Queen of Asgard (NaNoWriMo2018, Completed!)

4: Aftermath

I wiped at my eyes, sat upright and tried to keep my voice from cracking. "Has my family been notified yet? About Yuki?"

Mathew shook his head. "Things are still too chaotic to get a hold of family right now. The store is demolished. The news is already covering this."

A hard note entered Mathew's voice at that and I understood it perfectly. Media, while it was important and has its uses during investigations was also equally troublesome in how fast they jumped on a story and made additional chaos for the department to work through in addition to the actual incident itself. 

I stood up, the floor was hard and cold even with the socks. "Then don't bring me back to my apartment," I said. "I'll wait for my mother to show up or I'll get a rental and take it out to Harvard-."

"Then I guess we're going to Harvard," he said, tugging his keys from the pocket of his jeans. "Get your shoes on."

I didn't argue with him as I tied my laces and got onto my feet. "Here," he said, handing me his sweatshirt. "It's cold out."

I'd just stood in an indoor blizzard and had magical ice thrown at me. I doubted anything would feel cold to me ever again, but I put on the sweatshirt anyways. It covered the drab hospital garments fairly well and would draw less attention if anyone saw us while we were out. I doubted it but the last thing I wanted to do was answer questions until I had no other choice.

Matthew, ever patient didn't say anything I signed out of the hospital and remained silent as we made our way out to his steel gray Chevy Impala in the visitor parking lot. I slid into the car and buckled up, letting the chest strap rest behind me. An old habit from being on the force that I couldn't shake, even when I wasn't on duty. It was a miracle I hadn't gotten a ticket yet.

Mathew slid inside the cab as well and with one turn of the ignition the engine roared to life and we were moving down the streets of Boston. The streetlamps were still lit, neon signs still flashed from various businesses trying to call in a late-night crowd, people still drove about, most driving more carefully as the squad car neared them. It was a typical night in the city. Except that it wasn't.

"Suzume?"

I glanced over at Mathew who still had his eyes trained dutifully on the road. "Yes?"

"I'm glad you're okay."

I felt tears burn my eyes and I grit my teeth against the pain. "I'm not okay," I told him as I stared out the window, watching the city lights fly by in the blackness. "Yuki's dead."

I felt a tear slither down my cheek as I said that. At the hospital, with the reappearance of Sif, my fellow officers nearby and not knowing when my family would walk into the ER, I hadn't been able to let myself cry. Mathew it was different. I knew him. I'd been his partner for a year in and in that time, he'd seen everything and I had nothing to prove and no one to take care.

And so I let go and the floodgates opened.

Tears burned my eyes, blurring my vision and shaking my entire body as I pressed my face into my hands and wept.

Yuki was dead.

My cousin was dead.

My best friend was dead. The girl who had been the sister I never had was gone. I had been right there, armed and trained to deal with a crisis and I hadn't been able to do anything to stop it. I'd been helpless.

I spent the majority of the car ride weeping,Yuki's lifeless, limp body rolling over and over in my head.Those red eyes starting back me, gleeful in the devastation it was creating.