[four]

Elijah was ninety-nine percent sure that he was still drunk from last night.

The original plan was to simply walk out the front door but after noticing the security guard in the lobby, it jogged a memory. Images of him throwing up on the guard crossed his mind, the look on the guard's face held a lot of restraint but Elijah knew in other circumstances, he would have been beaten to death.

From the brief glances, Elijah would bet his life that the guard didn't forget it.

This led to plan number two, where they were stood in an empty storing cupboard, staring up at a half-cracked window and questioned whether they could squeeze their way out.

"Elijah," Indiana watched him stack up boxes underneath the window, "this is your plan?"

"Pretty much," he replied while carefully jumping onto the boxes.

"Why did we dress like this?" She picked at her socks, trying to pull it up.

"To blend in."

"Oh, and we really are blending in now," Indiana sarcastically resorted while he jumped onto the boxes and tried to push the window wider.

"Look, you're lucky we found this room."

"By lucky you mean," she crossed her arms over her chest, "we just about checked every room until we found this one."

"Precisely," he grunted while trying to still push the window.

"Can't we just go by the main door?"

"I puked on the guard."

"What?"

"Well I," he pushed the window again but this time a bit too forceful causing it to shatter, "oh no."

"You idiot," she hissed, he jumped down from the boxes and wiped his hand on is trousers. That's when she noticed something shiny.

"What is that?"

He stared down at his hand, and noticed blood was drawn from the glass. Quickly, he brushed it onto his trousers.

"It's nothing," he replied quickly, thinking she was worried about the blood.

"No," she grabbed onto his left hand, and they both stared at the simple, gold band on his ring finger, "this."

There was a brief pause before he took her own left hand and inspected it.

"I could ask you the same thing"

"We can't be..." she muttered.

"One room please," Elijah lazily smiled at the hotel clerk, "the best room."

He winked at Indiana, who giggled into his shoulder. Their wedding hands shinned bright, like their drunken giddy smiles.

Indiana shook her head trying to rid the memory, she couldn't have done that. That's impossible, that couldn't be her.

"Please say we didn't actually get married."

"Ouch," he let go of her hand and jumped back onto the box, trying to clear away the glass, "you're breaking my heart here."

She internally counted to ten, praying that she would fight the temptation of grabbing the pieces of glass and slicing his throat.

"Tell me the truth," her hands balled into a fist by her side, "we didn't, right?"

"We didn't what?"

She dug her nails deeper into her skin, it almost started to bleed. Murder was starting to look like the best viable options out of the situation.

"Get married," she said with a clenched jaw.

Elijah didn't answer, instead he decided to hoist himself up onto the small windowsill and wiggle himself out. In other situation, Indiana would have laughed at how ridiculous he looked, with his legs in the air, flapping about like a bird with broken wings. She let out a sigh and out of frustration she kicked the box, which he had stacked up, it all came crushing down while Elijah managed to get his whole body out.

Indiana felt instant regret, it was likely due to the noise of the boxes, but they both heard the rush of staff trying to open the door. Likely, Indiana had barricaded it with other boxes but unfortunately, they seemed to be persistent.

"Give me your hand," Elijah reached out his hand, it was dripping with blood.

She jumped to reached for his hand, but it was just an inch out of reach. In a haste she grabbed a random box and stood on it. Just as Indiana grabbed his hand, she heard the door break open.

"Find my aunt," she hissed before letting go of his hand and jumping off the box.

As soon as she turned around, she saw five sets of questioning eyes on her rushed towards her.

"Que fais-tu, enfant?"

Indiana wasn't sure how to respond to this in English, let alone French. She starred at her hands, praying that Elijah had at least made a run for it.

"Du sang?"

One of them came forward and starred at her blood-stained hands, it was from when she grabbed onto Elijah's hand. He reached out for her hand and inspected it, his eyes then shifted from the glass shards on the floor to the broken window.

From that point, it was straightforward process that Indiana had minimal understanding of, in short; the police were called leading to Indiana being pushed into a holding cell.

During the interviews with the police, Indiana had tried to explain that she wasn't sure exactly how she ended up here and that she needed to get back to England but they either didn't care or they really didn't care. Now Indiana was stuck in a holding cell with the other very questionable characters.

One sat with what she presumed was his girlfriend, with how touchy they were. His arms were covered in tattoo, particularly of skulls and he was on the larger side. His girlfriend was rather pretty, brown curls with similar tattooed arms and a few piercings on her lips. There was another girl, she sat seemed to be with them considering how she would roll her eyes whenever they would giggle but she seemed younger with her childlike features.

"What are you in for?" The big guy asked, with a thick accent.

Indiana was taken back, no one except Elijah had spoken English to her. Perhaps in other circumstances, she would have been grateful to meet someone that she could understand.

"I'm not entirely sure," she answered with a shrug.

It could be a few things, from somehow sneaking their way into France or trying to sneak out of the hotel, it could even be smashing the window or ruining their room.

"Why are you here?"

"We stole something," he said with a shrug while his girlfriend giggled at his side.

"Tais-toi Coren," the younger girl hissed, she didn't seem overly keen on the interaction.

"What did you steal?"

"Soyez silencieux," the young girl replied before he could.

Indiana nodded, pretending to understand what she had said, she didn't try to pry anymore. It was clear the young girl was not liking the conversation at all, considering how she was now sporting a glare now.

Accepting the conversation had a sharp end, Indiana looked around, noticed how that the security guard was half asleep, and another had been away for some time now.

It seemed like a good time.

She went to reach into her pockets, forgetting that the damn dress she had changed into lacked pockets. With a frustrated sigh, she remembered how the hair clip she had used before was in her jean's pockets, that she dumped back at the hotel.

Elijah was extremely lucky to not be here, Indiana was pretty sure her charge would change to murder.

With a sigh, she dragged herself up from where she sat, to go inspect the lock. It was standard locking, it was quite laughable how it was the only thing keeping her here. She just needed a hair clip.

Biting her lip out of frustration, she turned her head slightly, "do any of you have a hair clip?"

Indiana was almost certain that she would not get a response, but she got surprised when the girlfriend pulled one out of her hair.

"Thanks," she muttered before looking back at the lock.

Her dad was a locksmith. They used to have these challenges in the shop, have a race to see who would unlock all the doors first. Indiana never got a chance to win.

The cell door opened with a noticeable creak.

"Tu l'as fait?"

"Here."

She ignored how they all sat their stunned and passed the clip back to the girl with a small smile. Indiana went to get up but was stopped by one of them grabbing her arm.

"We are coming," it was the guy.

"Fine," she shook her arm off him and walked out.

Just as she thought, the guard was asleep with a few crumbs on his chin. She looked around to see that the office was empty, it was strange. There wasn't any other police officer behind their desks, the computers weren't even on.

Surely a police station wouldn't be this empty?

"Let's get out of here."

She nodded and followed them out, there wasn't even police guards at the door.

This didn't feel right.

Indiana's feelings didn't settle when she followed them out to town nor when she took that taxi ride to the other side of Paris.

Something felt off.

"Where are we?"

"La maison," the young girl said before unlocking the door to a store that seemed like a closed down bakery store.

Indiana bit her lip unsure whether she should follow the rest and go in or make a break for it. Running a hand through her hair, she felt how greasy it was. She needed a shower and she had already made it this far.

Following them in, she noticed how the cashier till was dusty, unused and most likely broken but what really concerned her were the bullet like holes on the counter. She chose not to ask, a bit too afraid of how they would answer.

"There was only one officer," she started, a few steps behind as they went upstairs, "isn't that weird?"

"Who cares?" The guy said over his shoulder while his girlfriend kissed his cheek.

She tilted her head to the side, the kiss reminded her of him.

They both clumsily climbed into the box but left the lid slightly open.

Indiana was sat on Elijah's lap, his eyes shined with mischief. A part of her was terrified, but the alcohol seemed to numb the fear into a corner.

She only noticed his lips for a split second, but it became all she could stare at. After a few moments, she finally met his eyes.

They were close. Incredibly close.

Elijah tilted his head to the side with a smile, he set the wine bottle down and touched her cheek. He was hesitant, carefully watching her reaction, she smiled. 

"Kiss me."

"You coming?" The girlfriend called over his shoulder.

Indiana briefly touched her lips, that couldn't have happened. Her eyes caught her ring, perhaps anything happened.

"Coming," she quickly replied before running up the rest of the steps.

It was surprisingly cleaner, she couldn't see the dust or any clutter. She followed them to what seemed like a lounge, the guy sat on the armchair with his girlfriend on his lap while the other girl went to charge her phone.

"Hey," Indiana called after her, "can I use that phone?"

"To call your husband?"

"What?"

Indiana turned to the guy, he had put on the TV seeming bored while his girlfriend pointed to her hand. The ring.

"Oh," she nodded dumbly forcing a smile, "I need to call him."

"Être rapide," the young girl passed her the phone before walking off and stealing the remote off him.

She quickly dialled her phone number, praying that he had found a charger. How difficult was it to find an iPhone charger, it couldn't have been that difficult? It rang a few times which was promising but after a few dial tones, it went to voicemail. Sighing, she tried again.

"Hello?"

There was a few questionable screams and a lot of cheers

"Wait," she heard him call out, "I'm on the phone!"

"Elijah?"

"Indie!"

She could even hear the slight slur in his tone.

"Are you drunk?"

There was a pause, Indiana could feel her blood start to boil.

"No way."

She waited, he really couldn't be doing this right now.

"Maybe a little."

"Are you serious?" She caught herself from screaming down the phone.

"I'm sorry."

Indiana would bet her life that his cough was to disguise his laughter.

"Where are you?"

"I don't know," perhaps it was the almost deafening silence, but he quickly followed with, "let me ask."

"Bonjour," she could hear him ask, "où sommes-nous?"

"You can speak French?"

Indiana knew she was losing her composure, she could feel it in the way she was restraining herself from throwing the phone at a wall. Even the young girl was now looking at her with wary eyes, Indiana forced a reassuring smile.

"Stolly," he replied before the line went dead.

She stared down at the phone, it had died. Looking down at the wire, which was still connected to the phone, she followed it until it reached to her other hand. Her nails managed to dig into the wire, ripping it apart.

"Sorry," she passed the phone and broken wire to the young girl who stared down with an eyebrow raised.

"Is your husband okay?"

Even though it was only the girlfriend that asked, the guy also turned with a slight interest.

"Do you guys know where Stolly is?"

[ah yeah by winner]

footnote 190719:

it feels weird to me how this is only chapter 4, it feels like chapter 20 to me because of how much has happened? i am praying that this isn't too fast paced and is an enjoyable read

feedback is always welcome and appreciated