Innocent me.... episode 12
266 Words
Ella gasped sharply and grabbed her head as the memory hit harder this time. The pain was unbearable, like pieces of a forgotten nightmare forcing their way back into her mind.
“Ella!” Jayden quickly caught her before she collapsed.
Her breathing became uneven as flashes continued racing through her head.
Rain.
A dark road.
Her father arguing with someone.
Then—
A loud gunshot.
Ella suddenly pulled away from Jayden, terrified by what she was beginning to remember. “I was there,” she whispered shakily. “That night… I was there.”
The hooded man closed his eyes briefly, as if he had feared this moment for years.
“You weren’t supposed to remember yet,” he said quietly.
Jayden looked between them in confusion. “Remember what?”
Ella’s hands trembled violently. “My father… he was trying to protect someone.”
Another flash appeared in her mind.
Ryan Cole standing in front of her.
Then blood spreading across his shirt.
Tears filled Ella’s eyes instantly. “Ryan got shot because of me.”
Jayden froze completely.
“No,” he said firmly. “My brother disappeared. Nobody ever found his body.”
The hooded man finally spoke again, his voice heavy with guilt.
“That’s because Ryan never died.”
Silence filled the broken store.
Ella stared at him in shock.
Jayden’s expression darkened dangerously. “What are you talking about?”
The man slowly lifted his gaze toward them.
“Ryan Cole is alive.”
And before either of them could react, police sirens suddenly echoed loudly outside the store.
- Writer
