"Move and I'll shoot." My voice is hysterical, I can barely make out my captors in the dim lighting. It's probably better this way, I don't want to see his face as his most prizes possession is taken from him in a moment of goory demise.

"Don't shoot." Comes his hoarse reply, "I'll do it."

My grip relaxes, I would've pulled the trigger, still feeling the kiss of the gun against my skull. I wanted to considering the alternative. But in that moment, where I blindly, fool heartedly trusted him, he seduces me into a sense of calm and then like a snake, he pounces. Moving with a mega ton of force at high velocity, he pummels into me, skewing me and the gun across the helipad.

"Sir, we have an issue." Booms Monty's agitated voice.



BEFORE

I've never been as tired as I am now. Me and my carnival of misery find it taxing to slumber and face the wretched manifestations of my guilt ridden mind. Working with Michelangelo has been releasing in many regards. I no longer have to think about my life; just work. He feeds me, provides company along with the occasional sightings of Kalvin.

He still persists with his gift giving extravaganzas. Like the manuscript I got this morning, I was nowhere near done with it but it appeared, perfectly formulated and ordered and I nearly fainted with relief. It was coupled with the note:

Adam's Apple- piece of the forbidden apple that was stuck in Adam's throat, remaining in a bulge, near the vocal cords.

Maybe that's what my words get wedged onto when I see you.

Cute. All his notes were of similar calibre. Short, matter of fact, endearing... he could almost make me fall in love with him again.

"Angelica, how are things on this end." Asks Michelangelo waltzing into my office, he pauses to cock his head at the flowers.

"They're from Kalvin." I supply.

He smirks suddenly, calling to mind that he and Ruspin are nemesis. "No they're not."

"How can you tell?"

"Well, a myriad of whys and wherefores but the deciding factor was his allergy to this particular blossom." He says with the smugness of a well-minted businessman.

"He's- what? He's allergic?" my voice is almost shrill. My now mysterious sender has been sending these almost every day. That's why Kalvin never stayed in here long. I can't believe he didn't say anything, I would've moved them. I didn't even know that he's allergic, Bellamy was allergic to these flowers so I never allowed any near us, maybe that's why it never came up with Kalvin.

"Who are they from then?" I question, "Since you seem to be the expert."

He grins devilishly once more, "I want to see the astonishment on your face when he works up the guts to tell you."

Frowning I rack my mind for anyone who would want to send me notes. Not Cage. Not Ruspin. Maybe Bellamy. Maybe... maybe it's Michelangelo!! My mind stops functioning at the thought, but how would that explain the first note... the apology note. Maybe he was apologizing for the dolphin, or for Kalvin showing up; presuming that it is in fact him.



"Sorry." I mutter for the inestimable time this evening after smashing into some poor bystander in my state of sleep-deprived intoxication.

"Angelica, follow me." says Michelangelo.

"Where are we going?"

"To a special place."

Still in a daze, I follow him through a corridor and down a hallway.

The room he leads me to is a bedroom, simply decorated with the bed tucked neatly into a corner, almost as if it's the second main item in the room. A desk sits there, cluttered with papers. Maps, economic stocks manuscript pages, sign language, the French and English alphabet, most surprisingly. Michelangelo, however avoids all the other items in the room and heads straight for the bed, I follow him.

"It's been a unique experience, having you work for me, and spending all this time with you has made me realize things. I like you." he says then leans in, like he's planning to kiss me.

The abruptness hits me and I jerk back just as his lips skim mine.

We saved from the awkward staring by an even more awkward event. Something that I had never even considered...

Ruspin walks in.

I'm not exactly sure who to stare at.

"You're on my property." He says testily.

"I'm aware." Says Michelangelo with a smirk to me. My mouth tumbles open. Did he just... he almost used me to make Ruspin jealous. Thank heavens I didn't kiss him. He stands and brushes past Ruspin.

"I warned you to be cautious." He says, holding the door open for me to leave.

"Forgive me if I didn't listen to someone who only cares about themselves."

« Je suis désolé si tu penses ça. »

"Is this your room?" I ask.

"In a certain regard."

"Can't you ever just say yes or no?"

"No." he says and the tips of his lips curve upwards and everything about him changes, he's suddenly... a person, "You can remain here if you feel so inclined."

Biting my lip, I wonder what I have to face out there. Dancing, Michelangelo and memories from my father's castle.

Ruspin and his bed it is.

While I recline on his pillows he settles behind his desk and rearranges the stacks of paper.

"I researched Felix." He says offhandedly. "He didn't kill your friend. He has no idea of your whereabouts."

Curse common sense. I want to believe him so bad but the murder, the note, it's everything that defines Felix.

Continuing slowly he says, "Someone tried to copycat his murders but they were sloppy. I cross-examined the crimes and this one was too public and drew too much attention to by his style."

"That's your evidence?"

"Yes."

"Do you know who it is?" I ask, most likely he stopped looking into it after that. In fact, I'm not sure why he did it in the first place.

"Not yet." He says, "But you're safe."

A tense moment passes before I find the gall to ask, "How are your plans coming along."

His head snaps to the door. "This isn't the ideal place for this discussion but there are minor impediments."

"Can I..."

"Rest here. I'll wake you before I leave." He cuts me off abruptly.

His tone brokers no argument and I am tired. The main reason for me pushing myself was because Michelangelo was always working late and he'd ensure that he was around when I read the notes and received the flowers... I felt bad for abandoning him at the office when I could have stayed and accompanied him.

My thoughts at the time were that I should be grateful for the solace he provided against Ruspin, but in light of recent events I see that I got everything wrong. I didn't need solace from Ruspin and he was just using me to irk Ruspin... and just like Ruspin he never wanted to work with me either. I'll never forget that moment on the plane; he told me how 'happy' he was that our working arrangement was terminated.

I don't get it. If I'm as incompetent as everyone seems to think I am, then why did Ruspin need my idea for geothermal energy why couldn't he have figured it out himself?

With that thought, I fall asleep.



"Shit, we're gonna be rich!" whispers a voice.

"Let's just get her to the helipad before the boss gets mad." Grumbles another.

The world is swaying and I realize that they're taking me someplace. As the realization sinks in I will my muscles not to stiffen as my mind enters a frenzied state. All the way over to the helipad, I keep waiting for the opportunity to get loose. To not go back. I keep thinking of Cage and whether or not he's in a similar situation and I keep thinking... even though I don't want to reconcile with it; there was only one person who had any inkling of my whereabouts.

"Rest her there." A shiver runs up and down the length of my spine... I was right.

Just before they drop me, I swipe one of their guns and contemplate on who I should shoot first.

"Move and I'll shoot." My voice is hysterical, I can barely make out my captors in the dim lighting. It's probably better this way, I don't want to see his face as his most prizes possession is taken from him in a moment of goory demise.

"Don't shoot." Comes his hoarse reply, "I'll do it."

My grip relaxes, I would've pulled the trigger, still feeling the kiss of the gun against my skull. I wanted to considering the alternative. But in that moment, where I blindly, fool heartedly trusted him, he seduces me into a sense of calm and then like a snake, he pounces. Moving with a mega ton of force at high velocity, he pummels into me, skewing me and the gun across the helipad.

"Sir, we have an issue." Booms Monty's agitated voice.

He steps closer to Ruspin and moves his lips rapidly so that no sounds escape.

"Now."

Still grasping the gun tightly, Ruspin crouches before me.

"This isn't how it looks." He tries to explain, while I sit there leeching rage, breathing rage and imagining shooting him. "I just couldn't-"

"Resist the money?" Is my instant reply, "You wanted to make me feel safe and then betray me?"

"I need to cuff you." he says with a wince, probably anticipating my reaction which is to slap him. His face snaps to the side and Monty grabs my arms and snaps the cuffs on.

I glare at them both, ignoring the defeat sinking into my bones, the least I can do now is spite them both for this betrayal but I've lost the means of doing so. "I've got an idea." I say, "Instead of sending me back there to be tortured, have mercy and kill me now."

He blinks in shock but I'm deprived of what might've been a highly entertaining answer by the propeller turning on. Ruspin places headphones over my ears and they block the noise, he places another over his. They must be connected somehow, because I hear his voice on the other end. "Angelica, trust me like you did before."

Laughing drily, I inform him, "I did myself an act of kindness by never believing you."

After that he doesn't speak to me. Not as we take off and leave this tragic city behind, not when the sun rises and I note the other air craft next to us. He only dare utters a word when said aircraft blows up our dearest engine. The explosion is almost comical. With the projectile firing and heading towards us, the deafening explosion, audible, even through the headphones. And all throughout, we just sit here staring at the impending destruction.

The plane whirls like a metal tornado and ploughs directly into the other aircraft. Well, at least we'll all die together. Ruspin, of course, can never go with the norm. Monty takes a flying leap out of the plane and I see his parachute deploy. He unties me and using his belt, wedges us together and hurtles out of the plane.

At first everything is a jumble of limbs, sheer terror that you'll lose a limb, catching fragmented views of the aircrafts, ablaze with fire, heading towards you headed towards the forest then a sharp yank skywards as the parachute deploys. I can still almost taste my last breath, but at least the ground is rushing towards me any longer.

Then I remember.

Ruspin only hauled me out of the burning sky-wreck because he needs me for money. Despite the crash, his main objective is to use me; to return me just debit me into a returns outwards account. Using his preoccupied state I discretely unfasten the belt binding us together and wait for a non-deadly altitude to drop.

As the green carpet known as the tree canopy is almost brushing our feet, I release all ties to Ruspin, quite literally. He barely has a moment for his hands to brush the top of my head before gravity grabs me like a vice, drawing my downward.

My actions nearly send me smashing into the ground, but luckily, I've got a belt that attracts tree branches. It latches me violently, to the adjacent tree branch and I dangle there, gasping but relieved. Curse my feeble upper body! My arms can't even haul me up.

WHACK!

I thud painfully on the ground the debris that knocked me from my lofty vantage clattering beside me. Wincing, I flutter my hands on the top of my skull to assess the damage. No blood, although I could be transforming to a unicorn, judging from the side of this lump.

Forcing past the lancing pain, I glance at the debris, which so happenes to be Ruspin's brief case. The least he could have done for me was to pack a gun, some food, some water...

Unsurprisingly, I'm disappointed by Ruspin. All he has in it is papers. Bloody papers. I can't eat that! The most I can do is use it for kindling and that's assuming that I can even light a fire while trying to escape Ruspin. My fingers freeze as I spot my name on a file. A file! He's got an entire one dedicated to me. I yank it out and open it, just as Ruspin crashes through the trees.

Hmm... he must've thought that he was not making any money while using the parachute and decided to speed things up so that he can sell me. How thoughtful.

Shoving the file back, I grab his brief case and run.

Jesus, how are people even supposed to run through forests? There's moss to slip on, vines to kill you... the perfect death trap. After succeeding to gain distance to Ruspin (and trip countless times) I decide to walk. I walk and walk until I get to a rocky clearing. Everything suddenly turns desolate, as though nothing wants to grow here. It stretches on as far as I can see, no cover, nothing.

As much as I prefer traversing this terrain, I just..., I just want the earth to swallow me, I just want to give up; but I can't. I refuse to die here. I refuse to let Ruspin inflict this upon me.

I jog forward, fuelled by stubbornness and just as I wished, the earth opens up and swallows me.