Taken and Misused.

Two weeks later I got a phone call from Stephen, I didn’t answer it. I got a text, I didn’t open it. An hour later a knock sounded on the front door of Vaughn’s home, well, what was his home. After I had broken in here two weeks ago I just stayed. Glory started barking his head off at the sound of someone knocking. I sat up straight and looked nervously at the front door, without taking my eyes off it I grabbed the handgun that I had found in Vaughn’s room and pointed it at the door. “Who is it?” I called out, my hands shaking slightly.

“It’s Stephen.”

I froze, part of me wished it was a bad guy. I would rather face anyone except Stephen. I slowly lowered the gun and unlocked the door but didn’t open it more than a crack. “What do you want?”

“Please let me in Elisabeth,”Stephen said, and I felt him lay a hand on the door.

“No.”

I heard him sigh deeply and take his hand off the door. “Vaughn’s funeral is today at 3, I thought you would want to know.”

I felt my eyes start to water up, “thank you,” I said, my voice shaky.

“Elisabeth, please let me in, I’m sorry things turned out this way,” Stephen pleaded.

“I’m sorry, but no,” I said, closing the door again and locking it. Glory came up to me and licked my hand, making a low whining noise. I looked down at him with a sad smile and a few tears fell from my eyes. I dropped down to my knees and wrapped Glory in a hug, he just stood still and let me. His fur was like a soft and comforting blanket and it acted as a key to the door locking up my emotions. It was as if the flood gates opened, all of the pent up sadness and anger flowed from me like a waterfall. “He’s gone Glory, Vaughn is dead,” I said out loud, “he’s never coming back.”

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At three o’clock I was standing next to a light mahogany casket with white lilies on top of it. The sun was warm on my back and it trickled through the branches hovering over us, casting the casket in a heavenly glow. The air was full of the scent of the lilies all around the casket, and other flowers that were blooming. Everything was beautiful.

There was only a few people there with me, some of Vaughn’s co-workers from his day job at a auto-shop, a few people I knew were racers by the cars they drove, Zack was there, and somehow Nathan, Darik, and Rafael had heard of today and they were all standing on the other side of the coffin. Nathan had tried to talk to me but I had ignored him and he eventually got the point. However, despite all of my protesting and ignoring, Stephen still stood beside me, his eyes gazing sadly at the coffin.

The Priest stood at the end of the coffin, his black robes matching the black attire everyone was wearing. “We are gathered here today to mourn the death of Vaughn Hart,” he said, but I stopped listening after that, I didn’t want to hear this Priest tell me that Vaughn was a good man and was in Heaven now. Nothing some stranger in a robe said could make me feel any better.

Stephen was like a silent shadow by my side, his eyes were glued to the coffin as well, his jaw set and his eyes full of a heavy sorrow. I knew that I had promised myself that I would separate myself from Stephen, but in that moment I couldn’t just leave him standing there alone when he was feeling as cut up and raw as me. I reached my hand out and grasped his, he looked down at me, “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“It was never your fault,” I whispered back. He grasped my hand back and watched as Vaughn was slowly lowered into his grave.

After the funeral I was heading back to the street where my taxi was waiting for me when Stephen caught up with me and grasped my shoulder to turn me around. I turned and smacked his hand away, Stephen looked taken aback when I met his gaze.

“What do you want Stephen?” I said.

“Please tell me the rumors aren’t true,”Stephen said, letting his hand swing back down by his side.

“What rumors?”

“The ones about you planning on killing my father.”

“Nothing personal,” I muttered, reaching out to open the taxi door. Stephen shot a hand out and closed it once more. I looked up and glared at him, “back off,” I snapped.

“You’ll get yourself killed Elisabeth, I’m not protecting Semyon, he’d just as quickly kill me as he would you right now, I’m trying to protect you,” Stephen said, when I tried to yank the door open Stephen just held it closed. “What about the promise you made to Vaughn?” Stephen asked, making me pause in my attempts to open the taxi door. “What happened to your love for ballet? You are such an amazing dancer Elisabeth, you’re not a killer.”

I couldn’t look at him, I knew the look on his face would make me break down. “You’d be surprised,” I said softly. Stephen seemed to be taken aback. The taxi driver honked the car’s horn and Stephen let me get in finally.

“Where to?” The taxi driver asked.

I reached my hand up and grasped the silver cross Vaughn had given me just moments before his murder as I spoke, “anywhere but here.”