I've had a small amount of writers block but I think I've worked it out. I hope this chapter lives up to this story's following.
Character death!
Discovering The Waterfront
Chapter 16
Broken Heart, Shattered Dreams
Isabelle looked at the clock for about the hundredth time. Four hours to go and she would be out of APO. She liked seeing where her mother worked but she wasn't about to live at the office. The last day had been as boring as a Monday at school but after the excitement of the last week or so Isabelle wasn't complaining. She sat back in the desk chair next to her mother's desk but she wasn't relaxing.
A phone rang on the desk in front of Isabelle but no one was picking it up. Isabelle reached forward and answered her mother's phone and she cringed at the voice on the other line.
"Isabelle, let me speak to your mother please." Sloane sickening polite voice met Isabelle's ear drums and made them bleed with hate.
Isabelle didn't answer she walked down the hall into the debriefing room where her grandfather was talking about some new mission or something of the likeness.
"Isabelle, is something wrong?" Jack asked stopping everything.
"Mom, phone." Isabelle's voice cracked with fear and Sydney noticed this.
Sydney rose from her seat and took the phone from Isabelle's outstretched hand.
"Hello." Sydney answered without fear.
"Sydney, nice try at hiding your daughter's new friend." Sloane teased on the other line and Sydney tensed up realizing what had happened before he even mentioned it. Isabelle had left the room but was watching the reactions through the window, she knew something was wrong.
"Where is he?" Sydney asked not allowing the fear in.
"You can meet me in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco tomorrow night at eleven o'clock. I'll bring Mark but I request a trade." Sloane was official and right to the point.
"What do you want?" Sydney asked shuddering from a cold that was no where in the warm room.
"It's not a question of what I want but of whom. I think you have an ideaof who I'm talking about." Sydney could hear the smile in Sloane's voice. Sydney looked directly at Isabelle and for the first time really noticed how much Isabelle had grown up in the past week and few days. Isabelle was continuously sleep deprived and Sydney knew the consequences of the trade.
"No deal." Sydney said into the phone with no trace of emotion in her voice.
Isabelle had disappeared from the spot she was standing in before and had rejoined the room recognizing the now silent and tense room.
"I guess Mark can stay and have fun here. Aren't we having fun Mark?" Sloane held up the phone and a torturous scream was heard from the other side. It was loud enough that even Isabelle heard it while she stood in the doorway.
Isabelle tensed at the sound and felt a strike of pain through her heart. She didn't exactly know why she cared so much about Mark but she tried to explain her feeling to herself none-the-less. He had saved and helped her so she cared, that was her explanation even though it was a complete and total lie. A lie that she would live with until she could sort out what it exactly was she felt.
"DON'T GIVE IN SYDNEY, LET ME DIE!" Mark shouted and Sydney caved not able to let a life she could have saved go.
"Let him go Sloane." Sydney painfullypleaded into the phone.
"Only if we have a deal." Sloane kept his voice calm and collected the entire time. If you had a conversation with him you would never know this man was as evil as evil could be.
"We have a deal." Sydney said reluctantly.
"Perfect. I'll see you tomorrow." Sloane hung up the phone and Sydney did the same. She couldn't look at the room around her and Isabelle walked forward.
"What are we going to do?" In that moment, Isabelle had volunteered herself for a mission.
"I have a plan." Marshall told the still room. Everyone turned in his direction begging for his answer and he went through his explanation making sure he covered every detail. The plan would be set in motion the following night, hopefully Sloane wouldn't expect anything from them as it was now a hit or miss situation.
Isabelle zipped up a black sweatshirt she had been given by her mother. She sighed quiety as she looked at her blank reflection in the mirror of the bathroom at APO. Her mother walked in to see Isabelle standing quiety her eyes absent of any life or emotion.
"You alright?" Sydney had to ask even though it was a clear no.
Isabelle shook her head no, not able to answer. She felt a knot choke in her throat and tears fell freely from her eyes. Sydney walked forward and wrapped her arms around the broken young woman. Isabelle collapsed onto her mother and cried for several long minutes.
Thecar ride took forever but Isabelle didn't mind the time passing. She shut her eyes to try and get the world to fade away only for a few seconds but found herself being gently shaken awake nearly three hours later. She had fallen asleep, it couldn't have come sooner.
Isabelle watched as people set up and hid variously around the park while she stood alone, watching and waiting. Sydney stood beside her not daring to take her eyes off Isabelle for fear that someone would show up and steal her away again.
Another hour passed and soon it was eleven. Isabelle was tired but she wouldn't let her tiredness show. Sydney kept Isabelle close as they walked silently through the park both equally as nervous as the other.
When they passed another park bench, they were greeted with a faint and unwanted hello.
"Where's Mark?" Isabelle asked finding strenght somewhere inside of her.
"Right here." A loud voice spoke from another direction and soon Lauren was dragging a badly bruised and beaten Mark from behind a tree.
Isabelle made a motion to run to Mark but Sydney stopped her.
"Let him go." Sydney said harshly to both Lauren and Sloane.
"Gladly, but first you leave her and walk out of here, alone." Sloane informed Sydney but she didn't move.
"You have to. Please...just do it." Isabelle whispered feeling a rush of tears threaten to fall but she fought them back.
Sydney painfully walked away trying to keep strong.
"It'll be alright Syd." Vaughn's voice spoke gently over the com device.
Sydney didn't answer she walked out of the park leaving Isabelle alone by choice. She sat in the van where Marshall listened in on the conversation going on.
"Let him go." Isabelle whispered dangerously.
"I'm sorry Isabelle but I can't do that." Sloane said sounding apologetic but only for a moment.
"What?" Isabelle stepped back preparing to run for it but someone grabbed her from behind, somebody she didn't know.
A shot rang through the darkness and the person attempting to take her away fell. Isabelle breathed easily once again even though the situation was far from an easy one.
"Got him." Dixon's voice spoke over the com.
Lauren dropped Mark and began firing into the darkness. Shots fired back and soon Isabelle was on the ground and crawling towards Mark. She helped him up and she struggled to help him behind a tree for cover.
"Are you alright?" Isabelle asked checking Mark for any serious injuries or bleeding.
"I'll be fine." Mark said to her watching her worry about him. He smiled despite the circumstances and she met his eyes for a moment. She turned away to look worriedly around half expecting to see her mother emerge from the darkness somewhere.
Mark gazed at the scene before him, Sloane had brought back up and the agents were firing from unknown locations on both sides. He looked at his mother and watched her fall in an explosion of gun fire. He choked back a tear and crawled over to retrieve the thrown gun from her body. He crawled back to the tree and breathed heavily holding the gun in triumph.
"I'm sorry." Isabelle said attempting to comfort him even though she wasn't really sorry Lauren was dead.
"Don't be, she wasn't my mother." Mark told Isabelle feeling a fiery anger envelope him but not at Isabelle or the C.I.A. The anger was at his mother and Sloane. He handed Isabelle the gun not daring to use it on anyone else in the massacre before him.
She debated whether or not to use it for a few seconds but finally found her answer. She stepped out from behing the tree towatch Sloane hurry away from the scene, she shut one eye took aim and fired.Sloane fell, clutching his leg in pain.
Isabelle and Mark ran forward to block the fallen criminal and villain. She pointed the gun straight atSloane's face making sure he wasn't going anywhere. Mark looked around before he felt a sharp sting in his stomach. Isabelle looked terrified as Mark fell to the ground in pain, still unaware of what was happening to him.
I feel so numb
All I've become
Has fallen apart
Hole in my heart
Isabelle felt something sting in her right shoulder and she dropped the gun in pain. Sloane tried to crawl away but another shot told Isabelle he was dead.
The next moments played out in slow motion. Isabelle crawled to Mark and gripped his hand in hers not daring to take her eyes off of him. He gasped for air while she held her open wound with her left hand, still gripping Mark's hand with her right.
Mark coughed loudly, a light crimson liquid staining his lips. Isabelle felt a part of her leave while she watched him suffer.
"I wish there had been more time." Mark whispered, large gaps between his words.
"Me too." Isabelle's voice cracked with each word.
"I wanted to ask you out the moment I saw you." Mark admitted to her the gaps becoming longer between words and his voice fading.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you." Isabelle felt a tear fall from her eye and then more followed suit.
"I think...no...I know...I love y-you." Mark painfully whispered to Isabelle.
Isabelle leaned down and pressed her lips gently onto Mark's. He weakly returned the kiss but felt a sharp regret that he had not done so sooner.
"I love you too." Isabelle felt a sob wrack her body as Mark took his final breath and his eyes no longer moved. They stared openly, lifeless, out into the night sky littered with stars.
Isabelle placed her hands over his eyes and shut them. She felt a wave of dizzyness envelope her as she shut her eyes. The world became black as she remembered she had been shot too and had slowly been bleeding out.
Severed fragments of my being
Piece together, give life meaning
Fragile quilt of faded memories
Torn apart by life's disease
again...
Isabelle awoke to daylight pouring into her hospital room. She felt like throwing up when sherecognized her bloody clothes that lay in a plastic bag on a chair beside her bed.
She remembered the events of the night before and the rest of the world became a dream to her. She couldn't think about anything else, only Mark's empty eyes. Her heart stung with loss and she soon realized she was crying again. Had she become so numb she didn't even recognize the stinging tears in her eyes? It was the same thing with the bullet that had been embedded in her shoulder, she had been so focused on Mark she had forgotten completely about her injury.
I will cry
All is a lie
That you must break
Heal my heartache
The door opened and Sydney walked inside the room. She noticed Isabelle was awake and realized that she was crying. Sydney walked over to her daughter and lay down next to her. Isabelle rested her head onto her mother's shoulder and cried out all the pain she felt.
Isabelle couldn't comprehend what was happening before her in the next few days. She was home again but that didn't matter anymore, she pulled on a black dress and held a red rose. She followed her mother to the small service that was being held for Mark, he had no familyother than thefugitive Sark soIsabelle and Sydney made the arrangements. Vaughn attended the funeral for his daughter and realized how much pain Sydney must have felt at his own funeral.
Severed Fragments of my being
piece together, give life meaning
fragile quilt of faded memories
torn apart by life's disease
again...
"Mark Reed was a good person. Unlike his mother he wasn't a lackey to some insane criminal. He saw the world for what it was and he tried to see the good in everyone. He was a friend and more when I needed him. I'm going to miss him and I'm not going to forget everything that he did." Isabelle laid the rose on the casket and watched as it was lowered into the ground. Her father wrapped an arm around her as she felt a wave of sobs overcome her again. It was the first time he had ever been there for her and she was glad for the comfort.
Life's disease again
Sark watched in the distance as the trio left the burial ground. He left a white rose at the headstone and left the cemetery. He drove off in his car and disappeared from the world once again.
Isabelle sat quietly in the back of the car, she hadn't spoken in the past few days but had been sleeping wonderfully, despite the harsh circumstances.
Severed Fragments of my being
piece together, give life meaning
fragile quilt of faded memories
torn apart by life's disease
Severed Fragments of my being
piece together, give life meaning
fragile quilt of faded memories
torn apart by life's disease
again...
When Isabelle and Sydney reached home, Isabelle walked straight up into her room. She didn't say a thing and sat silently on her bed. She felt empty, not able to cry anymore. He was gone and that was all Isabelle could handle, she had shut down.
I will cry.
Sad chapter I know. Anyway there's probably about two closing chapters that will finalize the story. Please leave a review...thanks.
Life's Disease - Stutterfly - And We Are Bled Of Color