"I'm sorry, we couldn't save her." The doctor, who had just walked out of the ICU, said and Mr. Dixon started crying hysterically. Michael and Mr. Dixon were at the hospital for the past 12 hours. Mrs. Dixon had a heart attack and her condition was critical.

"I'm sorry, Dad." Michael rarely addressed him as Dad but today he felt the need to. As soon as he had said these words, Mr. Dixon hugged him and started sobbing louder than before. Michael felt a hot tear run down his cheek. He couldn't stand watching him cry and no matter how much he hated Mrs. Dixon's senseless accusations, he knew he'll miss her when she'll be gone. He just didn't expect her to leave so early. No one ever does.

After calming Mr. Dixon down, he took him home and went back to the hospital to complete all the formalities. It was around 11 a.m. when he left the hospital. He hadn't slept the whole night and didn't notice his friends standing next to Mr. Dixon's car.

"Michael." Alex said as soon as he was in hearing range. When he looked at Alex, he expected to be still angry at him, but instead he hugged him and again felt a few more tears slide down his cheek.
"I'm sorry." Alex spoke after a complete minute and his apology was so genuine that Michael couldn't help but smile a little. No matter what happened, he knew these idiots would never leave his side.

"Guys I'm here too." Jason finally made his presence known and hugged both of them.
"You look terrible. We'll drop you home and you'll sleep. We'll take care of other things and I'm not arguing over it now." Alex patted Michael's back and pushed him inside the car. He took the keys from him and handed them to Jason.
"Drive him home and park the old man's car there. I'll come and talk to Mr. Dixon, he probably needs our help right now." He said this to Jason who drove Michael home later.

"Just go to bed right now. I hate seeing you like that. I think Mr. Dixon isn't sleeping anymore. I'll check on him." Jason said and shoved Michael inside his room.
He didn't want to sleep now but he couldn't help it, he was too tired. He took his clothes off and changed into shorts. As soon as he had laid himself on the bed, he went into a dreamless slumber.

********

"You can sit down somewhere." Michael spoke to the girl standing at his door and staring at him. She thought he was sleeping and his voice really took her off guard.
"Mr. Dixon wants to see you. Alex sent me here." Elise stuttered as she spoke.

"He's pretty dumb then cause you haven't done anything but stare at me for the past 10 minutes." He quickly got up from his bed and started looking for his shirt.
"I think you should leave. Tell him I'll be there in five minutes." Michael said and opened his cupboard. She was still standing there and staring at him.
"Elise." He turned around slowly.
"I'm so sorry!" She quickly turned around and left the room. Michael couldn't help but smile at this.

*********

After the funeral, Mr. Dixon went inside his room and didn't came out for the whole week. Only opening his door to take some food when Michael wouldn't stop banging it. To take care of the guests, Michael stayed at home for a week.
At around 6, the doorbell rang again and he half-heartedly got up to check on the never seen before relative of Mrs. Dixon.

"Hi." He didn't expect her to show up today.
"Hi, come inside." Michael said and she quietly followed him inside. Placing the food she had brought on the table, she gestured him to sit.
"I do have food here you know." He said but she didn't listen and proceeded to serve the food to him.
"I told mama I was going to see you so she packed the dinner for you. I feel like she loves you more than she loves me." She chuckled at what she had said and took a seat opposite to him.
"Tell Mrs. Woods that she is an angel." Michael started eating his food like he had been starved for years. Seeing this, Elise smiled and they ate their food in silence.

"Michael?"
"Yes?"
"I hope you remember that our exams are starting from tomorrow."
"I almost forgot. I won't skip them, don't worry." He smiled at her and she happily returned it. They talked for a while and she got up to leave after less than an hour.
"I've to go somewhere else too. See you tomorrow then." Michael walked her to the front door and waited for her to say something else too.
"Take care of yourself." Elise said and they both stared at each other before Michael finally broke the not-so-awkward silence.
"You too. Take care of yourself. If you want I can drop you wherever you're going."
"Thanks but no, I'll be fine." She smiled at him.

**********

She still had the keys to his house so she quietly entered. His grandparents weren't home and he had told her about this in school today.
She tiptoed towards his room and found him bent over a cardboard box.
"What are you doing?" She almost shouted and Jason jumped at it.
"What the hell Elise!"
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you, again." She smiled but Jason was still serious.
"You're late, I thought you wouldn't come." He glanced at his wristwatch.
"Yeah, I was at Michael's place. Sorry about that."
"Hmmm." Jason hummed.
"Shut up and get to work!" She shouted and laughed right after that.
"So did you find anything?" She sat down next to him and looked at the contents on the box. They were mostly documents and pictures.

"Yep. My good ol' grandma didn't let my grandpa destroy everything related to my father. I just found this box and haven't even checked everything that's inside."
"Wow, that's cool. Are you sure you want to do this? Your grandpa will be really angry." Elise asked in a careful voice.
"Yeah. Honestly it's the only thing that makes sense. I have no clue about my parents and that makes me pretty sure about them being not-your-average-parents. Maybe people who tried to kill me are the same who are responsible for their disappearance. I'm clueless about why they would have done this but I think looking for my parents' info will help me find something." Jason explained and his voice sounded tired. He had been searching frantically for clues on Thomas' death and his father but he got nothing.

"You can give me his full name and I'll look for him in the phonebook at the library. Maybe we can find some information from his number. I can even get a legal permit, I have my ways." Elise suggested.
"That's a great idea but I don't know his full name. I got my last name from my maternal grandparents so I don't even about my father's family and name." He replied, hating how ignorant he was about his own family but that wasn't his fault. His grandpa never let him ask about it, always changing the subject and directing his mind in another direction.

"Ok let's just search the box thoroughly then." She stopped, waiting for his permission to touch the box. When he finally nodded, she emptied the contents on the floor.

To their surprise, almost all of the pages were blank. There were a few pictures. Most of them were of the wedding day and some were with a kid.
"Your mama is really pretty." Elise said, picking up a picture of Jason laughing with his mom.
"Yeah, I kinda remember her, only the soft brown eyes though." He replied.
When she saw his father, she gasped. The features were strikingly similar except the hair colour. His father was a blond but Jason was a brunet.

"Who is this?" Elise picked up a picture. There were two couples and two children in that picture.
"No idea." Jason shrugged it off but she kept on staring at the picture.
"Dude, why does this woman looks familiar?" Elise asked, still analysing the picture.
"Cause it looks like a female version of your boyfriend."
"I don't have a boyfriend."
"Exactly."
She rolled her eyes and put the picture in her lap, not wanting to lose it in the pile of blank pages.

"Jason!" She exclaimed and he immediately looked up.
"It's your parents' marriage certificate!" She almost shouted.
"So?" He was lost in his thoughts.
"Dumbo! It's a legal document. It's exactly what we need! We can find your father's record from it." She seemed a bit too excited.
"Why didn't grandpa burn it too? Maybe it's fake." Jason said, looking at the hopeless pile in front of him.
"Well, I'll check it. But it looks pretty original. And maybe your grandpa wanted to keep something of her daughter." She wasn't wrong. It won't hurt checking it.

"We've got to pack it back so when they return, they won't know that I unlocked their safe or that I have made a copy of every key my grandpa has. They shouldn't know I'm so smart." Jason smirked at what he had said and Elise just rolled her eyes.

"Are you going to give that picture back or no?" Jason asked when he saw Elise still staring at that picture.
"I know that the men in this picture are hot but Elise you should be loyal to my friend." He tried taking the picture from her hand.
"Jason..."
"Elise, just give it back." He was getting annoyed now.
"Look at this."
"I've already seen it. There's nothing special about that couple."
"It isn't about the couple. It's about the boy. Look at his eyes." Since the boy was standing closer to the camera, his eyes were really prominent. Amber eyes with flecks of gold around the pupil.
"Alex." Jason stated.
"Michael." Elise said at the same time.
"Girl, there are quite a few people on Earth with this eye colour. Don't bring my friends into it."
"Can I keep this picture?" Elise asked, ignoring what Jason had said. He was unsure of what he should do and after a moment of thinking about it, he let her keep that picture.
"I hope no one notices that the picture is missing." Jason taped the box again and it looked like it was never opened.

"I'll drop you home, Elise. It's way too late." Jason said, picking out his car keys from a pant's pocket that was on his bed.
"I can go. It's just about 9:30." She shrugged.
"Ha ha. Sorry but I can't risk your safety. You've to do my work and I've to keep you safe for our Mike." He winked at her.
"Funny. I don't get what makes you all think that he feels something for me." She walked out of his room and towards his car.
"Trust me. After her, I didn't think Michael will ever trust any girl. But he trusts you. So I gotta keep you safe. Get in the car." He opened the door for her and she got in.

"Who was she? Who were you talking about?" Elise said slowly, trying to hide her shock.
"What? Did I mention someone? No, I didn't. And you'd better never mention it again or I'll wax your eyebrows." He said, with no hint of playfulness in his voice.

Elise laughed at it but deep inside, she really wanted to know who was this girl. Or maybe Jason was joking. Things are always a surprise with him.

**********

"It's a girl. She was looking for his phone records and she had a legal permit so they gave it to her."
"These teenagers. These troublemakers are really getting on my nerves. Keep an eye on her and I don't want anything like this to happen ever again. Am I clear?" He spoke with authority. He hadn't expected anyone to dig into this case again even though it was really important to him. His visits to the Tenth Floor were now becoming more and more frequent. He showed up almost everyday, not that anyone wanted him there. No one likes being under the constant threat of getting killed just for fun.

"Sir, why don't you just kill her? She seems like a tough nut." The man who was taking instructions suggested. Every head in the room snapped in his direction. He had made a mistake, a terrible one.
"Are you trying to tell me what to do?" He asked slowly with a smirk forming on his face. It's going to be really fun.
"No sir. I'm sorry." The man immediately recognised his mistake but it was too late, he was too late.
"Make it slow." He shouted an order and a guard quickly obliged. He shot the man in his stomach and then in his shoulder.
"Take him outside and let him bleed to death." He smirked to himself.
He had a picture of her on the table with the name written behind it. He flipped it and looked at her warm hazel eyes staring back at him, unaware of what the eyes she was staring at had seen.

"Elise Woods." He whispered and turned to face the window.
"It's going to be fun." He laughed, an evil shrill laugh.

********

A/N
Hey peeps,
So, any guesses on who the baby is? And yes the tenth floor guy made another appearance. Don't you all love him cause I know I do *winks*.

Just a question: Would you feel bad if someone kills Elise?

Leave your thoughts in the comment section and don't forget to vote. And if you liked this chapter even a little bit, please share.