Heavy steps with a prevalent limp led Elizabeth back in the direction to the diner in the chill of the early morning. She peered into the windows of the deserted shadow filled restaurant, ensuring that she could see no movement within. After a moments pause, she began to search for a rock large enough that could permit her entrance, the task of leaning over and scouring for one in the cloak of the dark, proved to be harder than originally anticipated. She was extremely fatigued, her body had quickly used up all her fat stores over the last week and half and began to eat away at her muscles leaving her aching with random bouts of vertigo becoming more prevalent and increasing in frequency as time progressed.
When she finally found a rock that could break the window on the glass door, it took her three attempts to be succesful. The first two attempts, she hardly found the strength to do more than cause a clatter agaisnt the thick glass. The third attempt she had reached a level of angered frustration resulting in her own teeth clenching and furious tears, taking the last bit of her strength with the throw, the force utilized fueled by the turbulence of her emotions and the severity in which she felt them. She was so weakened mentally, emotionally and physically that she couldnt even find joy in her success. Instead she limped forward blankly, moving completely in autopilot as she reached her arm through the crater like gap in the doors window and fumbled around for the inner lock, cutting her flesh open in the process but not stopping until she heard the resounding click.
Inside the diner was almost no better than the cold elements of the outside, the floor tiles chilling her body through the calloused, cracked and bleeding pads of her feet. Her mind began to process the possibility of reprieve in the form of nutrients, shelter and rest, but this proved to only worsen her condition as she stumbled forward and had trouble maintaining a straight stride. Eventually becoming so disoriented from the driving thoughts of food that she crashed into the countertop off to the side of the kitchen door, protruding hip bones meeting the hard surface that extended the length of the restaurant, as her upper body collapsed ontop of it with wavering elbows fighting agaisnt a black out and not wanting to permit her head to touch the surface. She was less than five feet away from the swinging kitchen door and yet every fiber of her being was telling her she could not make it.
She broke down and cried, shaking violently without care for how loud her empty desperate wails sounded in the echoing desolate diner. Her will to live was quickly fading. Despite, being in a place of food and shelter. Despite, Alex being on the way to help her. Despite, how hard she had fought to get here in this moment. She no longer could find the desire to push on, feeling as if her life was not her own. Feeling like a stranger to herself with thoughts and emotions that dominated her own being, turning her into nothing reminiscent of what she once was. She didn't belong in this world, stuck in a limbo at the halfway point, failing to adapt to either side of an endless back and forth struggle that was ripping her in half by firm grips on opposite extremeties. She was scared and alone... A broken down shell left to her own devices, and caving under the immense pressure of loneliness and absolute weakness. Finally garnering the freedom she had desired, but not in the way she had wanted.
Just as she dedided she had completely given up, a voice called out to her without a body owning its volume.
Well... it's almost time then... Just a few more things before you leave. Uncle Dominicks gruff upset voice echoed through her head as her eyes ran dry, her head laying on the cold surface of the countertop and their stare fixated on the shut door. Reminding her there was always more that needed to be done.
I feel like I'm losing my little girl. Aunt Shelly's voice flowed in every crevice of her brain as she slowly blinked. A pang in her heart forming at the haunting words.
So you still want to go? Alex's voice reverberated in her head with disappointment, as her head began to slowly nod in response. A guilt lacing her decided actions.
Please, dont go. Jasons voice shattering into pieces inhabiting her mind and beginning to pull her back to her senses. She wasnt alone.
Alright, Miss. Elizabeth, time to come back...Don't make me carry you.. Marks voice calling out to her from a distance in his plafyul yet firm tone as her arms began to shake as she pushed her upper body back up. Her life was not her own, it was a swirling combination of people, memories and events.
Miss. Elizabeth just start moving. Josephs voice full of sympathy guiding her further along as her body began to slowly rise to a wavering stand. Elizabeth was finding the strength to press forward.
Time to go. Uncle Dominicks voice said in definite as her firm hands now gripped the edges of the counter top. Even if the strength would prove fleeting and momentary, she was firmly grasping it in her clutch.
Come on, Elizabeth. Let's go. Jasons voice reached out and she could almost see his expectant hand as she reached towards the swiveling door for it. Can you do that for me? Alex's voice beckoning her forward. Come on beautiful, lets go. Mark's grinning tone prodding her from behind.
Stumbling forward, she made it to the other side.
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When he found her, she was nothing like the beautiful girl he knew. Sitting naked on the tile floor against a warm stove base, with a dirty apron spread over the bent knees of partially extended legs, her upper body draped over in its bareness as arms clasped at the wrist and her head burrowed in the cloth. Her hair was black and straggly, her skin looking ghostly white in comparison to the dark unkempt locks, the contrast softened by the smears and splatters of a combination of various types of blood streaking along every available section of visible skin.
Her body trembled, too far removed from the present reality to be aware of his arrival, unable to hear his calls or see his Jeep's headlights illuminating the inside of the diner through the windows. He approached her with immense caution, ending up lowering slowly to his knees when he was within in arms reach, "Liz..." he whispered softly to her, receiving no visible sign of acknowledgement that he was heard. Worry clearly evident on his face as he cautiously extended a hand out to her to gently caress at her trembling bicep, an intense eruption of tingling sensations traveling up his arm and her head slowly rising up in recognition of his presence.
"I would like to wake up now." Her words crackling as she spoke while tears lined the new set of eyes that stared into his in pleading desperation.
No longer did she look at him with the perfectly blended and color splattered hazel eyes. The pair that stared at him showed a sharp contrast of each color and the ratios of each color had dramatically changed. Her eyes now showed the pupils surrounded by a thin band of wispy brown fractures before an eruption of a stark gold consumed the orbs only to be contained by an equally thin band of green in comparison to the brown. A clear stark separation of colors, and the significant loss of the colors green and brown which appeared to be forced away to the edges by the golds intensity.
Their appearance caused Alex to be slightly taken aback, and he was momentarily tempted to pull his hand away, but he fought the instinctual response and instead pulled her into his chest.
"It's going to be okay, Liz." He said as her body melted into his and she broke down again with tight fists gripping intensely at his shirt. Her body was radiating like a furnace despite her shivers and goosebumps in the cold of the diner in her naked skin. "I've got you." He said rubbing gently at her back as she shuddered against him.
"Please don't leave me." She pleaded into him, despite him making no sign or effort of letting her go. An intense fear of abandonment deeply laid thick within in her as she more fiercely clutched at him as if she didn't hold on so tightly with shaking white knuckles, he would disappear.
"I'm not going anywhere." He whispered planting a firm reassuring kiss on the top of her head. His arms squeezed her tighter, feeling a deep pain designating its home in his left breast. "Let's get you somewhere safe.. would you be okay with that?" Gentle words questioning her in the fragile state she was in. Not wanting to put her in a panic or upset by trying to move her quicker than she was able to handle emotionally.
She softly nodded against his chest with eyes still winced shut making no motion to move. Her body actually flinched as one of his arms let go it's hold on her as he stretched to grab the blanket he brought off the ground. "Shhhh... it's okay, Liz. I got you." He said quickly wrapping the blanket around her body, and lifting her up with his own form off the floor, keeping her cocooned in the blanket except for her dangling calves draped over his arm. "Try to get some sleep now. When we get back, we'll get you fed and bathed." He said softly as he carried her out to the Jeep and placed her on the passenger seat, buckling around her huddled in the blankets before getting into the drivers side.
He turned the vehicles heater on full blast and aimed every vent in her direction, putting the car in reverse to head back from where he came. Speeding to get there back quickly but not to excess like he had done to get to her, being mindful to not cause her any further distress. Immediately lacing his right hand fingers with her left hands as it snaked out in his direction from the blankets just like he had always done before she left Pennsylvania. Finally feeling like he could exhale, when he felt her body relax within moments and she drifting off to sleep.
He didn't want this life for her. At one point he considered going rogue and taking her with him to live a life of obscurity, like normal people would. He had fought Dominick intensely to let him lead the unit that trailed her, and fought him even more intensely to not let her go when he was denied. She was his. She was always his girl.
She always came back to him, but now she would understand why. Now, that she was no longer living a lie. Now, she was aware as to why there was a magnetic pull between them, and it only grew more intensely in their time away from one another. Now, he just had to figure out a way to keep her.