Taken.

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

So, much thinking happens on the way back home. Looking out onto the streets, I have missed so much. I hope Eliza, and Flora and Owen are Ok. They had made plans, with my Nana and Papa to stay there, until other arrangements were made. Eliza will be in shock, no doubt. And, those teenagers, that had been on the news, I don't recall seeing them before the wedding. Are they still in the cinema?

The car pulls up in front of my house, my home. More cars follow with the family, and the few remaining people who were trapped inside the cinema, that are still alive. Looking at Eliza, its like looking at a different person. She's about the same age as my mum, the cuts on her arms have healed, and she's shorter and fatter, but not by much.

I walk inside, and when I turn around I see some of the neighbors at their windows. Mum opens the door, and when Marcus is too far away she whispers to me,

" Take him to your room to dump his stuff. I'll phone the police."

I nod, not saying anything, and everyone piles inside. My little cousins and Jenn look distraught, at what they have just seen, happen to all those poor, innocent people. I hate to think what the expression on my face must be like.

" Come upstairs? To ditch your stuff?" I ask Marcus,

" Sure."

He picks up his bags and follows me upstairs, to my room. Nothing has changed since I left it. The bookshelf, the purple walls, my guitar its all there, all untouched. I smile, looking around the room looking at it with new eyes.

" You missed this?"

The way he says it, makes me angry. It's as if he's implying, its a tip, which it is. The mess didn't change either, but its fine from that. Just because he's used to chandeliers, and technology everywhere. He sits down on the bed, looking around.

He pats the spot on the bed next to him, meaning for me to sit down. I sit down, still in my wedding dress, and see the ring reflect off the light, that's streaming through the windows. He takes my hand, and again I have to remind myself its all just a show. Mum will have phoned the police, and they'll be here soon.

He leans in towards me, and I try to not notice, as if fascinated by the bookshelf, when really just feeling guilty about Jamie. But, he places his hand under my chin, and pulls my face towards his, not having any choice now, I respond to his kiss.

Its hungry, and teasing. He wants more than just a kiss goodnight, but he's not getting it. After a few moments, i break the kiss. And, just lean my head towards his, to make it look more affectionate. This, seems to distract him, and he doesn't seem to mind. We just sit three for a few minutes, heads barely touching, the only sound is breathing....

But it is only my breathing....

This panics me, the second I stop breathing, there is no sound. As if again, in affection I press my hand, to his chest. Where, his heart should be, but there is no beat.... He is not alive. I want to run, screaming from the room, but I stay perfectly still, as if I haven't noticed anything.

That's, when I hear a car door slam outside. I don't move, I know who it is, but I don't want him to now. Right, not my Mum, will have opened the door....

That's, when my bedroom door, flys open, slamming against the wall. It all happens so quick, I barely have time to register it all.

A tall, policewoman grabs Marcus by the wrists, and pins him up against the wall, while anther handcuffs him. He kicks them both, but a policeman, enters and kicks him right back, in a man's weakest spot.

They, drag him off downstairs, and I follow... A safe distance behind though. I see him being pulled into he police car, and I hear one of the woman say to my mum,

" There will be a court case on this. She will be used as a witness, and one of the victims."

I didn't count on their being a court case.... Isn't he guilty? The proof is in all the guests, that attended the wedding! I hear screaming from the car, he's yelling....

" By law we are married!"

And, I yell back,

" By law that entire wedding was a fraud! And so was the fucking minister!"

Realization comes over his face, as I take the ring from my finger, and yell,

" This is going on eBay!"

All the wedding guests laugh, as Marcus is driven away, but I notice something in his face, that the others do not. Regret, sadness, loneliness, possibly even love. Was my Dad's speech genuine? Did he really, see true love that Marcus had for me? It can't be, Marcus only wanted the money, the money that was fake.

Surely.. He can't seriously have a heart?

I feel guilty, all of a sudden.

I find Eliza, and she goes off with Flora and Owen to find my Nana and Papa, this is the last time I might ever see Flora and Owen, they phoned their mum, and she's coming to get them. Although, I will probally see them both in court, at some point. But, who knows when, that could be.... Years even.

Its strange to think, this time last month I didn't know Flora, Owen or Eliza. I hadn't killed Madame Ariane, and I hadn't watched so many lives being washed away, their existence, washes away from the surface of this world.

I stare out at my street, finally happy to be home.

But, I know it hasn't finished yet. Nowhere close....