Finding Love | ✔️

thirteen

/love lets you find those hidden places in another person, even the ones they didn't know were there, even the ones they wouldn't have thought to call beautiful themselves/
~ Wild Awake

♡

No. No. This can't be happening. No. Leopald's not dead, right? I shut my eyes, as tightly as I can, trying to wipe out everything I just saw. But I open them again, and his dead body is still there. No, no. Not Leopald. No, no, no...

I run back to the station, knowing that I need to let the rest of the guys know. Charles is still painting. I'm out of breath, panting like a dog, and I'm crying mercilessly.

"Leopald," I manage to squeeze out between sobs. "Leo..." I point in the direction of his little room, and I guess Charles know not to ask anymore questions because he immediately dashes off. I rest my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath again, but my heart is still beating a hundred miles a minute.

Jason suddenly pops out of nowhere.

"Is everything okay?" He asks.

I gasp, loudly, struggling to get even the tiniest bit of oxygen into my body.

"Leopald's dead."

Like Charles, Jason sets off towards Leopald's room, calling the other guys. One by one, they pop out then head there. I continue to stand still, crying. It's only when T comes out that he offers to hold my hand and lead me there.

"It's going to be alright," he says, but even he doesn't seem so convinced.

When we get there, everyone's just staring at Leopald's body. I can't look away either. A bullet through his head, a bullet through his chest.

"It's her signature," Jason says softly. "A bullet in the head, as a message that we can't mess with her head. A bullet in the heart because...she'll mess with ours..." This is the first time I've seen Jason powerless and weak. He's almost crying too. We stand in silence. I can't read the other guys' thoughts, but I know what we're all thinking.

"How did she find out where we were?" T asks.

"Someone must have followed Lilac." Jason says.

"I'm sorry." I feel like it's my fault.

"Don't be. Even we wouldn't have sensed any of her guys following us. They're as big as dogs, but they can creep up on you like cats." He kindly puts an arm around me.

Claudia leaves and returns with a white sheet and puts it over Leopald's body. She gently wraps it around him, like they would do a mummy. His blood is still fresh, for it seeps through the sheets. I stare, seeing Leo's face for the last time. This is my last memory of him. I wish it wasn't. I wish it was -

"Why Leopald though?" Charles the Second cuts my thoughts off. "He was the sweetest of us..." Sighing loudly, he walks out with his head in his hand.

Why Leopald? The question echoes in my head. Why Leopald? The one person who finally cared about me. The one person who had shown do much kindness to me. Why did it have to be him? God, why do you always have to take the people who are closest to me away?

I feel like screaming. I feel like punching a wall. I feel like dying. I feel like bursting...I can't do this anymore.

"That's it. I'm going away, and I'm calling the cops. She doesn't have the right to do this." I push my way out and run.

Suddenly, two arms grip onto me, with their sharp nails digging into my skin.

"Let me go!" I scream.