The Prisoner Project

THIRTY

Then it hit Frank too, just as it hit Aria.

His cigarette fell from his fingers and he gasped. "Jesus Christ."

Frank jolted up from the wall of the smoking area and scrambled for the phone in his pocket. He pressed the only number he had kept on speed dial and fervently wished Aria would pick up. He silently hissed. "Come on, Aria, pick up your phone!"

Voicemail was all he got.

"Fuck." He cursed, wanting to punch a wall. Diana. Diana. Diana. Diana played a bigger role than he had ever thought. Aria had told him Diana wrote letters to some Dante guy, but he was beginning to believe that Dante wasn't who he claimed to be. 

He shoved the phone into his back pocket, and hurled the pack of cigarettes far from him. He needed to find Aria before it was too late. He didn't know what it would be too late for. But he knew what betrayal felt like, and Aria seemed to be swimming in the centre of it all.

Frank didn't want to arouse suspicion so he all but sprinted to Arias room. More like a fast-walk. He walked into the accommodation and into the elevators. He passed his floor and came out on the floor where Ari lived. He noticed the light coming from her room and realised her door was wide open.

The few steps he took to get there was agonising. Walking into the room, he froze at the door. "What the fuck?" — he whispered, not comprehending what he was seeing.

Arias room was overturned. Drawers were tugged open, her bed had been stripped and the foam was out of place. Papers and clothes were a strewn on the floor and her computer was gone. There was not a single thing in her room that was left in place. Frank had worked in the criminal department for long enough to know that her room her had been ransacked. No, like it had been attacked. His eyes flew to the bathroom, and he saw that it was slightly ajar.

His earlier suspicions had been confirmed but now, he feared it was too late for him to do anything.

"Aria—?" He started shakily, taking a small step into the tornado of a room.

Just then, the bathroom door was slowly pushed open and Aria stepped out slowly. She didn't even look like Aria. Her arms were wrapped around herself, and her eyes were wide with terror. She had dark shadows under her hazel eyes, and her lips trembled. A bird. That's what he was reminded of. A fragile, injured bird. She noticed it was Frank at the door and she stiffened.

"Not you." She muttered. "Get out."

Frank ignored her, and the sympathy in his voice was unearthly. "Are you hurt? Did someone hurt you? What happened here?"

"Don't act like you don't know what happened." She hissed, aggression laced her words for a moment. Then she sagged. "I'm tired of all the lies. Please, just go."

Frank watched her break in front of him and cursed. "For fuck sake Aria, I had nothing to do with this." He took another step into the room, and reached behind him to quietly shut the door. "I have never lied to you in my life. Hard to believe but true."

She looked at him for a long moment after that. An anticipating moment that held over both of them like a bomb. Her voice was barely audible when she spoke next. "It's funny because you were the only one I didn't trust."