11:00 P.M (GMT8)
How could things have become so wrong, so fucked beyond repair? Amelia had strived to be better than the last days had entailed for her. She was the hero of her agency, the woman in her prime. Brought out from the sheer fires of Hell, at the highest peak of her entire life.
She was falling faster than she had ever anticipated, there was always the thought of falling. Had she accepted it so soon? Not at all, she had hoped the fall came when she shriveled to dust and bones. Unable to feel the cause and effect of a life long lived. Life lived to the fullest, her hair gray, skin wrinkled across her body. Amelia was no angel, but she was a firm believer of the divine.
So what was God's message to her, bringing back the man who stole so much from her? Letting him put his hands on her, torture her, beat her down to submission. How could the powerful let such a man live after what he had done, what was the course he wished for her to take. The more the days had trailed, the more her belief in his actions above were tainted.
Jake Parker was a menace, a terrifying monster to even the most powerful. God had made a grave mistake letting him walk away free, surrounding the ground his feet stepped on with evil. Pure evil, warped over time. Just festering in the mind of the sick, the broken. He was broken, but broken beyond repair.
Amelia would never help him, not even if he begged at her feet. After what he had done, he was damned to be at the head of her gun.
It felt as if the world was still in the darkness of unconscious thoughts. No movement, no sun shining to have her eyes peeling open. Silence, echoing silence. The picture of nothing was ancient, feeling as if there would be no escape from it.
Was she dying, was the next thing to be the light at the end of the tunnel?
There was no flashing of her life before her eyes, no near death experience, no shining of the light at the end of a far aways tunnel. Amelia couldn't have died, she wouldn't let herself cross over no matter how much her body begged. She had to live, to torture that bastard worse than he had done to her.
A feeling, wetness. The way a raindrop would feel as it crashed against the frail cuts and bruises of skin. Not just one, multiple. A storm, she was in a storm. Senses beginning to return, the scent of the rusty after a rain storm crossing over. The sound of cars zooming by a fast street hits her ears. The rain increases, the roaring of thunder. Amelia had started this in a storm, and yet it still continued to roar on.
Where was she? She didn't have the power to open her eyes, her body wouldn't let her. She was strained, unable to push herself any further than what her body allowed. Feeling the concrete under her, it was cold: Puddles of water pooling around her, she was soaked.
Steps can be hard nearby, they get closer at a fast pace. Before she knows it, she can hear a voice she longed to hear. Dallas, frantically calling her name. She couldn't speak, her body was too weak to let out any words.
"Amelia.. My poor baby." She can feel his fingers brushing against her cheek, his words a pained whisper.
"Please park the car, Rales, I need to treat her."
In moments she can feel herself being hoisted into his arms, held bridal style with fast pace into their building. Long strides have him at the fastest pace he could muster, her body bouncing in his arms. Hands dangling down, swaying back and forth. Amelia could breathe, but her chest felt heavy. As if she was not entirely alive, but neither dead. Dallas was trying his hardest to help her, he must have felt entirely to blame for not going with her.
He was not in the wrong, neither were.
Creaks are evident as a door opens and slams shut shortly after. Amelia can feel the grip of his hands release, her back hitting onto a soft surface. Their couch: they were finally back home, where she wanted to be this entire time. She can feel the warmth of a blanket pulled over her body, coated with material of fuzzy cotton.
Silence, nothing but the pitter patter of rain. "Amelia.. Why did I let you go alone? Your father will kill me for what I've let happen to you." His voice is strained, she can feel the cushion of the couch bend to his weight.
Her throat burned even with a single swallow, she wished she could speak to him. Blood pulsing through her veins, heart pushing against her chest. Everything was amplified ten times with pain, she couldn't have herself in anymore of it.
"Yes, she was left on our doorstep. Blooded, she had a stab wound on her thigh as it was very deep. She's lost a fair amount of blood."
Calling her dad didn't surprise her, he was sure to have told him of her return. Whether it was in safe standings, or what she was now: Defeated. A round that she had no chance of winning, even with all she knew. Amelia tried, she tried to do what was the right thing. Where did it lead her?
Beaten almost to death, unable to call out to her lover that she was alright. He wouldn't believe her, but at least she would tell him.
"Charlie, please don't rush over in this weather. This storm is supposed to last for days. I will take care of her." A pause, sighing at the other person on the phone. "I will Charlie, goodnight."
The phone clicks, hearing it placed on a hard surface. She tried once more to open her eyes, and this time it worked. Eyes slowly opening, vision blurry. Able to see the movement of her lover, he leans closer. Hands up, unsure of how to react to her sudden stir of consciousness.
Amelia groans, trying to sit herself up. Dallas puts his hands onto her shoulders as gently as possible, holding her down. "Amelia, Amelia. Don't move please, you've been stabbed."
"I..I know." Trying her best not to move, her vision starts to focus on him. "He did it while I was awake."
That has Dallas' face twisting in hatred, disgust. Hands gripping into fists. "While you were awake?" She could tell his tone was sharp even with its calm exterior. He was angry, completely filled with fire at the sight of her.
Amelia nods, Dallas gritting his teeth. "God damn bastard.."
"I was locked in some dark room for what felt like years, I never thought I could get out." She was strained, she didn' even want to think about the horrors she had experienced. Or the horrors that would await her if they ever met again.
They were going to meet again, there was no doubt in it. With the wager now on the table, there was no reason for the man to stay away. She was under his hands, and she couldn't utter a word to the man she loved. It hurt to hold something so big over her head, lying to him.
She never wanted to lie to the person who saved her from her lowest and helped her soar.
Dallas places his hand on top of her own. "I know Amelia, I tried to negotiate for your release but–"
"Thank you for trying.. However, I will be okay." Her words flutter against her lips, pulling a pained smile across them.
She knew he had tried, but even his efforts weren't enough. There was only so much one man could do under his terms, he did everything he could for her. It was enough in her mind, but not enough to avoid all the pain.
Lies, that's all she was doing at that moment. Lies spewing from her lips, held behind a painful smile pulled for the sake of him. Amelia was just happy to be alive, to see his face another day. Their kiss was not the last, his love was not ripped from her hands. Yet he couldn't know the biggest danger of them all, it killed her. She wished it wasn't like this, she wished it had never come to this.
"You are resting Amelia, I do not care what you say you–"
Amelia slowly turns on her side, wincing as she pulls the blanket back over herself. She wouldn't try to do anything dangerous at this moment, she was injured. Unable to walk, barely able to speak without the burning piercings the walls of her throat. Every part of her body hurt, cried in pain at the damage.
The tears swell into her eyes, quickly coursing down her cheeks. Amelia couldn't hold it in any longer, not when so much had been done. The strong agent begins to cry. Sobbing into the fluffy blanket, gripping tightly onto the end of it. Eyes squeezed as tightly as they can, throat burning from the sobs wrecking her vocal chords.
She can feel the arms of Dallas enveloping her, holding onto her as tightly as he could. Amelia couldn't care less about the tightness of his grip, or the way he pressed his head against her chest. All she wanted to do was cry, get everything out of her system.
When they met again there would be no chance for tears, this was the only moment. When battered and broken, a human has the right to shed as many tears as they can. The rain hitting against the windows adds to the darkening effect of their home. The roaring of the thunder, vibrating across their bodies.
Amelia wasn't so sure anymore if life was worth living, if this was the path set out for her. The only reason she knew she had to stay was to get Jake Parker off the streets. If he took her out of this world only moments after her, so be it.
For now, all she wanted to do was be held by the man she loved. Cry the tears of the young woman she used to be, unjudged by the treacherous world around her. Unjudged by God above for his soldier shedding oceans of tears.
If he didn't like it, he could look away.