Car horns blared, people, images everything that passed me became abstract as I ran through the streets with a pounding heart. I hadn't stopped once. I didn't stop when Aiden chased me up the staircase. I didn't stop when I slammed the door shut on him and ran for the elevator.

The fact that he could phone ahead to Hunapo and have me cornered was something that I had been expecting. So I got off the elevator at the floor below and took the stairwell. Flip flops were a pain to run in. But if I did anything well, it was run. For that brief pause that I was in the elevator, I asked Maddie for her address.

As soon as I knew where she lived, I threw the phone off the staircase and continued running until I was out on the streets. People were watching me, staring and cursing when I passed them with a shove in the shoulder. It wasn't intentional. But I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. My mind just kept conjuring the image of that man being shot. His eyes, his terrified eyes. They were locked on mine when the life left his body and I couldn't forget it. The flashbacks were nauseating.

I wasn't sure how long I ran for. But I arrived at Maddie's apartment building and again, took the stairwell. I didn't want to be trapped in a small space. Her apartment door said 333 and I began pounding on it, the chipped paint becoming worse as I basically clawed at it.

My head whipped from side to side, watching the corridor with fear that he would appear. That gun in his hand, the boredom in his expression, like taking a life was as dull as taking out the trash.

The door swung open and Maddie appeared in her sweats. Her red hair was pulled up and she stared at me in confusion as I practically collapsed into her arms from exhaustion.

"Arian, wha—"

"Aiden," I gasped, my voice was so hoarse from being out of breath. "You have to sta— stay away from him. Don't let him in— don't be alone with— he's danger—"

"Arian, honey, breathe—"

"He killed someone," I cried and gripped her forearms. Her eyes widened and she peered over at Cameron who mirrored her startled glance. "He— he sh— he shot some— I'm going to be sick—"

"Oh shït," Maddie wrapped her arm around my waist and snatched a bowl from beside her door. It was filled with mail and keys but she carelessly tipped it on to the floor, shoving it at me as I violently heaved up the contents of our tortellini.

Cameron was beside me then, helping to keep me upright as Maddie rubbed my back. I would have been humiliated but I was in shock, panicking and fearing someone that I had spent so much time with. . . alone.

When I was done losing my guts, Cameron took the bowl and left. Maddie still held me against her and rubbed my back while she called for Cameron to fetch her a paper bag. "You need to breath," she said with a calm voice. "You're going to pass out if you don't regulate your breathing. In and out honey. In and out. Slow."

I tried to do what she said but it was hard. The vivid images wouldn't let me be. My skin crawled. Cameron returned with a paper bag and Maddie held it up. "Breath in to this. Slow! I'd let you sit down but I think you've wet yourself honey."

"Of course I did!" I sobbed. "I was busting when I saw— it gave me a frigh— it was an accident."

"Don't be embarrassed," she said with a soothing voice and began leading me up the corridor. Cameron kept behind as Maddie pushed open a door that lead to a small bathroom. A shower over bathtub was tucked in the corner and a white curtain hung from the rail above it. "Breathe into that and sit here. We'll get you cleaned up."

She sat me on a little stool beside the basin and I did what she said, focusing on breathing into the paper bag so that I could rid the stars that were dancing in front of me. Each time that I closed my eyes, I saw it again. It was right there, almost magnified. It was worse. And it continued to get worse. The blood, the gunshot. The way that the mans body just. . . slumped.

"Sweetie, calm down. You're safe with me," Maddie knelt in front of me and began pushing my hair behind my ears. I couldn't understand how she wasn't more stressed out at the thought of her friend murdering someone. But then again, she wasn't there. Perhaps she didn't believe me.

"He killed someone," I said into the bag, my words muffled as tears slid down my cheeks. "What if I'm next? What if he needs to shut me up. Maddie I'm sca—"

"Take a moment for me, to think about every single time that you've been with Aiden," she said, holding my face so that I was forced to hear her words. "Think hard. And now ask yourself, if you truly believe that he would hurt you?"

She was right. I knew it. I could picture how gentle he had been with me. How protective and attentive. He'd been the one that kept me safe when I was drugged. But the images morphed into the cold man that shot someone to death and my chest began to tighten again. But I kept working on regulating my breathing. I didn't want to pass out. I didn't want to be asleep right now. I knew that I would have nightmares.

"Come on," Maddie gripped my hands and lifted me off the stool while I shivered. "You're in shock. You need to warm up and keep on breathing!"

She turned me around and unzipped the playsuit, letting it fall around my feet. I could feel that it was damp and I winced with embarrassment. She helped undress me and then held my hand as I stepped into the bath, letting the warm water drizzle over me. She turned to leave and shut the curtain, but I held her hand in a panic.

"Please don't leave me alone," I begged. Despite the fact that I was warming up, my entire body was trembling. I clutched my arms close to my chest, refusing to let go of her hand which was becoming wet.

She gave me a sad smile and nodded. "I'm right here."

As she helped to wash me, I stood still, aching, shivering, my teeth becoming sore from being clenched so hard. Her reaction still didn't make sense. "You know something, don't you?"

She rubbed a soap lathered loofah across my shoulders while I stared at the wall. "Ari, I think you're in shock and we should talk about this when you've calmed down a bit."

"But you do, you know something?"

I turned around and I noticed that she was now drenched. She dropped the loofah and pushed my heavy wet sopping  hair out of my face. "I know that you're not in danger."

She snatched a towel off the rail and switched the water off. I wished that I could stop shaking. But I was a mess. Maddie wrapped the towel around me and patted me dry before she led us out into the corridor and across the her bedroom. It was rustic. The decor reminded me of thrift shop brick a brack but it was arranged to perfection.

I pulled on some sweatpants that she let me borrow. I wouldn't fit her underwear so I felt a little uncomfortable. But it didn't matter. She lent some socks, a large shirt and hoodie that I sunk in to. Silence settled upon us as I sat on the edge of the bed and she dried my hair with a blow drier. I was still trembling but it was settling down a little bit.

I saw a stack of text books, fliers and other papers that looked like Maddie used for study or past study considering she was a nurse. A pamphlet on depression and seeking help was jutting out and I looked at the message that was in italics across the front of it.

"Everything will be okay in time. You will find peace in the darkness. Believe in change, it's coming."

It seemed ironic but at the same time, after reading it, I felt a sense of calm pass over me. I was still wound up. Without a doubt. But I wanted to believe that I was meant to see it. Some small part in the back of my head, lead me to believe that it was true.

When I was dried, Maddie took my hand and we left the bedroom. "Want a coffee hon?" She questioned as we walked towards the living area.

I shook my head. I didn't think that I could stomach anything.

I felt him before I saw him. But when I did glance over at the corner of the living room and saw Aiden leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets and a black hoodie on, I came to a standstill and felt all progress of calming down, evade me.

"Don't be scared," Maddie murmured, her arm around me. "Remember what I said. He won't hurt you."

"I knew that you'd come here," he smiled and his voice did the wildest things to me. I was scared. I was terrified. But when his words touched me, it was like a sense of relief. It confused the hell out of me. "I knew that you would want to protect Maddison from me."

He seemed upset, his gaze was sad as he slowly began to approach me. He was being cautious and I waited for a voice of reason to send me into fight or flight. But it never came.

"Arian, on my life, you are safe with me. I would never hurt you," his green gaze kept me glued in place as he got closer and closer and then I felt Maddie let me go as she stepped to the side.

He stopped in front of me and my chest was rising and falling so fast that I thought I might pass out this time. But he kept his hands in his pockets, almost like a small assurance that he meant what he said. And he gave me a pleading expression. "Please, let me explain what you saw back there?"