Taken and Misused.

-Elisabeth’s Point of View-

I didn’t say anything to Stephen as we walked past the motel and into the rough neighborhood it was in, it was too early for anyone to really be outside so the streets were nearly empty. Stephen kept his hands in his coat pockets and so did I, on these walks he would always let me have my silence and it gave me time to think. Sometimes I didn’t want to think.

“Where are we going next?” I asked Stephen and he stopped looking around the street we were on and glanced at me.

“Vaughn has it mapped out already, there’s another motel three towns over,” he answered then continued watching for any threats.

“And then after that?”

“I’m not sure Elisabeth, we haven’t mapped that out yet-”

I made a sound of complete annoyance and turned away from Stephen, beginning to walk in the opposite direction. “That’s not what I mean Stephen,” I snapped. He hurried to catch up to me, “I do not want to know which stinking motel we will be staying at next, I do not care which town it is in, I want to know what the whole plan is! Are we just going to keep running until some miracle happens? Are you expecting for your blasted father to come up to you and call the whole thing off? Because I sincerely doubt you and that idiotic Vaughn have any idea what you are doing. We can’t just keep running for the rest of our lives, I can’t take it,” I vented, not realizing tears were in my eyes until Stephen reached out and wiped them away.

“It is the only plan we have Elisabeth,” Stephen replied, his voice soft. They weren’t the words I was looking for. I wanted someone to tell me everything would be alright, that the bad guys would get what they deserved and we would be able to go back to our normal lives. I wanted to tell Vaughn I loved him, I wanted to have a normal relationship with him, date, go out to movies and eat at restaurants, move in together. I wanted all of that and more, but I couldn’t have it. We were on the run from men who wanted to kill us, that kiss two weeks ago was not how I had envisioned our first kiss.

I slumped down against the brick wall of the building we had stopped by, more tears falling from my eyes. People passing by gave me odd looks but I ignored them, we’d be leaving this town soon and I’d never see them again so what did I care if they saw me cry. Stephen knelt down in front of me and pulled me into a hug, he smelled of peppermint and aftershave. “If I could take all of this back I would Elisabeth, I never would have wished this life on you, never in a million years. But all we can do is keep running,” he spoke softly, his words a warm whisper in my ear. If only he knew my tears were for the man I loved and what I wished we could have.

When I stopped crying Stephen knelt back and gave me a smile, “I promise everything will be alright sooner or later.” He stood and held a hand out for me, I took it and let him help me up. In that moment the sound of an engine tearing down the street could be heard at the same time a gun shot rang out. Stephen pulled me back down, covering my frame with his, I swear I heard the bullet whizz by my ear.

“What was that?” I asked frantically as Stephen hurried me around the corner of the street we were on and held me against the wall with one of his arms while pulling out his phone with his free hand. “Batteries dead,” he muttered and pocketed it again, “where is your phone?” he asked me.

“Its in my bag in the motel room,” I answered, my heart racing.

“Wonderful,” Stephen muttered sarcastically, as he turned me to continue running we came face to face with a man holding a gun pointed at us, no, he was pointing it at me. I thought my heart was going to stop beating in that moment, it was like I could see every detail, the man was distinctly Russian, he had a hard look on his face that I couldn’t read and his hands were steady on his gun. When I saw his finger tighten on the trigger, all I could think about was Vaughn. I wished I could have heard Vaughn call me Princess one more time, I wish I could have had one more kiss, one more of his crooked grins, I’d even settle for one of his sarcastic remarks. More than anything, I wished I could have told Vaughn I loved him, every single part of him. The sound of the car cut off and was replaced by the sound of screeching tires, I wanted to turn and see who it was but I couldn’t because the bang of the gun shot rendered me completely still. I waited for the bullet to hit me but it didn’t, instead the man holding the gun jerked and fell to the ground.

“Hurry up!” The voice belonged to Vaughn. Vaughn had shot the man who was crumpled in a heap no more than fifteen feet away from me, the man who was no longer alive, he was dead. I was standing fifteen feet away from a dead body. I started to hyperventilate.

“Elisabeth, snap out of it,” Stephen demanded. When I didn’t respond he picked me up and flung me over his shoulder and hurried me to the car. He opened the back door and tossed me onto the back seat and slid in next to me, before Stephen even had the door shut Vaughn was speeding away. My breathing didn’t slow, I was starting to get light headed but I couldn’t stop, all I could see was that man falling to the ground with in slow motion, red blood blossoming through his white shirt. It was as if my brain had it on replay.

“Is she alright?” Vaughn’s voice sounded distant.

“She’s going to faint,” Stephen said, a few seconds later my vision blacked out.