Lindsey's wails of grief were heard throughout the whole house. I ran towards the gaming room, my heart beating like a hammer in my chest. The others have formed a circle around Lindsey and Vincent. Vanessa heard me coming and moved to the side to make room a bit, tears were pouring out of her eyes and her lips quivered to keep her sobs in. The boys all had swollen eyes and were fisting and unfisting their hands. They're trying to be strong for Lindsey.

I entered the circle and properly saw Vincent. I nearly fell to my knees. Vincent had countless of knives in his arms and legs and a bloody hole in his forehead. He's definitely dead. The realization of that finally settled in and my mind started to go in denial. Tears found their way out of my eyes and down my cheeks. I haven't cried since Mum abandoned me.

I bowed my head as tears began to spill faster. On both sides of me, Vanessa and Hugh took my hands and all of us stood in a circle around Lindsey and Vincent, holding hands and bowing our heads. When the police and ambulance finally came, their sirens were only a faint noise in the background. Everything happened in a blur.

When the paramedics came with a stretcher, we parted our circle so they can pass through. The moment they tried to remove Lindsey from Vincent, she tried to bite them and hissed at them.

She yelled, "No! He's not dead!"

"Come on sweetie, you need to let go now." Mrs. Miller showed up beside us. A hand covered half of her face and her eyes were watery with tears.

"No!" Lindsey yelled louder before going quiet. "He... he promised me. He promised me!" She returned to screaming, "He promised me he would never leave me! So he's not gone! He never breaks his promises! He's not GONE!"

Lindsey screamed hysterically and tried to attack the paramedics. Vanessa ran forwards and wrapped her arms around Lindsey, holding her back. The paramedics used this chance to try to place Vincent on the stretcher. Lindsey screamed again and pushed Vanessa off her and punched one of the paramedics. Another paramedic pulled out a syringe and plunged it into Lindsey's arm. Lindsey went limp soon after. A sedative?

Vanessa cushioned Lindsey's fall, allowing Lindsey to fall into her arms. "No, Vincent..." Lindsey muttered as her eyes closed. "Why are you so far away? Don't leave me..."

With Lindsey now out cold, the paramedics peacefully placed Vincent onto the stretcher and retreated back to the ambulance before driving away. We stayed silent even as Mrs. Miller coaxed us out of the building, Kyle carrying Lindsey on his back, and into a black limo. The police in sector 9 entered the building as we left.

"We'll be booking hotel rooms for you until we can find another house for you." Mrs. Miller said, her voice soft and considering. I pulled my knees up to my chin, wrapped my arms around my legs, and rested my head on my knees. I stayed like that until we pulled up to a large, bright building. I kept my head down even as we were registered in and were lead up to our room.

They gave us a suite. There was a living room area and four bedrooms and two bathrooms. We agreed for Lindsey, Vanessa and I to share the biggest bedroom while the three boys take one of the smaller rooms each. As we entered, Vanessa took Lindsey from Kyle and placed her down on the bed in our room.

We all gathered in the living room, standing in silence. The sound of a fart broke the silence and we all turned to look at Hugh who stood with a slightly embarrassed expression. Max nodded, "That was a 7."

Kyle started to snicker and Hugh followed and soon all of us were slightly laughing. "Thanks dude." Kyle started, "I don't think Vincent would have wanted us to mope over him for too long." We all nodded in agreement.

I'm still worried about Lindsey. How is she going to react when she wakes up?

Max stuck out his arm with his hand in a fist. Hugh, Kyle and Vanessa followed, their fists all touching in the center of a circle. They all looked at me expectantly, I smiled and followed in their actions. My arms and fist were the smallest, thinnest and palest out of them. They must have gone through a lot.

"We'll get through this." Vanessa said. We nodded, fist bumped and released the circle. Vanessa and I took turns to shower in one of the bathrooms while the boys used the other. Hugh and Kyle had to help scrub Max down because of his injuries which couldn't touch the water. They seemed to have fun doing that.

Vanessa helped blow dry my hair and then braided it before I went to sleep. Her fingers worked through my hair like feathers and with care. I closed my eyes and let her finish the braid. This must be what it feels like to have an older sister or a mother who cares.

When she's done, I immediately went into the room the three of us were sharing and crawled under the blankets. Tomorrow's another day...

~***~

I woke up to frantic knocking on the door. I pushed myself out of bed immediately and looked for the source of the knocking. Did something happen? Vanessa was outside the bathroom door that us girls were using with a desperate look on her face.

Vanessa knocked on the door again with a quick rhythm. "Lindsey please! Open the door!"

I walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. Vanessa turned to me. There were tears in her eyes. "Lindsey locked herself in there hours ago! She's not replying to me either!" What? Wait, what time is it? How did she wake up from that sedate already? Vanessa returned to pounding at the door and yelling for Lindsey to answer her.

"Vanessa, move." Kyle showed up from behind us. Vanessa complied and Kyle tried to kick the door down. When it didn't budge, he cursed under his breath. "I woke Hugh and Max as well."

"What kind of lock does the door have?" Hugh asked as he came running from his room. He looked at the knob on the door. He sighed, "It doesn't have a keyhole or anything. It must only be able to be locked on the inside." Hugh tried punching and kicking the door. Nothing worked. What kind of door is this?

I walked a little further from the door and looked around it to see if I could find anything. Max limped out of his room, "I called the reception and they'll send someone up." I nodded, only half-listening. Is that?

I moved towards the door again and felt the wall to the left of the door. There's an indent here. I dug my nails into the indent and tried pulling on it. "Amelia, what are you doing?" Kyle asked. I ignored him and continued to pull. More cracks began to appear until a rectangle of the wall unhinged downwards from where I pulled. Hidden behind the small rectangle were controls and wirings. These must be for this bathroom door.

If I'm right, there should be a switch controlling the lock of the door. I moved my head closer to the rectangle. Hidden behind a few wires was a small switch and a small light that currently lit red. Reaching a finger in, I flipped the switch. The light turned green and I heard the door unlock. I released a breath I didn't realize that I had been holding. I looked back at Kyle and nodded.

Kyle took a step back and tried kicking the door again. It slammed open. Vanessa rushed in first as a feeling of dread settled in me. A scream of disbelief came from inside and I ran in as well. Vanessa was kneeling on the floor by the bathtub, both hands covering her face as her shoulders shook with her sobs. A limb hand stuck out of the bath tub. I walked closer and looked into the bathtub. Lindsey...

The tub was full of water and Lindsey was submerged under, fully clothed. Her long, straight, black hair that was usually in a high ponytail was free and flowing in a tangle of darkness behind her head. Her tan skin had paled and she looked like a porcelain doll under water. She killed herself... And yet, there was a small smile on her face.

A hotel maintenance worker, a few medics and police finally arrived. The medics brought up a stretcher and placed Lindsey on it before pulling a white sheet over her. A few others took another look at the Max's injuries and my fingers which had began bleeding at one point. Vanessa hasn't moved from her spot beside the bathtub, Hugh was in the living room with his head buried in his hands, Kyle was handling things with the police but there was no life in his eyes, and Max went back to his room after his checkup was done.

The days after were all a blur. The five of us also barely talked during the days that lead up to the funeral. I didn't take note of anything that went on around me, a tornado of emotions danced around in me and my mind was plagued by thoughts.

Why would Lindsey kill herself? Did she love Vincent that much? I wonder what that feels like. To love someone so much you would kill youself for them or to be with them. And the fact that she was ready to just take her own life like that.

The funeral was simple. The three guys wore suits provided by Mrs. Miller and I borrowed one of Lindsey's smaller black dresses. It wasn't anything special, even though the two were part of a syndicate that helped protect the city. The wind blew wildly, as if it was raging about the death of Lindsey and Vincent as well.

I picked up two flowers. Flowers with seven white petals and two leaves each. As I approached their coffins to place the flowers on, the leaves snapped off and flew away in the wind. Then two petals from each flower broke off as well. Five petals each. I placed each flower beneath the ribbon on both coffins. Each petal to represent the five of us remaining.

I don't think I managed to move myself away from the coffins. Vanessa came up as well holding a handful of rose petals and threw them over the coffins. She then took my arm and we walked away together. Pleasantries were exchanged and it was over.

It was silent even when we got back to our hotel room. We were moved to another room for "unknown" reasons. They probably moved us so we wouldn't be as depressed...

All five of us gathered in the living room area. The first person to break the silence was Vanessa, in the most unexpected way.

"It was my fault."

I snapped my head up to look at her in shock and everyone else did the same. "If only I had noticed Lindsey's emotions and plans then I could have stopped her. I was awake when she woke up. I saw her go into the bathroom. But I didn't stop her."

But nobody could have noticed and known what she was planning.

"No, it's not your fault. I was the only one with Vincent when they attacked. Kyle and Max were already out of the gaming room. If I didn't leave Vincent alone then he wouldn't have died. If Vincent didn't die then all this wouldn't have happened." Hugh started, arguing with Vanessa.

They're all placing the blame on themselves. This is going to lead to more arguing and soon enough... this syndicate would fall apart.

"It's my fault." I said quietly. Everyone turned to look at me and all of them opened their mouths to argue with me. "It is. Place all the blame on me. What did Vincent say when they first attacked? To get me somewhere safe. If I wasn't there, then he would have been more focused on fighting." And I think the reason we got attacked in the first place was also because of me. But I can't be too sure.

They remained silent. "It's my fault. End of conversation."

Let's hope we can get back to at least a semi-normal life.