2:00 P.M (GMT8)
Healing was slow, agonizingly slow. Injuries had been sustained like this before, and yet this time around it felt like ages. Only able to move a few feet away from the couch, laying for hours on end. She wasn't used to not being able to get things done, all the while still healing in the process. The pain was agony with every step, the tears filled her eyes everytime.
Like sharp needles piercings the soles of her feet, drills digging into the sides of her temples. Daggers pushed deep into her thighs, tearing into the muscles. Although her body was healing at its own pace, the pain was undeniable. Bandages did nothing but remind her of how fucked she was.
Tossing and turning when she did get to rest her eyes that night, nightmares of the monstrous face. Half deformed, full of evil in one eye of crystal blue. Amelia would wake up screaming, sweating under the soft layers of blankets. Only to have her lover rushing to her side, assuring her that it was just a nightmare.
Only to repeat the same pattern hours later, again and again. Until she refused to sleep, watching the sun rise through the sky. The darkness of night exploding with colors of orange, pink, purple. Not only was she injured physically, now she was deprived of sleep.
All because of images that poured into her mind the moment her eyes fluttered shut to give her the relief of slumber.
Her body betrays her every time, falling asleep once more. Having the relief of a simple dream, a simple life in which she only dreamed of. A house, a beautiful white home in which her and her lover shared. Although in her dreams she was still an agent, life was not as terrifying as it was now. Held side by side with the man she loved, feeling the sweet softness of his lips. Smiling into a delicate kiss, before admiring the beautiful life they had continued together.
What a dream, something she yearned for in the deepest parts of her heart. Normality would be just an arm's length away from her grasp. It would stay what it was, a dream.
The light of the outside hits against her closed eyelids, having her stir slowly in place. Eyes slowly opening to be hit with the sun blazing across her living room. Catching her lover at the front door, about to exit their condo.
"Dallas.. Where are you going.." Amelia groans, sitting herself up against the arm of the cushions.
Her consciousness has him turning on his heels, looking back at her. Hand still gripped onto the handle of the door. His purple hues stare at her, she could tell he was saddened by the sight of her. She wouldn't blame him, she knew she looked battered.
Him on the other hand, looked as dashing as ever. A long black trench coat covered over his arms and body, a green turtleneck wrapped around his neck. Khaki pants, and classic dress shoes for the professional to wear. His lilac hair gelled back, Dallas always looked his best evne in his worst moments.
Dallas sighs, "I have to go out.. I've been called for something important."
Being left alone was the last thing she wanted right now. Call it her inner child arising to be comforted, to be held by the one who knew her the best. It wasn't a bold ting to request of him, if he lived a normal nine to five job. Something important meant lives were on the line, she couldn't be selfish.
Fists grip tightly over the sheets, shaking in place. "But.. Please don't leave me alone." Her voice was a whimper, cracking.
Amelia avoids his eyes, her head dropping down to look at her hands. Even her knuckles were bruised, veins of dark blue exposed under her fingers. She was a mess, unable to have some sort of composure even in her own home. The tears begin to form, and she lets them. Letting them fall from her tear ducts to her cheeks. Liquid dampening in little spots on the blanket.
"Please don't go.."
A silence falls over the room, nothing but the sniffles and choked back sobs of Amelia. Feeling the pressure against her chest, the shaking through her entire body. She wanted it all to go away, to go back to the way things were: the way she was.
Strong, beautiful, powerful. A wall sturdy in front of her, around her.
Footsteps are slow against the hardwood floor, lifting her head to see Dallas crocheting beside her. His eyes hold on her, her own searching his expression. Clearly he was upset, broken by her display. It was one of the first times Amelia had ever begged for him to not leave her alone. His soft hands grip onto hers, rubbing his thumbs on her skin.
"Amelia.. I won't be long. I have security stationed outside the house." He lets out a long sigh, sadly smiling at her. "You'll be okay."
It wasn't an easy choice, he was doing what was right. He was doing his job, it wasn't an easy way to leave her either. Amelia didn't blame him.
She nods, "O-okay.." The man leaning forward, cupping her cheek. He kisses her with softness, but love in his lips. Her eyes flutter shut, placing her free hand on his cheek, kissing him back with such longing he would be able to taste it.
Amelia didn't want to let him go, his body pulling back from her has her heart sinking. She breathes out: "Be safe."
Watching in silence, Dallas stands tall once more. Quickly making his way back to his original standing point. Fixing his trench coat, grabbing onto the handle. He looks back to Amelia once more, nodding his head in her direction.
"Always do." With his words, he turns the doorhandle. Pulling the door open, and shutting it behind himself. The door slamming behind him is an echo in her ears, it burns.
Not as much as the silence following afterwards, however. Left alone with her thoughts, the harsh reality of what was to come. The bet, the wager: it was the only way to make sure all of the people she loved were safe. Amelia would lose all that she loved, if she didn't do what was ordered of her.
The world was always cruel, filled with evil and darknes: her job entailed meeting people as such. This was more personal, the world had come to strike her where it hurt most. A first love, an enemy, now a threat to everything she had built.
Dallas was insistent on her resting, staying completely under wraps for him to take care of. As much as he wanted to be her provider, he knew her all too well.
Griping onto the sides of the couch, Amelia rises slowly from her position. Wincing at the rising pain through her legs, grabbing at the part that was bandaged. The pain could never be ignored, but to get to where she wanted to be it had to be. Once stable, she begins to drag her steps down the hallway.
The hollow walls fill with the thumps of her feet dragging against the wooden floor. The swinging of her home office door opening, her groans rising frmo her throat with every couple of steps. When she finally makes it inside, Amelia slowly lowers herself into the leather chair. Breathing heavily, leaning back. Walking down a hallway had tired her out, but she had to get started with what was expected of er.
Using her hands, she opens her laptop sat on the desk. The laptop already glowing with the login screen. Amelia types in her password: CTA2019.
Why did she choose this password, it reminded her of what she lost yet again. Claire, Tess, and Amelia: Graduated class of 2019.
She shakes her head, watching as the computer opens everything she had been viewing before. Dallas had given her her laptop whenever she had asked for it, to avoid having to move herself to get it. In that meantime,Jake had sent his listing over to her through cryptic emails.
It sat open, multiple tabs of airplane flights, hotels, even the housing around her designated target. The screen illuminating her skin, she looked paler than ever before. In the very middle was a yellow pages tab, showing the face of a man she knew all too well.
Leo Yantez Troy, a former mafia member. He was one of the heads of a criminal organization that her grandfather had ran, what he wanted her to take over. After being pulled into the organization by force, Leo and Amelia had met when they were both very young. Eighteen and nineteen, the boy had seen Amelia as a gold mine for power. Being the grandaughter of Richard Lesten, she was the most important piece.
They slept together, he had taken her virginity along with it. When she had broken from the chains of her grandfather: He disappeared. Supposedly leaving the same time she did, finding somewhere else to start over. Leo had chosen New York, her old home.
It was a horrible way to meet an old friend.
"I'm so sorry it has to be this way...Leo."
If God was watching, she hoped the almighty creator of life would forgive her for what she had to do. Not by her own hands, but forced by anothers. Without a loophole, she was simply forced to do his bidding.
It made her sick, unbelievably sick. The first time in years that she felt as if she was going to vomit, thinking about killing those who knew of her. People who did nothing wrong but exist in her world, they didn't deserve to die.
Years had passed, Leo could have cleaned himself up. Changed for the better, gotten out of his old ways and habits. A sign of good faith, a good man who just wanted to make a good life for himself. Was she going to have the guts to take all of it away? Just for the sake of her father's life, for her lovers?
She had to be selfish, Leo was nothing but a stranger. The ones she had left to love, mattered more.
Amelia pulls her head down, putting her hands together in prayer. Quietly mumbling the words to herself, shaking with her elbows on the desk. Prayer was all she had left to believe in, she couldn't let even her faith in God be shattered.
Even he was on thin ice.