I ran.

I ran with my heart pounding in my ears and my fists curled. When I was near him the memories came, I saw red and anger and heat and hurt. The fucking kid somehow managed to release everything I had buried. Maybe I should have just left him there. I slowed and shoved my hands deep in my pockets. Maybe he'd just get himself killed out here on the streets. The bastard thought he could live out here. No one got old here. He'd be dead in hours.

Day came and went. Then another day. And another night. Another night came and went. Another day. I was hungry. Cold. I saw people begging for change, for scraps of food like stray dogs. Fuck, even the dogs got treated better.

The sun rose and fell. Rose and fell. I lost track of how many times.

It was cold, I was shivering. My shoes scuffed the sidewalk, catching frozen patches of snow and broken chunks of cement. My eyes stayed on the ground. I didn't watch where I was going. My feet ached. My ankle throbbed begging me to stop. I tried to ignore it for a while, then couldn't any longer. I stopped moving and found that I standing in the middle of an empty street. It was snowing and starting to stick to the cold pavement. I stared at the clouded sky, watched the slow-moving grey. It had all the time in the world.

"Twitch?"

I didn't move.

"Twitch, the fuck are you doing?"

The second time I recognized the voice. Keeping my eyes on the sky I sighed, "And why the fuck would you care, Jax?" I dropped my gaze and stared at the familiar stranger. He was leaning against a building, just watching. I wondered how long he had been there and why I hadn't noticed him.

"We were pals," he laughed not bothering to move away from the wall.

"We were never friends. You never knew me. I never knew you."

He pushed away from the wall and met me in the road. There was something different about him. He looked stronger, more solid. There was a different look in his eyes. A different grin on his face.

"I know everything about you, Annie," he slid my name across, drawing out the word, stretching it, making it last, "Like why you can't stand your real name, Annie. How he always called you that, whenever he was scared, or sick, or just wanted you. Or how you cried when he was gone. How Axel watched over you for days."

I lunged at him, felt my fists make contact, "You don't fucking know anything."

He was still laughing when he threw me to the ground. I was stunned. He had never touched me like that. He had never been able to before. He noticed my shock.

"Yeah, Axel saw my real potential after he stopped being blinded by you," he picked at a nail, "Lots of things changed after you left."

"Axel was never fucking interested in me." We had our history, but that was then and it was best to just forget and move on.

He grinned. His eyes were dangerous and hard. He had tattoos, ones that weren't there before. A teardrop by his eye, the word Fallen written across his neck.

"That really true, Annie? He brought you to the Fallen, he got you in, he made you who you were. We all know there's a chink in his armor just for you."

I was silent. Jax talking about Axel like that brought back feelings and history I thought I was over. I thought I had drowned it in enough pain and alcohol.

"And now look at you. A starving mess," he prodded me with his foot, "You made your self stupid, weak and crazy, Annie."

He paused and grinned again.

"Just like your retard brother."

I went at him again. He kept pushing me off like I was nothing.

"Stop trying, Annie, you aren't going to hurt me. You're only hurting yourself."

He got me in the stomach. I went down hard. My knees thudded to the pavement, a warm pain spread upwards. Then I was down all the way. My right side pressed hard to the cold road. I was tired, felt weak, the fight suddenly taken from me. It was more than just the hit. I couldn't remember the last time I ate. The world darkened, edges getting fuzzy everything soft and warm. A slap brought the cold back, the world back.

"Don't you be fallin' asleep on me now."

The snow seeped through my clothes. My hands felt frozen in claws, spasms of shivers coursed over my skin.

"Funny how much I know about you, and how little you know about me, isn't it?" He was squatting next to me, holding my face in his hand, "You know nothing."

The sky was still gray when I glanced up at it, the clouds were moving faster. More snow was falling.

"You have no idea how long I've watched Axel suffer because of you. Because he for some fucked up reason can't seem to let you go. He's drowned himself in booze, tried a call girl or five, and yet can't get your nasty scarred face out of his head. So much so that he had me fucking track you like a Goddamned dog."

His breath was hot against my face.

"I've seen you with that kid, watched you save his fucking life. I've seen you fucking beat to shit. And you never noticed me. Not. Even. Once." He grinned again, his disgusting teeth crooked and stained.

He ran a finger across my cheek, prodding the scar.

I had never seen him, not even once. I was fucking stupid. My eyes dropped to the ground. I didn't want to look at him.

"Axel wanted eyes on you, he wanted to know you were still alive," he rolled his eyes, "A waste if you ask me."

"What?"

"And you didn't see me once. And I am fucking sick of following you," his voice lowered, thick with an edge that sent a chill down my back, "I'm going to make sure Axel forgets all about you. Make him forget all about the little girl with the scar."

Another spasm of shivering rocked through me, he slammed my head back into the pavement.

"Stay still, girl," he sounded hungry, aching for something, "I don't like people moving when I talk to them." My body shook at his words, I wanted to run, get away, escape, but maybe I deserved it. Maybe Axel deserved to be free of me and me of him.

My head was forced upwards, forcing me to look at him. They were cold, hateful, and hungry. His fingers ran over the scar on my face, traced the dark bruises under my eyes, gently prodded the swelling on my cheek, and tighten on my throat. They released and dove further down, reaching my thighs, I shivered, and his hands went back to my throat.

"That's it," he whispered, "Be a good girl and stay still. When I'm done Axel won't want you anymore, he won't think about you anymore. I'll tell him you got yourself messed up in the wrong crowd. You were too dumb to think about consequences and when and got yourself killed."

I had no fight left in me. I couldn't move even if I wanted to. Maybe this was the end. Maybe this is the end I deserved. And everything could be forgotten and still and I could sleep.