Author's note: As usual some sexual themes and language. Also, ignore the crappiness of some of the pictures, my game was lagging and yeaaahhh. Anyway, this is definitely going to be one of my favorite chapters, and I hope it'll be one of yours, too. Enjoy!
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“Wait… What!?” I gasped, tears of shock and anger
threatening to burst through my already shattered barrier.
“Arrested…” The cop reiterated. “For the murder of Brandon
Tenser.”
“B-But…” I stuttered out, trying to grasp what was going on
around me. “But… why!?”
“Because these people are assholes, that’s why.” Quill
walked into the room, looking disheveled, like he hadn’t slept in days. “Sorry,
sir, but bail was paid. You can move on, now.”
Quill handed the cop some papers, and the cop left the room
without another word, although he looked disappointed that he didn’t get to put
someone in handcuffs.
“Quill, wha-what-I-what?” Quill had quickly pulled me into a
hug, and I couldn’t quite grasp what had happened. It had happened so quickly,
I was unsure if it really had happened.
“Why? Why are they… Why me?”
“I’m not the one to explain it to you, Ariel.” Quill sighed, and a
black-haired tattooed woman walked in, holding a pile of disorganized papers
and four coffees.
“Kat Winters, nice to meet you. I’ll be the one getting your ass out of this
mess.” She handed Brooklyn, Quill, and I a coffee, and ordered the kids out of
the room. “So, you’re in a bit of a pickle. And when I say a bit, I mean this
is a complete disaster. They found your gun at the crime scene.”
“My… gun?” I sputtered out. “I don’t own a..?” Wait, yes I
do. I bought one after Gene was killed, put it in a safe and forgot all about
it. Until now. “Shit.”
“Apparently, you also have no alibi.” She glared, making me
wonder if she actually believed I was innocent. “There’s a couple hour hole in
between when Brandon got to Chicago, and when Aperille came to your house.
Plenty of time for you to commit the murder and quickly come back, at least
that’s what they’re saying.”
“But… why?” I tried to get a word in, which was hard as Kat
talked a million miles an hour. “Don’t I need like a… motive or something?”
Kat sighed, like the answer would have been obvious. “The
motive is that he’s getting in the way of your sleeping with a bunch of men…”
I was shocked. Brandon has always been there for me during
my Challenge, and now they’re saying the Challenge is the reason I killed him?
“And they’re using your attempted suicide as an…” Kat fished
through her papers, pulling out a crumpled one with words scribbled upon it. And I’m entrusting my life with this woman? “
‘excuse to get out of any repercussions caused by this atrocious tragedy’. Or
something.”
I turned to Quill and Brooklyn, who had stayed silent during
this whole meeting. “So Mom paid bail, yeah? I can go home?” I hoped, I was
ready to change out of these horrible clothes and get back to the comfort of my
own bed.
“Uh, not exactly…” Quill avoided my gaze, staring down at
the ground.
“You’ll be staying in the hospital under supervision. The
hospital’s been kind enough to set up a nursery and playroom, and help you
continue your challenge, but it won’t be home.” Kat explained, making me feel
even worse than before.
“But, hey, we brought’cha some clothes!” Brooklyn beamed, like that made
it all better. “Ya’ won’t hafta wear
those rags anymore!” He joked, and I sent a scowl in his direction.
“Give them to me.” I glared at him, and he pulled a bag of
clothes from the corner of the room.
“Here ya’ go.” He tossed them towards me, and I walked to
the bathroom, Brooklyn, Quill, and Kat leaving the hospital and promising to be
back later.
Once I was fully dressed, I came out of the room to check on
the children. Alex and Holden were playing with some blocks with a blonde
toddler, who I assumed was a patient in the hospital, in a kids play area.
“Mommy!!!” Alex noticed me almost immediately, discarding
the blocks and rushing over to hug my legs. Holden continued playing with the
blonde little boy, waving at me when I looked over at him, which I returned
with a smile.
“Hey, sweetie. You ok?” I smiled, and she beamed.
“Yeah! Howwen and Jake and me are pwaying bwocks!” She
pulled me over to where Holden and the blonde boy, I’m assuming Jake, were
building structures with blocks.
“Oh, hey.” A hoarse voice echoed through the room, and I
turned around to see a red-headed man with deep green eyes smirking in my
direction. It looked like he hadn’t slept in a while, with dark rings around
his eyes. His eyes made his way to the children, and he looked genuinely
surprised to see them. “Jake! Hey buddy!” He gleamed, the tired look
disappearing as soon as he laid eyes on him. “How you doing?”
“Fine, Uncle Bart…” Jake said quietly, barely more audible
than a whisper.
“Ah, that’s good.” The man, Bart, smiled and patted the
child’s head. He looked back at me, as if he was just now noticing that I was
in the room. “Oh, hey.” He repeated.
“Yeah, you already said that.” I laughed, a confused look
spreading across his face.
“Oh, did I?” He looked like he was thinking for a second,
then shrugged. “Ah, don’t remember.” He stood up and rubbed the back of his
neck and laughed. “I’m Bart, you?”
“Ariel Spencer.” I smiled and sat down on one of the chairs,
and he sat down on the one beside me.
“Nice to meet you, Ariel.” He flashed a grin before
reverting to his tired self that I saw just a minute ago. “What’cha in for?” He
shot a quick laugh, before dismissing the thought of it being humorous.
“Attempted suicide…” I shrugged, trying to make it seem like
no big deal. He looked like he wanted to talk about it, but decided against it.
I sent him a silent thanks. “You?”
“Ah, Jake’s parents, uh, died in a car crash recently.” He
looked down towards the floor, staring into the distance, as if reliving a
memory. A memory he wanted to forget, a memory that haunted him in his sleep. Yeah, I know how you feel. “The doctors
diagnosed him with PTSD, which I didn’t even know kids his age could get, so
he’s staying here for a while, and I’m gonna be looking after him.”
“I’m sorry.” That seemed to be the only thing I could say. I’m sorry. Not If you need help, I’m here or Things
will get better, because I know better. Things may not get better, and
that’s just a horrible fact of life.
“Don’t be.” He smiled, and again I saw his fatigue fade away
into a bright, bubbly man. “It’ll all turn out fine, I’m sure of it.” He nudged
me. Wow, someone seems pretty optimistic.
“I’m sure everything will be fine with you, too.”
“I hope so.” I smiled, nudging him back.
And pretty soon we were kissing, making our way to the
nearest empty room in the hospital. We were up against the wall, kissing
furiously and hungrily. I tugged at the bottom of his shirt, pulling it off and
throwing it on the ground somewhere.
“You’re so subtle.”
Bart laughed, throwing my shirt off into the distance with his.
“Shut up.” I chuckled, pushing him down onto the bed,
pushing his pants off simultaneously.
“You sure?” He asked, rolling on top of me.
“What?” I blinked, a little startled that he would ask.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” He asked again, his lips
pausing on my neck, waiting for a response.
“Of course.” I bring his head
up, my lips meeting with his. His head made his way back to my neck. His hand
on my hips, his lips on my shoulder, I temporarily forgot about the trial,
Brandon, Aria, Quill, everything.
“Oh my god…” Aria slammed the door, her wide-eyes staring in
shock at my swollen stomach. “You’re… pregnant!?”
“Yeah, it’s called a Baby Challenge, I figured you’d know
about it, since you slept with my brother for one.” I rolled my eyes and
sighed. “What’re you doing here?”
“I came to check in on you, but it seems you’re doing just
fine on your own.” She crossed her arms and shot me a glare. “So, who’s the
unlucky man that you used for your own selfish needs?”
“Oh, that is so not
fair, Aria!” I groaned. “How many men have you
slept with and then left at the side of the road? Too many to count, yeah?”
“So, tell me, Ariel.” She leaned forward and whispered.
“What are you doing, playing chess? Are we all just pawns to you? Using us until you can throw us away at the first
possible chance? Like you did with Brandon?”
It was like glass shattering, the realization of Aria
thinking that I was guilty. “Get out.” I pointed towards the door. “Leave, and
don’t come back.”
She hesitated a moment. “Your
trial starts tomorrow, and you’re gonna need a goddamn miracle to get through
it alive.” She left, slamming the door behind her.
Weeks went by and the trial heated up, they brought up every
point possible; the gun, the lack of an alibi, and the fact that this was the
fourth death I was involved in, although that was quickly dismissed by the
judge for not being relevant in this specific crime.
The jury was sent to decide on a ruling after everything was
explained, in way too much detail for me to understand. A couple days later,
they came back, ready to deliver the verdict.
“We, the jury,” A woman stood up and said, holding a piece
of paper. “Find Ariel Spencer—”
“Stop!” The doors flew open, and a man was fighting being
restrained by the police. “Stop it, I did it, not her!”
I turned around to see a blue-haired man with glasses and
freckles. A blue haired man that I knew. “Oh my god, Larn!?”
The judge looked at me, him, then back at me. “Ma’am, do you
know this man?”
“Uh, yeah, that’s, uh, Larn…” I stared in shock as the
policemen let go of Larn and he made his way to the judge’s podium.
“I did it, sir. I killed Brandon Tenser, not Ariel. She is
innocent.” Larn stood in front of the judge, who seemed convinced.
“Alright, we’ll hold off on the verdict for now. Take these
two—” He pointed at Larn and I “—to the back room and question them. Depending
on how it goes, we’ll apply the verdict to Larn, or Ariel.”
They took us to an empty room and questioned us for a
lengthy amount of time, questioning us on all the different details of the
trial. Eventually, they decided that I was free to go.
“So, uh…” Aperille greeted me outside of the courthouse. “You’re
okay? They decided you were innocent?”
“Yeah…” I continued to walk, not really wanting to talk to
anyone. “I’m gonna get going, I’m tired and I need to get ready for leaving the
hospital…”
“Alright, see ya.” She sighed,
and I got a taxi and made my way to the hospital.
A couple days later, I gave birth to Bart’s children, twin
girls Merida and Rapunzel.
“Ariel!” I heard yelling and running through the halls, and
Bart ran into my room while I was packing, almost tripping. “They released
Jake! They said he’s gotten better, that he no longer shows any symptoms of….
What are you doing?” He eyed the suitcase curiously, before a mix of worry
popped into his face, too.
“Packing. I was released, also.” I said matter-of-factly,
and Holden, Jake, and Alex all walked into the room, smiling and laughing,
before realizing that something bad was happening.
“Well, that’s great.” He smiled. “Where ya going?”
“Monte Vista, Italy.” I zipped up the suitcase. “No better
way to run from your problems than to a whole ‘nother country, right?”
“Well, hey.” Bart shrugged, like he was suggesting
something. “Jake and I have nowhere to go, really, and he seems attached to
Holden and Alex, so, uh, maybe we could stay with you for a while… If you’d
have us.”
“Mom! Can they!?” Holden smiled, practically begging.
I thought about it. There’d be more than enough room in the
house, and Jake, Holden, and Alex did seem
to be pretty good friends. “Uh, I don’t see why not.” I smiled. “There’s plenty
of room in the house, so…”
“Great!” Bart smiled. “Guess we’re moving to Italy, then.”
The kids squealed in excitement, and Holden and Jake hugged each other.
But why was I so happy that this man that I have known less
than a couple months is going to move in with me?
