Chapter 12: Prosecutor

I’d like to believe that it started off just like every other day. The sky went from black to bursts of color. I woke up next to Daniel, and questioned why. I worried a lot about our future. Then I got up, and made us breakfast. Conversation flowed as usual, and then Daniel and I went our separate ways for work.

I guess the only thing that was different was Daniel and I’s relationship. The day he came to the hospital looking for me, it was almost as if the ice around my heart melted. I had kept it guarded for so long, fearing that someone would try to hurt me, that I never realized the people that truly cared for me, like him.

So I decided from that day forward, that I would let him in, little by little. It couldn’t be all at once, because that was something that I was not prepared for yet. It was still a very difficult task for me to even give a fraction of my heart. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, there were feelings developing for him. It was disgusting. The way I’d feel when he’d text or when I got to see him at night. The way my heart pounded, and I got butterflies in my stomach. These aren’t things you feel simply for a friend. Deep down inside, I knew a long time ago that he wasn’t a friend. He’d always be something else to me.

On this particular day, it was the perfect weather. The temperature was just right, the sun shone, and I felt at ease. My stomach got rid of its butterflies and my heart was calm. That was until I ran into Daniel before leaving. I noticed that this particular morning, he looked at me with an expression of both hunger and apologies. It was both scary and concerning. Trying to shrug it off, I went by the front door and pulled my shoes on, dreading the work day already. Having two jobs was tiring at times.

Right as I got the keys to the car, Daniel’s hand appeared and enclosed around mine. I was very aware of his presence as his hand snaked around my waist as he pulled me to him. My breath caught and I froze. I wasn’t a huge fan of people touching me and I generally lash out when they do. It was so strange because, this time, I...I actually liked it.

“You do remember how to breathe, don’t you?” He laughed. I let out the breath that I had been holding. I tried to pull out of his grip, and he gave me some slack, only to pull me around to face him. I put my hands on his chest.

“I have to go to work. Then I can finally get out of your hair.” I joked. He hugged me tightly.

“You will never be a bother to me, okay? Stay as long as you need, or would like to.” It was almost jarring, the fervent way he said, “But besides that, you’re missing something.”

I pushed out of his grip and patted myself down. Wallet. Phone. Keys. Purse. What was I missing? It was then that he pulled his hoodie off…..and killed me. This guy was seriously ripped and it was total eye candy. He took my chin in his hands and tilted my head up. “My eyes are up here.” I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks from embarrassment. “Here. You’re missing this.”

He then pushed me out the door with sayings of: “Go on, you’ll be late.” and “You don’t want your boss to be mad at you.” It wasn’t until I got into the car that I fully registered what he had given me. It was his hoodie. I did what every girl whose boyfriend has given them hoodies do: I smelled it. I inhaled deeply into the hoodie and smiled. I find that I like Daniel’s smell. He smells like a mixture of cinnamon and vanilla. One of my favorite scents. I never wear hoodies, but I quickly put this one on before heading into work.

Nothing was different during work, except for when I wasn’t at the law office, and at my other job, Jayce was nowhere to be seen. I thought: The boss has taken a liking to the new kid thus far, maybe he let him have another day off, maybe he’s having a really hard time right now. All those thoughts quickly dissolved when the boss called me into his office.

With his back to me, he asked, “Alice, have you seen Jayce recently?”

“I only saw him right before he left the hospital yesterday sir.” I told him honestly. I really had no idea where Jayce was.

“Well that’s interesting because he is currently missing. I may have heard wrong, and let’s hope so, but I think the cops have him in the hospital with a coma.” He said, and to my surprise, with no anger in his tone, but rather, sadness. What was also surprising was my own feelings of sadness. Most people didn’t wake up from comas. I wouldn’t want my last words to him be what they were.

“What hospital is he rumored to be in sir? I would’ve heard if he was at our hospital.”

“I don’t know. Someone is onto us. I don’t know how all of this happened, but that kid has some serious bad luck.”

I left the boss’s office feeling unhappy. I fished my phone out of my pocket so that I could text Daniel. I didn’t know that I was murmuring his name to myself until some people passed by looking at me weirdly. It was then that I got a call from him. Talk about timing! “Daniel? You picked a good time to call I was just about to reach out-”

“Come outside now.” He demanded.

I scoffed. “You should know I don’t answer to stuff like that. What’s gotten into you?”

He sighed. “Just meet me in front of your building. I know where you are and I don’t feel like explaining so please just hurry.” I hung up and started walking towards the exit.

When I got outside, I felt the cold breeze brush by. Then I got this weird gut feeling. Almost like something bad was going to happen. It was confusing because as I looked around, there was only one person standing in the alleyway before me. It was Daniel, with his back to me. I raised my hand and yelled, “DAN-”

I was suddenly cut off by someone placing their hands over my mouth. It shocked me, so I froze. I was screaming internally for my hands to move, to fight back, for me to bite the hand cutting off my voice, but I couldn’t do any of it. I was powerless.

I think the person must have realized that I was so shocked that I couldn’t move because they took their hands off of my mouth and took a small step away from me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then, all of a sudden, I was booking it down the alleyway, yelling for help as if my life depended on it. I heard several footfalls behind me but kept going. I finally reached someone, but when they turned around, they were faceless. Then I looked at everyone around me, and they were all faceless.

It was then that I opened my eyes and snapped back to reality. My brain was already telling me that there was nothing I could do. No one would or could help me in this situation. But I couldn’t just stand here and take it all. I was a top assassin for a reason. If I was going down, I wasn’t going down without a fight! I spun around to face the person but their face was covered by a mask, concealing their identity from me.

The person danced around me, almost like we were in a boxing match; looking for a way in. I tried to stay a safe distance away, but this person seemed to be experienced in this field because they had one of my arms pinned behind my back, causing me great pain, in an instant. I tried to spin around to free my arm, but all that did was make it worse and bring my face right up against his sweater.

I had been fighting my hardest, internally and externally, so I was breathing quite hard. In the process of one of those heavy breaths, I caught a whiff of cinnamon. It was then that I realized the person before me was holding a bat, ready to swing. I looked toward Daniel’s back, his figure being too far away. Before I blacked out, I remember only this: I saw Daniel, but I called out………

Jayce.