Part II - FIght for you
Andrew's perspective.
"Can you remember what happened? Or anything they said? Or where you think were first before this basement?" I asked looking down at her seriously; Tiana shook her head as if she was trying to remember, and I tsked impatient by her with her memory. This was time-consuming and there was no time to waste. "Baby. You need to try and remember in case there is something that I missed in those files."
"I'm trying to think Andrew. Be quiet." She sighed and looked away from me as she clutched onto my side of my waist to gain her balance as she limped. Her shaken arm lifted in her and pointed down the hall. "If anything I know Nickola walked down this way because this is when I was starting to wake up."
She gasped pointing on the floor, "look, there's my ring." She began to waddle over to it but I only caught onto her arm making sure she wouldn't fall, "it must have fallen out of his pocket when he pulled out his phone."
My eyes had widened in question but as she knew what I was about to ask she spoke. "It was with either Alexander or his sister. He was explaining that this whole situation was blackmail to save himself and his family. It was never meant to get this personal with our family, and I only figured it was just because of our relationship but I was wrong he was saying things that were hard to understand, something about you, something about your mother and your old family."Tiana looked up at me. "What old family?"
I sighed heavily and shook my head in disappointment, it was all the same and knew it was all a twisted plan of revenge and jealousy.
"He won't ever let this go."
"Let what go, Andrew?"
My emotions were running high and low and I wasn't in the mood to be explaining a situation that was too complicated to understand. Tiana grumbled under her breath but she held her tongue but I knew at some point she would lose her patience.
"When will you ever tell me about your true past, Andrew?"
"It's too complicated to understand Tiana. We need to stay focused, anything can happen right now." I had explained, at the same time my stomach twists into anxiety and I was beginning to become self-conscious about this space. The lights were slowly disappearing as we walked further into the hall, some flicked and somewhere off, the atmosphere began to smell like burnt rubber and gasoline as we walked deeper into the darkness the quieter and colder it got.
My instincts were pulled both on my gun and Tiana as my eyes swooped the area, it was empty. I felt her clunch onto my arm, she snapped me out of my daze and I couldn't help but take a breath of relief. I glanced down at her seeing those big brown eyes beam with pure worry, my hand cupped her cheek gently. "Stay close." I had whispered. When I looked up, here we are already in a giant space. Small smashed windows on the very top with rotting moulds smeared all over, broken glass, chairs and rusting old equipment all over the place.
As we were snooping around it must have been a good two minutes when suddenly a loud crackling noise of a vinyl echoed the space following the sound of broken music, both Tiana and I flinched as we spun around. It was too dark to see where it was coming from, and all I can do was aim my gun at it. But when I finally heard the soft melody chime my heart broke when I heard the last song my mother listened before the explosion.
We back away from the music as I kept Tiana by my side when suddenly every light in the room had lit up one by one until the last was above us.
"How lucky am I to have caught both of you," Alexander boomed in an announcement. Tiana gasped as I clasped onto her and my gun. I darted around steering to where the voice is coming from; Alexander chuckled sarcastically and I can almost picture him shaking his head."I love it when you get all defensive Andrew, especially for her. You'd think by now you would have learnt from your mistakes."
I growled under my breath and shook my head, Alexander was never easy, he always knew how to manipulate and demand any sort of weakness and out of all three, he was the one playing the biggest game.
"- and you Tiana would have learnt to keep you legs closed after every vulnerable brake up." "What the fuck did you just say?!" I screamed on the top of my lungs and pulled out my gun in anger, ready to fire. Tiana tried to calm me down as Alexander chuckled, "Ah ah ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you." only patronising my anger. "Take a look around Drew, your in my world now."Beyond angry, I wasn't thinking when I shoved Tia to the side and stomped to the sound of Alexander's voice, suddenly big giant men appeared from the shadows all dressed in black with robbery masks.
Two began to stalk my way with strapped on weapons around their waist. I could fight them off, there was no problem but I wasn't thinking when suddenly.
"Andrew!" Tiana shouted. A gasp had escaped my lips to the sound of her voice and when I span around, Tiana was being tugged away from the centre with giant arms locked around her. Before I can run towards her hard and fast I was jabbed in the back with the gun causing me to yell in pain, then forced to my knees, my head was pulled back to witness Tiana captured into Alexander's arms.
"No! Let her Go!" I screamed, trying to break free from this incredible grip.
"Tell me, Andrew, would you die for her?" Alexander spoke from across the room. He flashed a shining knife and pressed it onto her throat as she squirmed and struggled in his arms. Pure rage had risen within me as I was forced to watch him pull back her hair and murmur something in her ear as she cried; he laughed and continued to press the blad onto her skin.
"STOP!" I cried, trying to squirm out of the man's hold, he held me tighter shoving the gun to my back again.
"You both made the biggest mistake of your lives," Alexander spoke, he shook Tiana to silence as he slowly made her bleed.
"Nothing ever went my way or hoped to go as I wanted. I was broken and you both abound me when I needed you the most." His eyes focused down on Tiana as he shook his head in such disgraces, "this isn't even about you honey, I didn't even think you'd come this far -" Soon he had focused his vision to me as he spat out words as if he had rehearsed in the mirror.
"But for my brother, you'd do anything right?" My eyes had widened and I shook my head ever so viciously knowing what he would do next. Tiana said nothing by fear but she gulped, stiffly nodding her head.
"No. Let her Go!"
"And you have no idea how much I wish I could have hurt you the way you hurt me." Then abruptly as it all went still Alexander had no remorse and no judgment when he plunged the knife deep into Tiana's stomach. Screams and cries echoed the room as I gasped wide-eyed and in tears. "TIANA!"
Alexander threw her to the side as she coughed out ever so painfully.
Alexander looked up from her body furnishing the most pleasurable look possible and smiled ever so sincerely. I screamed and shouted and become more than an animal, with all my strength left in my body I threw back my head back and headbutted the man ripping out the gun out of his grip, pulling the trigger to his head. The other men rushed over quickly with all their force and weapons, with each one I fought them off, bulling as many triggers there was left.
Half weak and wounded, half dead.
As I spun around to fire the last bullet at Alexander the gun clicked out of ammo as if he knew he laughed shaking his head as he began to stalk towards me with the same knife he used on Tiana. I threw the gun away and pulled out the small pocket knife that was behind my back and stalked towards him. That evil in his eye held no rumours or guilt, it was nothing but fire and hate.
The way he clutched onto his kife and the way he began to cuss and spit out those words made my heart brake. "I should have killed you when I had the chance," Alexander spat, "You should have burnt in that fire."
As the memories came washing back, a vision of my mother flashed before me seeing her eyes for the final time before she had pushed me out the house I screamed; the tension within me grew and I heard the intensity within my voice and my words only seemed to anger Alexander even more.
It was as if the fight has been choreographed, two large swings and a dip away it is always too easy for the both of us. Nothing like this seemed to be too difficult but when he came close to my throat I slipped away from his blade and it only frustrated him even more.
Alexander stabbed the air twice close to my chest and I tripped over once falling on to the ground, he then growled in such hatred and tried to do the same, I only managed to trip him over by locking onto his ankles with my feet causing him to stumble. Ever so quickly did I stand and stomp onto his stomach, the knife falls out of his grip and clattered away where I only kicked it further away.
"You went through all this just to prove your hatred, to prove your worth?!" I screamed, "Congratulations-" I kicked him the ribs. Alex coughed in pain holding onto his head as he was rolled into a ball. "Nothing you do now is going to make this any better Alexander, all your worth mean shit to me!" My anger and fury were beyond my control now, all the personalities within me didn't want to stop.
I straddled over him, untangling him from the curled ball he was in and began to throw rapid punches to his face. I didn't care how or where but when I saw the blood gush from his nose and mouth I felt more than satisfied. "You ruined my whole fucking life and you expect forgiveness!?"
My knuckles began to bruise and scab but I didn't care when I kept going. "You took everything away from me and you blame me for your mistakes!" I shouted; when Alexander coughed and gag on his blood I hit him one last time. "You deserve nothing."
Throwing Alexander to the side I ran over to Tiana where she was lying bloody. My heart hammered and my body quivered as fell to my knees beside her, picking her up in my arm I sniffed a whisper, "Tiana?"
"Hey." I removed the hair from her face as I laid her in my lap as I pressed onto the stab wound to stop the bleeding, I let out a sob. "Tiana! Your okay." I had to keep repeating, I had to keep touching her to make myself believe that she was alive, that she was going to be okay, that everything was going to be back to normal as soon as she woke up.
She was going to wake up.
She has to wake up.
"Tia?!" I wailed, shaking her. A small breath escaped those plumb lips and I gasped in shock. "Tia! Stay with me. You have to stay with me!" Tiana didn't move or didn't take another breath, and I shook my head. So quickly I began to stand on my shaken feet with her limp body in my arms.
When I span around, a few meters away there stood Alexander, limp, weak and half alive but still holding a gun in his hand. My eyes widened and my gut twisted the most painful way possible. "Don't do it" I begged.
Alexander said nothing but shook his head raising the gun to my head. He spat out the blood in his mouth, as his shaken hand pulled up to reload. "Alex, please."
"You deserve nothing." Alex rasped. I took a breath looked down at Tiana, her eyes swollen, nose broken and scratches all over but that heart of hers never stopped beating. But if I was going to die, she would never wake up to live again. So if Tiana was going to die in my arms, then there wouldn't be a life worth living.
A tear slipped down my cheeks, and I took my final breath...
A scream was heard but there was no pain, a scream was heard but I took another breath. I opened my eyes she was still alive and I was still standing. When I looked up Alexander stood still but sooner than ever the gun in his hand fell to the ground and following along he fell to his knees and collapsed as he bleeds ever so viciously from his throat.
My eyes widened and I had to grasp my composure before I cleared my vision seeing Nickola emotionless, looking down at Alexander's body. His dark eyes shot up at me and he threw the large knife away then picked up a large black duffle bag that was on the side of him.
He said nothing but motioned to the door as he turned away. I didn't dare to question why or why he did what he did; because at this very moment he saved my life, he saved her life, he saved or lives.
"We need to get her to the hospital." I rasped, Nickola opened the car door as I gently placed Tiana in the backseat as I laid her head on my lap without another thought, Nickola took off like a speed racer. Suddenly a loud, ear-popping explosion was heard from behind us, the car shook just little but we were already too far to be fired with it. When I looked behind sparks flew and so did chunks of rock and metal, ash to ash the abandoned factory began to crumble down as the fire grew and burnt and destroyed everything inside.
Looking back at Nickola, I was more than speechless but then again I didn't understand why he would do all this.
I removed the hair away from Tia's face as I creased away the blood on her face as the tears streamed down my face. Quickly applying pressure onto Tiana's wound I helped her breath with CPR. She seemed to be responding with the small breaths that she was taking and I let out a sob of relief as I threw my head back.
"Is she okay?" Nickola asked, looking back quickly.
Nodding proudly and happy, I smiled. "She's going to be fine."
I caressed her and held her close as she slept. I didn't miss the way Nickola kept throwing glances in the review mirror down at Tiana or the way he looked at me when I was caring for her. So I asked the most obvious question that was suffocating us both. "Why?"
Nickola looked up at the review mirror and shrugged, "If I didn't I wouldn't be able to live with myself." he looked back onto the road as if he was lost in thought and memory, "it was the right thing to do." he said calmly.
Beyond grateful, beyond thankful I couldn't put the words together when I simply just said, "Thank you."