She was dead

~GRAY

^Past...^

The days that followed, had been used to plan our next step. I sneaked into Molly's room—because her mom hated me, and researched more about the man named Cade Donovan. We found out that he was a businessman who grew up in a wealthy and well-known family. He owned a lot of buildings, including the one he was currently staying in, The Central Park Tower, which had the most expensive penthouse in the whole of New York. We couldn't find anything about his age, and the pictures we found were taken five years ago when he'd bought the One World Trade Center.

"There's no information about where he currently is. This is so frustrating!" Molly complained, banging her head on the table. I wasn't fazed by this. It was something she did when she'd run out of patience. "What about the penthouse?", I questioned. She raised her head from the table.

"That information was five years ago. Do you still think he leaves there?"

"There's no harm in checking.", I reasoned, and so we did. Molly, Niko and I took a train to the place the following day. Our mouths dropped open at the sight of the building. It was the tallest building I'd ever seen. I wondered why people stayed in tall buildings like the one in front of me. It just seemed unsafe to me

Everything about the buildings, the streets and the cars and people that were on them smelled—rich.

We didn't even make it to the entrance of the Central Park Tower when a security man started to chase us away, calling us rift rafts. I didn't blame him, we looked like that, especially me with my messy hair, faded black shirt and ripped jeans.

We returned to oaks avenue that afternoon, still at square one. I'd lost all hope of saving the park and dreamt of all the trees, including the one in the centre of the park that I liked to lay on, being cut down. What I didn't know was that the next day would change my whole life.

It had started as a normal day for me. It was a very sunny Tuesday, and I was running my morning shift as usual when I had a call from Molly saying she found something and that I needed to come to the park. I checked the old clock in D'Angelo's Diner, and it read fifty minutes past eleven. Ten minutes more till my shit ended. The owner of the Diner, Andre D'Angelo, was in the pantry ordering people about. It wasn't a very big place, but it had a lot of customers because of the mouth-watering Italian pizza he made.

"Andre, I have to attend to something urgent and it's almost twelve. Can I close early today?", I walked to him and asked. He stopped yelling at Elise, another girl who worked here and smiled at me.

"Don't worry, you can go.", he patted my shoulder and continued yelling at her. Andre was known to be a very kind and selfless man, his only shortcoming was that he was a perfectionist. Not saying it was a bad thing, but he got furious when someone didn't do things the exact way he did them. It made him difficult to work with sometimes, but most of the time, he was cool. I removed my apron, placed it in the storage room and exited the diner.

Niko was already outside waiting for me in his mother's car. I opened the door to the front seat and sat down.

"What's going on, what's the emergency?", I asked him as he started the engine and drove away from the diner.

"Molly managed to get information from her mom that the mayor and Cade Donovan were visiting the park to inspect the place. Today was the last day."

"I don't get it."

"He's inspecting the place as we speak, and if he likes it by the end of today he'd be owning it."

"Really!", he nodded his head while looking at the road, "What are we going to do then?"

"Remy suggested that we destroy his car, and we agreed to it Remy and Molly are already at the park with the stones.", he replied guiltily.

"But I didn't agree to that, and I'm the leader. Why didn't you guys tell me earlier?", I yelled, because I was furious. Stoning the man's car was a very bad idea. I dialed Remy and Molly's cell several times, but it went straight to voice mail. Damn it!

Two minutes later we arrived at the park and I rushed out of the car. I passed by a group of children who were playing with a dog before coming across an expensive-looking car. In front of it was the Mayor with his protruding belly, who was talking excitedly to a tall man beside him. Their backs were facing me, so I couldn't see Cade Donovan's face, but his hair was curly and long, its length almost reaching his neck. His shoulders looked broad in his classy suit. There was an aura around that told me he wasn't someone to mess with.

I walked away from them and went to where Remy and Molly were hiding behind the trees.

They'd used a black mask to cover their face, only their lips and eyes showing. There were four containers filled with stones next to them

"What are you guys doing?", I hissed at them.

"What does it look like we're doing? We don't have enough time, wear this mask.", Remy handed me black clothing that had been sewn to form a mask. Holes had been cut for the eyes and mouth, just like theirs. I threw it to the ground and Molly gasped. Niko who had finally reached where we were standing, frowned at me and spat, "What the hell are you doing, Grey? Is it because we didn't tell you about it?"

" No, it has nothing to do with that. We can't destroy the car. There has to be another way we could stop the sale, but not with stones. Why don't we try talking to him first? He might not be a bad person.", Remy and Niko looked pissed off, while Molly looked confused.

"Do you think someone like him would want to talk to us, Grey? And if he wasn't a bad person, then he wouldn't be buying this place"

"I know I said that Molly, but it isn't safe. I saw some kids playing around not too far from the car.", I tried to reason, but they didn't understand me. I looked at Molly— begging her, with my eyes, to support me, but she turned and looked the other way.

"Well, it's too late now, we're carrying on with the plan. Just stay here if you're not going to help", Remy snapped. Niko shook his head—clearly, disappointed in me, covered his face with a mask and left with one container. Remy also left. Molly looked hesitant to leave but still followed him anyway. She always tried to please Remy, since she had a crush on him.

"Guys, please think about this.", I called out, but they paid no heed to me. Two seconds later, the sound of stones hitting the glass and a car alarm blaring, filled the atmosphere.

I couldn't see what was happening from where I was standing, but I could hear the commotion outside. I could make out the Mayor's voice. He was yelling, saying they'd riot in jail. I didn't want to get into trouble, so I turned to leave when a cry suddenly pierced through the air. I came out from behind the tree and looked for the direction it came from. I spotted a girl I'd seen earlier, lying on the ground beside the now shattered car, unconscious with blood oozing from her head.

She had been hit!

I ran to her, panicked, and held her head in my hands. I checked her pulse and she was still breathing. There was a deep cut on her head. I removed my handkerchief from my pocket and pressed it on the wound, to reduce the amount of blood that was coming out. My hands fished for my phone, but it wasn't in my pocket, and then I remembered leaving it in Niko's car. I called Niko who was standing a few meters away from me.

Niko and Remy turned, saw the wounded girl beside me, and panicked. They dropped their stones to the ground and ran off while the Mayor chased them. Molly dropped her stones and approached me. Her hands shook as she looked at the unconscious girl.

"She's not dead, Molly. Call the ambulance?", I yelled at her as I continued to press the wound.

"I can't", she dared to say.

"What do you mean by that?, I'll beat the hell out of you if you don't call the fucking ambulance."

"No, I can't. I'm sorry, Grey.", she said before running off. I screamed for her to come back, but she didn't.

Cade Donovan, who had been lying on the ground, got up, placed his phone next to his ears and spoke into it. I cursed under my breath, gently placed the girl's head on the ground, and rushed to him.

"Please sir, can you call the ambulance, the girl is wounded." I pleaded, but he ignored me.

"I'm begging you, sir, please call the ambulance." He looked at me, his face cold and expressionless, before turning back around. I pulled the sleeve of his coat, trying to get his attention, but it only seemed to make him furious because he pushed me to the ground and yelled, "Will you shut up! Go ask someone else for help." before resuming his call.

I ran away from him and went outside trying to get a passer-by to help me out, but they ignored me, most of them thought I was crazy.

No one tried to help me. When I returned to the unconscious girl, her body was cold, and her arms fell limply at her sides when I raised them. I felt her pulse and there was nothing.

She was dead.

I sat on the ground near her lifeless body, tears streaming down my face.