Helpless

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter-Twenty-Six- Annissa

It had been a week since everything happened and my panic attack. Raiden's mom was taken to a mental hospital to help her through Alejandra's death yesterday. I put my diamond earrings on as I stood in the mirror and thought about everything. I was wearing a long sleeve black dress that went to my mid thigh. I slipped on black heels and looked in the mirror. Samantha curled my long brown hair and put on light makeup for me before she left to get ready herself. I walked out of Raiden's bedroom and downstairs where he waited at the front door for me. A slight smile laid on his face when he saw me. It quickly disappeared and his sad expression came back.

"Ready?" He asked me holding out his arm for me to take it.

He wore a simple black suit and polished black dress shoes. I linked my arm around his and we walked outside to the black limo waiting for us.

"Are you sure you're ready to do this?" I asked him.

He stared off into space for a long moment as we sat in the back of the limo with Raiden's dad and Katrina in front of us.

"Yes," He breathed out as if he was trying not to cry. "I can do this," Raiden told himself more than me.

I kissed him lightly on the cheek and he brought me closer to him. A few minutes later the limo parked and the four of us get out and met the others. Samantha, Josh, Cole, and Hades stood in group among a few strangers that knew Raiden's family. They all gave us sympathetic smiles either on purpose or not. Everyone walked through the cemetery and we took our seats by the coffin. Raiden's father stood up to speak. His eyes were glossy with tears and his voice shook as he talked about his oldest daughter. I looked at Raiden, who sat right next to me, his shoulders shook as he silently cried.

I took his hand and wrapped my fingers around his own. "You'll get past this," I whispered to him knowing that saying 'it will be okay' wouldn't be the truth.

He sniffled and looked at me as Mr. Marinos told everyone about when Alejandra came back from vacation in those skimpy clothes. "You're so strong you know."

My cheeks went red as I shyly smiled and looked away, "No I'm not."

"Yes you are," He lightly moved my face to look back at him. "You've gone through so much, yes I know that, but you haven't even told me half of it and I know you are so strong."

I smiled at the sincere compliment,"You are too Raiden."

It was his turn to blush and look away but before he could disagree I continued. "You followed me to save my kidnapped sister without question and your own sister died because of it." I looked away as I thought about what I had just said.

"D-do you blame me for Alejandra's death?" A single tear ran down my face as I thought of the possibility.

Raiden was silent for a moment and his expression softened. "Absolutely not. I could never blame you for such a thing."

"T-then who do you blame?" Vulnerability showed in my tone of voice.

He looked away slowly at all the people sitting around the coffin then his eyes lingered on the coffin itself before he looked back to me. "I honestly don't know."

I looked away deep in thought.

"Hey," He turned my head to face him once again. "What I do know is that I definitely do not blame you."

I felt my lip quiver and let Alejandra's death really sink in.

"I will always miss my daughter. S-she was feisty and stubborn but she was my daughter. All of us loved her so much and we will always love her. Alejandra was one of those people that made a huge impact on everyone." Mr. Marinos finished. He held back a few cries.

Most of the people started to leave. Raiden and I stood up and he picked up Katrina who was crying her little heart out. Mr. Marinos, Raiden, Katrina, and I all stood in a line waiting for the people to come and talk to us. Raiden put one arm protectively around my waist as his other arm held Katrina resting on his hip. Mr. Marinos stood on the other side of his son.

"It's ok baby, Alejandra's with the angels now," Raiden soothed Katrina. Her glassy eyes light up a little after he said this.

"Is she an angel now?" Katrina smiled dreamily.

Raiden and I looked at each other both wondering what to say. He looked back at Kat, "Yes darling, she's a beautiful angel watching over all of us."

A few people came up to all of us and held conversations. Raiden introduced me to all of them saying he wished he could of introduced me in better circumstances to each person. Each one of them gave me a polite smile and a hug. I met a lot of his family and they all seemed to love me, that or they were just being polite. I hoped it was the first one. Soon it was just the guys, Mr. Marinos, Katrina, Raiden, and I. Josh stood on my other side and Raiden naturally pulled me closer to him. Josh put his hand on my back reassuringly. I saw Raiden look at him when he noticed the gesture but neither of them said anything. The cemetery workers slowly lowered the coffin into the ground.

"I love you Alejandra. Have fun being an angel." Katrina whispered happily. I felt bad for the little girl. Her mom who probably won't ever come back because of these traumatizing events and her older sister dead. Katrina won't ever have a girl around to help her through the tough times. I'll be there for her as long as I can I promised myself.

Raiden smiled slightly at Katrina's words but his eyes showed his pain. We watched the workers fill the ground with dirt and Mr. Marinos placed a bouquet of flowers by the newly placed headstone. We said our goodbyes and everyone went their separate ways. Raiden and I decided to take a walk around the town to talk.

We walked by the water and sat on the park bench that I once sat on with Enzo. I didn't tell Raiden this because I knew he would get up and sit somewhere else which would interrupt the mood.

Once we sat down Raiden put his arm around me and I finally broke down. Tears poured from my eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I just...I'm scared," I looked out at the water as I told him this.

He waited a moment before responding, "Why is that?"

"W-what if they kidnap someone again? What if Katrina is the next one to be hurt? What if it is all my fault?"

"No one will kidnap you again my love," He kissed my forehead lightly. "Sam is dead and so is his father."

I stared off into space as I thought of the words Raiden just spoke. Sam was dead. I told myself. He was dead. No one would be hurt again. He was gone.

"He is gone," I sighed and smiled while looking back into Raiden's beautiful green eyes.

"Yes, he is gone," Raiden smiled.

I looked at him again and he pulled me closer to him. We watched the sunset for a while until it was almost gone. A little light shone from the water and right as it started to disappear, the moon almost fully out, I looked at Raiden once more. The moonlight shone off of his beautiful face.

"I love you," I whispered to him in deep breaths like it was the last thing I could ever say to him.

A giant smile crossed his face. This time it reached his eyes and he looked completely happy.

"I love you too," He responded happily.

The sun was fully set and I leaned against his chest.

"We are safe now," Raiden told me as he gently moved my face to look at him.

He pressed his lips to mine and we gently kiss one another with our guard fully down and vulnerability everywhere. We are safe now, I thought to myself as I continued to kiss him. The only light was the moon and the cool breeze brushed against us from the water. We stayed in each others arms for a long time. Both of us felt fully safe for the first time in a while. My heart beat with his, my breathing matched his, my mind thought the same thing as Raiden's. We are finally safe now.