𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑠 ~ 𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑝

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴛᴡᴏ

aaliyah stood underneath the hot, running water from the shower, watching blood rush down the drain as her hands were cleaned by the water. a single tear fell from her eye, as she thought about victor more and more. she hadn't felt this helpless since her father died. she began to feel angry, as she blamed herself for her new-found friend's death. i should've never told him to come into the bar.

after standing under the shower head for 45 minutes, she finally built up the courage to turn off the water. her body felt weak as she stepped out of the tub, and wrapped a towel around her body. she stood in front of the mirror, and only saw a pathetic agent standing right in front of her. i'm the reason victor died.

after dressing herself, she opened up the bathroom door to find mitch sitting on the bed. he quickly turned his head to look at her when he heard the door open. he ran his hands across his basketball shorts, not knowing what to say or what to do to help aaliyah. she stood there with a saddened expression before walking over to her duffle bag to put her previous clothes, that were stained with victor's blood, into the bag. as she put the clothes into the duffle bag, she began to get even more angry with herself. she was turning her grief into rage, as she thought more and more about how she could've saved victor's life. she zipped the bag shut before standing still in front of the bag. she wanted more than anything to break something, to relieve this pain she was feeling.

she suddenly picked up her duffle bag and threw it across the room. she began to kick the table, and beat her fist into the hard wood. she let out cries of anger and mourning, making mitch quickly get up off of the bed. he began to shout at her to stop, as he grabbed ahold of her arm. she turned around, and hit mitch's chest repeatedly, letting out more swears and screams as her mind was taken over by her emotions. mitch wrapped his arms around her, containing her anger, as he was being pushed back by her fighting. her hits and punches became weaker and weaker as she finally rested her hand on his chest, as he pulled her figure into his. he put a hand behind her head, knowing it comforted her because of the way she calmed down after stan did it to her in the bar today. she sobbed into his chest, not caring about the vulnerability she was showing to mitch. he stood there, still feeling the numb sensation he felt at the bar.

mitch never handled death easily. it was common for him to avoid it, as if it never happened. until eventually the ignorance gets to his head and he begins to lash out. but in the moment, all he wanted to do was comfort aaliyah. to him, that seemed to be the only way to mourn victor's death. their bodies swayed side to side, as he tried to comfort her the best he could.

aaliyah finally looked up at mitch with tears in her eyes. "it's all my fault."

"it is not your fault." mitch rebuttals, keeping his hands on her forearms as she gripped on to his white t-shirt.

"i told him to investigate shiva." she muttered, feeling her lip quiver.

"that was his job. he died doing his job. he died doing what he was meant to do."

"i should've stopped staring at you for just five fucking seconds to see what was on that phone screen."

mitch swallowed harshly. at this point, her hitting and screams were less pain to him than those words. but he also knew she was feeling guilty, and needed to put the blame on someone besides victor.

"it's not your fault, aaliyah." mitch whispered.

another tear dropped from her eye, as mitch used her first name. she bit down on her lip, to keep her lip from quivering. she pulled back from mitch, and walked over to the chair by the window. she pulled her knee up to her chest, and hugged it tightly. mitch seated himself on the bed, staring at wilson with sympathy.