To the heart

Chapter 4: Unfortunate pasts

When she reached Jude's cell, she opened the door, raised the gun and pulled the trigger. Instead of a bullet, a tranquilizer dart came out and hit Jude straight in the arm, sedating him instantly. Lily then proceeded to put a collar around him before dragging him upstairs and laying him on her couch and injecting him with another dart. Jude bolted awake and took in his surroundings as Lily cleaned the gun parts and shell casings from her living room.

Jude smiled and said "I take it that I'm free to go ?" and Lily says "nope, you're my new maid and you're never allowed to leave...I can't trust you not to squeal". Jude's heart sunk before he said "I-I won't tell" and Lily said "I'm sorry but being an assassin means no loose ends for anyone to follow, if I let you go then Imma' have to put a bullet in you and I don't wanna do that". Jude said "well what if just escape when you're gone, then skip town?" and she giggled before saying "that's quite impossible" as she pointed to his neck. Jude looked down and said "what the hell is this?" and she smiled and said "a shock collar that will kill you instantly if you attempt to exit this house without my authorization code".

He looked at her as if she had two heads, before lily pulled out a remote and pressed something. Seconds later, Jude felt a small bite of electricity, which caused him to fall down. She smiled and said "you can fuck around all you want but trust me, you don't wanna find out how much juice that thing packs". Jude sighed and said "well being locked up by a woman as hot as yourself isn't all that bad". Lily frowned at him and said "no...stop being so optimistic about things... I'm not pretty and I'm not a good person, you don't know how twisted I am". He smiled and said, "you're right I don't but I can tell you're compassionate and you have some good sides that you hide".

She turned away from him and fell to her knees...she was always so used to others fearing her, calling her weird or even menacing but she wasn't used to someone complimenting her. Lily turned to him and said, "I've killed more people than I can count, and worst of all, I've killed innocent people... people who haunt me in my sleep every night". Jude sighs and says "If you hate it then why did you start and why are you still doing it?". Lily says "you wouldn't understand" and he smiles and says "try me, go ahead lay it all out and in exchange, I'll tell you some of my stories". Lily sighed and said "it all started when I was 5 and my mother had fallen ill with pneumonia." Normally you would go to the hospital and they would take you whether you have insurance or not but thanks to senator Paul Sweeney and governor Francis she couldn't".

our family was a typical, poor working class like many around here in Detroit and what did those guys do? They passed a bill called the healthcare refinement act which further cut state-provided insurance to the bare minimum and gave hospitals the right to refuse patients who failed to provide upfront payments. To make things worse my father was terminated from his job at the factory like most of the senior staff so they could be replaced with young inexpensive workers who they'd be able to pay less. so after that, we applied for state healthcare but they claimed it would take a few months and it was still processing when my mother became ill".

Tears began to trickle down Lily's face which prompted Jude to join her on the floor as he held her. There was something about Jude's touch that warmed her and made her feel safe yet vulnerable and she found herself letting the emotional dam break. He held her for several minutes while he himself was in shock. He was shocked that this once menacing girl, could be this delicate deep down, and furthermore, he couldn't believe how much pain she had been holding in up to this point.
As she began to calm down, Jude make a promise to himself that he was gonna do his best to be there for his new, involuntary roommate...whether she said it or not, she needed some company and he guessed that it would have to be him.

When she finally pulled away from him, she stared down at the floor in embarrassment as the voice of her father echoed in her head, taunting her, telling her she was a weakling. The voices were interrupted by Jude grabbing her chin, wiping her tears, and saying "we can stop if you want to, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable Camila". She smiled at him and said, " please, call me Lily and no let's continue".