✔︎ 𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐎𝐎𝐃 [𝐆𝐓𝐀𝐕]

𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝐹𝐼𝑉𝐸 - 𝐴 𝐶𝐿𝐸𝐴𝑁 𝑆𝐿𝐴𝑇𝐸

"I was a mother and now I'm a monster." -Hayley Marshall, The Originals.

Ludendorff, North Yankton, December of 2004

Amanda paced up and down her room nervously as she waited for a phone call from Michael. Tracey and James, now 13 and 11, paid no mind to their anxious mother as they went upstairs to their rooms, heads buried in their phones and rambling to their friends about how lame school was. Living in a desolate area such as Ludendorff meant you didn't make many friends, but the ones you did make were friends for life.

In 2000, Michael and Amanda had saved up enough money from the male's 'job' to finally move into a 3 bedroom house large enough to accommodate all of them. Tracey was growing older by the second, and the then-9-year-old would throw constant tantrums over having to share a bedroom with her 'gross' brother. Although Michael and Amanda had gave up their room to sleep on their couch and allow their children to have a proper room, it still wasn't enough for them. Michael robbed a bank some 150 miles away, and they moved within two days.

Speaking of bank robberies, that's exactly what Michael was doing now, except this time he'd made the idiotic decision of robbing his own local bank. He told Amanda it was because the crew needed funding for a bigger job, but Amanda knew it was bullshit due to how many 'bigger' jobs Lester had offered Michael, but he turned them down because he was too scared of dying.

After an hour of pacing and waiting, Amanda's ringtone blared through the room, making her jump. She answered the phone with shaky fingers, but the voice that came down the other end wasn't the one that belonged to her husband.

"This is David Norton from the Federal Investigation Bureau, am I speaking to Amanda Townley?"

"Uhhhh....sure," Amanda answered, unsure if this was just some trick to get Michael caught. He had always taught her that if the police phone her, to either not answer or gave a fake name, but he never said anything about the fucking FIB calling.

"Michael is your husband, correct?" David spoke down the phone, his voice completely monotone.

"Yes." Amanda replied.

"He was arrested a few hours ago for an attempted bank robbery and mass homocide, but that's not what I am phoning you for. I am phoning to let you know that Michael will be offered a deal he cannot turn down, so I'm telling you to pack your stuff because you won't be at your house much longer."

"What the fuck?" Amanda sneered, "My husband will not be taking any deals from the likes of you."

"Oh, but he will," David replied smugly, "Imagine this: living in a beautiful mansion in Rockford Hills, Los Santos, with a generous amount of money in your bank and all the cars you could ask for."

Amanda paused. Why would he do that for a man who just robbed a bank and killed a hell of a lot of people?

"What's the catch?"

"There isn't one, for you atleast. All that needs to happen is for your family to change your surnames and stay low-key for a while, and I take all the glory for catching Michael....ah, is it Townley?  In what would've been the biggest bank robbery in the history of bank robberies."

Amanda put the phone down and slammed it on the table without replying. She crossed her fingers and hoped Michael would make the right choice and just take his time in jail, which sucked, but to her it seemed a lot safer than this FIB guy. But when Michael burst through the door half an hour later, Amanda's heart dropped.

"Listen, Amanda. We're going to move to Los Santos. Start over. I made a deal. The slate will be totally wiped clean." He said as he came in, already starting to stuff things into duffel bags as he spoke.

Amanda couldn't even look at her husband. She had been biting her lip since she put the phone down, willing herself not to cry, but now the tears rolled freely down her face. She had built a life here, she had a job and she had friends and she had two children who'd lived here their whole lives. Now they were going to be ripped away from everything they'd ever known - their school, their friends, their beloved rooms - all because Michael just had to be a fucking piece of shit who wandered at the wrong side of the law.

Sometimes she regrets the night where she got curious and listened in to that phone call.

"Trust me, darling," Michael said as he finally paused and realised that Amanda was facing away from him, quiet sobs shaking her body, "Look at me, Amanda. It was the only thing I could do. Either everyone dies, or one guy gets out. I'm that guy!"

"Shut up, Michael." Amanda replied, her voice laced with venom, as she too began shoving things into bags and called upstairs to tell the kids to do the same thing. They were confused at first, but they knew that their father wasn't a very good guy, and inmediately began packing their things as soon as they heard 'mansion' and 'money' in the same sentence.

"His name is Dave Norton, nice guy - realist. He gets the glory, I get out. It's not even a decision. Amanda, I don't have a choice." Michael rambled, now feeling slightly guilty for dumping all of this on his poor wife, who just wanted to live life simply.

Kids, a house, a nice car. That was all she ever wanted.

"Do you wanna die here where it's always snowing? Or do you wanna go and live where it's always sunny?" Michael asked as he grabbed Amanda's wrists to stop her from what she was doing and gain her attention, as well as actually getting her to look at him.

When Amanda finally spoke, it was just a simple question.

"What happened?" She croaked, her eyes downcast as she tried to stop the tears from falling. For a moment, she kind of wished that Michael would do that thing where he wiped her tears away and told her she was too pretty to cry, but right now she was too angry, so she wiggled free from his grasp and resumed packing.

"It was just some depot out of town, you don't need to know. Trust me, nothing is gonna go wrong. Nothing." He replied, trying to convince her, aswell as himself, that this was the best move for them. But right now, with his wife a heartbroken mess on the floor of the house they had worked so hard for? He thought about taking the time in prison for a moment.

Amanda shook her head, "don't speak to me."

"I did the deal, Amanda. It's over. Baby, we get out. Be happy. Be normal!" He exclaimed, waving his arms about and trying to make some sort of joke to lighten the mood. The brunette girl shook her head once again and pulled on her coat and shoes, proceeding to take the bags they had packed to the car. Michael then watched as she ran upstairs and screamed at the kids to hurry up, only to return 5 minutes later with two teary eyed children and whole lot more bags that they were going to have to squish in the back of the car.

After locking the door to the house, Amanda was the last to slam her car door shut and click her seatbelt in. The kids chatted excitedly in the back about moving to Los Santos, the kind of place that was only real in TV shows, but Amanda couldn't stop crying. She tried to keep it quiet as to not further upset the children after shouting at them earlier, something she rarely did, but it got to the point where it was distracting Michael from driving because he felt so guilty.

But on the other hand, Amanda walked into this relationship knowing what Michael did and chose to stay. So, in his eyes, it was kind of her fault aswell.

"We did it. Baby, we are home free. It's over." Michael said, turning his head to get a proper look at Amanda, and oh god did he regret it. Her usually deep brown eyes were puffy and red from crying, her hair was a mess, and she was wearing the same pyjamas she'd been in for the past 2 days: one of Michael's shirts and some grey joggers. And yet, she still look beautiful. Michael's heart swelled.

"Shut the fuck up." Amanda growled.

Her husband just shook his head and turned his eyes back to the road, and although his mind was set, his heart felt extremely heavy.

Would Amanda ever forgive him?