I woke up with a jolt. My body springing up from the throbbing pain in my leg. I put my hand over the open wound in an attempt to soothe the pain, though only making it worse. A burning sensation took over my entire leg and my hand quickly shot back up from underneath the covers. Blood. The sheer curtains danced in a cool breeze coming in from my shattered window. Just then I heard sirens chase by in the streets below me.

Sirens.

Behind the bar at 1 with the money. Come alone or the deals off

I read off a napkin. The scratchy handwriting sent chills up my spine. I ripped the note in two and shoved it in my drink with a sigh. If you would have just listened to him…If you would have just stayed out of it…He would still be here…He wouldn't be dead. I ran my hands through my hair, trying to comprehend all the things I've done in the last 24 hours. All the things I could never take back. I looked up at the clock and allowed a small tear to fall. He's not dead. At least not yet. At my side was my small purse, yet it was bearing so much. It's almost as if I could still hear the alarm blaring as I jumped into the thorny bush in desperation to hide. Small scratches forming up my arms as I tried to brace myself for the fall. My pants were ripped and caked with mud as I fled the scene, not exactly sure what to do next. Then I ended up here, at this run down bar downtown. Low-life's and criminals all around me, and now I was one of them. I became one to save him, though now I'm not so sure I can even save myself. 11:30pm too late to back out now. Just one more chance, please. I prayed, yet with no avail. I knew that my chances in this life were long gone…

The sound of my feet hitting the cold cement echoed as I walked down the narrow alleyway. As the light grew dimmer and the darkness grew larger my body began to shake. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through each vain as my heartbeat increased with every step forward. I heard movement to my left and my hand shot into my coat pocket, feeling for all five rounds. The cold metal against my skin reminded me of the newly fallen snow me and him walked in not two months ago. His smile warming my heart, though my body remained cold from the many snowballs he would throw at me. It dawned on me that I might never see that smile again, and I was completely to blame.

"I thought you weren't gonna show." A deep voice emanated from the darkness. I stopped dead in my tracks, though my hand remained in my pocket, clutching the gun closely to myself. "Your little friend here was, shall we say, losing precious time."

I didn't need to see the man to know there was a sick smirk plastered across his face.

"Where is he?" My voice remained cold and hard though my mind raced.

"It depends, where's my money?"

"Depends." I dared say, though I regretted the words as soon as I felt them leave my lips.

The man hidden behind the darkness let out a cold laugh and stepped forward, only allowing me to see a silhouette of his large figure. "How sweet, a little girl with a big mouth." Three more figures emerged behind him, though not all were standing on their own. Jase.

"Give him to me!" I screamed. My voice cracked and there was no way of hiding the fear in my voice. The figures moved closer, dragging Jase carelessly behind them, and I panicked.

I pulled the trigger.

I struggled to pull his dead body weight up the stairs and into the apartment with my wounded leg. I should have known he would have had a knife. I could still feel the pain of the sharp blade slicing through my skin as if it were no more than water. I set Jase on the bed, only for him to fall lifelessly to his side. Tears started to fall from my eyes, starting to form small rivers down my cheeks. "C-come on!" I sobbed, "Say s-something! Please, just show me that you-you're still alive"

Still, nothing.

There was nothing left for me in this life now. I went over to the nightstand near our bed and picked up the picture of me and him. I looked at his smile one last time, and then threw it at the window, causing both to break and the picture to fall down into the streets. I shredded magazines and threw plates at the wall, destroying anything from my old life. I looked over at the shards of broken plates, the moonlight reflecting off of them, causing them to look like water. Like tears. I went and sat on the bed, and I hugged my knees to my chest. Looking over at Jase, from the blood dripping down his skull to his broken nose, there was only one thing left for me to do. "I'm sorry." I said, then finally cried myself to sleep.

I woke up in a cold sweat, the memories came flooding back as I looked at the shredded room around me. "So it…it was all real?"

"What was love? And why is the room in shreds?"

My head jerked to the side to see Jase yawning, breathing. He looked unharmed, as if nothing ever happened. I clinged to him, feeling the warmth of life instead of the chill of death. "I love you, and I promise nothing will ever happen to you again"

"Again?"

"Yeah. Last night. Don't you remember? You were involved in some secret deal for your boss, and I meddled and you…you were…" he looked at me as if I was crazy. I checked my leg, not even a scratch lay where the stab wound once was.

"Melissa, are you ok?"

I quickly ran and grabbed my purse. The money was gone, what lay in its place was a note, and a picture frame.

You have a clean slate. Keep it that way.

I tuned over the frame, it was the one of me and Jase. It was completely unharmed, just like Jase. I smiled and set the picture on the nightstand.

"I'm going to be just fine."