Hell

Chapter 30: Kill and Run

CHAPTER 30: KILL AND RUN

CONNER'S POV

Weeks had passed since everything had happened. The house burned to the ground. Ashley told them she was kidnapped by Paco who had set up the attack on her in Paris. She had also mentioned that me and Paco had no association together. She saved me from being arrested because we had a hidden agreement. I would tell her all that I knew, as long as she saved me from being sent away. She was true to her promises.

She had told the police that I saw Paco kidnap her and decided to follow his car but keep my distance. I was portrayed as a hero on the news, which I was far from that. Every afternoon, her parents let me take her for a drive. Ashley insisted that this was a way for her to cope. We would drive off into the mountains somewhere and I would tell her something new. She wanted to know everything she could so she could understand it all.

She figured out who Paco was. His real name being Eric, started a gang a long time ago. In his prime, he stumbled upon me. I was only a runaway at the time, but Paco had showed me everything he knew. He taught me how to fight and fire a weapon. He turned me into a killer for the longest time. Looking back at it all now, I can see how he used me for his dirty work.

Every now and then, she would ask about her brother and how him and Paco knew each other. Paco had betrayed Brandon and set him up for a murder that I had committed. She believes that's the real reason why I came for her, the guilt I had for her brother. By the time I knew about it all, it was too late. She knows she can't do anything for Brandon, but now she visits him often.

There's moments when she just cries. She cries about everything now that she truly understands what had happened. She was thrown into all this, but she doesn't understand. She could have ran to the darkest corners of the earth, but Paco would have figured out where she was and pursue her.

Everyone sees us as lovers of some sort. Her own super hero to keep her from harm. I have always hated that word, "hero". As if I deserved that title or as if something like that even existed. Sometimes, she'll hold my hand and fall asleep on my shoulder. She'd always ask me why I wanted to save her.

"Something just told me to," I'd always say, "You didn't deserve this. Paco had lost it and I saw that in him." All that aside, I could never answer one question that she'd ask periodically.

"Do you think he is dead?"

Of course, I would think he was dead. He set that fire himself, there was no way he would have enough time to stagger out with his leg messed up like that. He wouldn't have gotten far either. For her peace of mind, I would tell her that he is dead, even though I have a hard time picturing someone as strong as him would die so easily.

Ashley was safe from harm now. No one from the warehouse contacted me. I drove past it once and everything was gone. The door had been smashed in and the warehouse itself was left deserted. 

It had all died, along with my dearest friend, Paco.