Cold sweat wet his brow as John tightened his grip around the steering wheel. The hands on his Rolex tells him he only had fifteen minutes left and he was still miles away. Two hours ago, he received a call from Kristin. He had been waiting for her at the small cafe and was starting to get a bit impatient as he was sitting there for almost an hour. Little did he know...
The caller ID showed her name but a man's voice came through the receiver. It sounded gruff. And soul-less. Like steel. "twenty thousand quid for the lady. Meet me at the alley Hunting Street downtown." the voice huffed and then after a high pitched scream, the line went dead with a click.
Kristin.
That was definitely Kristin's voice.
At first John thought it was a joke -Kristin was never the serious type- but then all the pieces fit in his head. He threw some money on the table and sprinted into his black BMW, driving towards the nearest bank. He couldn't call the police, god knows what they would do to his darling if he did. It took him an agonisingly long time to withdraw that much money, the deafening scream replaying itself in his head the whole time. His heart quenched as the unthinkable past through his head. Hopefully he wasn't too late.



 Cold. Wet. Pain.
Kristin opened her eyes and quickly shut them again. Her head pounded and her entire body ached. She felt like she had been hung upside down and been used as a punching bag for a sadist.
Cold. Wet. Pain.
A hand gripped her hair and she clenched her teeth bearing the pain. "awake, aren't we?" the man, Duke from what she learnt from hearing into their conversations, said and let go of her hair, her head thumping painfully on the cold hard ground.
Kristin had no idea how she wound up in the cellar. She was walking towards the cafe to meet John and the next thing she knew, something hard hit her head then everything turned black. She woke up with bruises and scratches everywhere. The whole time she endured the torture, she thought of John. John and his umber hair and bright green eyes. John and his warmth. John and the security he emitted through his skin whenever he enveloped her in his strong arms.
"John..." she breathed, tears streaming down her bruised cheeks. This was it. She had lost all hope in life. She could feel her body shutting down, the pain was too much.
 "Just kill me," she wheezed. "Please!"
"oh?" Duke cocked his eyebrow, bending down to look her in the eyes. A smirk was tugging at the corners of his lips. That bastard.
"Kill me," she cried, tears coming down full force now. "I'm begging you!"
"whatever you say," he shrugged nonchalantly as if he randomly killed people on a daily basis. He pulled his gun out and his finger pressed down on the trigger.
 Kristin closed her eyes, awaiting the bullet to penetrate through her skin, to end all this. "I'm sorry, John..I'm sorry." she said under her breath. It killed her to end her life so easily, but it was so much pain.
Boom.
"No!"
 Kristin's eyes shot open to meet John's. There he was standing at the door. His hair was masked onto his skin, his chest going up and down like he just ran the marathon.
"Too late," Duke sounded smug. He pulled the trigger.
 "Kristin!" John yelled.
The bullet went through Kristin's chest as she smiled her last smile at him. "I love you, John.." she huffed then her life got sucked out of her. She lay there, limp in his arms as his tears wet her eyes. He lay a soft kiss on her lips and sobbed into her chest.
Cold. Wet. Pain.