Witness Protection ✔

Trials and tribulations

Two weeks later

Nathalia sat on an uncomfortable wooden chair somewhere inside the courthouse, waiting to be called in. Today was the day she'd testify. This is what she'd been preparing for for so long. Yet she couldn't bring herself to feel any way about it, she was indifferent.

The fierce need to do what's right she felt when she agreed to this was gone and replaced by a hollow feeling of nothingness.

But it wasn't like she'd been feeling nothing these past few weeks, on the contrary. It only took her a good night's rest before she realized what she'd seen. Who she'd seen.

Every time she closed her eyes she saw him. Cassius. Surrounded by a sea of red and three paramedics, unmoving like a corpse.

She asked everyone she'd come across if they knew what happened to them, but none claimed they did. It was as if Cassius, Chris, and Nico never existed to them.

Nathalia had never been a conspiracy theorist, but she definitely felt like she was in one. All the "Hm, no idea"s and "I don't know anything"s started to sound the same and she was pretty sure someone told them not to tell her.

But she needed to know. Did he die because of her? Or was he safely recovering in the comfort of his own home? She didn't even know where he lived. There was so much she didn't know about him and she feared she never would. The thought of him being gone filled her with a new sort of despair, one she hadn't felt while they were together.

Because now it was real. She'd never see him again.

"Nathalia, sweety, what's on your mind?" Julia's sweet voice dragged her from her thoughts. She was debating on whether or not to ignore her but she knew she never could. Julia had never been anything but nice and caring towards her and didn't deserve that.

Nathalia breathed in a deep breath of air before answering, "Why is no one telling me what happened to my bodyguards?"

Be brave, that's what Cassius said.

Julia's big blue eyes widened ever so slightly and she knew she knew more than she let on. "I-- uh, maybe they just don't know? They didn't tell us anything, sweety. I'm sorry."

The only part that didn't sound like a lie was the last part and it infuriated Nathalia to no end.

"I'm going for a walk," Nathalia said as she got up. Her walk wasn't going to be a long one since she wasn't supposed to leave the guarded area of the courthouse but she didn't want to sit and talk anymore. Especially not to a liar.

As she passed a vending machine she caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection of the machine. She looked awful. Dark circles rested under her eyes and her skin was a sickly pale color.

It had been a combination of too little sleep and too much worrying that caused her to look that way. She quickly averted her eyes and kept going.

"Yeah, I heard it's a pretty big case or something, I don't follow the news so I don't know the specifics but they said it's pretty gruesome."

She didn't know what made her stop to listen to a conversation between two guards. She had never been one to eavesdrop, it was rude and her parents taught her well. But she was curious about what they knew so she decided to do it just once.

"Some girl witnessed it, apparently. She's testifying today so that's why this place is swarming with feds, they say they tried to kill her," another man spoke up. "Almost succeeded too, twice."

She remembered being mad at Cassius for not telling her about the first attempt but now she just felt guilty about getting angry. He didn't deserve that.