Elias

| twenty-eight |

AN: edits will be made

It was a still moment for Ambrosia a moment that she was not prepared to be in the midst of. Her body wasn't her own at the moment. The way she rolled her father on his back and held his face stricken in a panic between her two trembling hands.

It was with a tenderness she had never shown him before. The world was numb and quiet, the only sound heard was the intense pounding of her heart drumming in her chest.

Tania and her husband appeared in the doorway behind the house-maid. Tania's eyes widened and the corner of her mouth twitched. Ambrosia saw in the depths of her cool posture that she drew in all the information within the scene.

Ivy fumbled with something in her hands while her eyes locked with her father's.

"We need to take him to the hospital," Ivy wavered.

Ambrosia watched her Aunt slowly lick her lips her features on her smooth brown face settled calmly like a still pond.

"No."

Mrs. Henway stood beside Tania a sleek silver gun cocked towards the girl's father.

"Christine!" Tania exclaimed attempting to make a grab at the gun.

Obviously, under the heavy influence of alcohol, Mrs. Henway laughed and stumbled back flicking her hand away from Tania.

"This is what you wanted, Tania, is it not?"

Tania stood dumbly her eyes flashing from her private lawyer and then onto the body of the old man.

Suddenly, Ivy jumped from her position on the floor and tackles Mrs. Henway causing and erupt of screams and wails from the women.

In the middle of the madness, Tania turned away to dash down the hallway, the maid cowered by the dresser in the corner her eyes glistening in fear as she watched the gun swing around in Mrs. Henway's hand.

"Elias!"

Mrs. Henway screamed elbowing Ivy off of her and tottered out of the doorway. Ambrosia sprung up and attempted to grab after the women in pure rage. However, the small woman manages to slip past Ambrosia's fingers and falls into the hallway.

"Elias!"

Ambrosia winced as Mrs. Henway screeched his name but he had not appeared.

Chris grabbed Ambrosia by her hair in an effort to drag her back into the room. His large hands grabbed her without any regard and fought her thrashing arms.

A gunshot went off and Ambrosia's skin broke out in goosebumps.

Chris' body had slumped over her and she pushed him back. Her eyes peered down at him and took notice of the hole in the side of his head where blood poured out like a pitcher of wine.

The puddle of life around him grew and grew as his soul seeped out from the confinements of his twitching body.

Ambrosia took multiple steps back and looked around in crippling stiffness for the killer. A man standing from the first few steps of the staircase stood in a long coat, a cigar dangled from his lips as he slipped his gun away.

In his other arm was the limp body of Mrs. Henway.

"Mr. Avril," Ambrosia croaked in awe of his arrival in which he only gave a blunt nod towards.

A sharp shriek came from downstairs and Tania could be seen held upright with her hand behind her back by a man in sleek black clothing. She moved wildly like a snake her hair tangled wildly on her head.

"Chris, where's my husband...you can't do this-you--you can't," Tania cried out in pure anxiousness her body weakened in terror as Ambrosia could see the realization of what she had done had hit her.

Three other officers came in through the front entrance, rather casually dressed, and were directed by Mr. Avril. One took Mrs. Henway from his arms and the other was tasked to, "Find Elias."

Ambrosia slowly crept to the beginning of the stairs and almost yelled wait to the man who had run off to find Elias. What would have happened if she had said something, anything to stop him?

With the two women finally out of the house, Ambrosia felt as if she could breathe. She could smell the oak wood that encased them on this dreary afternoon.

"I've got him!"

It hadn't even been a minute. Ambrosia's head swiveled toward the direction of shuffling.

Elias' arms were twisted in a way that caused his face to grimace in a similar fashion of pain. He let out a lifeless groan. His nose dripped a profuse amount of blood and his lips were dark and scratched up.

The dark eyes of the man she had shared herself with lingered around the room as he walked until they rested on Ambrosia.

His eyes twinkled like sad stars in the awareness of their end, their final glow, a burning light that exposed Ambrosia, naked, in her shame, in her anxiety, and in the guilt of what she had done.

Ambrosia realized as Elias whispered a final call of her name that she did not only fall prey to him but that she was willing to be under the spell of a man who had never shown his true nature just like she had done to many others.

An emotion-filled Ambrosia to the brim of herself. A hot heat burned within her chest and filled her throat. It was to the point she could have jumped on him and pulled him away from the officer holding him.

Anything to make it stop.

Ambrosia ran away from his stinging gaze, she sprinted to the restroom and slammed the door. Positioning herself in front of the toilet she held her hair back with one hand gripped the rim of the seat the other.

Her body shook in disgust as she relinquished all the emotion pent up inside her. The foul lies she had told and even told herself finally released themselves as she spewed into the water.

After the sickness had passed Ambrosia let out a deep sob, one that comes from the confusion and stress that life tends to force onto a person.

Ambrosia grabbed her sides and felt sick once again.

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