The police officer was circling around Rory like a fish stuck in a bucket. He was nervous, sweating and his constant movement was driving Rory insane. How could Jim do this to her? How could he abandon his only daughter to be the hero? Why couldn't he just be a father first instead of a cop?

Rory's head was spinning from the anticipation, any noise made her flinch which didn't help as her entire body was aching from her injuries. She couldn't even protect herself, she had to rely on a nervous wreck of a policeman to do that for her- a stranger who she didn't trust. How pitiful, she thought to herself as the policeman turned for the hundredth time.

"Please," her voice made him jump and his hand instinctively flying to his holster. He looked at her, his face wet and frightened.

"Could you stop walking? You're making me feel sick," she managed to croak out.

"S-sorry, ma'm," he apologised and stopped. He then sat in one of the chairs by the door, his eyes quickly scanning the window in the door.

"I'm-. Do... Is there anything I can do to make you feel comfortable?" he stuttered, trying to break the tension.

"No, just as long as you don't start pacing again I'll be fine," Rory responded with a weak smile, fiddling with the heart monitor that was clamped over her index finger.

"Do we have to stay in this room? Is there no other way to escape?" she asked after a short pause, she didn't want to simply wait for Jerome to show up and gamble on whether her bodyguard was a good shot.

The officer shook his head.

"You are not in the right condition to do anything serious, if I move you, your wound will re-open," he paused as he spoke, he looked at her stomach which was tucked under scratchy hospital sheets, and then looked her in the eye and smiled.

"And we don't want that to happen," he reassured.

Rory sighed at this. This would be so much easier if she had just died.

An awkward silence passed between them, letting the tension build back up.

"I didn't catch your name, officer," Rory inquired as she tried to distract herself from her thoughts.

"It's Portman, A-Andrew Portman," he responded, he was grateful that the two of them were talking, it helped calm his raging nerves.

"It's nice to meet you, Andrew," Rory responded.

"It's nice to meet you too, such a shame it has to be in these circumstances," he said as he smiled at her.

Rory studied him intensely as he responded, looking for any hint of an unhinged soul. He was a middle-aged man, built like a wall. It was actually quite shocking that such a big man was so timid at the anticipation of a fight. Officer Portman had smooth brown hair that was held down by his police hat, salt and pepper stubble that covered tanned cheeks, and brown eyes which had laughter lines outlining them. Yet, even though he was oozing nervousness, there was not an ounce of insanity on the man. He was the sanest person Rory had met in the last 3 months.

"Do you think we'll make it out of here?" she asked as her gaze fell to her hands. Her heart quickened as every second that passed.

"I'm going to do everything that I can to make sure that happens," he said, looking to Rory with a kind smile.

His words genuinely did comfort her. He reminded her of her mother, for some reason, and such a distant memory calmed her. She gave him a small smile back to try and reassure him just the same.

But deep down, Rory knew she had no chance of surviving tonight- which was something she had to settle with. Her fate was set in stone, she would either die or be taken by Jerome. There was no other option, no chance of escape.

In the distance, Rory heard the ping of the elevator. It was faint, but because of how silent the ward had become, it sounded like it was going right off in her ear. Both Portman and her flinched. This was it. Rory started to mentally prepare herself for the pain that she was about to experience.

The sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway. There were multiple clanging, as well as the high pitches strain of wheels. Maybe her dad has been successful in killing Jerome and this was swat coming to the rescue. For a split second, Rory clung onto the hope that it was her father, that she was safe at last from the maniac that haunted her.

That light went out as soon as it was lit- a gunshot made sure of that. The echos of chaos that followed Jerome started to ring around the ward. The sound of crazed laughter, sporadic footsteps, practically dancing towards her, and the sound of him calling out her name.

"Auroraaaa" the voices sang as she waited for his arrival. The sound of her first name sent shivers down her spine, the only person who called her Aurora was her ex-boyfriend.

"Aurrrorrraaaaaa!" his voice was shrill, he was screaming her name, it sounded more like a war cry or the sound of a dying man than her name.

They were so loud, the footsteps, the gunshots, her name, all zooming around her as they rushed towards the room.

Officer Portman was shaking violently, his distress was so powerful that both he and Rory had started to cry. As they listened to their fate approach them, Rory found herself begging, hoping that Jerome would kill her and she would get to be free of him forever. The noise came to a crescendo as dark figures slowly appeared through the blinds.

All at once, it stopped. A long silence followed.

Rory could see the shadows of them behind the windows, their silhouettes lining the blinds that covered the window. Portman's eyes were fixed on the window in the door. He could see nobody though it, only empty corridor. All he could hear was the sound of his own heart and his heavy, quick breaths.

Before he could even blink, the barrel of a gun stared back at him through the glass. It greeted him with a bullet through the head. The glass shattered as he was shot and the ominous sound of Jerome's laughter could be heard clear as day.

Rory screamed at the top of her lungs, her body gave out in her, pain from her stomach and arms shot through her as she watched Portman slowly collapse to the ground.

The door was knocked down and Jerome slowly entered. He was wearing white suit trousers, with a white shirt and a white silk waistcoat overlaying. His holster was wrapped tightly around his chest and his sleeves were rolled up. He stood over the body of Office Portman holding the gun. Rory was sobbing, her breath was caught in her throat as she watched Jerome squat down over the policeman. His fingers formed a finger gun, which he pointed to the bullet hole in Portmans head.

"Bang," he said. He slowly turned to look at Rory, his hand still over the face of the officer. A smirk quickly pulled his lips as he met eyes with Rory.

The floor started to glow as if it were covered in green embers. As Jerome slowly stood up, his fingers still pointing down to Portman, flames started to burst from the corners of the room.

"No," Rory muttered as the glow of Jerome's insanity slowly started to consume everything in the room.

He approached her slowly, placing the real gun he held in its holster.

"Missed me?" he teased.

"Don't come near me you psycho!" Rory whispered, her voice raspy and weak. She didn't have the energy to fight and barely could get her words out. The adrenaline that was pumping through her body wasn't helping her injured body. Although she wanted to make a run for it and had the motivation to do so, her body physically couldn't without crying out in pain or exhaustion.

"Look at you," Jerome said as he stood by her side, his hand touching her face lightly. Rory flinched, sparks of static electricity shot through her.

"Don't touch me!" she murmured.

Jerome chuckled in response.

Then there was a moment of stillness between the two of them. Jerome standing over her, looming with the green flames of his madness growing bigger and bigger by the second.

"Okay, boys," Jerome broke from the trance he seems to have been in and called to his followers.

"Come in, bring nurse-ie with you," he spoke. There was something off with his behaviour, he wasn't performing this time.

Three goons rushed in, pushing a movable hospital bed, a petrified nurse was pushed in behind them by a larger henchman. She looked at Rory with fearful pity. She rushed towards Rory. Before she could start helping her, Jerome grabbed her by the forearm and said in a low and intimidating voice.

"You're here to make sure she stays alive, so you understand, you try anything other than that and I will skin you alive!"

She nodded her head frightfully. He let go of her and stood back. The nurse quickly pulled out the needles that were sticking into Rory's arms and disconnected her from the heart monitor. She then turned to the three men who were holding the hospital bed.

"You need to help me move her," she said, her voice cracking. They looked to Jerome, who simply nodded.

Rory was then lifted from her bed to the portable, she tried to resist as much as she could but it caused to much pain.

Before she knew it, she was being pushed out of the room, with the nurse by her side. She began drifting in and out of consciousness, everything she woke she was somewhere different, the elevator ceiling, then the night sky, then the walls of an ambulance. Jerome sat with her as her body gave in to exhaustion and all she could see was the green light.

The exhaustion of stress took over and as the ambulance started to drive away she went into shock and lost consciousness.