Will sighed slowly, relaxing a bit and feeling grateful to have someone like Aria in his life. Anyone else would have asked and pried in Aria’s place, but she didn’t. It was like she could sense that Will wasn’t ready to talk about it and she respected that and that only made Will love her more.
“Aria I…” he was about to finally tell her that when there was a knock on the door interrupting him. Will frowned at the intrusion and got up to answer, feeling eternally frustrated; just when he had finally picked up the courage to tell Aria how he felt about her he was interrupted.
Will opened the door, not even bothering to check who it was, his mind too preoccupied at the moment, when his eyes fell on a stranger. It was a middle-aged man, rather short and balding looking as if he was lost.
“How can I help you?” Will asked him and watched as he kept fidgeting and looking around without making eye contact which set Will’s nerves on fire.
“I am looking for Mr. Jones.” he said quietly and Will frowned.
“Well, you found him. What do you need? I am sorry but I don’t think we’ve met before.” he said and the man suddenly smiled, a weird expression flashing over his face and Will’s anxiety grew at the sight; something was definitely wrong but he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly.
“Oh, we’ve never met before, Mr. Jones, and after today you will regret ever meeting me.”
Will froze at those words, fear gripping him once he noticed what was in the man’s hand; a gun.
“Who are you? What do you want from me?” he asked, his thoughts immediately flying toward the girl currently lying in his bed, completely oblivious to what was going on just a few steps away, and he started to shake.
“I don’t want anything from you, Mr. Jones.” the man smirked and pointed the gun at Will’s chest. Will thought about slamming the door and running but the thought of Aria in the next room stopped him in his tracks.
“I am just the messenger. Mr. Norman sends his regards.”
The man said and then Will heard a loud bang before an excruciating pain started to spread through his chest and he fell to the floor.
Aria’s screams suddenly penetrated his ears through a fog, and he just prayed for her to be safe, and then there was nothing.
The Aftermath
“Here you go, love.” Nura said, one of her hands offering Aria a cup of tea while the other rubbed gentle circles across her back. Aria took it and took a sip not really tasting anything while she continued to stare without actually seeing through the window in the hospital waiting room.
The last few moments before the shooting kept repeating in her mind and she felt numb.
Aria had been so happy when they were in that bed, the man she loved snuggled next to her.
They should have stayed there; she thought bitterly and closed her eyes.
But then Will left and not even five minutes later Aria heard that wretched sound. She knew what it was immediately, the sound of another gunshot forever embedded in her mind, so she ran out of the room while almost breaking her neck in the process, only to find Will unconscious in a pool of his own blood. She started screaming and crying, begging Will not to leave her as she fell on her knees next to him.
“Please don’t leave me, Will. I love you. I love you so much, honey.” Aria kept repeating, while she kissed Will’s face and patted his hair.
Why was this happening? Who would do this?
“Aria?”
She turned around at the sound of her name and saw Meg standing in front of her.
“Why don’t you go with Nura to the restroom, love? Maybe freshen up a bit?” she said as Aria stared at her blankly for a few seconds before realizing what Meg had meant.
Looking down at her body, Aria saw that her hands were still completely covered in Will’s blood from when she was trying to stop the bleeding like the woman from the emergency service told her to do when she had called for an ambulance. Her clothes were in no better shape, the white shirt and pants bloody and moist.
She looked up again and simply nodded still refusing to talk.
Aria didn’t want to talk; she didn’t even want to think; all she wanted was someone to come out and say that Will was going to be alright.
Meg smiled softly at her, her eyes sad and hollow before Nura took her arm in hers.
“Come with me, sweetie, let’s get you cleaned up.”
Aria let her drag her away, not caring about anything except Will.
Once they were in the restroom, Nura gently took off Aria’s clothes and started scrubbing the blood off her. Aria let her do what she wanted, as she stared at her reflection, looking but not seeing anything until a little glint caught her attention. Her eyes fell on the tiny silver necklace still around her neck and she felt her stomach drop.
“You don’t have to wear it if you don’t like it since I know you’re not really a jewelry kind of girl. I won’t be mad, I promise. I just… I just wanted to give you something that will
