It had been nearly 5 years since I last saw her, and now I'm knocking on the door begging for help. Yes, we were friends in college and I know I should've stayed in touch but my husband wouldn't allow me to associate with any of them. That's what he called my MIT friends, apparently they encouraged too much free thinking. I guess it interfered with his complete and utter control of my life. It has taken me, 12 months to finally break free and now that I am, he is holding the only person on earth I truly care about hostage in order to get me back. I never considered when I escaped that he would take my little sister, but now that he has I have only one option. Go to the one person I know who can help me, the one person I can trust.
I have two reason to go to her, the first is that she is the nicest person I have ever known, the second is that she is also the smartest and her associations mean she has a better chance of helping me than anyone else on the planet. I feel really guilty but my sisters life depends on me using our friendship, I know that if I went back I wouldn't live long enough to save her. You don't run out on a man like Michael O'Leary once let alone live long enough to do it twice. Standing at her door I can feel my heart in my throat and my hands are shaking, back when we were at school I was afraid of nothing. I jumped out of planes, went mountain climbing, led rallies against all sorts of injustices now I fear everything. I can't sleep unless the light is on and I manage to keep down about 1 meal a week. The rest of the time I rely too much on pills, I jitter and drink way too much
As I finally raise my hand to knock, it moves away from me and there stands a man. Not the blonde IT expert I was hoping for but a large framed black man. He smiles but on instinct I back away too scared to speak. I keep going backwards tripping over a small gnome statue and end up on my butt. I'm gone, all shreds of my will power finally dissipating. "Felicity, I think you better get out here." I hear the man say, but I can barely hear him above the beat of my own heart.
" what is is it, Digg?" getting to the doorway.
" oh, my god. Jo is that you?" she says rushing to my side. Her question, pulling my eyes up to her but that's it, I cant let go of the knees that I have pulled up to my chest or hang onto the breath I'm trying to take.
"what happened Jo?" she implores me.
" He took her, he took Lizzie."
" Felicity, I think we need to get you're friend inside. Its very cold out here."
pI hear what he was saying but i stopped shivering hours ago but I still can't let go, looking down at my hands I can see the mix of white and blue. Not to mention, the clear red line that was now flowing freely from my wrist where I had pulled my hands free just two days ago. I knew I must have looked a sight, gone was the girl who used to be the bell of the ball. The brightest star, here I sat petrified of a man who the old version of me would have considered handsome and perhaps kind by the way he hadn't tried to rush /
"Jo, can you stand?" my only response is a vehement shake of the head. I just can't move, with a compassionate nod she speaks " Jo, this is John Diggle. One of my closest friends, can he please carry you inside to get you off the ground." A voice so loud in my head screams at me 'NO RUN, RUN NOW' but the imagine of Lizzie replaces it. I nod, but I begin to shake. Giving the man a look Felicity nods, and I know its only moments till he will be lifting me off the ground. It seems to take him an eternity, but he seems to do it with ease. I shouldn't be surprised, I know at the moment I am probably not much heavier than you're average 12 year old. I was never that heavy but the last 12 months has seen my weight dip well below normal. I have also probably dropped more since my escape as food hasn't exactly been a priority and keeping it down hasn't really been an option. I can see the look of compassion coming from him, as I actually find myself calming down a little. It's his eyes really, the only eyes I've really seen in the last 2 years, were that of Michaels, cold and cruel and that was on a good day. Felicity, is holding the door open as he carries me through and that's when I start to feel just how cold I really was. My skin begins to tingle as feeling returns and although it's not pleasant it's nice to know I can still feel something. Placing me on a large plush couch, stepping away – I'm sure he's noticed that my arms still hold my knees like my life depends on it. He however just nods and speaks, " I'm going to call Oliver and Roy, I think we may need them." See if you can make her feel a little more comfortable. Looking up I smile what I hope he understands is as close to a thanks that I can do at the moment. I knew it was going to be hard to do this, but I hadn't expected to freak out even before I got to speak to Felicity.
That's when I remember Johns face from Michaels files, John Diggle former soldier bodyguard to Oliver Queen. It was those files that saved my life, I found them on one of the few days I had been left alone inside the house, Michael and his organisation were planning to make a move in Starling City and taking over QC had been part of the plan. Killing the CEO and his team had been part of the plan but then all hell broke loose in Starling and Michael and his associates had been forced to push back their plans. It had however, given me an amazing amount of hope to see my old friend in his photo's, not his plans for her though. I swore a long time ago I'd sooner die than let Michael hurt anyone else, so my plan now would have to be two-fold. Save Lizzie and keep Felicity safe but I had a feeling that I wouldn't be the only one that valued her safety above all else.