//Note : Possible ED Trigger Warning//
Niz lazed around the bare room. The other alive guy, the leader, had sat himself on the chair, crossing his leg over the other. A cigarette lay between his fingers as his phone played some cat videos. Occasionally chuckling, he puffed the cigarette away. Niz was curious. He simply stood behind him, bent to watch the cat videos, chuckling with him too, whenever there were kittens and cats high off of catnip.
The sight of blood around them remained the same, bodies and blood on the floor. It had been awhile since the blood stopped pooling around the dead bodies.
Without looking away, the leader offered his lit cigarette to Niz. Niz took it between his fingers, nodding as he took in a puff before passing it back.
Acknowledgement.
In the next moment, they heard the distinct sound of tires on dirt as vehicles came to a screeching halt before the place. Doors were opened and some footsteps later, closed too. There was more movement outside but the two remained glued to the blue lit screen, an orange tabby high off of its rockers inside a packet of cat food. Both laughed out loud, the movement outside getting closer.
Swinging wide open, a number of people began to walk in, first of which was a woman of two inches shorter height to Niz with short black hair that reached her chin. She was wearing a simple black trench coat which fluttered behind her.
The moment she stepped in, she halted. The sight of murdered men was one many here were all too familiar with but not when there were two people laughing their asses off watching cat videos and smoking a cigarette.
She smirked at the sight of the two but her heart squeezed upon seeing him in the chair. Her right hand man, rarely had she seen him smile, seldom laugh… Even on the way here, she was entirely hoping it was all a bad dream she would wake up from any moment. That moment never came, not on the dreaded drive here with her subordinates questioning murmurs, not when the doors opened and they stepped out at the location, not when she felt the dirt ground beneath her shoes, not when she walked towards the door with leadened feet, not when she heard the joyous laughter from inside which she had never heard of before, not when she entered still hoping to wake up any moment.
She supposed it was inevitable.
'Change is difficult…'
The leader was the first one to stop laughing, albeit even that took some time. He had built himself up as someone with a permanent scowl. It was something else to see the subordinates confused looks, their guns drawn and waiting. Even more so was the delight he had in seeing his boss, the Demoness. Even she had not the pleasure of seeing him laugh and now...
Niz finally stopped laughing, standing up straight. He cleared his throat, giggling and with not a hint of hostility in his eyes, greeted her with,
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Demoness."
She looked past her right-hand and remained silent.
No one could murder their own men, let alone so brutally. It was sickening to think that he could've played an active role in this.
'But then… he wouldn't be here.'
She rationalized. If he was to be aided by this stranger… then he would have left. No, he was kept here.
'Or he remained…'
She couldn't handle all the possible things she was thinking of so she shut down all her thoughts and simply focused on one thing moving forward.
"Who are you?"
Niz made an 'oh' sound as he pointed at himself and then around him,
"Nobody who was minding his own business when these now-dead pricks nabbed me. Except for this guy, he's alive and smoking."
The seated man scowled,
"Ungrateful brat, you smoked too."
Niz simply smirked in response. The Demoness looked around once again. These were her subordinates. She had met them. They knelt before her once and then countless times more, swearing absolute loyalty… and now they were dead having betrayed her trust, their murderer before her, bantering away with her right-hand man.
'My men…'
Niz interrupted her 'sight-seeing' with,
"Deader than a doornail, as you can see."
She glared at him. No one dared to go up against them without meeting death the next day and here was someone who was looking down on them. It took every fiber of her being to not grab her gun and go ham on him.
"Cuff him."
Niz groaned as three of the subordinates stepped forward, one of them pointing his gun at an unwavering Niz while the others got out cable ties and roughly clasped his hands behind his back, moving quickly to tie him up. He looked to her with annoyance,
"Darling, ugh, let's not go through this ordeal again, I have had enough for a day."
One of them kicked the back of his knee, sending Niz to the floor. The leader stood up from his chair and punched the kicker in the gut. There was blood lust in his eyes. Everyone else raised their guns but the Demoness halted them with one word.
"Don't!"
Everyone became silent. The other two had left Niz and taken a step away, aiming their drawn guns straight at the right-hand man but he remained locked onto the groaning kicker.
"Be respectful."
He said and didn't do anything else. He didn't have to, they got the message. They all looked to the Demoness.
She was dumbfounded but she knew what she had to do.
"Put them away."
The subordinates obeyed, putting away their guns. With a sigh, the right-hand man pulled Niz up as he ranted,
"What are you, a baby? Stand on your feet, this is my boss, not yours."
Niz groaned.
"She doesn't seem as hot as I thought."
"Jackass."
He sat back down on the chair looking to the Demoness, a cuffed Niz to his right with the Demoness before him.
Tension dripped from the atmosphere. No one spoke a word while the Demoness remained.
"Leave."
She said to her subordinates. They didn't move, thinking she meant the ones before her. With her voice getting louder, she said again,
"I said leave!"
Promptly, they began to file out the door, their bloody footsteps making their way out. The last ones to leave were the three who bound Niz, glancing back at the room on their way out. The door closed behind them and finally, they were alone. She sighed, her thoughts taking over her.
No one had expected this, least of all her. His loyalty was absolutely unquestioned amongst all and yet, here he was, the traitors dead and him showing respect to their murderer. Even Niz held some doubt in his mind, regarding his sudden change in demeanor. One moment, he was being grilled for being in a place he wasn't supposed to be apparently and the next, he was watching funny cat videos with him.
The Demoness shook her head. She let out a deep breath. With her right hand, she grabbed her gun, a black M9 and rested it by her side. With a voice reminiscent of the damnation from the phone call, she asked him, expecting absolute honesty,
"Just the ones in this room?"
He sighed. Never had he intended for it to get this out of hand. His reasons...
"Just the ones in this room."
"That which was found, the only inventory?"
"That was the only remaining inventory."
"The buyer?"
"Long gone."
"Where?"
His jaw clenched.
"...I can't answer that. My wife..."
Niz immediately piped up, utterly shocked at the revelation,
"You have a wife?"
The Demoness ordered,
"Shut the fuck up."
Turning to a mutter, Niz looked to the man and said,
"I'm just saying… he doesn't look like it."
He stood up from his seat, stepping forward a bit but the Demoness remained unflinching. His voice raised and his eyes flickered with seething hate,
"She wasn't a part of this and was never supposed to be a part of this. That was the deal."
She stood her ground,
"I am not to blame."
"Yeah fuck you too, that's my wife… and-"
"That's enough. You've done the worst for the sake of one."
Utterly infuriated by this, he shouted at her,
"A thousand of you is less than the hair on her head!"
Silence remained around them. The men outside were tense. If something happened, they would be too far to do anything to be there for their boss.
Inside, Niz lightly kicked at his ankles to grab his attention. When he turned around, Niz softly said,
"That's your boss."
He stopped his heavy breathing, lost in thought. A few moments later, he chuckled as he sat back down. He sighed and addressed her, hoping it was the last time,
" Get her out of this. As my last meal… of sorts."
She was conflicted, a war waging inside of her mind. Every single cell of her being was blaming herself for this outcome, how all of this could've been prevented if she only wasn't careless… If only she was enough.
"...Okay."
"Thank you."
He grabbed his phone again, unlocking it. Spending some time to remove the password, he opened up his gallery, going through his gallery. Niz couldn't catch much other than some selfies with the right-hand man beside a fairly pretty woman with long black hair and a smile that radiated warmth and joy. She reminded him of his assistant. In some photos, there was a tiny white kitten too. Both seemed… happy.
There was a lot left unsaid. Niz was not entirely invested but he was curious yet he braced himself for the worst for he could be killed any moment now.
The seated leader turned to Niz, calm and devoid of the explosive anger that he;d just demonstrated before his boss.
"Hey, I didn't catch your name in our meeting."
Without a hitch, Niz cheerily answered.
"Niz."
Putting his phone down, he spoke with admiration and honesty,
"I'm glad to have met you, tell my wife I'm sorry I let her down."
Niz looked at him, thoughts swimming in his mind. There was no way he was expecting a stranger he just met and almost died by to honour a last request. Was there?
'Unless…'
Niz glanced towards the Demoness, catching the lingering sadness in her eyes. He put two and two together and came to a decision.
"...I suppose I could."
There was a hint of a smile on his face. He nodded as he placed the phone before him on the floor. He looked to Rika, full of conflict himself. No one could murder their men. Not without demons overtaking them.
"I'm sorry."
He said as he closed his eyes. Rika raised her gun and breathed out, her thoughts deafening her. A tear left her eye as she squeezed the trigger, a loud bang following after.
Niz flinched. The bullet hit the leader square in the chest, through the heart, blood pouring from it. He slumped over forward, becoming still on the chair.
Silence followed. The door creaked open a tiny crack as one of the men peeped through. Niz let out his bated breath.
With a chuckle, he faced towards the Demoness, a tear on her poker face.
"Bit of a no-brainer, eh? I guess I must meet the missus now, yaknow. So if you could let me be..."
Something changed in the way she looked at Niz. Here was someone her very own trusted right-hand left the last of his affairs to. Not his very own boss who had been there every step of the way.
'Well not every step…'
She thought to herself as she wondered when he was wedded. She didn't know much about his personal life than that he had a wife and she was not supposed to be a part of all this. And now, she was.
The Demoness wiped her face as the men outside began to enter, a solemn look on their faces. She turned around and as she left, addressed them
"Bag him."
"Oh come on!"
Niz cried out. The Demoness continued, muttering under her breath,
"I'll rip you open once we're at where we're going."
Niz turned to the men approaching with a black head bag with a bargain,
"You could maybe just not bag m-"
And then muffled voices as his head was covered and his vision darkened, the men with little difficulty putting Niz into their van, the doors closing behind him, He thought of the man and his incomplete work. Pushing it away, he was now stuck with something he had not intended to get involved with.
A crime 'family'.
-----
//Note : Possible ED Trigger, FINAL Warning//
The sun set below the horizon, shading the sky brilliant colours of blue, purple and deep orange. The orange street lights switched on one after the other as cars whizzing by underneath switched their headlights on. In one olive green car of an older make and model sat two people, one with straight brown hair and one with blonde hair and green eyes. Both were seated in silence, seatbelts in position.
Medea had a blank look on her face, lost in thoughts of all sorts. Her foster mother kept glancing from the road to look at her. She was worried but showing that would be of no help as of now. THinking over it a little, she decided to let Medea have the first say.
Medea was well aware of the silence once she was out of her thoughts. She sighed, barely making a sound. Finally, she turned her head to look at her and asked,
"So cheat day, huh?"
"Hm? Oh yeah, I had this diet of sorts, not really feeling it so yeah."
Her foster mother responded. She kept her eyes on the road and her hands on the wheel, the lights moving over their faces and car. Medea turned back to the window, looking out again.
"Mhm."
Silence took over the air conditioned atmosphere again. It took a bit of time before she asked Medea,
"Any place in mind?"
Medea responded nonchalantly,
"Not really."
"Well, we have gas to spare. Take your time."
"Mhm."
Before more silence could eat them up, she declared her thoughts to Medea,
"I think we should eat up first, before anything else."
Medea glanced towards her, trying to gauge something… non-existent. A moment later, she said,
"Sure, any place in mind?"
Her foster mother smiled.
"Let's grab a burger and a meal first. From there, we can decide where to after."
Thoughts overtook her again, Medea was present but barely.
"Mhm, cool."
"So you are thinking something huh?"
"Mhm."
"Well, as long as it isn't running away… Hehe."
She joked, chuckling as well. Medea smiled, breathing sharply once. She sat up in her seat and said,
"Hehe, nothing of that sort. Well, maybe something… of sorts. I don't know."
Her hands waved around on the wheel as she spoke calmly and with care in her tone,
"It's okay, settle your thoughts, there's nothing wrong with taking your time. Words will come to you."
"Mhm, it may take a while though."
"All the time in the world sweetie, take all the time in the world."
The sun set as the moon rose up, the sky a deep blue fading to black. Cars on the highway whizzed by underneath the orange street lights, turning to the left and right at exits. In one olive green car of an older make and model, sat two people, one whose thoughts were overtaking and another who was waiting to lighten the burden. Her heart wouldn't rest without doing so.
The right blinker turned on as she turned the wheel to the right, exiting off the highway and onto a road. The wind outside was once heavy with the scent of the sea but the approaching night dampened much of it. As the car kept to its path, the buildings shifted from villas and complexes to palm trees and neon-lit mall buildings. Colours of red, blue, green and more whizzed by before Medea's eyes, her vision taking them in but her thoughts lost in time.
The car pulled into a drive-through behind some others. The line was moving but it was slow. She wasn't worried about it. After all, they had gas to spare.
"And you'll be having?"
Medea turned around. She thought for a bit before answering,
"A burger."
Turning to Medea, she narrowed her eyes and puffed up her cheeks before sighing, deflating her face. Food was a way to deal with thoughts but only a burger… and that too, a foodie?
She gave a thumbs up as she said,
"Got it. A burger, a pack of fries with ice cream."
"Jen, I'll get fat."
Medea answered. Jen responded calmly,
"It's okay, if you won't have the fries and ice cream, I'll handle it."
Medea thought for a moment. She didn't have much to think of now, she simply acknowledged with,
"...Mhm."
Jen smiled as she placed her hand on Medea's. Medea flinched lightly but she didn't pull her hand away. Since that day, she had to keep reminding herself she had little reason to be so defensive… but it would be a while. A long while since before she makes her peace with it.
"After this, let's walk and then shop."
Jen said with a glint in her eye, pulling out a black card from her olive green purse. Medea smiled lightly as she remembered the first time she saw the purse and the car and her foster mother. Talk about matching colours.
"Okay."
Jen beamed,
"Good!"
And then the car behind them honked once, making Jen and Medea gasp. It brought to their attention the empty queue in front of them, save for a car near the end of the line.
Jen quickly raised her hand to the rearview and did a thumbs up as she pressed her foot down on the gas, the car moving forward to the window. Medea giggled a bit as did Jen while she began to place the order, the night sky watching the cars whistle by under the orange streetlights.
-----
Crickets chirped in the trees under the moonlit sky, a breeze passing through the street making Poe shift in his brown coat. His boots crunched the loose grains of the street as he walked in silence past buildings and streetlights. The further he went, the lesser the people were around and quieter it was.
Finally, he reached the end of the street and continued past the block of buildings, reaching an upwards slope. He sighed as he continued forward, heaviness setting in his feet.
Age gets the ones left alive.
He chuckled to himself.
The breeze whipped around him but he was undeterred on his path up the sloped road. A ways further, the road gave way to a beaten dirt path. Two tire tracks stretched up and further beyond, turning sharply to the right into a black metal gate. Poe walked up and got to the gate, bent over resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath. The approaching winter would be harsher.
He sighed as he stepped towards the gate and unlocked it, pushing it open. Stepping inside, he closed the gate lightly and walked into the yard, water trickling from the bamboo fountains.
Stepping past the dirt path and onto a rock paved one, he looked to the front door, the warm spotlights illuminating the ash grey walls and orange wood floors. Fishing his keys out of the pocket, he unlocked the front door, swinging it open.
"I'm home."
He said out loud. Stepping in, he stamped his boots on the mat as he removed his coat and hung it on the wall rack. He walked into the corridor, and to a sink inset into the wall, washing his hands with soap. Shaking off the excess water, he knocked thrice on the door before entering.
Inside, lay his wife on a hospital bed, reading a book with a bookmark light. She looked up at him and smiled, her face wrinkling around her lips.
"Welcome home."
She said cheerily as she closed the book and kept it beside her. Poe approached and bent down, placing his hand on her greying hair as he kissed her forehead. He sat beside her with a grunt. She giggled as she clasped his hand lightly.
"Getting old, are we?"
Poe laughed dryly with a nod.
"The cold isn't getting any calmer and these bones only last so long…"
She brought his hand up to her lips, brushing her lips against the back of his hand.
"May these bones serve you better company."
"You're my best company."
"So you're saying."
Poe looked at her, pain hidden in his eyes. She loosened her grip on his hand, her smile fading lightly.
He immediately clutched her hand again and asked her with a cheery tone,
"So how has this day been to my wife?"
She responded with a smile,
"I had a good day, spent some time in the yard under the sun. It was another beautiful sunset, the sky had these shades of orange and some pink to it."
Poe smiled as he lightly rubbed her eyebrows and under her deep brown eyes. She smiled as she leaned into his hand, letting him have his moment.
"And how has today been to my doting husband?"
Poe chuckled. He answered enthusiastically,
"The cafe was alright. Less customers today but we still hit our quota so that's alright. Ryan, that boy, I don't know what world he's been to, he almost dropped a cup. Again!"
She giggled at Ryan's mention.
"He seems to be in love."
She said with conviction. Poe nodded his head and chuckled.
"It could be."
"Must be the new chef."
"Ha! Unlikely so. He whined like a baby when I hired her."
"But he did get used to it, no?"
"Yeah. The boy sure did. They work like a machine now."
"Mhm. Good boy."
They remained in each other's close presence, the world around them silent if not for their breathing. Poe glanced over at his wife. She moved up, Poe's hand still with her own. She patted her lap and Poe laid down, letting her rest her hand on his head, ruffling through his short black hair.
He closed his eyes as he felt her fingers move across his scalp, a feeling of calm and relaxation washing over him. The moment was still but this moment was theirs. And they were with each other in this moment. And that was enough for them.
"You've had dinner?"
"Mhm."
"And your medicines?"
"Mhm."
"That's good."
He said.
"And you've had dinner?"
"I will. In a moment."
"Mhm."
Like a loud thunderclap, the phone began to ring outside, interrupting their moment. Her fingers immediately stopped as Poe's eyes opened. He glanced up and she had a surprised look on her face. Looking down she smiled. She lightly patted his head and said,
"It must be for you,"
"Mhm."
He grumbled as he lifted himself off of her and sighed.
"I'll be right back."
Saying that, he got off the bed and headed out the room into the living room. Switching on the light, he walked over to the floral couch and loveseat, grabbing the landline out of its dock and clicking the green pick up button.
"Poe here."
He spoke into the phone as he turned around. A muted silence was the response.
"Hello?"
He asked again. The other side remained silent. He shook his head and sighed, placing the telephone back onto the dock, a click being heard as it ended the call. He turned around and headed towards the kitchen fridge. Opening the doors, he pulled out some bread and turkey slices with some sliced vegetables. Walking over to the counter, he placed the ingredients on the counter as he got out the chopping board to assemble his sandwiches.
Once he was done, he plated two sandwiches and grabbed a water bottle off the counter. Heading out, he looked to the landline once more and then he switched off the living room light, walking back to the room.
With his bottle hand, he opened the door and walked in, keeping his eyes on the sandwiches.
"Must've been a wrong number, dear. Now, I don't get callers either."
He fumbled with the door, his hands full.
She hadn't responded to his comment.
"Evelyn?"
He asked as he turned around.
Evelyn had her head resting on the bed frame, blood dripping from her nose.
Poe's blood ran cold, the bottle and plate falling from his hands.
"Evelyn!"
He shrieked as he rushed to her side. He wrapped his tingling arms around her and held her face. She was unconscious. Immediately he grabbed his cell and hit the emergency dial.
While the phone rang, Poe lifted Evelyn off the bed and rushed out the room to the door and out to the yard. He was barefoot, without a coat and the wind was harder now than before but he didn't care.
The phone let out a long dial tone as the call picked up.
"My wife fainted, I need an ambulance now!"
The emergency responder immediately typed away at her keyboard, posing a question to Poe.
"Sir, where are you?"
Poe kept running down the street, no one in sight. He breathed quickly as he rushed further and further. He didn't respond.
"Sir, I need you to give me your location."
"I'm on the way."