Chapter XII

Another house, another damn timer for them, being on the run felt so damn normal by now. Aelin was hard to reach, she was as close to dead as one could be, the pain got stronger as days go by and on the day of the funeral she couldn't even be there for them, for her last piece of family. No more playing chess with grandpa', no more watching old movies with grandma', no more special dinners on holidays, no more safety, no more love, no more Aelin. They were gone. For good. And so was she.

Following the fire and their notable conversation, he stood by her side and kept her company, giving her what she needed, silence. No questions, no stupid advice, no shitty comments, only his presence, simply stating that she was not quite alone. He would bring her food, but she barely ate anything at all, he would stay up late on a chair beside her bed until she fell asleep, little did he know that she always heard him leave the room given the fact that she was sleeping only about an hour or two.

He did that for days. She was grateful for that, almost.

It had already been 3 weeks since the fire and Aelin started to go mad. She couldn't sleep, eat, stay focused, either she dazed from reality during the day or screamed her lungs out at night due to nightmares. She felt so helpless and useless. So not meant to be that it brought her to her knees. What was the point anyways?

So one day she decided to eat, she forced herself to finish her entire meal like it actually made a difference. She then slept for a good 5 hours until evening because she finally felt at peace with it. She found him paying a lot more attention to her which was weird but she ignored it in the end. It was not her problem anymore. It was about 9 pm when he left the house to sort some things out not bothering to inform her about those things, but yet again, she paid no mind.

She waited, and waited and kept on waiting while sipping on a dark shitty coffee until she was 100% sure he was not returning anytime soon. Aelin decided then that she wanted something more so she grabbed an old bottle of rum and started drinking like she had never did before, and she never did for a fact. She played some old jazz on an old player and started dancing, swaying from one side of the room to another, wobbling her way around furniture. She was mad drunk, laughing and dancing, alone, in an old creepy mansion, belonging to a damn serial killer. She couldn't give two shits about all of the above by now. She then pulled up a chair, fixed it where she needed it to be and then proceed to do it. To finally put an end to all of it, no more drama for Aelin, she was fed up to the bone. She tightened the rope around her neck and got up on the chair.

Aelin looked around the room like she was on a stage in front of an audience. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and jumped.

Everything that followed felt like a movie. The rope pierced her skin, the air started to leave her lungs and she was shaking madly while dangling her feet in the air. She was choking for a split second that made her think that she was about to die in a few more.

But he had other plans yet again for her because one moment she was almost unconscious and another he was at her feet holding her like a damn trophy, pointing the true champion to another survival.

- You're fucking crazy Mercer but so am I because I was fucking sure you onto something and here you are fucking hanging yourself in my damn house!!

After he got her down she coughed so hard while holding onto him for dear life. He stroke her head while cursing her . When she finally calmed down she freed him from her choke of a hug and stared him right in his eyes. Hot tears were going down on her cheeks and she began to hiccup while steadying her breathing. She was crying her soul out while looking at him and holding his face in her small palms. They stayed like that for what felt like an hour until she calmed down a bit not leaving their staring, not even once. She glued her forehead to his.

- Tell me your name!

At first he did not answer but after a good moment of plain silence he spoke in the same manner she got used to, harsh, hoarse and malicious.

- Why would you want to know that?

They were scattered on the floor, him holding her and she holding onto him. Aelin then thought that them being on the floor was the only way they could be close and not wanting to kill each other.

- So I can curse you.

- What for?

She swallowed hard and gave him a quick reply before hugging him harder feeling exhausted, a bit glad and surprised being hugged back.

- For saving me again.