Of Cages and Misery

[Byron]

Whilst Elena moved around he would make his way around the living room and for a bit just look out through the window.

Her voice shook him a bit as he came back to this place from his thoughts. He turns to her and just shakes his head slightly. "Check the bedroom, wherever it is. I'll go through the kitchen, if no one is here but the place is in use, we could just wait it out," he said quietly and made his way to the kitchen, starting to check the upper cabinets.

"Alright," she said before gulping audibly again. The way she felt about this place, with great tension and anxiety, stood in quite drastic contrast to how the room looked. Cozy, pristine, it spoke rather of peacefulness than terror. It made Elena even less sure on how to feel about all this; above all, it confused her. Were they actually checking the right room for real? Maybe it wasn't Moreau's apartment at all.

Elena had a quick gawp at her still trembling hand, damned the tremor silently. She couldn't suppress it for the life of her: this deep-rooted feeling of unrest and unsecurity that was making her heart beat wildly and her hands sweat as if they were wet sponges. Biting her lips together and lowering her head briefly, she scanned the ground beneath her. Then she looked back at Mason. "Maybe we're in the wrong apartment," she said out loudly, althought she hadn't intended the words to slip her mouth. Grasping the handle of one of the doors next to her, she would open it and peek through the slit. Seconds later she stepped in.

The door Elena opened was one of three doors, one left, one right, and one at the end of the corridor. It led into a bathroom, with the usual equipment of shower, toilet and so on. The various bottles suggested both a woman and a man living here, and the air was still humid, the floor of the shower still wet, as someone had showered very recently.

Elena's alarm bell rang almost instantly after she had entered the bathroom and switched on the light. The humid climate clearly indicated to her somebody had been showering here not long ago. Almost slipping over the wet tiles, she rivetted on the ground again. bent down slightly to see if she could recognize any footsteps. Then it made click in her head as she saw the collection of bottles.

She wheeled around gaspingly, looking at the mirror, pointing her gun against her own image. Her heart began to beat faster again. "Mason!" she called for her company. Obviously she waived the silent aspect of their mission by now. "Hold everything! Don't move!"

Then she appeared in the door, looking at him, eyes wide opened. "We're not alone."

Whilst Elena was in the bathroom Mason would have checked a few more things around the kitchen.

As he heard Elena's voice he looked around the room distractedly, when he saw it. A woman's head, whilst she was sitting huddled up on the floor. He quickly pulled his gun up, carefully looking at her. "I can see that," he replied to Elena, who could see him staring at the kitchen's floor

The blonde woman, wearing a simple, pink two-piece pajama, had a large medical patch on her neck. She just stared at him, starting to shake in fear, and held the knife up, trying to get him to go away. Spotted, she started to retreat away from him, into the corner where the counter met the wall, but never took her eyes off him, barely blinking, her hand with the knife trembling.

Elena, seeing Mason who was pointing a gun at somebody or something, wouldn't waste time and outright jumped by his side. Her gun she kept ready, pressed against her chest. With her somewhat snarled hair completely messed up and a frowned forehead, she would stare at what had apparently been lurking behind the counter all the time. Blinking in an incredulous manner, she looked into that blonde woman's eyes, then her gaze began to flicker slightly, moving to the knife in her hand. Slowly, but surely she let the gun sink down. "K-Kiara..?" she spoke with a stammer, while her eyebrows rose further and further.

Seeing the knife he would get even more ready to fire if needed. Hearing Elena call her Kiara he would turn his head towards her with a raised eyebrow, before looking at the women. With a slightly tilted head he grined and said, "Well then, ain't this nice. Drop the knife."

The woman just kept staring at them in fear, trying to get further away from them even after her back was already against the corner. Her legs kept moving, her feet sliding over the ground uselessly. "Leave me alone! I won't let you take me again!" she yelled, raising the knife further up threateningly.

At that moment they heard a sudden sound coming from the corridor, cutting through the tense situation like a sharp knife. A door being slammed.