The constant beeping was doing my head in but when I tried to raise my right arm, a searing burn ripped through my entire body. It was as if I had been thrown into the hottest of hellfire. I felt myself let out a loud gasp accompanying a small whimper as small remnants of what happened just flooded my mind.

Holding that gun again, Derek gave me a heart attack, a feeling of familiarity flooding me as I linked it back to the day that Derek nearly tried to kill himself. I remember how every night after that happened for weeks, I'd cry myself to sleep, knowing that I had hurt my best friend, knowing that I screwed him over.

I looked around, trying to see if Derek had decided to stay but my heart sunk a little as I saw that there was no sign of Derek, as if he had disappeared into thin air again.

I failed to notice the hooded figure that sat in the corner of the room, studying my every move; I could feel my heartbeat jumping at two times the rate it should be, my heart monitor beeping faster and faster after every passing second. I wanted to call the nurse but a morbid curiosity stopped me, a film of dark interest covering my soul as I felt myself being lured in by the mysterious figure that sat in the chair. His eyes held no emotion other than a glint if curiosity, almost looking at me as if I was just an experiment in a scientists lab.

Raising his hood slightly, I stared into a pair of the most stunning blue-grey eyes I had ever seen and I felt myself being sucked into a different dimension, one where there were only the two of us. It felt completely unnatural that it felt so normal to be staring into his eyes like this, like we were friends that went way back.
Just when I was about to question his identity, a knock came from the door, forcing me to avert my eyes from his beautiful blues and to the door.

"Who is it?"

"Miss Cordero, the police are here to talk to you. Is now a good time for us to join you?"

I looked in the direction of the chair once more, but there was no traces of the imposter who was in my room mere seconds ago, leaving my head in utter perplexion as I tried to figure out where he could have possibly gone.

"Yes they can come in." I answered, sure that I wouldn't need to worry about the imposter while Interpol was here.

Greene walked in, accompanied with two other standard police officers. Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that Greene wasn't who he said he was, the hairs on my neck raising again slightly as I tried to concentrate on his movements, trying to figure out what he was hiding.

What he was really doing here.

"Maya, I'm sorry that our next meet is in such a dire situation, but I hope you understand that we are trying to understand your predicament a little better."

"I get what you mean, but do you really think it's Jack Dillen? Why would he want anything to do with me?"

"That's what we're trying to find out. All his other targets had very different assets and we can't see any visible pattern at the minute. Would you mind telling us what happened on tape?"

Once more, I explained everything that happened, excluding Derek's participation. I knew this could get me in trouble but I didn't want him to get involved in my own problems.

Something heavy sat in my chest as I realised that my childhood home had now been vandalised with terror and violence, overriding the beautiful memories I had with my mother. That house held too many bad connotations, including that horrid day... that dreaded day where everything went wrong.

No one would be able to understand what happened that day, the emotions that coursed through me, the pain it brought me to be forced into casting Derek away.

I kept zoning out, only catching certain words Greene was telling me, until a certain sentence grabbed my attention.

"But we've caught him."

"What??"

"He's currently being held in custody after he was spotted trying to crawl away. There were some nasty gunshots in his thigh, only a few inches away from his artery. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

"No."

My lie flowed through me like a second skin now, acting as one of the guards I held around myself.

After what happened a few years ago with my mother, I developed trust issues and I questioned everything, leading me to come to irrational conclusions; if others could look into my mind, they would see a catastrophic mess of uncertainty and untrust, leading to my many hard, toughened walls. Only a handful of people passed that barrier. Two of them were dead, one of them hated me.

"I guess that's all for now Maya, I hope to inform you about any further progression on Dillen. That'll be all." Standing up, he give me a curt nod before making his way out of my door.

The problem was over.

Jack was finally gone.

Maybe, just maybe, I might have a chance at leading a normal life again. Maybe, I have the chance to try and be a normal teen again.

But then I crashed back into reality as I realised that however hard I tried, I couldn't be a normal teenager. No normal teen would watch both her parents get killed. No normal teen would be trying to save her best friends from a serial killer.

No normal teenager has a fat, red target on their back.

Walking in with a handful of papers, a nurse walked in, her face void of emotions and a fake smile was plastered to her face as she put down the papers and wrapped the BP machine around my upper arm. She pulled the strap a little too tight and I felt my arm quickly have its circulation cut off. Slowly, the machine tightened its walls around my arm and I felt myself becoming faint, my heart monitor starting to increase in speed as I flashed back to memories of Silver tightening his vice like grip on my arms, my breathing going haywire as I started to hyperventilate. Even though I was breathing so quickly, I wasn't getting enough oxygen. Blurry and disoriented, I tried to find a clock or some writing, knowing that they would help me to ground myself but my vision failed me as I felt myself loosing control.

I heard the nurse calling more people in but my episode kept me from hearing what they were saying. I felt a mask being put over my face and instantly, I felt myself calm down. Only then did I notice that the machine was no longer strapped around my arm.

I hated the fact that I had that panic attack, it was uncalled for and inconvenient. I was planning on asking the doctor if I could leave, under the illusion that I was ok, but now I understood that even if my physical state was ok, I was mentally damaged and traumatised. Silvers influence never really had left. I hated how even though he was far away and locked up, he still affected me, terrorising me without even knowing it.

Just before all the nurses had left, I managed to get the attention of a different nurse, who in comparison to the other one, had a soft and kind aura, calming my now frazzled nerves with her sweet smile.

"What's wrong, darling?" She inquired, her smile inviting me in.

"I was going to ask about my discharge. I hate being at hospital so much and I just really want to get out of here so badly."

"Oh honey, I'll ask the doctor for you, but I agree with you. Even though I work here, hospitals are hell, I hate being here, but knowing that I'll be able to help others like this reassures me. I love knowing that even if it is only a few people I help, I can help them get through this."

Her words made me smile as I felt myself enjoy her company more. I knew that if Silver was going to be going after me like this, these trips to the hospital would become more frequent. Why not have someone here on my side aswell?

"What's your name?"

"I'm Angelina Minetta but you can call my Anj if you prefer."

"I'm so sorry for making you ask the doctor about the discharge but I hope you understand why I hate being here."

"Miss, don't be sorry for something you didn't even do. It's my job to be helping you out." Then she lowered her voice into a whisper a small smile playing on her lips. "You're one of my favourite patients today aswell, the others in this ward are absolute hell."

I felt myself slowly open myself up to her, a mutual trust building between us, confusing me at the same time. I've never felt a trust like this grow so quickly.

We spoke for a few more minutes before she excused herself, going to ask the doctor about my discharge.

Feeling myself drift off to sleep because of the evident boredom and inactivity, I accepted the veil of relaxation but before I could fully go to sleep, a ping resonated through the room, my bed-side table being the source of the noise. I looked over and saw a message on my phone, a feeling of deja vu overcoming me as I saw that the message came from an unknown number.

For the third time today, I felt my heart rate increase as I opened the message, my hand suddenly covering my mouth as horror flooded my whole body.

'This is what happens when you try and mess with my plans, have a good nights sleep, Maya
                                                 -S"

And attached underneath the message was a image.

Ashy blonde hair lay in disarray on the floor as a pool of deep red pooled around the pale, nearly blue, girl's body.

The girl was Ocean.

~~~
A/N: oh goodness, this chapter took a lot longer than I had expected it too, but here it is. I'm not a complete fan of this chapter and I'm still not sure why but I've introduced Angelina and a mysterious stranger, both of whom will be important characters in the near future 0-0

If I can, I'll try and write another quick chapter for you all because this chapter took so long to write.

Who do you think our mysterious stranger is?

And a general question, how did you find my book?

If you think this chapter deserved it, please leave it a like, a comment and I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

See you later,
Lolaalvilivi