"We will appreciate your cooperation, Ms. Adams."
She was slightly feeling lightheaded after hearing what the two officers just said to her.
"What if I don't cooperate?" She noticed their expressions turned grim. "Just asking though."
"You still need to come with us and leave your statement. You were the only person who was there when the victim was found almost dead in the forest."
"And then I can leave after that?"
They both nodded.
She turned to Mr. Finn.
"I really don't know him boss. I swear to my two dead toes. I don't know the boulder man."
"Then there's no enough reason for us to keep you. Just write a sworn statement and we can let you go." The chubby officer coaxed her.
She pouted. "What will happen to him then?" She gave a quick glance inside the room.
"Since we didn't find any contact or personal information from his belongings, we will wait for his family to look for him. If no reports were received, we will file his case as a missing person. Hopefully, we will then find out his identity, or his family, and send him back home."
Send him home. That's a relief.
After all the investigation and once she cleared her name from getting involved with the unknown man's accident, she'll be free to go.
She's innocent anyway so she needed not to be worried.
Saving him once was already too much of a bother. She doesn't want to worry about him anymore as she got too many things to worry about already.
"Okay! I'll go with you, officers."
"Who's going to stay here then?" Mr. Finn asked me as I head to the elevator.
"Boss, if you are that concern with that man, why don't you stay here longer? After I finish my inn job, I still have to go to the pub later."
"Sophia!!!"
…
A week later…
Sophie gave him her brightest smile, locked her gaze against his two-colored eyes before she swiftly pivoted around him and stood on his place, grabbed his neck and pressed her lips against his.
The moment their lips touched; two loud gunshots echoed within the hall.
The music stopped and everyone froze.
The man's eyes widened as he hastily broke the kiss and caught her in the waist. Her body fell against his.
He saw the masked suspect blew the tip of his gun before it fled away from the scene and disappeared in the dark.
"S-Sophie?" he called for her name like it took him forever to voice it out.
A surge of intense weird emotions flooded his face when he felt an overflow of warm liquid coming from her back. He raised his hand slowly and was in total distraught upon seeing his blood-stained hand.
When his eyes turned to her face, her eyes were closed, her face was pale and her breathing was next to nothing.
"Sophie? Sophie!" he called for her name several times but she remained unmoved, almost breathless.
He drew her body closer to him in a tight embrace. Then he looked at her face again and gently traced every corner of it using his bloodstained fingers.
"Wake up, please? Wake up." His knees weakened and they both fell on the ground with his arms steadily holding her almost lifeless body.
"Open your eyes! That's an order! Open your eyes!" He shook her slightly but he did not get any response. Feeling defeated, he buried his face on hers. A tear escaped from his eyes and fell on her pale cheek.
"I'm sorry." He whispered as the people around them ran out of panic.
A loud series of thunder stormed outside and it began to rain hard.
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Sophie rose up, panting, trying to catch her breath.
"What was that?" She was sweating like a pig, her hands were shaking, her body was trembling, she was in total distraught.
She pinched her cheek twice and gasped at the pain she felt.
She's awake, all right!
The rain outside was strong and hard but it never defeated the louder thumping of the hollow muscle inside her chest.
She reached for the glass of water on her bedside and drank the water in it in one go.
"It felt so real! I saw myself dying!" She calmed herself and felt her back. The feeling of bullets penetrating her back was so real. She really thought she died.
Who was that guy with two-colored irises? She's convinced that he was the same guy she dreamt about when she was in the hospital.
His face was totally vague but his eyes were as clear as the sun. Why would she even take the bullets meant for him? Was she crazy to even die for him? He even cried for her as if she really died in her dreams! Why didn't he chase after the masked man?
"Ugh! I was really dead there, right?"
She got chills down her spine thinking of that possibility.
But then her fingers automatically brushed over her lips.
That kiss. That warm kiss they shared.
They kissed for the second time. It was as passionate as the first one but it was broken off quickly.
Could it be her last since she died soon after?
"No! No! No! What am I even thinking?"
Sophie stood up and looked outside the window.
The heavy rain that night was unusual since the summer just got started.
It seldom rain in their village and having that sudden downpour meant something else according to the elders.
Some big trouble is about to happen for sure.
Fingers crossed!
She constantly blinked her eyes and patted her cheeks.
When she looked at the clock, an obvious hint of disgust flooded her face.
She barely slept.
It was only two in the morning. Just having once cycle of incomplete sleep and she already got that horrendous dream.
"I better prepare the jellies then. I couldn't go back to sleep anyway."
"Whatever I said, whatever I did, I didn't mean it
I just want you back for good...
Whenever I'm wrong just tell me the song and I'll sing it
You'll be right and understood. I want you back for good."
Take That's song filled the kitchen air after Sophie pressed the play button of her radio.
"Whatever I said, whatever I did, I didn't mean it. I just want you back for good..." She thoughtlessly sang as she stirred the mixture in the glass bowl.
Whenever she's having a deep thought, music is her go-to activity. She would listen to old music, preferably the 90's hit songs and drown herself in listening to them.
An old soul, indeed. She believed that music has its own way to express someone's thoughts and feelings using its melodies and lyrics.
Whenever she feels troubled or quite disturbed, she would always tune in to her playlist and get herself immersed by its power over her drifting soul.
That night was way special because her dreams started popping out in the open again. And it meant something else. Something ominous is about to happen in the nearest future.