed her hair in the mirror really quickly. Her light brown hair fell just over her chest in slight waves. Her skin was slightly olive but flawless. She still wore the black business like dress from work today. 

The girls didn't realize her until she walked right into the living room. Emma was the first to notice her and left an excited gaze: "Licea, finally you're here!" She stood up quickly and hugged her friend tightly. Emma smelt like vanilla and roses, as always. Her blond hair was in a ponytail with a few loose curls framing her face. Alicea answered to her friends exciting gesture with a bright smile: "Hey girls, sorry it took me so long, things were a too busy at work, but I'm all yours now." She gave everyone in the room a little kiss on the cheek before she asked for her glass of wine. Emma hurried into the kitchen and came back a second later with another glass and the already opened bottle of wine. Meanwhile Alicea made her way into the circle and set down on the floor leaning against the wall close to the fireplace. She really enjoyed the cracking of the fire compared with the heat it set free. "Here you go darling.", Emma handed her a full glass of red wine and took her seat among the others. "I want an update on all the gossip, secrets and life changing events from each and every one of you. We haven't seen each other in far too long." Alicea announced with a snoopy tone in her voice. The girls group chuckled and a jangle filled the room as they clinked their glasses. 

These moments were Alicea's favorite, she loved to be with the people she cared about. Exchanging concerns and stories or just talk for hours about god and the world. Since she started university and at the same time working as an intern in a magazine publishing company, these moments came far too rare. However, when she had the time to meet up with her closest friends, she enjoyed every tiny bit of it. She meets the others multiple times a week at university, but all four of them are too busy the catch up regularly. "Do you have another bottle of wine? I'm already empty...again." Chloe asked with a little grin on her face. "Me too." Lacy took a big sip from her glass in order to empty it. Everyone fell about laughing. "I will check the storage in the cellar really quick. I will be right back." Emma called as she already left the apartment. "So how about you, Licea? How is work? Your boss still cute?" Lacy asked turning into Alicea's direction. Lacy was the oldest one in the group, however definitely not the most mature one. She liked talking about boys or rather men. She had straight dark brown hair with dark eyes and olive skin. Chloe was the exact opposite. Blonde wavy hair reaching to her shoulders. Her skin was really light with steel blue eyes. She was very mature and often needed the group to loosen up a little. You could tell this wasn't their first glass of wine. Both of them seemed a little squiffy. "The boss is still handsome and still 20 years older than you're girl. Anyway work is really exciting, I like it even though the hours are long and tough. It's definitely an experience. Well, and not to forget it looks really good on my CV." Everyone in the room knew Alicea well enough to know that she is a really ambitious human being. Nevertheless, still caring and humble. All her family was quite successful, so she always had the burden of proofing herself, especially in front of her mother. Even though she was intelligent and ambitious she always was expected to succeed but never being complimented when succeeding. Although she often hoped for more attention by her parents, she knew they raised her into this confident, ambitious and independent young woman she was today. Well and all of her friends loved her for that. Emma came back into the apartment with her hands empty: "I totally forgot I'd taken all the bottles with me to our last dinner party. I will just get some new ones at the gas station 5 blocks away, will be back soon." Alicea cut her off: "I'll come with you. I think you need someone sober to get you there and back safely. We don't want you to get lost in the big city of London. We will see you in bit." Alicea announced to the two remaining girls in the living room. The others nodded.

 Emma and Alicea put on their boots and coats as well as scarves and gloves and made their way down the staircase out into the cold winter weather. The freezing wind pounded against their faces with no mercy. Both of them were freezing to their bare skin, making it even hard to speak. Luckily the gas station was only a five blocks away, so they would reach it in no time. "I'm really glad we are having our girl's night today!" Alicea yelled for Emma to hear her. "What?" Emma responded. "I'm really glad we are having our girl's night today! Really needed it." Alicea yelled again. This time a little louder. "Me too!" Emma answered smiling while turning her head around. They made it to the entrance of the gas station and slipped through the door into the warmth. The cashier greeted them with a bored voice. The girls made their way to the liquor section trying to choice some sort of wine. Dozens and dozens bottles of wine made their choice not quite easiy. Alicea heard the wind hushing outside as the door opened. Another customer entered, walking by them to the front of the door. The smell of cedar wood mixed with a tiny bit of alcohol. Alicea regretted her deep breath as soon as his smell sting in her nose. A second passed and so did the smell of the unknown men. She focused her attention on Emma and their wines again. Emma pressed two bottles in Alice's hand and taking two into her own hands. Alice denied herself a smirk. Emma turned around and said with a smile: "What? We got to stock up a little, and you know Lacy." Alicea couldn't hold it anymore and grinned. She followed her friend as she walked towards the cashier. They lined, facing each other, quite a few feet behind the man who had just walked into the gas station. They made sure to have a certain distance in order to avoid his smell. Alicea and Emma were talking about their plans for new year's eve as they heard the cashier begging in a really low and frightened voice: "Please, please, I'm begging you, put it down, there is nothing in there, we already emptied it. I will not tell anyone if you leave now." Alicea realized the front of a gun in the hands of the hooded man, smelling like cedarwood and alcohol, standing in front of them. As he noticed them he was spinning around taking a few steps backwards, so he had all three of them in sight, changing the person who he pointed the gun at every second.

 The two girls froze as if the cold had caught them. Silence filled the store. You could tell the robber was nervous. He wasn't sure about his plan. Pearls of sweat covered his forehead. "No one moves", he yelled but not sounding convincing. From the ankle of my eye I saw the cashier reaching for something beneath the counter, without his eyes leaving the man's face. Alicea knew by his behavior, that this wasn't the first time someone was trying to rob this store. On her other side she could hear Emma breathing heavily. Her breath was filled with fear and uncertainty. Emma had grabbed on to Alicea's wrist, squeezing it so tightly that her fingernails dug into Alicea's flesh. This pain in her arm was the only thing that made her realize that this isn't a dream. This was reality. Nothing like that ever happened to either of them. Robberies frequently covered the top pages of the news but reading about them and experiencing them were two completely opposite things. Alicea heard her mother's voice in her head not going out late at night. How could she have known that this was happening to her? The robber himself was panicking. He knew he hadn't thought about the plan properly. He expected it to be much easier. In and out. That's what he was told. As he took a look at his three hostages, he saw the man at the register grabbing something. That's when everything went sideways. The first gunshot filled the air. A scream followed. Alicea looked to her left side and saw the cashier bend to his knees in pain. She and Emma tried to run to the counter, seeking for shelter. A second and a third gunshot followed. One intended to hit Alicea the other one was for Emma. 

Alicea saw the bullet in front of her eyes, aiming for her frontal lobe. Seconds felt like minutes, the bullet approaching from the gun. Alicea couldn't move. A magic force was telling her to stay. A striking pain fulfilled Alicea's head. As the bullet was supposed to the reach her forehead, it dropped. Dropped to the floor in front of her eyes. The jangle of the bullet dropping onto the tiles felt like the only noise for miles. She saw the robber running out of the store. However, her exhaustion was too overwhelming for Alicea's body and she collapsed. Her body sunk to the floor, with her head hitting the edge of a shelf. The bullet was lying in front of her face, not having touched her body. She didn't feel any specific pain in her body besides the exhaustion. With a blurred vision Alicea's sight wandered from the bullet to Emma's body which was lying next to her. Blood was leaking from her abdomen, a puddle of red blood started to form on the cold tiles. Her eyes were closed. With the last bit of her strength Alicea tried to seal into Emma's direction, bringing her own face close to hers. To her relief, she felt a breath. Emma's breath. Flashing blue lights and sirens howling were the last things Alicea realized before she completely drifted away and became unconscious.