In His Refuge

Chapter 5: Simple life

"Hello Miss Summers, I am officer Lilly, I'll be taking the day shift with you, ensuring your safety till Mariano Melaki gets caught and this is Patrick, he'll be at the door" a girl in a police uniform, armed, came up to Ellie as Ellie opened the door to her apartment, escorted by another officer.

"Oh, umm... hi, alright then, come in" Ellie said opening the door for Lilly and they got in before she closed the door giving Patrick a nervous smile.

Ellie then turned towards Lilly, she had no clue what to do with another person staying with her at her place, specially a person she met for the first time.

"I am gonna go take a bath, you can get yourself comfortable, watch tv, some snacks in the fridge" she told officer Lilly who offered her a small smile seeing how Ellie got all awkward.

"Don't worry Miss Summers, you go about with whatever you do, you don't have to check on me, in fact you can forget I am even here, I'll just be keeping an eye on you and I'll be very quiet" Officer Lilly told her.

"Oh umm... no that's okay, you can talk to me, I'd feel better if you did" Ellie said and officer Lilly nodded with a smile before Ellie went to her room for a bath.

Ellie took a good long, comforting bath that helped with the crick in her neck and the exhaustion of the day before.

After that, she got into her pjs and took a long nap, despite having slept at the bureau.

The next time Ellie woke up, the wall clock read 7 30 PM.

She couldn't believe that she slept the whole freaking morning off. Her grumbling stomach made it even more obvious so she finally kicked off the covers and stood up from the bed, straightening out her limbs.

She noticed the patrol car standing outside from her bedroom window and was yet again reminded of her harsh reality and the police officer she had left outside before sleeping.

Ellie pulled on a cardigan quickly over her silk pjs and headed out of her bedroom.

Officer Lilly was still in the apartment except this time she was sitting on the couch watching tv.

"You had a good sleep hug?" Officer Lilly teased referring to the very long nap Ellie had take.

"Yea... I really didn't realise I was that tired and sleepy even after sleeping at the bureau, I guess I didn't get proper sleep there" Ellie said and the officer nodded.

"Best sleep is at home, I get that" she replied with a smile.

"So umm... I am pretty famished and was gonna order in some pizza, would you like some?" Ellie offered.

"That sounds pretty awesome but my shift is about to end and the other officer who's be taking the night shift with you will be here any minute now so it's fine, you go ahead and order" officer Lilly and Ellie smiled with a nod.

Ellie hoped that the other officer was just as comfortable and nice to talk to, she really didn't wanna spend that much time with someone unpleasant.

"Any news of the dispatch officer?" Officer Lilly asked, it had been a while since her shift had ended but the dispatch officer for the night shift seem to be running late so she conferred with the patrol car on her walkie regarding the matter.

"Yes, in fact we see him heading inside right now, he'll be at your door in no time" the officer from the patrol car informed as he saw a uniformed officer heading into the apartment building.

"Alright then" with that officer Lilly turned off her walkie.

Officer Patrick who was at the door duty had his nose buried in a play boy magazine before he heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see the officer who was suppose to take the night shift from Officer Lilly.

"Oh hey man, been wai..." before Officer Patrick could even finish his sentence, the replacement officer stabbed him.

He kept stabbing not once, not twice but ten times, repeatedly, not even giving him a chance to utter out anything.

Officer Patrick falls against the apartment door with a loud thud.

Inside the apartment, Ellie was still waiting on her pizza when a sudden this that sounded like a knock on the door was heard.

"It must be the Pizza guy" Ellie called out to Officer Lilly.

"No, it's probably the replacement officer, the patrol informed me he was about to reach" 

"Oh okay" Ellie said entering the hall watching Officer Lilly open the door, peering over to see the new officer on duty.

However, what happened next, happened all too quick.

The officer who was suppose to trade shifts threw open the door with rather brute force and shoved officer Lilly so hard that she landed against the wall, her head hitting the hard wall with a loud thud that had her breath knocked out as groans of pain left her mouth as she slid down the wall.

Ellie immediately recognised that face and built when the so called officer looked up from under his officer hat.

It was Mariano Melaki, with a sinister expression on his face, twice her size, with a knife dripping with blood in his hands, looking straight at her with those murderous eyes.

Adrenaline was in Ellie's side at the time or else she would've been frozen in spot with fear and shock, mostly mind numbing fear but instead she yet again made a run for it.

Ellie quickly slipped into her room and slammed the door shut, putting all her weight against it as the killer pushed from the other side trying to open it and within another second the door would've flung open but Ellie got lucky as she managed to reach up and lock the door before that could happen.

Ellie then rushed towards the window, knowing that the door wouldn't last long with all the kicking that the killer was doing to kick it open.

She hastily slid open the large window of her room and without thinking too much because she knew that if she hesitated and thought too much about it she would be dead.

She wasn't ready to die, not this mercilessly.

Ellie, despite her fear, climbed out the window d onto the ledge.

The patrol car was clearly visible from there and she tried to wave at them as best as she could while taking sure steps toward her right trying her best to avoid falling.

The patrol car finally saw Ellie on the ledge, waving in her panicky state. 

The two officers quickly jumped out and one of them called for back up.

One officer rushed down to where Ellie was standing on the ledge while the other one rushed up to the apartment.

"Hey! Jump! I'll catch you" the officer standing down said.

It was quite a distance but it was a doable jump and catch, it was still scary.

Ellie hadn't realised she was crying till she felt the wind on her face et cheeks and snot on her upper lip.

What is this mess she got into? She didn't deserve this, she is a good person!

"I...I .... can't" Ellie sobbed out.

"You have to come in, trust me, close your eyes and jump" the officer encouraged.

Ellie heard the door to her room break down at that moment and she didn't think twice after that and just pushed herself of the ledge, closing her eyes right and letting herself fall.

Within horrible seconds she felt herself being caught in the officer's arms, it still hurt a little bit she got over it.

"Hey hey, it's okay, you're safe now,  we got you" the officer said placing her down on her feet but she didn't trust her legs so she held onto him regardless.

Her life used to be simple, and she missed it.