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"Angel....?," I look to her. Her eyes are swimming pools of darkness- unreadable and hollow. I feel my own face twist just looking her over now. Her appearance is disheveled and alarmingly questionable.

"Cherie...Why are you all wet..,"

"I wanna go home...," She whispers while still staring deeply into my eyes. Her intent is unclear unless that intention is to scrape at the lining of my heart.

"Darling...?" I smile bemused, but mostly confused by her melancholy tone and glum expression. "You are home....,"

I chuckle half heartedly, feeling the anxious crawl of my skin as she wraps one arm around the back of my neck in a tender hold.

She smiles in a way that I've never seen before. It's not only the fact that the smile doesn't reach her eyes, or the fact that her eyes have started to glow a twinkling mysterious glare. It's the way that little smile grows into a tooth showing smirk that she follows with a throaty cackle that makes every hair on my body respond like a jolt.

"Darling...where are...w-where are the children?," I question for some reason just now noticing the eerily quiet atmosphere. With three children running about, the house should be a loud, rambunctious place....

"They're at school..," She hums in a nonchalant manner, pulling away a bit to look me directly in the eyes.

"School?," I scoff in disbelief, wondering what type of game this is. Are the playing hide and seek? Are they just try to pull a prank over on me- a little family fun perhaps.

"But, they're not even attending school just yet- and besides it's night ti-,"

"My schools in session...," Her evil grin spreads wide across her face, barring her full set of teeth, cackling freely, wildly, with evil pouring out of her beautiful lips.

I finally glance around us, every place in the house looks torn to shreds. I look behind her instead of at her, all the while her arm still hangs lovingly around my neck, her fingers twiddling a piece of hair near the nap of my neck.

I hear the sound of rushing water running out of the faucet. My heart starts to pump at a speed that should fucking kill me dead- I know she's been unwell from all her trauma but...she wouldn't...she couldn't...

Uncaring with my heart beating up my throat, I push her out of the way, hurrying towards the sound. I go as fast as I can up the steps of the staircase. I stop when I see the bathroom door down the hallway- it's wide open. There lights still on. The water...it's spilling out into the hallway now...

I pick up speed, running through the splashing water around my ankles as I approach the door. Not knowing if I'm ready to see such a sight- I have no other choice in this.

"Oh my god," I breathe the words, but my lips are numb. I can't even feel them trembling. I can't feel a thing. Not one thing. Not anything.

I can't even feel my feet propelling me forward until my chest slams against the hard, cold porcelain tub, with such a force that it allows my screams to be set free.

"OH MY GOD!!!," My hands are shaking.

"OH MY GOD!!!," My heart is racing, as I try to collect all three of my children from their sinking positions in the bathtub.

"Oh my GOD- CHERIE!!!," the howls that escape me. The pure fiery rage that burns out of me in this instant I could kill her!!

"How could you! H-How could you! How!?,"

I try to pull them free. Up for air. A chance at survival. I try and try to reach them but they only sink further away from me. "No! No! No!," I scream at their now dark, shadowy figures beneath the waters surface.

The clear view becomes hazy, menacing and horrifying. They're sinking below vicious waves and I'm spinning within my own memory. The memory of an 8 year old boy, lost in the ocean for two months, all alone on a boat. No one there to call my own, no one to talk with, cry to, to hold, to be held by.

And then, I woke up.

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Cherie:

He's waking up now. Coming to after a terrible faint of shock with a nasty fall that hit his head on the floorboards before anyone could catch him. His lips squeeze together, he's mumbling and whining and breaking my heart with his whimpering confusion.

My God, he is beautiful. He's even more handsome, the closer you get. Up close and personal with my Freddie has always been a gorgeous view. The way his long eyelashes place little fanned shadows beneath them. The way the tip of his sharp nose wiggles a bit every time he snores. The way his pouty, pink lips hang all the way open- you'd think the sight wouldn't be what I make it out to be- oh, but it is! What a sight he is to see again, finally. Up close and personal...and all mine.

His eye lashes begin to flutter until he opens the sweetest eyes I've ever seen, filled with the familiar, warm, mesmerizing swirls of chestnut and sparkling honey. How I've missed staring into them, longingly...lovingly...

He stares at me like I'm a ghost. In shock. In disbelief. He says nothing and it's starting to scare me. Maybe he's not happy that I'm back? Maybe he doesn't believe me.

I reach my hand to his cheek and in the next instant his eye lids shut once again, but this time it's in response to the way I cup his cheek in my hand and stroke his face with gentle brushing touches. As he holds his eyes closed, the very tip of his tongue quickly glides over the soft skin of his plump bottom lip thrice, and then his eyes pop open. I can hear the click of his brain. The re-emerging spark in our touch, the shimmer that comes alive within his eyes and the beat of his heart as it rushes back to me now.

"Cher-ie," He whimpers my name, taking a sharp inhale, forgetting how to breathe properly. His arms wrap around my middle, securing me by pressing the tips of his fingers into my sides all the way around. He buries his head into my chest and his own heaving chest becomes more burdened with quicken breathes so ragged one would think he was meeting death himself.

"OhCherie! It's you...it...how...i-it's really really you!,"

It's the sadeyed goodbye yesterday moments I remember. It's the bleak street, weak kneed partings I recall. I can almost hear the rasp of Rogers voice in the track that plays in my thoughts at this very moment.

The love of my life is in front of me once again- the way it was meant to be. We can finally go away- I don't care anymore we'll flee tomorrow. Just us and our babies. To live somewhere new, just like we planned. We can be free from here. From all the memories. From all the hurt. There's only one problem. He's breaking my heart right now- if I've even got any of the damned organ left!

He's trembling- shaking so rigidly in my arms that I tighten my grip on his shoulders, pulling him as close to me as humanely possible. I never want to let him go! Not ever again- I've missed my love so much it hurts! It's been hurting! It'll be too much to ever leave his side again!

Please Freddie, forgive me.

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Jim:

"Hello?"

"It's time- we know where she is...Is he gone, then?,"

"Yeah- just left about an hour ago...So, she's back is she? Ha!," I scoff at the pitiful fool that couldn't even fuck without some liquid courage. Good thing, too- I think fucking him would've really blown my cover.

"Obviously! I already had Thomas handle Jimmy- It's time to take it to the next step. Take them. Do it now before anyone can stop you,"

The line clicks off and I smirk at the fact that good old Jimmy the hard ass, couldn't keep up his end of the deal. Paul has no sympathy for him anymore- he's let that bitch run everything since he took her captive. Paul has no sympathy for any of us. He's got eyes everywhere. How? I don't know. But I'm not taking the chance.

I'll do as he says, sure. But it's not going to be easy.

Making my way out of the bedroom, I chug the very last of my whiskey and head towards little Richie's room. He was a bit of a handful today, but I know it was because of his bratty sister- Richie usually loves me.

"Rich...," I shake him awake by his shoulder until his eyes pop open. "Richie- we have to go. Your dad had a bad accident. We're going to the hospital to see him..."

His eyes go wide and he springs out of his bed in an instant. "Papi's hurt?! Is he....is he hurt like mummy!?,"

I can see that he's putting things together the way his eyes pry into mine. His tiny hand wraps around my wrist, tugging for more information as I walk out of the room to head to the girls' bedroom next.

"Just get your shoes on Rich- we'll find out more later," Richie quickly nods his head and skids across the floorboards in his socks, heading back to his bedroom to get his shoes on.

As soon as I walk into the girls' room, I see Lily already sitting up in the bed next to a snoring Charlie. Sure, she looks like a precious doll while she's sleeping; easy to fool anyone of the actual demon child that she is while awake.

"Come Lily..," I whisper as I lean down to scoop the little girl in my arms.

"Where are you taking her!," Charlie hisses with her eyes closed before sitting up, still tucked underneath the covers.

I have to work hard to hold in my internal growl, speaking to her in a gruff voice instead. "Fred- uh Papi's in the hospital. We've got to go quick!," I almost feel badly about the terrified expression that haunts her little delicate features. She flies out of bed, grabbing a sweater to put in top of her night gown and some fuzzy slippers for her feet.

"I'm ready- hurry up! Let's go!,"

Whatever you say, princess.