Chapter 1: Returning Home
Paige's Pov-
After traveling around the world for a year I returned to Rosewood, that place was and still is my home. When my plane had landed I took a taxi to my old address, even though I hadn't been at my place for a year I still had my apartment, my mom and dad had taken care of that place since I had left.
"You know, I've never seen anyone asking for a ride to Rosewood since it turned into a slum." The taxi driver said.
He was right, Rosewood had really gone downhill since Roger Khan became the town's mayor. I didn't know anything about Roger but I went to school with his son Noel and I had met Noel's big brother Eric at a party, the second I saw then I knew they were trouble so I kept my distance from that family.
In my second year of High school I knew I was gay, when I came out to my parent's things were awkward for a few months but eventually they came around and they accepted that I was gay but still their daughter.
"Visiting any relatives?" The cab driver asked but I remained silent and just looked out the window at the dark night sky. The cab driver just shrugged and kept driving down the street.
My life after High school had been very unusual, I went to Stanford college for two years before I dropped out. I was too scared to tell my parents since they valued me very highly, my mom was a lawyer and my dad was a Police officer who had very recently gotten promoted to Detective and I was a college dropout so I decided to keep quiet about it until I had gotten a job to pay my student loans, which were much harder than I thought and I eventually got so desperate and enrolled to the army.
My parents were very shocked when I told them that but since I was already in the army when I had told them it wasn't anything they could do.
I served in the army in Iran for three years and I had no problem killing terrorists since I felt like I was defending my country from soulless monsters.
The commanding officer in the unit I was in was a tough man but he was a veteran, His name was Captain Walter Stratford and he was very fond of me and after I had defended an outpost he promoted me to corporal, that day he told me that in more than one way I reminded him of his oldest daughter Kat.
One day during a patrol through a town the unit were ambushed, Captain Stratford tried to take control over the situation but he was shot to death right in front of my eyes.
I just ran into cover and used every weapon I had, assault rifle, pistols, frag grenades I threw everything I had at where I thought the enemies were standing, all soldiers in the unit panicked and since I was the highest ranked in the unit I was in charge but I was too scared to know what to do.
I took in the fear and as I heard the soldiers… my men die around me I let all the fear in and slowly counted to five then it was all gone. I stood up from my cover and led the counter-attack charging the ambushing terrorist head-on, we shot down everything that moved and even threw frag grandees into some buildings to clear the terrorists out and eventually the fighting had stopped, we had won.
After the firefight had died out I checked the dead bodies to see how many of my own men had died and find injured. As I looked around the dead bodies I saw a terrorist that was barely alive. I grabbed my combat knife ready to end his suffering, but when I removed the mask he was wearing I made a horrifying discovery, he was just a kid, he couldn't have been older than 14. He looked at me in fear like I was the devil before he died in my arms. I jumped away from the kid just to stumble on another body who was also a kid.
I couldn't believe it, all the enemies that had attacked us were just kids. Some of them were not even teenagers. When I saw the dead bodies something inside me broke, I couldn't keep serving the army anymore since every time I closed my eyes I could see the dead kids whose blood were on my hands.
A few weeks later got Discharged and I returned home to Rosewood where I bought an apartment with the money I had earned being in the army. When I was back in rosewood I took a job as a waitress at a restaurant called 'The Apple Rose Grille', but it was better known as 'The Grille'.
Even though I was home I still felt like I hadn't found my place in the world and that's when my parents suggested that I should go backpacking across the world to find myself, they promised they would take care of my apartment until I came back, although I don't think they expected me to be gone for a full year.
During my travels I studied a lot of martial arts because I wanted to learn a way to defeat an attacker without using lethal force, my military background made it easier to learn from various masters but once I had mastered their techniques they all told me the same thing, I was talented but something made me hold myself back.
I knew exactly what they meant but I decided to not tell the masters about it and they never asked since they respected my privacy.
I kept travel all over the world sending postcards to my mom and dad to let them know where I was I even send them a few small souvenirs when I had the chance.
As the taxi kept driving I looked out the window and I noticed a small park, I remembered that my mom and dad would sometimes take me there as a kid. Every time we got to the park the first thing I'd do was to run to the swing set as fast as I could. Once I was on a swing I'd ask my parents to push me higher and higher. There was also a sandbox, a seesaw and even a slide but the swings were always the first and last thing I'd run to when we were at the park.
I let out a quiet sigh at the fond memories that park had gotten me and then the street lights gave me a better view of the park, what once was the happiest place for me was now ruined. Benches were smashed, what once was a swing where now just some hanging chains and there were horrible graffiti tags over the slide. I couldn't make out what they were saying and I was kind of glad for it.
It felt like I had been gone for a lifetime, maybe two. Everything had changed so much. Maybe it was a mistake to come back, maybe I should have traveled to New York, or Wisconsin or maybe even Canada.
The longer time I spent in the cab the more I saw that things were much different from when I had left Rosewood.
"Is it far?" I asked and the cab driver looked at me and seemed surprised.
"Just five… maybe six minutes." He said as he kept driving.
In an effort to distract me from seeing more ruined childhood memories.
There was nothing new on my phone just some update reminders that I didn't really care for. I expected my parents to at least leave a text or a voicemail or something since they knew I was coming home today. I remained like that for the rest of the drive just looking at my phone screen and waited for something to happen.
"Ok we're here." The cab driver said.
"How much?" I asked as I looked out to see my apartment, at least the building looked like the way I remembered it asides from a few graffiti tags on the walls.
"49 dollars." The cab driver said and I reached into my back pocket and got my wallet.
"Here, keep the change." I said as I handed him a fifty, then I opened the door and got out. The cold air hit my face and made me shiver, I guess the taxi driver had turned up the heat more than I expected.
Even though it was very cold I decided to not close my jacket, I was pretty much standing outside the front door already.
The taxi driver unlocked the trunk and I opened it so I could get my luggage.
"I know you didn't ask for it but my advice is to finish whatever business you got here and then leave this place as quickly as you can. The moment that asshole Khan was elected mayor things went straight to hell." The taxi driver said.
"This is my home." I said as I put my suitcases on the ground and closed the trunk.
"You should try to find a new one." The taxi driver said as he drove away. As I looked after him a part of me wanted to run after and make him pull over to ask for a drive to the closest town outside Rosewood or maybe even a motel but it was too late now.
I picked up my suitcases and held them in almost a death grip as I walked up to the front door.
"Home sweet home." I mumbled as I grabbed the door handle and let myself in.
I walked up the stairs and when I reached my door I unlocked the door and walked into my very dark apartment. I didn't bother to turn the lights on since I just wanted to go to bed. I put down my suitcases on the floor, I could always unpack tomorrow. As I went to where I remembered my bed was and hoped my parents hadn't redecorated my place while I was away.
I suddenly heard a crash, it sounded like it came from my kitchen. My first thought was that there was a burglar in my home. My reaction was that I had to grab my gun, but as I reached behind my back I remembered I didn't have any weapons. I walked to my kitchen to investigate the sound.
I sneaked to my kitchen and as I very slowly pushed the door open I peeked into the very dark kitchen and I very quietly sneaked in moving slowly to not make any noise in case there where someone in my kitchen. After a few steps I felt some crunching sound under my shoe. I slowly bent down to feel the floor and it was the shards of a broken glass. I knew there was no way it just rolled down on the floor on its own since the kitchen cupboard where I had all my glass where on the other end of the kitchen and it was closed.
Now my heart was beating very fast. I hadn't felt like this since the ambush when Captain Stratford was killed.
I slowly got up and reached for one of my kitchen knives to defend myself if whoever had broken in still was here. I squatted as I got hold of a knife and held it tight, it wasn't a combat knife but it would have to do.
As I sneaked further into my kitchen ready to stab the first person who'd appear in the dark I could hear some breathing from a bit further away and from what I could hear that it was at least two persons who were whispering. I prepared myself to run up and stab whoever was in here then I realized what I was doing, I'm not in the army anymore, I couldn't just kill people and I most defiantly couldn't just attack anyone, not even burglars. I should just sneak back out of my apartment, lock the front door and call the police like a normal person.
I moved very quietly back to the door I had entered the kitchen from, still holding the knife. I slowly pushed the door open it made a very creaking sound.
The lights were turned on and I thought I was going to have to fight.
"SURPRISE!" Two very familiar voices screamed and when I looked over I saw both my parents standing there. They were both smiling widely and my dad was holding a bottle of scotch.
"Like we weren't going to meet our world traveling girl when she finally returns after a full year." My mom said as she walked up to me. Before she was in front of me I discreetly pulled out a drawer and hid the knife I held behind my back. The last thing I wanted to think of was that I could have killed my parents.
My mom didn't notice the knife since she engulfed me in a very tight hug.
"Besides, we didn't have a chance to celebrate your 25th birthday since you were in Japan so we couldn't even call you. And it didn't really help that this one refused to send an email." My dad said and pointed to my mom.
My mom broke the hug then she looked at my dad and then back to me. "I'm sorry we scared you but that clumsy guy dropped a glass when he got thirsty and when we heard you got in he lost his grip on the glass." My mom said when she pulled me back into another tight hug.
My dad opened the kitchen cupboard and took out three shot glass and put them on the table then he started to open a few drawers. "Paige, where do you keep your corkscrews." He asked.
"Corkscrews? Why would I need more than one?" I asked as I hoped my mom would let go of me. I did miss her but now her hug was getting so tight it started to feel like a death grip. Now I understand where they got the word 'Smother love' from.
When I thought it was safe to finally breathe I was pulled into another hug by my dad and he was much stronger than her.
"It feels like it's been forever since I could hold you." My dad said before letting go of me.
"I know, it feels like it was just yesterday when she was just a baby and now she's been gone for a full year." My mom said and I could see that she was starting to tear up so I hugged the both of them and said. "I missed you guys too."
"Ok let's drink, where is that corkscrew?" My dad said and pulled out the cutlery drawer to keep searching.
"So how was the trip?" My mom asked as we sat down at the table.
"It was just what I needed, I feel great." I said.
"Are you in such a great mood because you've meet some nice girl?" My mom asked.
"No, no I had to get myself together before I'd get back out there." I said.
"Well, one day you'll meet someone and when it happens you're both invited to our annual family barbecue." My dad said.
"Please don't try to set me up with one of your colleagues' children ... again." I said thinking back to the time when I was in my last year of middle school and my mom tried to set me up with the son of one of her colleagues by 'accidentally' having us bump into each other at the food court at my favorite arcade.
"You were always so shy around boys and I just wanted to give you a push to break out of your shell." My mom said.
"I remembered that, Johnny and I had a very awkward silence at the table." I said.
"Hey! You were both competitive in arcade games, I thought you'd play laser tag together." My mom said.
"I swear, the only thing that'd make that moment more awkward was if you were the clown who served the pizza." I said as I pulled my long auburn hair into a ponytail.
"Well, parents do things like that. Remember when your father taught you to ride your bicycle without the training wheels?" My mom said.
My dad chuckled as he said "You were so scared when I pushed you on that bike and you were so scared you didn't dare to look back. And you just begged me to hold on." He said.
"Don't let go I'm not ready." He said in a horrible attempt to mimic how I sounded when I was a kid.
"I was terrified of falling." I said.
"I know; you were so scared you didn't notice that I was never holding onto the bike at all. You peddled all by yourself." My dad said and I could see the pride in his eyes as he remembered that big moment we had shared.
"And then you yelled that you weren't holding her, so she panicked and fell right on the sidewalk." My mom said.
"I remember that, I got my first scar from that day." I said.
"I'll have you know, that the moment I saw you fall I rushed over to you and carried you all the way to the hospital." My dad said.
"Yes, I got scar when you stumbled and dropped me." I said.
"Oh, that." My dad said and I could see a great sadness in his eyes. "That was when I felt that I had failed you as a father." He continued.
"Dad!" I said as I walked up to him and rubbed his back. "You're never going to fail me. And once the stitches were removed you encouraged me to jump back up on the bicycle and try again." I said.
"I remember that, after that you were like a girl version of Lance Armstrong." My mom joked.
"Mom, I was good but not that good." I said as I got back to the table.
"Tell that to all the trophies you won, 24 I've counted them." My dad said as he held up the corkscrew in triumph.
"Let's drink." He said as he opened the bottle and filled all our glasses.
"Are you sure you should both drink? One of you are going to have to drive home?" I asked hoping they weren't planning on staying the night here.
"That's ok, I'll just call a cab." My mom said as we all drank from our glasses.
After a while the bottle was empty, mostly thanks to my dad. And my parents had to go home. Even though I hoped to be alone when I got home it was nice to see them again.
After my parents had walked out of my apartment I felt just how tired I was. After I had locked the door I threw off all my clothes on my way from the hallway to my bed. I didn't bother to pick them up, I could always do that tomorrow.
I once I reached my bed I just fell on top of it. My face hit the pillow as I rolled over to my side and pulled the blanket over me.
Emily's Pov-
"Come on 'Old man', if you think you can keep up." I said tauntingly to my dad.
"Old man? I was going to go easy on you, but now you asked for it." My dad said as he almost sprinted towards me on his ice skates.
As he got close I dribbled past him before he even knew what was happening I was stating towards his goal, it was unguarded and I lightly pushed the puck with my hockey stick to make sure I still had it with me.
As I was close enough to his goal I hit the puck with my best slap shot and the puck flew right into his goal.
I looked over to my dad who was struggling to catch his breath. "You know, you can still forfeit and we can call it 5-6 to me." I said.
My dad looked up at me while holding his hockey stick, now mostly to keep his balance.
I skate calmly to the puck and playfully dribbled it on my hockey stick. My dad and I had always played hockey whenever both of us had the time, it was our thing, we had played since I was 6 and now when I was 26 and had gotten my own place I'd still take the time to go with my dad to the Rosewood's hockey rink. But lately his age had caught up with him, but he could still be as proud as he could be stubborn.
"What's the score now?" He asked.
"It's 9-2 to me." I said.
"Well, I'm just letting you win, it's called good parenting." My dad said.
I looked over to the watch in the rink and saw it was almost noon.
"You know mom is going to be here soon, she could watch while we play for a while longer… or we could just call it a draw." I said.
"You know, I'm starting to feel hungry. A draw it is." My dad said and skated over to the scoreboard and quickly changed the score to 6-6.
My dad might be stubborn, but he'll never admit to a clean loss if my mom was near. The first time I almost beat him my mom was standing on the bleachers to watch us play and when I was about to make the final goal my dad would pretend to trip and injure his leg just so he wouldn't have to admit he lost cleanly.
"Ok, so you just go and get ready and I'll text your mom to wait outside for us and we'll go grab some lunch together all three of us." My dad said.
"Sounds good." I said as I left the ice and took off my skates and went to the locker-room to take a shower and get changed.
As I was standing in the shower I felt my aching muscles relax under the hot water, I would sometimes push myself harder so my dad would just admit he couldn't keep up with me but he was too stubborn to admit it.
I liked to hang out with my dad like this, I didn't have much time lately since I'd volunteer at the hospital to help and now they really needed all the help they could get.
I had seen how badly the gangs would harm innocent people. Bruises, broken bones and some very deep cut were only the lucky once, now it was more common with stab wounds and some even had bullet wounds.
I was always terrified when I saw how badly people were assaulted by the gangs and it got worse for each day. I would do my best to help in any way I could, but I had gotten too used to see families leave the hospital in tears after being told some horrible news about a family member.
I knew I couldn't do anything else than what I already did, but I just wished that things would change for the better, for everyone.
"Emily? Are you finished showering yet? You've been in there for twenty minutes." I heard my mom's voice shout from inside the locker room.
"Sorry, I guess I just lost track of time." I said.
"Ok, well hurry up, your father just bought a small bag of Lay's from a vending machine and you know how much I'm trying to keep him off that stuff." My mom said.
"Ok, well I'll be out soon." I said as I picked up my towel and started to dry myself.
"Hurry, or I'm going to stop your father from buying another chips bag." I heard my mom say as she left.
I walked up to a mirror and I wiped away the mist from it so I could get a good look at myself.
I looked at myself working up my best fake smile to fool my parents that I was ok, but I really wasn't all the horrible things I saw made me worried that one day it might be someone I care about that'll become a new victim.
As I got out I saw my mom yanking the bag of Lay's from my dad's hands.
"No more before lunch or I'll divorce you." She said.
"Come on Pammy, you know I'm starving. I played my very best to show Emmy that I still got it." My dad lied.
"Oh really? My mom asked and then she quickly turned to me.
"Emily, what was the final score this time?" She asked.
"Six even." I answered.
"Oh, really." My mom said as she turned back to my dad.
"So it wasn't 12-3 like you said." She continued.
"Well you know our Emmy, she's embarrassed I won with so much she lied." My dad said.
My mom let out an annoyed sigh "Fine be that way then." She said as my dad went in the car and my mom walked up to me.
"So, how did your match really end?" She asked.
"Six even." I lied to her.
"Well, since he could keep up with you it makes sense he's starving." My mom said as we went to the car. As I was about to open the backdoor my mom whispered. "But next time please hold back so he thinks he's as good as he claims." Then she winked as I got in the back seat and she got into the passenger seat next to my dad.
"Next stop 'Apple Rose Grille' I hope you brought your appetites." My dad said as he started to drive to our destination.
Paige's Pov-
"And in other news Mayor Roger Khan says he is about to put a solution to all the recent violence in Rosewood." The news anchor on the TV said.
As soon as I saw Roger Khan's smirking mug I was discussed. I had only seen Rosewood from outside a taxi window but I could tell that this town had changed and it was not for the better.
I looked back at the TV and saw Roger Khan holding a speech in the park.
"These street gangs has polluted our city for too long our deer citizens are getting mugged at night, drugs are being sold almost everywhere and everything that was nice is now vandalized by these gang." He said as the people gathered around him listened to his every word like he was a saint.
Roger Had the same false smirk I had seen on both of his sons, I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree.
"I promise you that I'll figure out a solution to make our town safe again. This town is all our home and it deserves something better…" I turned off the TV since I was too tired to listen to more of his words.
I couldn't believe how he just used this to get more support from the people. I knew this trick, when I was in the army the terrorist leaders made similar promises to their followers and they just followed their leader blindly because they were promised something they were praying for, something worth dying for.
In anger I got off my couch and went to my closet to get some training clothes, I couldn't stop thinking of how mad I was that Roger Khan had let all these things happened while he was the Mayor and he had used all this gang violence to his advantage to get elected for mayor a second time.
I started to change into my jogging clothes, I knew I couldn't just calm down so I was just going to exercise out my frustrations, just like they had us do in camp when I was in the army.
I changed into a pair of dark tights, a purple tank top and my black sneakers. I pulled my hair into a messy ponytail as I walked down the stairs ready to start my jog.
As soon as I went out the front door I took a few deep breaths before I started to run, I didn't bother bringing my cell phone since I wasn't one of those people who ran to a playlist since I didn't saw the point in it.
I started with some fast walking to get my heartbeat going but it didn't take long for me to pick up my pace and it just took a few seconds before I felt the wind hit me as I moved faster and faster.
After a few minutes I felt some light sweat running down my forehead but I just kept running faster and faster, I lost track of time as I just focused on the path ahead of me so I'd avoid running into someone.
I had no idea for how long I had jogged but when I was too exhausted to keep running I slowed down and I leaned up against a tree to take a few deep breaths before I deiced to walk back home.
I looked at the time and noticed I had been jogging for a little more than two hours and now I really started to feel just how tired I was. I walked over to the nearest bus bench I could see. Once I sat down to rest for a few minutes I reached for my phone just to remember it was still at my apartment.
"Damn it!" I mumbled as I really didn't felt like walking all the way home just now. I sat down and thought about how much everything had changed.
I took a few more breaths feeling the burn in my lungs. I would always push myself to my limit ever since I was young just so I could become better, but it felt like I had pushed myself too far.
After a short while I got up and I instantly felt that all of my muscles were feeling sore from the jogging.
I went around the block where I saw something that made me want to run another lap around the block, Noel Khan. Just as I was about to walk away to avoid him he noticed me and I could see his discussing smirk spread all over his face as he looked at me holding some girl close to him, she must be his current trophy.
"Paige McCullers, the one girl from High school who didn't slept with me." Noel said being his cocky self.
"Noel Khan, I wouldn't even kiss you if we were the last two people on earth." I answered as he walked up to me holding tight around his girl's waist.
"I see you never grew up." Noel said.
"Neither did you. How long has daddy's wallet paid for your screw-ups?" I asked.
Noel then whispered something into his girl's ear and the girl just smiled and walked into a nearby coffee shop, Noel slapped her butt as she left. Once the girl had walked into the coffee shop Noel looked back at me, now there was a bringing anger in his eyes.
"Those are some brave words coming from a thief." Noel said in a very hostile voice.
"I only broke into your house to take back the money you stolen from the other students." I said.
"I gave them what they paid for, it was just honest business." Noel said.
"You sold a faulty product, consider what I did as their refund." I said.
It was true, Noel had once charged all students forty dollars to get them fake IDs but he gave them IDs that he got them where so bad not even a drunk security guard would fall for them. So one night I sneaked into his house in the middle of the night and found the money the students had paid him but when I was sneaking out I got careless and I woke Noel up as I climbed out his window. He tried to stop me but he was too late and I knew he wasn't going to tell anyone since then he'd have to explain where he had gotten that much money from.
The next morning at school I returned the money to the students, it felt really good to see the look on Noel's face as he saw me return the money.
Noel was grinding his teeth in anger as he remembered that morning.
"You're lucky I didn't report you to the police, I wonder how your daddy would have felt if his little girl gave him another reason to feel disappointed." Noel said, he had always tried to use my sexuality to get on my nerves, but I'd never give him that satisfaction.
"Your luck has lasted so far, but I promise you it's going to run out if you're going to stay here in Rosewood so you better leave before I lose my good mood." Noel said and just as he had finished his sentence he suddenly smiled widely and his girl came out from the coffee shop carrying two to go mugs.
"As she walked towards Noel I said. "Hey, if I were you I'd get myself checked." And the girl just stopped in her track and glared at Noel.
I saw Noel getting mad as he walked up to his girl, giving me a threatening look.
As they walked away, I had no idea what Noel meant but I wasn't afraid of him.
Emily's Pov-
After I had eaten with my parents I went straight to the hospital to help out in any way that I could. Today we were lucky. This was one of those days when we mostly got patients with minor injuries, but I still stayed for a while to help out with my friends Hanna, Aria and Spencer. We had all grown up in Rosewood and we wanted others to be as lucky as we had been.
Neither one of us worked at the hospital we were all just volunteers.
"Emily, I know you do this to help but you really should try to have fun once in a while." Hanna said to me as I helped a kid whit his band-aid.
"Here is where I need to be." I said as I ruffled the boy's hair to reassure him that he was going to be fine.
"I know you feel like that Em, but you deserve to have some fun of your own as well." Hanna explained.
I ignored Hanna and handed the boy a chocolate chip cookie. "Here you go sport, now just wait a few days and that ash will be healed." I said and he hugged me right before he dashed off to his parents.
"You are really good with kids." A doctor said as she walked up to us.
"I used to babysit when I was younger." I said.
"You're Emily Fields, right?" The doctor asked me as he was eyeing me up and down, probably looking for a nametag.
"Yes, that's me." I said.
"I'm Dr. Jack Shepard and I've heard a lot of things about you from the staff." He said and as I was about to answer Hanna cleared her throat, sounding annoyed that I had ignored her.
"Yeah, me and my friends just want to help out." I said and pulled Hanna next to me so she'd get some recognition.
"We are very grateful for your help; if you drop my name at the cafeteria you can have a free coffee on me." Jack said.
"I'll keep that in mind." I said and then Jack was about to say something else but a nurse ran up to him and said that it was urgent, Jack quickly excused himself and ran with the nurse.
"He seemed like a nice guy." I said and turned to Hanna who suddenly was gone.
"Hanna? Hanna where are you?" I called after her and then I remembered what Jack had said about a free coffee, Hanna would never decline that. Typical her.
After a few hours I checked my time. I noticed that I had to hurry home since it was getting late and I knew too well that the street gangs would grow much braver when it's dark. I hurried to the parking lot and I dug around in my coat pockets desperately searching for my keys. Hanna, Spencer and Aria had already left but I had decided to stay and help a bit longer and now I started to doubt that it was a good idea.
I looked up to see a stranger walking towards me. I didn't get a close look at the person I just panicked and kept searching in my pockets for my car keys as I panicked and tried to find my keys.
I looked into the rearview mirror of my car to see that the stranger was standing behind me and I felt shivers all the way down my spine.
I felt an arm on my shoulder and I quickly turned around and threw a right hook to defend myself, but the stranger blocked my punch by grabbing my wrists and holding it in a firm grip.
"Whoa! Easy there." A very calming voice said. And as I looked at my attacker that looked nothing like what I thought I had seen, this was a young woman that was about my age, she was wearing a pair of dark tights and a purple tank top. She had a very athletic physique and two big brown eyes. My eyes trailed up and down her body as I noticed that she was glistening a bit and her chest rose and fell as she was breathing.
I snapped back to reality as I noticed I was checking her out. Come on Em, focus. I looked back up at her, she was smiling at me and she didn't seem hostile at all. She let go of my wrist and I smiled sheepishly.
"I'm sorry, I thought you were going to mug me." I said. Crap now she'll think I assumed she looked like a gangster.
"That's ok, I've noticed how bad this town has gotten." She said. "By the way, you dropped these." She continued and handed me my car keys.
I sighed relieved and unlocked my car. "I didn't even notice that I dropped them." I said as I put the keys in my pocket.
"I'm Emily, Emily Fields." I said and reached out my hand to the woman that was standing in front of me.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Paige, Paige McCullers." She answered.
I almost jumped as I heard her say that. "McCullers? As in the police Detective?" I asked without thinking. I remembered Nick McCullers he was one of the few people who thought Rosewood still could be saved, he was one of the few good people who lived here.
"Yeah, he is my dad." Paige said.
My dad had told me a lot about Nick McCullers since they used to be partners, I had met both Nick and his wife Susanne before but I had never heard them mentioning anything about having a daughter or any kids for that matter.
"Are you here to visit your parents?" I asked.
"Actually I live here… or I used to live here, I've been out of town for years." Paige said.
"I grew up here but now it feels strange. So much have changed." Paige continued.
I was a bit surprised to hear Paige say that, I've been living here for all of my life but I have pretty much forgotten how this town used to be.
"If you don't mind me asking, for how long have you been gone from Rosewood?" I asked.
"I'd say about five years ago." Paige answered.
"Five years!" I gasped. I instantly covered my mouth in embarrassment, what's wrong with me?
"Yeah, I've been traveling to a lot of places, Spain, France, Japan, Russia just to mention a few." Paige said.
As Paige told me that I wanted to let out a 'wow' but luckily I could keep my mouth under control this time, I wanted to stay longer and talk with Paige but I remembered that I had to get home.
"I'm sorry but I forgot that I was in a bit of a rush to get home." I said.
"I can give you a lift to your place." I offered Paige.
"No, I live nearby. I can walk home." She answered.
"Are you sure? You haven't been around these last few years. The streets aren't safe at night." I explained to Paige, now I felt more worried about her than I was for my own safety.
"Don't worry about me, I took a lot of self-defense classes as a kid. My dad was ridiculously protective over me." Paige said not sounding worried, but she really should be.
"I'm serious Paige, if you don't want me to drive you that's fine but you should really get home and lock all doors." I warned Paige, she seemed to be a really nice person and I didn't want anything bad too happened to her.
"Ok, I will. And don't worry I just live a five-minute walk away from here." Paige said.
"Ok, just be careful." I said and then we shared our goodbyes and I went into my car and started the engine. I was about to ask Paige if she was sure she didn't want me to drive her home but she was already out of my sight so I just drove home and hurried to lock the door as soon as I was at my place.
"Ok, Paige I don't know much about you, but I sure hope you got home safe." I said to myself as I walked up to my refrigerator and tried to decide what to cook for dinner.
Paige's Pov-
Emily Fields seemed like a really nice person, I would have asked her out but she was probably already spoken for it, I had never been very lucky in love. Most of the girls I was into were either straight or just experimenting so my dating life had been very far from successful.
I started to walk home and I noticed how empty the streets had suddenly gotten if it wasn't for the lights from the houses and the streetlights I would have thought I was in a ghost town.
As I kept walking home I noticed how much colder it had gotten, as goosebumps started to form on my arms I started to wonder if it was a mistake to not accept Emily's offer of driving me to my place. I started to lightly jog to get home to my warm apartment faster. As I jogged all I could think off was to get to my bathroom for a nice hot shower. I tried to not put too much force as I light jogged so I wouldn't catch a cold from sweating in the cold weather.
I was almost home, my apartment was just around the corner, but when I crossed the final street I suddenly heard a shriek that was cut short, as if someone was muffled. I traced the sound from an alley and I started to very quietly sneaked to where I had heard the shriek from.
As I sneaked as quiet as I possibly could I saw two men standing at the end of the alley, I moved up behind a nearby crate to get a better look at what was going on.
When I peeked over the crate I could see that one of the men was standing in front of a girl, his hand was covering her mouth and her back was pushed up against the building behind her. The man was holding a butterfly knife and he pressed its flat side against the girls' cheek, very close to her left eye.
"You fucking bitch, I told you to be quiet." The man said as the girl cried completely terrified while her eyes were pleading for mercy.
"Look at this." The other man said as he was digging through a purse, probably the girls. "It's just worthless crap." He said as he threw the purse on the ground and its contents fell out, all over the cold asphalt.
I knew I had to act fast, I reached to the back of my thighs just to be reminded that I didn't have a gun or anything to use as a weapon. Before I had any time to figure out a plan I got pushed and my head hit the side of the crate before I fell on the asphalt. When I tried to get up a hand grabbed the base of my ponytail and dragged me up to my feet. I was forced to walk up towards the two men who were now looking at me.
"Look what I found here, a rat who should have kept out of our business." A woman's' voice said as I felt her grip on my ponytail tighten and she pulled my hair back to try to make me squeal but I wasn't going to give her that satisfaction.
"Oh, looks like we got someone who thinks she is tough. Those persons are fun… to break." She said and pulled my ponytail back further so I was forced to lean back, still refusing to show any signs of pain, then she pressed her lips against mine and she started to suck on my upper lip, I had no idea what was happening to me. I felt that her hand had let go of my ponytail but I couldn't bring myself to break apart from her kiss.
"That's a good girl." She said after she broke the kiss. Then she pushed me towards the two men who stood ready to beat me up, the girl they had mugged was sitting behind a dumpster, trying to hide behind it.
"You're not so tough are you?" The first man said as I found my balance.
He threw a right hook at me but I jumped back to dodge it. I kept my distance as the man walked up to me, having a very confident smile on his face. He threw another punch at me but I quickly blocked it and before he had any time to react I threw a quick uppercut that hit him right on his nose.
The man cried out in pain as he covered his nose with both hands and then he looked at me and I could see him getting furious as blood seeped through his hands.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" He almost roared as he charged at me but I just sidestepped him so he ran right into the other man.
"Watch out you idiot!" The other man yelled as he pushed away his partner from himself.
"Stop complaining and help me!" The first man yelled and then both men walked up to fight me.
Both of them walked up on their opposite side of me to try to corner me, what they didn't know is when I'm in a position like that I fight with all I have. I kicked the first man's shin as hard as I could, knowing it was going to earn me a few seconds. I quickly focused on the other man and I managed to block one of his punches at the last second. I threw a hard punch to his jaw and then I was about to throw another punch at him but my arms were held back from behind me.
"Now Jonathan get her!" The man behind me yelled and as Jonathan ran up to hit me I quickly kicked him right in his face with both of my feet at once. Then I did a reverse head-butt to the man then was holding my arms, hitting him in his already broken nose and the pain forced him to let go of me.
I didn't have a moment to catch my breath before Jonathan tried to attack me again, this time he threw a left punch my way but I dodged it and hit his elbow with a well-placed punch of my own. He groaned in anger as he ran to tackle me. I wasn't going to let him win I stood still and waited for him to come close enough then when he was just a second away from hitting me I dodged under his right arm while I also grabbed his arm and used his momentum against him to threw him at the crate that I had earlier hidden behind. The crate broke as he landed on it and I could tell that the fight was out of Jonathan.
The other man was standing up holding his butterfly knife, he looked at me with an almost insane look as he screamed furiously.
He walked up to me, much slower since he was slightly limping from my kick. We walked around in circles as I waited for him to attack me. I could be patient but I could see that the man I was fighting was getting more frustrated by the second and that made him impatient.
He eventually slashed at me with the knife but I dodged it with ease since I was too far away from him to let him catch me off guard. He slashed at me with his knife a few more times and I jumped back so I just stayed out of his reach, forcing him to move in closer, he thought he had the advantage but I was just luring him into thinking he was in control of this fight.
He made one final attempt to stab me and I dodged him once again, but this time I grabbed his right arm and threw him over my back so he fell onto the ground. When I saw that he still had a grip on his butterfly knife I grabbed his wrist with my left hand and with my right hand I punched his forearm over and over again until I heard that his arm broke and he lost his grip of the knife.
I picked up the butterfly knife and my survival instincts told me to slit his throat open. I quickly shook that thought out of my head and dropped the knife on the ground and then I kicked it away so it was out of reach for either one of those men.
I was about to check the girl to make sure she was ok but a very sarcastic applauded made me focus on something else, the woman who had made me fight those guys. Now I made sure to take a good look at the woman who had made me fight those me. She was standing under direct light and she had a slightly impressed look. She had very dark hair and brown eyes, she looked like she was about my height and her skin had a very dark texture.
"Very impressive, those two were supposed to be my bodyguards and you beat them without a scratch, I guess I underestimated you." She said.
"Who are you?" I asked and the woman smiled. "I am Shana, I'm the top lieutenant of 'The Black Hoods'" She said and she used that title like it was a trophy.
"You're a gang member." I said as she picked up the butterfly knife.
"I'm much more than that, you should join us. I can tell when someone is an asset…" She said and then she looked over to the two men I had beaten up. "… or just a liability."
"I'm not going to join you." I said and Shana shrugged. "You're the first one to refuse me. Not that it matters." She continued as she walked up to me and leaned close to my ear and said in a low husky voice "I always get what I want in the end."
Then she dropped the butterfly knife in my hands and started to walk. "Keep the knife dear, you've deserved a trophy." She said as she walked out of the alley and entered a car that drove away.
I looked over to the dumpster where the girl was still sitting crawled up.
"It's over you can come out now." I said and the girl slowly got out of her hiding spot.
She looked like she was a teenager, he had dark hair and bright skin. She looked over to the men I had knocked out then she looked back at me and asked. "How did you defeat them all by yourself?"
"I was in the army." I answered. "What's your name?" I asked.
"I'm Sydney Driscoll, who are you?" She asked.
"Paige McCullers." I answered as Sydney picked up her purse and checked if some of her stuff were ok.
"Do you live here?" I asked.
"No, I'm just looking for a place to crash. I'm a college student at Adam's College, I'm studying art there and I don't want to live on campus." She said.
"You must be very desperate to find a place to live here." I said.
"It's a 15 minutes' bus drive away from my college and the monthly rent was so cheap I thought I should give this place a chance." Sydney said.
"Well, I guess you know why the rent is low in this neighborhood." I said.
"I know, but I can't stay on campus, my roommate is a nightmare and I don't want to live with my parents anymore." Sydney said.
I felt sorry for her and as I helped her to get the stuff that had fallen out of her purse I remembered how lonely I had it in my apartment and it had a spare room so Sydney could stay with me for a while, besides I had always wanted a baby sister.
"You know, if you really want a place to stay you can live with me." I offered.
"Really?" Sydney asked and her face brightened with joy.
"Yes, I just moved here and it gets lonely in my apartment and there is a spare room you can have." I offered and Sydney answered by instantly hug me.
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you." She exclaimed with excitement.
"Ok, easy there." I said and broke out of her grip.
"Let's get home before these two wake up again I said and Sydney nodded."
We went out of the alley and Sydney stayed very close to me as we got to my apartment and I offered Sydney to borrow my bed for the night but she said she'd rather sleep on the couch, it was just for today anyway, tomorrow we were going to drive to Adam's College and get her stuff so she could move into my spare room, but right now both of us just needed to get a good night's sleep.