Halston Oura was taken during an attack on her home and sent away.
She was brought to a facility that turned her into an assassin and taught her everything she'll ever need in order to take a life.
Halston is trying to take down the facility witho...
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"Fuck." I hear Audrey mutter.
That's when I wake up.
I look around and I immediately know exactly where we are.
I've memorized every crevice of this room, every crack in the floor, every hole in the walls, the way the door makes a screeching sound when you open it.
I know this room better than I know myself.
I spent so many early mornings, late nights, mid days, and all the hours in between memorizing this room.
"Someday you'll be right here with me."
I look at the ceiling, seeing the hook that holds the chains they used to hold her arms up.
I hear the bang and I know she's gone.
This is where my mother was killed.
I start laughing and Audrey looks at me like I'm insane.
"What's so funny?" She asks when I start laughing so hard I have tears.
"This is where my mom was murdered." I manage to say before absolutely dying of laughter.
She stares at me, concerned.
She sits down and eventually I calm down from my slight mental breakdown.
I walk over to the door and, even though I know it's locked, I still try to open it anyway.
There's a window on the door that's covered by bars so no one can get out.
I just stare through the bars, looking at the dark hallway.
"You know what's ironic?" I ask her without turning around. My voice is just blank now. "My mom told me I'd end up here someday." Now I face her.
"She told me one day I'd piss them off or make a mistake and I'd end up down here, just like her." I snort and sit down on the bed.
"Guess she was right." I whisper finally.
"Halls." She says after a long time of silence.
I look up and see her looking at her wrist, confused. She removes the bandaid and sees the cut, noticing the bead is gone.
She looks at me and I look at my wrist, the same bandaid and the same cut with the bead missing.
"They took them out. Why would they do that?" She asks me.
"Because our intent is not to kill you or get you killed." We look over and see Francis standing at the door.
"Why'd you kidnap us?" I ask.
"Technically, you were kidnapped from us. Technically we just took you back." He shrugs and hands us some food by sliding it under the door.
"I'm not a kid anymore Francis." I tell him and he nods.
"I know. And neither are we." With that, he leaves.
"The hell does that mean?" Audrey asks and I sigh.
"How the hell should I know?"
We're silent again. There's really nothing to talk about.
Except Alina.
She's gonna die and it's all my fault.
I was too weak to do what needed to be done.
My mother was right, I am worthless.
"It's not your fault, Halls." Audrey tells me, laying on her side so she can look at me.
I lay on my side and face her on the other side of the room.
"I was too weak." I tell her and she shakes her head.
"No, you weren't. You're a very strong person, Halls. You've gone through hell but somehow you still have such a kind heart. Not many people can say that." She says, desperately hoping I'll believe her.
"Alina still has a kind heart, and so do you." I tell her.
"No I don't." She sighs. "I used to be such a kind little girl. But then my mom was murdered in front of me on my fifth birthday and I was brought to that hell hole and met Inane de." She explains.
She's never talked this much about her past.
"Inane de is gonna kill Alina." I whisper, trying to push away my heartache.
I've never seen Audrey cry. Not once. Until now.
It's barely noticeable, a single tear falls and she quickly wipes it away, turning away from me.
"The first time I met Alina I was ten. She was brought here by Inane de and Alina was so scared. I was always around her. Always. She stuck by my side and it was like having a mini me. I was already the top assassin so I had my own room. She would always cry when she had to go to her room so sometimes I would sneak her into mine. Then I taught her everything I knew and she became the top assassin of her age group so we got to share a room. Then you got there and it was amazing, the three of us." She reminisces.
"I'm sorry, Audrey." I tell her.
"It's not your fault, Halston." She tells me again.
"It is, Aud. But it's okay, cause I'm gonna fix it." I whisper, checking the hem of my boot.
I pull away the loose threads and pull the fabric inside the boot from the leather, revealing a pocket.
I remove the knife from the pocket before looking back over to Audrey.
I slowly smile and she joins me, taking the knife from my hand.
"You crazy bitch." She whispers with a giant smile, shaking her head while looking at the knife.
"Inane de constantly avoiding getting us new things pays off sometimes." I explain and she looks at me and nods in agreement.
"I actually have something of my own." She tells me and I lift my eyebrows at her in question.
She removes a piece of elastic from her hair, the long brown hair falling in waves around her shoulders and onto her back.
She unfurls it and I notice it's no normal elastic band.
It's a wire that can easily kill someone, you wrap it around their throat, but if you wanna go one step ahead you can push a button on it and it immediately glows orange, heating up to over 400 degrees.
"I always keep it near me, it comes in handy. Plus most people don't think much of a hair tie, since that's all they see." She shrugs.
I see the initials "N.Z." on it and my eyes widen.
"Tell me you did not steal that from inane de's office!" I whisper shout, looking over my shoulder.
She smiles at me. "Of course I did. You know I hate them, just like everyone else. But it's a little more personal with me. Seeing as they murdered my entire family right in front of me on my fifth birthday." She explains.
