Claimed

Eight

I arrived to the sounds of sirens of the police cruisers, the firefighters and the ambulances. The entire expanse of my apartment was barely visible through the thick veil of smoke it was enshrouded in. Men in various uniforms were bustling about the perimeter, trying to save the skeleton of my foundations. The sky was alight with beautiful shades of orange and red and I felt nothing, absolutely nothing over losing the place I had called home for the past seven years or the woman I had begun depending on for all my needs. I was emptier than I was a few hours ago as I saw my past, present and future burn and fade away in the smoke in the air.

I stood standing as inconspicuously as I could in the dark alley and the sound of a commotion was the only thing that broke me out of my reverie.

"What do you mean she is dead? I just saw her on the news after catching that stupid criminal, how could she be dead?" An elderly man was huffing furiously.

"I am sorry sir, but I cannot disclose any more information. Have a good night." The cop told him maintaining a professionally vacant expression.

"Our little hero is dead Martha. She's dead just like that. And they wouldn't tell me anything else. Following the protocol, he says." He shook his head and informed his wife, who was standing just a few feet in front of me, looing defeated.

As out of character as it was for me, I wanted to go out and console the elderly couple. They had taken care of me a few times and liked to leave little souvenirs whenever they visited and now they thought that I was dead and ironically, as I had no other plan of action, playing dead was the only way I could stay alive.

I stood still, clenching and unclenching my fists as a limp body, covered in a white cloth was rushed out on a stretcher, suddenly revealing a crisp, charred, unrecognizable silhouette of a woman who was taking care of me a few hours ago. I wanted nothing more than to rush over to her and do something to make her feel better, to take away her pain, to see if she was alive even when I knew that she wasn't. I couldn't keep standing there and pretend to not care when they ridiculed the dead body of someone who had become so close to me in such a short time.

They kept referring to her as Officer Martin as Spice didn't really exist anywhere except for in secret and now, my memories. Sure I had brought her with me to use her as an alibi and she insisted on taking care of all my biological needs, but not to this extent. I didn't want her to die for my stupidity The situation was tragically poetic but I was no poet. I regretted that entire day and wanted a do over. I couldn't live with an innocent death on my conscience. The voices in my head got louder and louder as they begged me to inflict some physical pain on myself as a distraction.

I saw Jay arrive, panic written all over his face and chaos erupted all over again but I couldn't focus anymore. I had to obey the voices. I had to. They kept ringing louder and louder and I still couldn't find anything to quell them. A frustrated scream was bubbling inside of me and I fisted my hand and threw it at the wall with all my might but just before it hit the wall, it was captured and pushed back roughly. Stumbling, I looked at the King's face as he still hadn't given my hand back.

"Thank you." I faintly felt his silky amused voice cutting through the screaming in my head, realizing that he was referring to me sneaking him out of the holding cell before the screaming in my head got unbearable and everything went black.

***

A/N

I know it's not mentioned here and might not be in the future even but I WILL EXPLAIN HOW BEKAH HELPED ENRICO ESCAPE THE HOLDING CELL HERE.

When Bekah went to see Enrico she was out of her senses and completely hysteric along with a few other factors that led her to the decision of breaking Enrico out of there.

In the beginning of Chapter Seven, Bekah says, "...I did the stupidest yet bravest thing I had ever done before trying to bolt out of there..." which means that she left the place unguarded and unbolted and since we don't know much about Enrico yet, it's suffice to say he is really perceptive and ended up adding two and two together, leading to his escape.

I hope this explains it. If not, I'm right here.