BURNING WICKS

Losef's lungs burned as the cigarette smoke settled inside his body for a moment before exhaling it back into the air. No amount of smoking or drinking though could wash over the fact that he was a dead man walking. He sat anxiously in his chair as the sound of videogame gunfire pulsated away in his ears and killed his resolution. The sound ignited every one of his nerves on fire before they were ducked in boiling water and left to die. All around him just felt cold. He felt cold. He felt dead.

He was at a safe house that was covered head to toe with armed guards with someone at every exit, corner, and rooftop. There wasn't a single spot in the whole area that didn't have someone stationed. He's been there for about a day and everything had been quiet so far, but it was the kind of silence that he found unsettling. The walls were closing in on him, the air was covered with smoke, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe with every passing second.

Ever since he got to the safe house he's been at a constant battle with himself, trying to assure that he was fine, that everything was going to be alright...and that he wasn't going to die. The other side of his mind disagreed though and would remember the time Mandy briefly spoke to him on the phone when he was back at the Red Circle. He could recall her voice and her chilling yet promising words that made him want to throw up all over again. God, he never wanted to hear her voice again because he just might crack under the pressure.

Letting out an exasperated groan, he yelled at one of his goons that was playing a loud shooting game on the TV. "Would you stop playing that fucking video game?" he roared when there was this sudden loud cracking sound of real gunfire. Losef's eyes went wide when a bullet broke through the window and killed the goon that was playing the video game. Blood splattered out the side of his head and his body slumped down.

"Get down! Get down!" someone shouted before being shot and killed on the spot too.

Losef immediately dove for cover just as another bullet pierced the glass window and shattered it into a million pieces. For a moment he was totally lost upon what was happening and if the Boogeyman or Rose Red had finally come to kill him. He couldn't even take time to process what was going on before he was yanked up by the back of his coat to be escorted outside and away from the windows.

Mandy cocked the bolt handle of her gun and a red-hot casing leaped out of the chamber. She frowned to herself and watched through the scope of her rifle to see if she could detect Losef through the windows, yet he was nowhere to be found. The people inside looked like they were scrambling for cover though, so she definitely rattled the bees nest with her attack.

From the looks of it, they had the site totally fortified like a fortress with maybe 20 men as far as the eye could see, guarding the kid. No one could walk up to it without being either seen or shot first, which is why Mandy placed herself at the rooftop right across the safehouse where Losef was being kept.

"You see him?" John's voice echoed out from Mandy's phone that laid on the ledge.

"Nah." Mandy shook her head. "They're keeping him locked away like a princess in a tower. I can't see him from this angle." She leaned back against a steel beam and leveled her rifle down on the edge of the roof and continued to watch as everyone scrambled through the scope.

"Don't let him get away." John sounded anxious since this was the first time they been this close to Losef since the Red Circle.

Mandy chuckled to herself and a wide grin fell upon her lips. "Relax. He's not getting away this time around. I got this. Go ahead and get Losef."

"Okay." John's voice got cut from the line.

Mandy rested her head against the stock of the rifle and narrowed her eyes to a state of absolute focus. Her hands didn't shake and there wasn't the slightest bit of uncertainty in her eyes at all as her finger hovered over the trigger before she pulled it. The gun kicked back before there was this suddenly rapid motion of non-stop firing as she took out every man she saw that was guarding the house.

Losef felt his heart up in his throat for one second before totally disintegrating the instant he heard this loud sound that made his ears ring with this awful buzzing noise. It was the sound of an explosion. He ran down the stairs to the garage where the cars were supposed to be parked but found no such salvation with them anymore. To his horror, they had been destroyed with explosives, made out of nothing but flames, melting metal and smoke now.

He had nowhere else to go. He was trapped.

Losef continued to run in a blind panic, desperate to find a way out until there was another gunshot from Mandy's rifle. A bullet blasted through the window and pierced him in the leg. He shouted with this agony tearing through him before collapsing to the ground. He gripped his leg tightly and pulled himself against the wall and just laid there, shaking in this cold sweat as this dark figure began to emerge from the shadows.

John Wick looked like the devil, or more precisely, he looked like the Boogeyman. Baba Yaga. He was dressed sharply in an all-black suit like he was going to a funeral, wearing menace and murder in his eyes and brandishing a gun in his hand.

John unwaveringly walked up to Losef as the kid began to sputter out his last Russian words. "It was just a fucking-" He didn't listen, much less care for what Losef was going to say and silence him for good by putting a single round through his head. His eyes hovered over the cold-growing body of his revenge before swiftly turning around, melting back into the shadows with one thought on his mind that filled him with dread.

It was over, in more ways than one.

Mandy had already gone outside to wait for John to finish checking out of the Continental Hotel. She stood by a brand new car that was parked outside, biding her time by glancing at her phone every so often, but nothing could help when she felt like she was drowning in this sense of deep melancholy. Her eyes lingered upon the grand building that she known her whole life but never cared about at all. It was a rude wakeup call and without a doubt...Mandy had truly woken up from the dream.

John had got his revenge.

The wick had burned up and it was time for her to leave.

John had retired and Mandy had basically quit without telling anyone. It's been over 10 years so their partnership was as good as gone. There was no reason anymore for her to stay. She knew it was going to happen though. It was inevitable.

Mandy groaned under her breath and pulled her head all the way back until she was staring at the sky. She noticed that rain clouds were starting to gather and judging on the humidity, she took a wild guess that it was going to rain in a few hours. "Damn...I feel stupid." As sad as it was for her to admit, Mandy wished, somewhere in the back of her mind...that John never got his revenge.

It wasn't long till John came walking out of the Continental. "Mandy," he called to her and noticed that she was standing beside a brand new black car. "What's this?"

Mandy smiled and twirled around the key for the car. "A gift from management." She tossed the key to him. "Winston basically wanted to apologize for the, uh, incident that happened last night."

John cocked a brow and walked down beside her. "So you almost got killed...and they gave you a car?"

She waved her hand and rolled her eyes. "I don't care about the car, John. It's why I tossed the keys to you." Mandy patted him on the back before opening the passenger's door. "Come on. There's someone we gotta meet."

Marcus had finally arrived at the bridge where Mandy and John were waiting for him. "Mandy," he called out and she looked over her shoulder. Mandy's lips turned up into the biggest grin he had ever seen. She jogged over to him and wrapped him tightly in a snake-like embrace to see if she could actually crush him. No such luck because he was still breathing. He gave her a couple of hard pats on the back before she pulled away. "I thought I raised you better than this. How many times do I have to save your ass?"

Mandy scoffed and walked beside him over to where John was. "Ain't it your parental duty to look after me?"

Marcus cocked a brow and shook his head. "I don't remember you being my daughter."

"But taking me in when I was only 15 years old had to count for something, right? No one wanted anything to do with me until you came along." Mandy's voice held a trace of bitterness that reluctantly had to look back at the memories. "You looked out for me until I was 19 years old."

"Worse 4 years of my life." He joked and she lightly slapped his shoulder.

"Shut up, Marcus." She rolled her eyes.

Marcus took one long look at John and was having a tough time telling who looked worse. Mandy or him. "You look terrible."

Mandy had purple and black bruising on her face, but John looked like he was struck by a cement block.

"I look retired," John answered back dryly.

"Retired? You really believe that?" Marcus gave him a skeptical look. "You make a new life. You'll find your way back into it. It's time to go home." Marcus turned to walk away, shaking Mandy's hand while he did so. He locked his eyes with her and turned slightly serious. "I want you to Look out for yourself," he told her firmly.

Mandy smiled and patted his cheek a couple of times until it turned into a harmless slap. "I'll call you later."

He moved out of her reach and began to head out. "I dread the day when you do." Marcus soon walked off, leaving them alone.

Silence captivated both John and Mandy which was noticeably uncomfortable for both of them. They already knew what was going to happen. Mandy was going to leave and John knew it. He knew for a long time, since the beginning of this murder mission. He knew that his time with her was going to be brief and it appears that the moment had finally come. The dread was obvious in her eyes and the sorrow wasn't void from John's either. Neither one of them ever liked the silence but they just couldn't bring themselves to talk about it at the moment.

It took a great deal of courage but John knew he just had to be the first one to speak. Mandy wouldn't. She didn't have the nerve to do it herself and would end up leaving without even so much as a goodbye. "Thank you." His voice was rough, strained and obviously holding a lot back behind clenched teeth. It was anyone's guess what was running through his head at the moment.

Mandy looked up at him and gave him a weary smile, seeing right through his facade like it was a window. "Don't worry about it. Besides, you didn't even need me. You could've easily done it yourself." She patted him on the shoulder and felt his muscles tense up under the fabric of his blazer.

He wanted to say something. Prove to her that it wasn't true. Not only did he want her help, but he craved her attention too. There were just too many things he wanted to say to her but had no idea where to even start. So silence just took ahold instead. The unforgettable and unsettling silence that he hated so very much. He was tired of the silence. He didn't want the silence anymore. It wasn't always like this between them...but now things were different...they were different.

It felt like they were strangers now.

Now that everything was over, he could truly see the 10 years' worth of damage behind the amber-brown in her eyes. It was going to suffocate him if he stared at her for too long, but looking away really wasn't an option either.

Mandy waited for at least a couple more seconds, seeing if John was going to speak to her. He never did though, so she immediately avoided eye contact with him and backed away to lean against the cold railings. "So what are you going to do now? Go home? Sleep for a week?" she asked and cocked her head to the side.

John lowered his head and smiled. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea." He looked up and met her uneasy eyes, waiting for him to say the one question that they both knew she wasn't going to have an answer too. "What about you?"

Mandy's face fell a little bit, crossing her fingers and tangling them together like it was a nervous twitch she did when she didn't know what to say. "Honestly...I haven't thought that far ahead yet." Her lips turned into a frown of uncertainty before quickly masking it with a smile, hiding the fact that she was anxious. "Don't worry about me. I'll think of something." She blew it off.

That was starting to become a bad habit of hers. Smiling instead of answering him properly.

Mandy sighed deeply and looked up at him. "If you need anything...don't ever hesitate to call me and ask, okay?" She took a breath and her outer expression caved in if only a little, moments away from breaking if she didn't leave at that very moment. She didn't like crying and especially didn't like doing it in front of John. "I'll be seeing you." She tipped her finger up to her forehead and gave a half-hearted salute before turning on her heels and walking away from him for the second time in her life.

Her feet tapped hard against the concrete floor and her heart grew heavier and heavier by the second until it felt like it was made of led. Mandy couldn't hold back the tears anymore and decided to wilfully let them fall, streaming down her face and blurring her eyes as she grew far away.

It was an overwhelmingly bitter feeling in the back of her throat, and oh God...how she wished she could just disappear from the world right there and then.

"I'm sorry." It surprised her because the voice came from John. "I wish I could've done something back then."

Mandy stopped and glanced over her shoulder, staring at John with her ever-growing glassy eyes. She knew she was far away enough to where he wouldn't be able to see her tears. She cleaned her throat before speaking. "John, that was over a decade ago. You can stress about it all you want, but what's done is done." She had to bite down on her quivering lips once she was done talking.

John appeared reluctant and took one step towards her. He stopped though when Mandy took one step back, purposely keeping the distance between them. "You use to tell me everything, so there was nothing I didn't already know about you...so why didn't you tell me about Adrian Romanov?" He wanted to know what was going on in her head so badly. He knew that if she left right now then it would be the last time he would ever see her. Mandy would just sink into the world, never to be seen or heard from again. Never to know if she was alive or dead.

Mandy lifted her arms and dropped them at her side. "Once again...that was over a decade ago. Does it really matter at this point in time? I made the mistake of dating the guy I was supposed to kill. He ended up dying anyway. That's about it...nothing else."

John's eyes sharpened because he knew at that point, that comment, her words...he knew she was lying. "You're not telling me everything." He didn't care anymore and began to march right back over to her, startling Mandy into freezing. He saw her eyes grow wide as well as the tears falling from them. Mandy was silent, completely and utterly unwilling to open up at all. "You hate this job but you jumped back in when I needed help...can't I do the same for you?" he pleaded.

Every muscle in her body tightened and her heart fluttered like a forest fire, burning hot and painful. She continued to stare at the ground as John's eyes narrowed in on her. Her head fell to the side and she finally looked up at him, speaking these words that she knew...would change their whole dynamic, all while smiling with defeat and with a voice shattering like glass. "It's because Adrian told me the words I never knew...I was so desperate to hear." Mandy gasped for air since her continuous crying was making it hard for her to breathe. "'I love you'."

He might as well rip her heart straight out of her chest.

Marcus crept in through the emptying streets to make the long track back to his house. Just when he was about to make a turn into his apartment he soon noticed that something was quite off and had to stop to look over his shoulder, seeing an unknown face following close behind him. Looking back around, there were at least two more men getting out of a black SUV and moved in front of him, blocking his path. Marcus turned his head and saw his front door open with Avi standing in the doorway. His lips curled up and he rolled his eyes to the back of his head and went inside his house with everyone following.

Marcus was disarmed first before he could even take his coat off. After, he turned around to face the unwelcome intruders that darkened his doorstep. "Let's get this over with, whatever the fuck this is."

A deep and darkened voice echoed from the halls like a parasite itching to attack. "I'm already well aware that you and Mandy are not actually related but...you know. Like father like daughter."

John had never seen her look so vulnerable before...and it pained him to know that he was the cause of her suffering. How long had he knew her, talked to her, and worked with her? How many hints did she drop in the duration of their time together and how many times did he hurt her when everything flew right over his head. Mandy fell in love with Adrian because...John was too far out of her reach.

Mandy shoved past him and walked back over to the railing. Her breathing was shallow while wiping away the tears with her sleeves. "Viggo was right. I am a fucking coward. I never said anything to you because I was to damn afraid that I would screw up our partnership." She was angry but solely at herself for letting things get so messed up. A decade went by but nothing really changed, Mandy felt like she was still living in the past. "When I met Adrian...it felt like a weight off my chest. But when he died...I freaking lost it." Her voice dropped to this deep undertone from old wounds finally resurfacing.

She just stood there now after speaking her peace. John didn't say anything and watched her pull her face into her hands. He approached her cautiously to see how she would react but she didn't do anything, which was worse. He opened his arms and pulled her close to him, enveloping her in his warm embrace. It felt like a bittersweet memory, one that came from the last time he hugged her, the day she ran away all those years ago. John dropped his head into Mandy's hair while she responded by wrapping her arms around him too. He took the silence to just soak up everything about her. The smell of her cinnamon shampoo and the lavender scent that came off her clothes. Years of working together made her naturally mold perfectly against his body, causing John to hear her pattering heartbeat resonate within him. He didn't say anything. He didn't want to say anything because he knew Mandy didn't want to talk, but he knew he had to ask her at least one more question.

He pulled away and ran his hands up to her face and felt her tears brushed against his rough and weathered hands. John looked her in the eyes and she stared right back, motionless and sad. He hated seeing her like that. "Mandy...please. Just tell me what you want."

Mandy breathed very softly and reached her hand up. She gently caressed the side of his face that was bruised and scarred from battle. She smiled weakly though when he leaned into it and closed his eyes, totally entranced and at peace. "John...I just don't want to be alone anymore."

John let out a sharp breath and felt his heart made a leap. He stared at Mandy with wide eyes and felt his hands tremble. Even the air around them felt different. They stared at each other in an odd way, something different between their gazes now. Something known...yet remained unspoken.

There was a sort of longing in John's eyes while he ran his fingers through her hair. "Mandy..." he was only able to get her name out when reality collapsed back into itself...Mandy's phone was going off. John forced his hand back and clenched it tightly until it turned a stark white.

It took a bit more time for Mandy to come back to her senses and pull away. She cleared her throat and turned around, trying her best to straighten herself up before answering the phone in a brittle tone. "Hello?"

"Hello, Mandy," Viggo's voice haunted her and made all the hot blood rush from her body.

"Viggo?" Mandy looked back at the ID and immediately slapped her hand over her mouth when the name said 'Marcus'. She bit down on her lips as Viggo continued.

"I appreciate you and John granting my son a swift death." He waited for her to respond but she stayed quiet. "I wouldn't know how to reply to that either."

"Viggo," Mandy growled out through her teeth.

John's eyes went wide at that name and immediately placed her phone on speaker to hear.

"Like father like daughter. Marcus betrayed me. And in so doing, he broke the cardinal rule. So, Mandy...I had no choice." Viggo said with a voice that was oddly calm before he hung up, the dial tone buzzing loud in their ears.

Mandy stumbled a bit and dropped her phone and it shattered on the ground upon impact. Her mind flooded back with these memories of long ago that had resurfaced back into reality. She looked up at John, her face as white as a sheet and completely horrified.

The drive to Marcus' house was swift if anything, only lasting for 10 to 15 minutes, but the whole time it was nothing but a haunting silence. Mandy didn't speak and neither did John. The moment he stopped the car though, Mandy ran out and jogged over to the door, running right in without a single care if anyone was on the other side.

"Mandy!" John hissed and followed close behind.

She hurried up the stairs but came to a screeching halt when she reached the top. She gasped only once that sounded deep and hurtful, staring at the floor where Marcus laid, covered in blood and motionless. She spoke in a weak, mouse-like voice. "Marcus...?" She collapsed to her knees right in front of him and reached her hand out to the sides of his face. Her hands were shaking when she felt him grow cold the moment she touched him. "Marcus?" His name was the only thing she could bring herself to mutter before her body just totally shut down emotionally.

John ran up a moment later and saw Mandy taking a seat on the stairs, grasping ahold of Marcus' hand that was smeared in blood. She lowered her head into her lap and continued to hold his hand tightly. John took a breath and walked over to her and sat down, rubbing his hand up and down her back. He didn't take his eyes from Mandy even with his phone going off. He just answered it silently and heard Winston's weathered voice on the other end.

"I know what you're thinking, Jonathan. We live by a code. Which is why I'm not telling you that a certain helicopter at a certain helipad is being fueled by a certain someone," he said.

Mandy's ears sharpened to Winston's voice before looking up, still not crying but also not expressing any kind of emotion either. Hollowness took ahold of her eyes and silence captivated her lips. Within the shell of the woman that has been empty for 10 years, John saw something beginning to spark within the hollowness of her being. It was dark, dangerous and absolutely soul-draining.

Viggo has absolutely no idea what he had just released.

Author's Note:

We got two chapters left until Autophobia is done!