"I don't, I don't understand."
Zeke suddenly fell to the ground, gripping onto the edge of the table as his body collapsed.
Ba boom, ba boom, ba boom.
The heartbeat calling.
"Hey! Hey man, are you ok?" Eagan grabbed Zeke's shoulder attempting to help.
But instead, he was transported.
He felt his feet steady, almost like he was swept up only to be spit out again. "Where am I?!" He yelled, not recognizing his surroundings.
"Help me."
A soft voice whispered through the emptiness.
The cry for help startled him, the voice sending chills down his spine.
Eagan felt himself spinning, as he tried to find the person behind the voice.
"Help me." A second voice whispered, sounding fairly deeper than the first.
"Who are you?!" He yelled.
He spun around once more, attempting to find where these people were, but he was alone. Their voices just whispers in the wind.
"Help Zeke find The Black Crow." Said the first voice.
Eagan was floored. There was no way in hell that he was doing that. But before he could express that out loud, the calling intensified. A sudden frequency hitting his ears causing him to contract.
"What?!" Eagan cried, his hands over his ears, attempting to soften the sound. "No! I refuse to help the Stones!"
"Ahh!" He cried out in pain as the volume increased.
"Find The Black Crow." The second voice sounded sharper now, an urgency filling each word.
"Find him."
Eagan felt his eyes open, and he was back with Zeke in the park. The calling leaving him shaken. And for the first time in a long time, somewhat guilty.
"What the hell?" Zeke asked as he also came to.
"Did you hear that?" Eagan asked. There was a noticeable vulnerability in his voice. Some sort of surrender… and Zeke felt it.
"I- uh. I heard a heartbeat. You?" Zeke replied.
"I'd rather not say." Eagan scoffed, his voice full of bitterness and reluctance. Like he didn't want to surrender and help. But instead was being forced too. But when you don't want to do something… the outcome ends up being far greater than what you had anticipated.
"But what I do know is..." He spoke, putting his disgust aside. "It was pretty clear that I have to help you find The Black Crow."
Mick drove home in silence, something she always did when she was overwhelmed.
It was calming for her in a way
Being alone with her own thoughts, no noise from the outside world. Able to reason on her own without someone interjecting, or feeling like she has to bite her tongue.
"What do I even say to Zeke?" She contemplated out loud.
But why was she having trouble talking to Zeke about this in the first place? She thought. In the moment, something in her heart stirred. There was no need to be afraid of talking to him. He was the most understanding and forgiving human she's ever known. Not to mention, one hell of an empath.
Suddenly, her car stalled.
"What the hell?"
She just had her car inspected last month. Nothing was wrong with it, and she's never had any problems with the engine before.
She quickly pulled into the breakdown lane, careful not to panic.
Even though it's been about two years since the accident, whenever she had an issue driving she had anxiety. The nightmares were gone, but not the fear of crashing.
She got out to examine the problem, but didn't see anything.
So why did it stall?
There was no way she was going to drive it, for fear something might happen. She pulled out her phone to call Zeke, but suddenly felt something slip underneath her shoe. She looked down.
Leaking gas.
And someone out of the corner of her eye was throwing a match.
"Oh my god!" She yelled, grabbing onto her phone and sprinting down the road.
She ran as fast as she could, looking back just as her car exploded into smithereens.
She watched in horror as it erupted in flames right in front of her.
The person who threw the match had to be The Black Crow.
And this was Michaelas last straw.
She was gonna find him
And she was gonna kill him.
"Hey." Mick said softly as Zeke ran through the front door to her. He held her tightly as she exhaled, and fell into his embrace.
"I'm ok. Everything's ok."
Zeke smiled, bringing her in closer. She always felt the most comfort in his arms. He was peaceful. Always so easy going and kind.
"I just wish I could've been there." Guilt built up inside of him. He never wanted Mick to go through these things alone, and he wasn't expecting her to be leaving work early.
"It's ok. I just wish you were at the house when I got back." She smiled, trying to ease Zeke's guilt. She sensed how he was feeling from the start. You know, soulmates and all.
She had decided to not get the precinct involved just yet. She called Drea and had the car discreetly towed...what was left of the car anyways... and as discreetly as you can on a main road. Saanvi came rushing over to check Mick out as soon as she received her call, and was gone by the time Zeke got there. She luckily wasn't injured, and had escaped a tragedy once again.
This was kinda getting old, she thought
"Oh my god, how's the car?" In all the commotion, Zeke realized he forgot to ask.
Mick laughed, trying to make some light of the situation.. Or else she would burst into tears. And by just her expression alone, Zeke knew the answer. "Umm, a bunch of burnt pieces of metal now."
Zeke sighed. "Whoa. And you're ok?"
Mick smiled. She loved when he worried about her like that. It was cute. "Yeah. I'm fine. Saanvi came and checked me out."
Zeke let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding once she replied. She smiled at the sound of his exhale, resting her hand on his shoulder. "Where were you anyway?" She asked.
"Oh yeah. I uh- had some business to attend to."
"Business? What busine-" She stopped when she saw Eagan lurking behind Zeke's shoulder.
Awesome. She thought.
"Really?" She asked as she raised her brow. "This guy?"
"We found something." Eagan interrupted. His voice was high, like he was trying to bring himself down.
"Here." He walked forwards, swiftly slipping the note into her palm.
"Huh." She scoffed, annoyance building. She never really thought it was Eagan, but she was kinda hoping it was just to save them some time… and effort… and paperwork.
"So it's not Eagan then."
Eagan raised his hands in the air, happy someone was finally acknowledging how he wasn't involved. "That's what I told your husband. But he didn't believe me until we got the note."
Mick laughed off his comment, but deep down she wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. Of course the person she maybe thought was involved wasn't. There were so many feelings eating her up inside, and fear. So much fear.
But as she was lost in her thoughts, she saw Zeke try to wave her out of it out of the corner of her eye.
"Hey?" Zeke asked, noticing how her face was changing. He ran his hand up her arm, feeling just how unsteady she was. "Are you ok babe?"
She felt herself come back to reality, but something in her felt off. Zeke could tell even before she could. "Yeah I just feel nauseous all of a sudden." She closed her eyes, attempting to stop the spinning sensation. Then, she felt the calling creep into her body, like a bug crawling in her ear.
"Didn't you say you've been feeling off all day?" Zeke asked, before he realized what was going on.
Mick scrunched her nose, the sound in her ears getting louder with each breath.
Ba boom, ba boom, ba boom.
The calling.
She slid down to the floor, Zeke guiding her down as he knelt beside her.
"The heartbeat calling!" She spat through the noise in her head. "We still haven't solved it."
Ooooh! How'd you like that ending? Decided to release this chapter early, (Lookin at you Ang and Kirstyn lol) and I may also release the next few soon as well! I have 8,9, as well as most of 10 pretty much ready to go!
As always, let me know what you think here or via Twitter! You'll be finding out who The Black Crow is soon! Don't forget to leave me your guesses!
Love ya'll!
-The Color Gray
