Heiress in Distress

•Chapter 19: Part 2•

When the car takes the last turn towards our neighbourhood, I straighten up from my slump in the seat, eager to leave the suffocation in the car's atmosphere.

Disregarding the commotion from 3 months ago right here when I was attacked by 6 men, I've always found this neighbourhood quite monotonous and almost unpopulated.
Especially during daytime, where families are tucked inside their houses either enjoying a meal, watching TV, or spending some quality time together, and workforces exhausting themselves away at work.

So, when we pass by the local park and witness a black car screeching its halt, with its backseat door being opened, and an eerily familiar brunette being tossed carelessly into the grass by the park, I'm not only shocked but also alarmed.

The backseat door of the car slams shut and it zooms off in a dangerous speed, and only then do I notice that Aurick's car has slowed down to an almost stop.

When I look over at him to see his brows drawn together, I know he noticed the bizarrely disturbing unfoldment too.

He flicks the right blinker and slowly drives alongside the park's driveway, before putting on the brakes and idling the car.
Wearing matching looks of confusion and concern, Aurick and I both disembark the car in a hurry, me having to take longer strides and eventually resorting to a jog to catch up to him.

"Oh my God," I hear myself whispering, stunned at the sight before me.

In the dirty bed of grass, a brutally bruised brunette lays sideways, unconscious. Her brown hair concealing her face.
Supporting Élise with one arm, I bring my other hand to my mouth, catching my hot breaths, in a shocked and equally mortified move.

The poor girl.

Then, everything changes. Everything changes when Aurick bends down to flip the girl over
The whole world around me shifts, my feet threaten to give out, and my rapidly beating heart vows to stop at any second if the pressure doesn't ease.

My throat goes dry and an especially large lump takes lodge in my throat, threatening to choke me.
In spite of the numerous bruises marring her face -her very beautiful face- that almost render her unrecognisable, I would easily tell Clara out among a thousand faces.

My eye twitches and my chest begins to rise and fall as I drop to the floor, my legs, true their threat, giving out completely. Even in this haze of fainting inclination, I will myself to hold on to Élise tighter, afraid I might actually loose consciousness and drop her.

And I cry. I cry because it's the first thing that comes to my mind when I look at her, at someone that could potentially be my next loss.

"Clara ?" I call out to her, my voice especially hoarse. She doesn't move.

A remote sense of terror urges me to look closely at her chest, gauging a movement, which thankfully appears in faint rises and falls.

For a second, I have no idea how to react as I sit there next to my unconscious best friend, the closest to family I have made in the past few months, with a sound asleep Élise on my shoulder, and a frozen Aurick standing by my side.

Aurick!

I turn around to look at him; his blanched, stiff, and almost non breathing figure registering as nothing more than an aftereffect of shock.

"Aurick can you call an ambulance ?"

He continues to stare at Clara, his irises trembling.

"We need to call an ambulance,"

His wide eyes rake over her whole form, but that's the only movement he makes.

"Aurick!"

The volume of my voice visibly snaps him out of his shock, and he recovers with a blink as he finally looks at me.
He stares at me for a few seconds with a devoid expression, before he shakes his head slowly. He then swallows, raking both his hands through his hair, fisting the mass painfully.