Ashes
When a cold case and a kidnapping case come together, one detective must choose between two loyalties.
Ring around the rosy…
I came.
Like you asked.
Alone.
Spare my friends
I came.
The whispers of the abandoned building haunt her movements, make everything exceedingly loud.
The touch of boots on cracked asphalt magnified.
Heavy, nervous breathing.
The aloneness was suffocating.
Tatters of life surround her, from a torn flag that must have once waved proudly to a disintegrating doll she's not sure why was left behind.
Lucy might have liked it.
Oh, Lucy.
Please, hold on.
She peers in the darkened doorway, heart thrumming a warning.
Nothing's there but shadows and dust, cobwebs and memories long since forgotten.
She can almost hear the ghosts.
Don't forget me.
This is for you.
Please.
Don't leave me here.
Take me with you.
The stains from a fire extinguished long ago and a light spot on the wall that looks to be in the shape of a human hand.
Help me.
I'm burning.
It hurts.
She shakes the thoughts that aren't hers from her mind.
The curling of her own fingers into fists startles her.
The letter had said to come alone.
That Lucy would be returned.
At the price of my evidence.
It's worth it.
It will always be worth it.
She jumps, disturbing the ashes and the heavy layer of dust on the ground.
A journal rests in the palm of her hand. It's green and cracked with age.
Evidence.
Vital to the cold case they were working.
It's what they wanted.
Forgive me, Aiden.
I'm sorry, Elisabeth.
You're dead.
This is for the living.
Pocketful of posies…
Her boots scuff the floor as she moves.
She should be quiet.
She knows.
But somehow the quiet is loud enough to cover everything.
A fresh stain lights in the corner.
Blood.
I've come here to be slaughtered.
Haven't I?
Forgive me, Mac.
There wasn't another way.
A touch of a breeze through the room.
She looks to the door.
It's closed.
This hopeless place was once an children's home—an orphanage.
Shut down for abuse and neglect.
1988.
One year after—
She shakes off the thought and looks down at the journal, regarding it with narrowed eyes.
A shiver runs down her spine.
Aiden?
Aiden, have you come back for me?
The hair stands up on the back of her neck.
Elisabeth?
The silence overwhelms her.
You're not Aiden.
She knows.
I know. My name is Stella.
She stops, because she's going insane.
Why are you here?
How do you know Aiden?
Stella stares at the blood.
I should be here because I'm you.
I grew up like this.
Alone.
I was going to solve your murder.
Just like I helped solve Aiden's.
A solitary tear runs down her cheek.
Not anymore?
A deep breath.
A girl's been kidnapped.
I have to save her.
With your evidence.
Heavy footfalls suddenly sound behind her.
She spins, startled. "Mac… is that you?"
It isn't Mac, to grab her and take her away, to say that they can find another way.
In fact, she's not completely sure it's… human.
A gunshot.
A burst of lightning-hot pain in her chest.
I forgive you, Stella.
And then nothing.
From the blood around her the man picks up the journal and burns the damning evidence.
And as he walks away, the ghosts of the murdered children sing:
Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down.