When you're scared but you still do it anyway,
that's brave.

"You have to go, you have to leave right now!" He turns around to look at me.

"Shane please, you have to go right now," my voice cracks.

"What about you? What if the-what if they do something to you?!" His frantic voice fills my ears.

"Shane," I look at him, not caring about the fact that I'm crying in front of someone. For the first time in a long while.
"They can't do anything that I won't be able to handle," the first tear rolls down.

Not because I'm scared, but because he won't be there with me anymore.
The thought makes me feel sad, which makes me feel weak.

I do not like feeling weak.

His eyes follow my tears, he looks back at me with guilt and sorrow.

"I don't want to leave you alone but," he tries to compose himself, "anywhere we go, trouble follows us. I don't want to put you in trouble any more than we have endured," he turns his head away, a look of anguish etched across his face.

"I really don't want to leave yo-"

"Stop worrying about me Shane, I'll be fine," my voice breaks, "I promise."

"Hey," he holds my face. "This is not the end. We will see each other again. I promise.
I promise you, Alyssa."

I look down as a sob escapes my lips.
After holding onto my emotions for so long, I couldn't take it any longer. The pain was just too much. The pain my heart had been enduring for the past few months was too much for me to bear.

He pulls me into a hug, his chin resting above my head.

"You were never one to give up, no matter what. And after this day, I don't know what's going to happen to me, but I know that I'm gonna find a way, because I have no other choice. And you were the one who taught me that. So you have nothing to worry about, I'm taking a page out of your book, after all."

He takes a step back and gently wipes my tears and pain away.
It feels good.
To let my tears fall freely.
In front of someone other than myself.
"Please, you have to leave," my voice croaks.

He gives me a sad smile. "Goodbye, Alyssa. I'll... see you soon," his voice cracks as he lands a gentle kiss on my cheek.

He steps away and turns around. I want to scream. Demand him to not leave me alone. Not now. Not when I need him the most.

But I can't.

He gives me one last look.

I can't ask him.

It's for his good.

I can't ask him.

And he leaves.

The shutting of the back door leaves a deafening silence. My thoughts falter as I look at it.

He left.

I couldn't stop him even if I wanted to.

Would our lives still be the same if he didn't work for Carl?
If he wasn't thrown in this mess?

The loud sirens break my trance.

It's time.

I quickly brush the tears from my face and snatch the keys from the table. I check my pockets to ensure that I have my phone and the paper.
It's there.
I can't lose it.
Even though the coordinates are etched into my memory, I can't lose it.

The sirens are closer with each passing second.

You did nothing wrong.

You just helped your friend.

None of us deserved this.

I inhale deeply and step outside the house. I'm locking my door when two cop cars come into my view.
They stop in front of my home.

The back door.

Shit.

I didn't lock the back door.
Fuck fuck fuck!

I yell in frustration.

If they see it unlocked, they might figure out he was here and follow him.
I can't let them in yet.
Not until I feel he's far away enough.

The cops rush out of their cars, rifles drawn, at me.

A woman, in front of the others, commands me to raise my hands in the air.

They think their little toys will scare me. I scoff at the thought, ignoring her order.

In less than a second, there are more than nine police officers next to her, all of whom are aiming their guns at me.

The woman, who sounded Latin, repeats her order.

She commands me to throw the key to the ground and raise my hands in the air on the count of three.

"If you don't do as I say, I will pull the trigger."
"I repeat, throw the key on the floor and put your hands in the air. If you do not do as said, I will have to shoot you."

She is waiting for my response.

When I do nothing, her countdown starts.

Three.

I'm not gonna move.

Two.

She loads her gun.

One.

Oh, she means it.

"Stop."

A noise from behind them causes them to turn around. I exhale a sigh of relief.
That was really, really close.
I glance in the direction they do.

I find myself staring at a man holding a pistol. He wears a black leather jacket adorned with a badge, eyes shielded by sunglasses.

"Put the guns down," he commands everyone.
"But-"

"Put... the..guns..down." His voice held authority.

He walks up the stairs and stops in front of me. Placing the pistol back in its holster, he takes off his glasses.

"Just give me the key and move," he lowers his voice and continues. "We don't have to do this."

I felt struck by him right away.

Well, not by him.
By his beauty.

I couldn't resist looking at his face.
His eyes were like two crystals peering into the depths of my soul. So blazing and cold, they were captivating.
There were a lot of emotions swirling in them. All the sad ones.

But they still managed to look so beautiful.
His skin is flawless and unblemished, his jawline sharp and strong.

The leather jacket highlights his translucent eyes even more, his brown hair strands falling perfectly into place.

He looks like he could be a model. Not a cop.
Stop.

I cough awkwardly as if I hadn't just checked him out.

Okay, whatever, I can't help it.

"I like your hair," I whistle and fold my arms.

The police officers behind him exchange glances and some laugh, but he remains still.

He's gazing into my soul with a straight expression on his face.

"Give.

Me.

The. Key.

And. Move." He emphasises each word.

What a tough cookie.

I stare into his stone-cold eyes.
Suddenly, no emotions in them.
Did I just imagine those feelings or..?

Okay.

I raise the key in the air, everyone immediately points their guns at me. But stop when the blue-eyed model signals them to.

"Hand it right now."

I look behind him at the cops surrounding the front of my home.
As they watch my every move, I slowly tuck the key inside my shirt.

"Come and take it," I tilt my head, giving him an innocent smile.

Some cops snicker and the Hispanic lady shuts them up.

I avert my gaze and momentarily glance at the time on his watch, making his gaze follow. Oh.
I was mentally counting down the seconds until I felt Shane was far away enough.

Two minutes over.

The man keeps eyeing me with suspicion and before he can speak up again, I take one last glance at his watch and step aside, motioning my hand towards the door, a smile across my face.

He is visibly hysterical.

He locks his gaze on me, giving me the hardest stare ever. He takes a step back, and runs towards the door, breaking the lock.

My smile falters and turns into a stunned one but I manage to suppress it.

It's not like I needed the lock anyway.

All the officers rush into my place one by one.

The beautiful-strong-blue-eyed model turns to the Latina. "Stay and don't let her leave."

"Yes, Ethan."

Ethan.

How typical.

I take the key out from my shirt but the woman snatches it away from my hand. "Hey!"
She roughly shackles one of my hands and leads me towards one of the NYPD cars that surround my house.

"You're too serious," I frown sarcastically, reading her body language. "Typical." My head tilts.

She rolls her eyes. "Can I ask you something?"
The lady gives me a straight face.

"What is with you cops?" I shrug. "Why are you guys always...I don't know depressed? I mean I've never seen one of you smile."
She ignores my statement once again.

"What's your name?" I speak in a casual tone.
She doesn't reply, which irritates me.
I sigh dramatically.

"You know you can't keep me here for long."
"That," she pauses, "will be decided later," the woman, who looks a few years older than me finally speaks.

"Oh finally!" I groan. "Do you have children?"
She casts a wary glare my way.

"Whatever you're trying to do, it won't work," she says.

I momentarily peek far into the distance, furrowing my brows and widening my eyes.

The woman glances at me and follows the direction of my gaze.
Shouldn't have done that.

I take this moment to violently shove her away, very hard, making her fall to the ground.
"Just did!" I flash a smile at her and run as fast as I can.

"Suspect on the run, I repeat suspect is on the run!" Her voice fills the neighbourhood.

I run through the crowded streets of Brooklyn, the bright sunlight showing it's past noon.

I take the paper out of my pocket. If something happens to me, I can't let them see this.
My eyes cast towards a drainage hole far in front of me. Oh God, please forgive me.
As it comes closer, I throw the paper and let out a sigh as it drops into it.

Changing my direction, I run towards the middle of the road. My boots thump loudly from one car to another as people yell at me.

What am I doing?

What's wrong with me?

This is not how it's supposed to be.

My breath hitches.

I hesitate.

I fucking hesitate.

Before I could do anything, a loud gunshot sound filled my ears and I fell to the ground. My brain is surrounded by a very loud, metallic noise. It fills my head and my blood runs cold. I have to squeeze my eyes shut and grit my teeth to focus, but the loud bangs in my head make it impossible to. My cheek begins to burn as my face grazes the hard concrete. It felt as if I was being crushed with a huge amount of pressure and I couldn't feel my leg.

"No.." I breathed out in horror as I could feel something rapidly oozing off my leg. Alongside the loud pounding, a faint sound of people rushing and shouting invades my ears. The smell of petrol and gas consumes me. My throat felt dry and my whole body was numb.
Black, and colourful spots start to fill my vision as I see a figure running towards me.

"You shot her?!" I could hear the muffled sound of a man.

My mind starts swirling and I suddenly feel as light as a feather. Black dots invade my vision and my eyelids feel too heavy. The ground now sways beneath as the darkness starts to consume me.

☽

Okay, so that was it for the first chapter. I'd love to know if you liked it. Even if you did not, just wait. I promise the next chapters will be a lot better 😭🤚🏻

Thank you for reading (:

                                            -A