Well...

Where do I even begin? I got the inspiration to this story a couple of hours (!) ago when I was walking my dog. So I just sat down and wrote.

I must warn you, this is the first time I'm posting and I don't know why I even posted it but it felt good. I suck at technical stuff so I will probably delete this whole thing by accident tomorrow... anyways,

this is my first try. Hopefully, you'll like it. Maybe you won't. OH god I hope you like it, please like it!

She hated the job, but it wasn't like she was able to get another one. Running away from home, school and everything she once knew at the age of 16 was not exactly something you could write on your resume. So here she was, stuck in cleaning kindergartens and schools at ungodly times. Every week the same schedule, one place every day in a never-ending circle. Alice had understood a long time ago that all those great plans she once had would never come true, especially after the unfortunate events that circulated the whole deal with James. Oh James, she sighed for herself while rummaging the cleaning closet for a broom. She had been so young, so naïve, how could she have known who he really was?

Arriving in the town, which wasn't exactly a metropolitan but big enough to swallow a small-town girl like herself, she had wandered around and slept in subway stations for a couple of days. Where she came from, the people were nice and would accept anyone in their home, friend or stranger. Here, no-one even seemed to notice her, even less help her out by as little as pointing out the way to the homeless shelter. Famished and dehydrated, she stumbled through the nearest open door, which happened to lead to a smoky bar filled with shady people who clearly had given up on an honest living.

The hunger in her stomach was nothing compared to the hunger in their eyes when they saw the half-dead Alice stumbling in. Fortunately for her (or unfortunately, considering how her life turned out after this), someone lay their hand around her waist and walked her to a booth in a corner, far away from the eyes of the vultures. Upon first seeing her rescuer, Alice was in awe. He was beautiful, with blonde hair and piercing ice-blue eyes, tall and muscular. He was dressed in what looked like an expensive grey suit, and she remembered wondering what he was doing in such a murky place, but when he ordered her a meal and gave her water, she stopped caring and just ate until she passed out.

She had woken up in a big airy room, lying in a bed with silk sheets, not knowing how she had gotten to where she was or with whom. A knock on the door snapped her out of the trance and the man from the bar had come in with a freshly cooked breakfast. At first she'd refused to eat, not feeling safe in these unfamiliar circumstances, but when he smiled reassuringly at her and presented himself as James, her walls had crumbled and she started eating and sharing her story up until the night before. He'd told her that he took her to his place after she'd passed out and that she could stay here in his guestroom for as long as she liked. Alice had been so grateful to this man, and the way he treated her like a princess, like no-one had ever done before, made it hard for her not to fall for him.

They were happy together for a few months, but soon the bubble burst. First came the late nights at the office, then he wouldn't come home for days, and not long after that, he'd hit her for the first time. Alice knew she had to escape but she was also fully aware that she had nowhere else to go. She had no money, no job and she knew no-one in this town except for James. Eventually, after he'd beaten her so hard she'd had to go to the hospital, she had contacted the authorities and pressed charges. Somehow, she managed to get a lousy job at a rundown café, and the owner had let her sleep in the staff room.

After working for a year, she'd scraped together enough to rent an apartment of her own. The house looked like it could fall apart any minute, the apartment she rented was small to say the least and smelly, but it was her place, something of her own, and she loved it. James was safely behind bars, serving a good ten more years, and she'd got hired as a cleaning lady.

Alice returned from her trip down memory lane when something from a shelf above her fell on her head, but after a check she realized it was only an old rag. Laughing for herself at how jittery she had become, she finally located the broom and went out of the closet to start her job. This preschool wasn't too big, she would be done with it in a couple of hours and then she could go home.

Plugging her earphones in, she chose the usual playlist on her old Walkman phone, and started sweeping the floor. She got real into it and started singing along to Muse's "Sunburn", when a sudden movement behind her caught her attention. She swiftly turned around, only to look through the window and see a man walking his dog, deep in his own thoughts and not even noticing the lit lights or her silhouette.

Alice approached the window and sighed heavily when she saw the heavy downpour outside. Autumn was really not her favorite season; everything was so cold and wet. But the worst part was the darkness. It was already getting dark when she got here about an hour ago, and now it was almost pitch-black outside. Had it not been for the street lights so conveniently placed right outside, she would have been scared to walk to the bus stop alone, but now she knew that the whole road was lit up and this calmed her. Soon done, she thought as she wet the mop and began washing the floor.Soon I can get out of here and go back to the hell that is apartment, my life. No, she reprimanded herself, no depressing thoughts now. You love your apartment, remember? She turned up the volume to drown out her inner voice as she continued cleaning.

With only one more room to go, she stepped into it and barely had the time to press the switch before the whole room suddenly bathed in flashing blue and red. Alice quickly walked up to the window and saw a police car right outside it. A man stepped out of the car, pulling his jacket over his head to protect him from the rain and started walking towards the entrance. Seeing as she had done nothing wrong, a very puzzled Alice pulled out her earphones and went through the hallway to the front door to meet him. He was already there, yelling and pounding at the door, trying to look in through the small window by the side.

"Ma'am is everything alright in there? Ma'am, please open the door!"

Alice ran the last few steps and opened for him. It was almost completely dark outside by now, but in the dim lights from the lamps in the hallway, Alice could see that the policeman standing in the door opening was very good looking. The rain was dripping from the jacket he held above his head, which seemed covered by blonde, shaggy hair. His face looked like something Michelangelo could have sculpted, and those eyes! She had never seen such intense green eyes before. The green eyes held much worry but also a hint of authority, the latter evident in his voice when he pulled out his badge and said, "I am deputy officer Jasper Whitlock, what is your name, ma'am?"

"I'm Alice Brandon, nice to meet you... or something... I'm the cleaning lady. So, um, why are you here? Not to be rude or anything but you know..." Wow Alice, real smooth. Couldn't you have babbled even more and made yourself look like a complete idiot while you were at it?

"Miss Brandon, we received some noise complaints from people walking by, saying they heard a female screaming in agony. Is everything alright?" he asked with a worried tone.

Baffled, Alice answered, "Noise complaints? But I haven't heard anyone yelling, officer. I mean, sure I had my music pretty loud but I think I should have heard if someone was 'screaming in agony'."

"So you mean to tell me that you are not currently in any form of danger nor have you been during the time you have been here?" he asked slowly, as if speaking to a child. This made Alice a bit upset, how dare he talk to her in that calm voice like she was some kind of hysterical woman in desperate need for a knight in shining armor.

"No," she answered sharply. "I haven't screamed and neither have I heard anyone scream tonight. Maybe someone heard me singing and thought a woman was being abused. Not the first time that happens, I tell you..." Babbling again, my dear, shut your mouth and make him leave so you can get the hell out of here!

He snickered a bit and then said "Well ma'am, if you don't have anything against it, I would prefer to check this place out by myself."

Still pissed, and getting more worked up at the thought of having to stay here longer than necessary, Alice mustered up a cocky "And why is that?"

"Well you see ma'am, I have suspicions that you might have killed the screaming woman and hid her body somewhere in here while you're cleaning up the traces."

She looked at him with her mouth hung open. Did he just... did he just imply that she was a murderer? She had just taken a big breath to tell him exactly what she thought about his manners, his great looks to hell, when she saw the big grin on his face.

"Oh you fell for that one?" he started laughing and upon hearing the sound of his laughter, all anger disappeared from Alice's mind. She actually giggled a little, not as much because the joke was funny but more as a reflex from having such a hottie joking with her.

"But seriously, we get a lot of these kinds of prank calls to places like these, teenagers daring each other to do it and so on. Have you been in the attic of this building?" he asked her. She shook her head no, which he took as a cue to go inside and closing the door after him. "But all the other rooms are empty?" After her nod, he stated that he would go and check the attic out just in case.

"Are you sure you want to leave me alone down here? You're basically giving me a chance to clean up those last blood stains..." she told him with a serious voice. This caused him to stop in the middle of a step and turn to her.

"You are absolutely right ma'am. I am afraid that you will have to go with me", he said in an equally serious tone.

"And what if I refuse?" she had waited to ask him this question because his answer would tell her if he was flirting with her or if he was just a guy with a sense of humor.

"Then I'm afraid I would have to handcuff you, miss", he answered and started reaching for the cuffs that hung from his belt. Alice quickly hid her triumphant grin behind a mask of shock.

"I'll come willingly, I swear!" she said but couldn't hold in another giggle.

"That's what they all say when I tell them that!" he said confidently. Alice rolled her eyes and started walking towards the stairs which led to the attic, swaying her hips a little bit more than she would have if the police officer had been female. But upon reaching the stairs, she suddenly stopped, an insecure look on her face.

"I don't want to go first! You're police officer here, if anyone should go first it's you!" she stated, only half joking. There was something about attics that freaked her out, she didn't know why but she'd always preferred to turn down opportunities to visit attics. He smiled reassuringly at her and pulled out a flashlight from his pocket. He pointed the beam towards the dark, crooked staircase and looked at her.

"Shall we?"