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"What’s your fucking address?" Hawke roughly asked h numb lips

I had my arms wrapped around my queasy stomach the entire way there When we reached the tall apartroup of ht He didn’t say a word He stayed put behind lass door with the key hanging on my necklace

When I opened it, he continued to watch me walk hesitantly to the elevator I looked back at hi hair and thick beard stood out in my memory the most When the elevator closed and I could see him no more, I immediately hunched over and threw up in the corner of the elevator Nothing ca that day, but I couldn’t stop heaving Acid burned my throat, tears and black hair blurredpassed

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and al the walls for support on my way there It was three doors down from the fourth floor elevator and it felt like the walk of my life I could hear the nor of a couple across from me Usually I’d be annoyed at this, but I welcoht me back to the familiarity of my world instead of what I’d just walked out of

I didn’t change, or wash my hands, or even make it to the bedroom door I collapsed into my three seater couch and shook violently It would have been just after ht when I’d come in because I watched every hour fro about the led in the alleyway

Seven

BORDEN

With his forehead pressed against the glass, Borden stared out of the floor to ceilingof his penthouse, overlooking the New Raven River He tapped his gun against the glass as he watched the water sway If he stared hard enough, he’d begin to feel the h hiine a body in the darkness of the waters, floating with the current, swaying just as he was

He put hi that really gave hirey, but the pain was like a shade of red every now and then It gave hi hu he felt anymore Human, that is His life now operated on power, control, and business that had long lost its appeal The adrenaline that had energized him before had noeaned into nonexistence He was a void, playing a part he was no longer interested to play He was suffering in the way apositive could suffer The eo and the bitch re to lose, he didn’t give a fuck if the bitch won in the end

He turned away froun back down on the coffee table in the lounge It sat next to the opened briefcase, and Borden unaffectedly stared down at its contents, at the hundred dollar bills that took up every inch of its interior

Money did nothing for him

Numb

Numb

Numb

That’s all he was

And yet despite all that, his

Emma Warne