Chapter 3
It had been a whole day. One single, insignificant day out of three-hundred and sixty five and it felt like decades had passed since they last met. Since he last slammed the door in her face…
Leon physically winced. Guilt had been eating away at him since the moment he left Helena's apartment and he felt shame for treating her in such a way when he was meant to be supporting her. After all, it was because of her sister's death that she was feeling so depressed and he was meant to be there for her, but he just got angry.
Why did he get angry to begin with? It was the stupidest of reasons: because Helena needed space. It was his own fault; he jumped down her throat after not even speaking on the phone with her for two weeks, so she must have felt enclosed. And now he felt enclosed in guilt. Pressured into trying to say something, anything, to try and make her feel better. Leon flung on a jacket and banged his door shut, locking it quickly and jogging out to his car. He wasn't a brilliant driver but he wasn't the worst, so what could go wrong? He didn't really need a piece of card to tell him he could push a pedal with his foot…
When he arrived outside the door of the building, he pressed the intercom and pushed the second button as well this time, snickering to himself as he remembered his last try of embarrassing himself.
"Can I help you?" The voice curled in static.
"Visit for Helena Harper." Leon said smoothly, still smiling.
"I'm sorry; Miss Harper has denied any visits for today." Leon's smile faded to a frown and he scrunched his face up.
"What?" He scoffed. "I'm a very close relative and it's imperative I see her." He partly lied.
"Well Miss Harper said specifically not to let anyone in for her."
Leon couldn't believe what he was hearing. He ran a hand through his hair and scrunched the gravel under his foot.
"Why is it always when I want to do something?!" he cursed to himself. He had to get in, but not through the door. Taking a few steps back, Leon craned his neck up to inspect the building. The fire escape around the side of the building would do nicely. He climbed over the fence and into the side alley of the apartment block before hoisting himself up on the ladder and climbing up the flight of zigzag stairs. A surge of adrenaline coursed through him, just like it did in the field. He looked into each of the windows till he recognised the rooms and pulled on the window, but it was locked. Leon huffed under his breath: everything had to be the hard way. He climbed into a random room and slowly walked through, trying to tread carefully so the person couldn't hear him. He got to the front door, his hand almost on the handle, when the shower turned off and a woman with a towel around her began squealing. Leon whipped around and caught a slap across the face.
"Get out, pervert!" she screeched. She opened the door and pushed him out, making him tumble into the hallway.
"Wrong room!" he shouted back as she slammed the door into his face. 'Of all the times, it had to be when she was taking a shower.' He shook his head and rubbed his cheek where her hard hand caught his face.
When he got to the right hallway, Leon breathed a heave of relief. The old woman across from Helena's apartment was just locking up.
"Hello again," She replied cheerfully. "Sorry, I didn't get your name."
"Leon." He said with a smile.
"Ah, of course. If you here to see Helena, you better have brought chocolate."
"Why's that?" he asked a little confused.
"I heard her crying earlier. I thought you had a fight when you left yesterday." She said casually. "Don't mean to be so forward. It's just a woman my age has nothing better to do with her life than listen in to her neighbour's interesting lives."
He stood there a little shocked and she nodded at him and walked away. Helena had been crying over him? Leon walked up to her door and knocked, but as he put pressure on it, it opened. He took a glance around the empty hallway and pulled out his Wing shooter hidden away in his waistband.
"Helena?" he asked as he walked in. The apartment was just as messy as it was a day ago, if not a little more trashed. He peeked into the living room and his grip on the gun tightened. "Helena, you in here?"
In the middle of the room, the glass coffee table was the only thing that was clean, and on it were a note and a single daisy. Leon's heart began to race as he placed the gun on the glass with a clank and lifted the paper to read the neat handwriting.
Dear Leon,
I know you are going to come back to see me, so I decided to leave a note for you.
I am going to see my sister. I can't live much longer in this world knowing that she is dead because of me, when she had her whole life ahead of her. She was twenty-one, Leon, only twenty-one. Maybe you were wrong about wanting to turn me in, I could have left here a lot earlier and the pain would have been minimal. The last thing I wanted was to leave like this, but now it's come to that. By the time you read this, I will have thrown myself off the top of the apartment block and into the arms of my Angel.
Apologies and farewell,
Helena
Leon stood mouth agape as he read the last few lines. His brain didn't function fast enough for him to realize what he was reading: Helena's suicide note. Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning shocked him, he body jerked and he ran out and sprinted up the fire escape, clambering up onto the flat roof to get her before it was too late. Leon pulled himself up and saw her with her arms out, accepting death, ready to jump.
"Helena, no!"
End of chapter 3
*A/N* Whooo that was intense! Stay tuned for the next chapter!*
Reviews:
The95will: Well, thank you! It really means a lot to get great comments like this. When I first published my story, it was a while before I really got any reads so I was a little disheartened. Your comment really made my day and I had to update again. Thank you for being the first reviewer and really studying my story in depth rather than skim reading it because of the pairing. ^_^
Guest: I'm glad you like the pairing as well and I will be continuing this story. Thanks for reviewing!