• December 12, 2012

    “Go, go!” yelled Dylan Denton in my earpiece. Who would have guessed that I would be in this situation again . . . Running like hell through Somalia, chasing after a ghost, my young partner behind me. CATS was back, baby, and better than ever! Except, I was still edgy about having Amber Denton as my partner. You guessed it, Amber (or Am, which was her codename) was Dylan’s wife.

    The bomb exploded behind us after we jumped over the barricade. Then someone yelled, “There, Salem, go!”

    I was tackled, wind knocked out of me. There was someone on top of me, who I kicked off. “Am! RUN! Get to the evac point, go!” I shouted.

    “No, Blaze! I’m not leaving you!” Am yelled back.

    Frustrated, I yelled, “GET YOUR a** OUT OF HERE!”

    Am bolted out of there, running to the evac point. I stood up, punching him in the stomach. He wore a mask similar to mine, and I couldn’t help but recognizing it. Elliot.

    He grabbed me by my throat, lifting me into the air. “You’re dead.” he growled. Okay! Elliot does not recognize me!

    “NO! ELLIOT!” I coughed. He dropped me to the ground, where my mask fell off. He whispered, “Rose?“ I felt his hand touch my scars on my cheeks. The red scars were darker now, since we got them re-injected when CATS was back. I grabbed my mask and bolted up, running at full speed. Tyson was near by, chasing after me. I saw the chopper lifting off the ground at the evac point. It was hovering over the ground, so I jumped and grabbed hold of the bottom railing, where Am pulled me up onto the chopper as it took off. I looked over the side, noticing that Elliot and Tyse’s masks were off, and Elliot’s eyes red. Was he . . . Crying?

    I put my mask back on, flipping it down.



    “You saw him, and he saw you? This is bad.” Dylan huffed, pacing the room. Amber and I were sitting on the couch, and he sighed. “Does he know that you’re here?”

    “I think so . . .” I sighed. “Maybe this is a sign.”

    “A sign? A sign for what?” he asked me. “Getting us all killed?”

    “No! A sign for me to kill Philip Clyde.” I felt hot tears roll down my cheeks. I walked outside, picking my cell phone from my jacket’s pocket. I put on my white hood and dialed in the number that I had memorized a year ago. Someone answered, but there was crying in the background. Then a distraught woman spoke up.

    “Now is not a good time.”

    “Alice?” I squeaked.

    There was a pause, and a short muffled discussion. The crying stopped once a door shut. “Rosalie? Is that you?” Alice’s voice rung through the earpiece. It shocked me that I actually remembered what her voice sounded like.

    “Yeah, it is.” I replied, wiping the tears with my sleeve. It was cold outside, and it felt like it was about to snow. But this is Miami, Florida! It never snows . . .

    “Do you know how much pain you’ve put Elliot through? I told Tyson what happened, but not Elliot. Not to mention, Dominic and Emma does not even know their aunt, how do you think I feel about that? You are actually the godmother, you know-”

    “Alice. I’m coming home. I saw Elliot and Tyson today at Somalia. I saw how much they were hurt.”

    There was a pause. “What about Clyde?”

    “I’ll take care of him. Just tell Elliot why I left.”

    It took an hour in my silver Mustang ’09 to get to TWO. I parked outside and my black boots sunk in the white snow that began falling half an hour ago. I opened the door, and pushed off my hood, my black bangs falling to the side. It was warm and had the soft smell of coffee. Home.

    “Alice?” I called.

    However, there was someone else.

    “Rose.”

    He walked towards me, stopping a foot away from me. It was a grueling five seconds that seemed to last a lifetime. I jumped into his arms, letting the tears fall. “Elliot, I’m so sorry!” I cried. “I should have just told you, but I couldn’t. I’m sorry!”

    Elliot smiled, hugging me tightly. “I missed you.” he pushed me away, putting his hands on my cheeks. He thumbed away my tears. “I love you, Rose. I always had.”

    “Even when we first met, and I thought you didn’t like me?”

    “Because I knew that I wanted to be with you, but I thought that you didn’t want to be with me.”

    “Why?”

    “’Cause I’m a gangster.” he smirked. He hugged me again, and whispered in my ear if I would marry him.