BABYLON //a.f.i//

• LUKE AND CORA MAKE BAD DECISIONS: EPISODE 1 •

•••Cora•••
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"I didn't fucking see her."

I couldn't process it. Both of us sat there, the silence deafening. I could practically hear the blood pump through my veins.

"Oh my god." I whispered, my hands still pressed against my temples. "Oh my fucking god." I tried to will myself to get out of the car to check on the woman, but dread weighed down my feet like lead.

"Cora, just breathe for a second." Luke still gripped the wheel as he glanced over at me.

"Just breathe for a second? What the fuck do you mean just breathe for a second?! WE JUST HIT A FUCKING WOMAN!"

"Cora-"

"We need to see if she's okay. We just - we need to see if she's okay." And with that I practically through myself out of the car, slamming the door with pure panic.

It was pitch black outside, but the high street lights lined with orange neon gave the streets a haunting glow. I could see her now. A still body, clothed in what appeared to be a white dress. I approached her slowly, my heart growing louder with each step. When I got closer, I knew I could no longer deny what Luke and I already knew.

She was dead.

I sunk to my knees in front of the lifeless body, her white dress painted in the maroon color of her own blood. I breathed slowly, choking back sobs as I did so.

She was beautiful. Or atleast she had been. Her skin was almost as pale as the dress, shining dully in the orange light. Chestnut brown hair, which had once been pinned up with golden hair pins, lay strewn wilding around her shoulders, soaked in blood.

The worst part were her eyes. Her lifeless eyes remained open, revealing cold deep brown irises that would never again light up with joy or flash with anger.

"No..." I whispered, feeling tears begin to brim my eyelids. "No, please... please." I reached out my hand, delicately placing it on her blood stained abdomen. "Please." I repeated over and over, the tears rolling down my cheeks now.

Suddenly I felt Luke's heavy hand on my shoulder, causing me to flinch. "Cora, she's gone."

I took shaky breaths. "She was innocent. She was fucking innocent." I looked up at him, the orange glow shading half his face. "She just... oh my god..." I looked back down at the woman, a pool of blood now steadily forming around her lifeless body. I choked back another sob. "She was innocent..."

It was happening all over again. The floodgates has bursted open. My veins pulsed with misery, regret, and dread. I closed my eyes and saw the woman's face, seconds before we had hit her. Fear. Pure fear. She had died scared. She had died alone. I collapsed forward, my hands landing in the pool of blood. I didn't move though, keeping my eyes squeezed shut. I was afraid if I opened them that I'd see Calum standing there. I was afraid I'd see them standing there. This scene was all too familiar.

"Cora..." Luke's voice came from behind me, as I felt him kneel behind me, putting both hands on my shoulders. "Cora, look at me."

I leaned up slowly, and as I opened my eyes, I was greeted with the sight of my hands covered in the deep red blood, glistening hauntingly in the neon glow. I couldn't take it. Not again. This was someone's life, drained out of them forcibly, and now it lay dripping from my fingers.

I was shaking now, unable to tear my eyes away from the blood as it dropped down my wrists to my elbows, marking me as guilty. I had been judged. And then I blinked. I blinked and the scene changed. The blood was still there, but now it was someone else's.

I lost touch with reality in that moment. "No..." I whispered. "No, NOT AGAIN!" My whisper turned into a scream as I ran my bloodied hands through my hair in a frenzy, feeling the thick liquid smear across my face in the process.

And then I blinked again. I was back. Luke was holding me by the shoulders, starting intently at me as he shook me softly. "Cora, Cora what the fuck?!" He stared at me.

My whole body was shaking now. "We have to... we have to call somebody Luke. She has someone out there expecting her back. She has someone out there and they're not going to know..." I dropped to my knees again, desperately looking for any signs of identification.

But Luke grabbed my shoulder again. "And who's that going to fucking help here, Cora? Because it certainly isn't us and it certainly isn't this woman."

I turned towards him violently. "What the fuck is wrong with you? This woman is dead because of us Luke! Don't you feel fucking anything?"

"Of course I do!" His voice rising. "But I can't bring her back Cora! And neither can you! Now I don't know what the fuck is going on with you right now, but you need to think clearly!"

I held my shaking, bloodstained fists at my side. "What do you mean?"

"With everything that's going on... With the way this city works, the last thing we need is to expose ourselves here."

I tilted my head, trying to fully comprehend what he was suggesting. "What're you saying?"

He took a deep breath. "I say we get rid of the body and get the hell out of here."

I shook my head. "Oh my god Luke! Oh my fucking god!"

"Cora hear me the fuck through! You need to take in all the aspects of this situation. First of all, what the fuck was this woman doing in the middle of this road at this time of night anyway? We're on the outskirts of town and what, there's just some random ass woman in the middle of the goddamn road? Doesn't that seem the least bit fucking weird to you?"

"I don't understand..." I replied shakily.

"Neither do I, but I don't like it Cora. This feels all too much like we just stumbled into something else here. So all I'm saying is that our best option is to get rid of the evidence and try our best to act like it never happened."

I shook my head again, pressing my hands against my temples. "No. No you're being fucking crazy! We hit a woman! She's dead because of us! Those are the facts! I don't know what you're trying to make this into, but you can't just create some bullshit theory to pass responsibility onto!"

"Cora you need to calm the fuck down and listen to me! Telling anyone about this will be a mistake I can guarantee that you'll almost immediately regret! Look around, there's no one else here!" He gestured to the open road around us, the neon gleam of the city illuminating in the distance. "All we have to do, is move the body to the side of the road and then get the fuck out of here. No witnesses, no fucking problems."

I couldn't believe this was happening. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" I screamed in frustration, tugging wildly at my hair. I felt my blood burn and the dread creep it's way up my veins.

"CORA!" Luke grabbed me by both shoulders again, forcing me to look into his burning blue eyes.

"We've

got to

do this."

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