                           I trust you donât need directions⌠             The numbers beside the door gleamed beneath entryway lighting.                                 Fuck you, Fate.
He gritted his teeth and reached for the door knocker. Â Over the past months, heâd been taught how to handle life as a newly born angel, how to handle jobs from the missing to the deceased. Â What he hadnât been taught, however, was how to properly greet someone heâd once aimed a gun at or how to convince someone heâd held hostage that they needed his help. Â
            Heâd been taught how to interact with the children he got assigned to, but⌠                    Nobody told him how to deal with Diana Gordon.
Heâd have picked up everything else after a while, but this?  Any sort of kick in the right direction would have been nice, but Zep learned that wasnât something that described most of the fates.
Bare fingers brushing the metal on the door, Zep jerked his hand back as if heâd been burned, gaze frantically shifting to the skin he half expected to be covered by black leather gloves. Â His other hand swept up over his abdomen where, months ago, heâd tucked the handgun he was prepared to kill a family of three with into his waistband. Â The weapon no longer rested where it had and, just like the lack of gloves, it surprised the man. Â What was he doing here?
He looked down at himself - at the heavy jackets and gloves and steel-toed boots from his last visit replaced by ragged jeans and his work shirt.  Work. That was his reason for coming all the way out here.  He had a job to do - he had to help.  The orderly shook his head, swallowed hard, and knocked on the door he stood in front of.  Immediately his stomach knotted and he regretted listening to the fate who sent him this way.
Anxiously shifting from foot to foot on the front stoop of the Gordon household, Zep refused to allow himself to glance over his shoulder to the building where the late Detective Tapp had waited that night.  Forget him.  Forget the others.  Forget that night.  Forget all of it. He took a deep breath, stopping himself from fidgeting and shaking - at least as much as before.
âTonight is different.â
a nice cup of camomile tea was what she always needed after a day like today. diana had stayed home from school because she was having nightmares again and so alison had tried to stay by her side all day, but nothing would console the child completely. the ordeal had effected her and it was even worse since diana could be set off by the smallest of things. she just wanted to hold her child and take away all of the pain but there was nothing in the world that would ever make her pain go away. she felt like a failed mother. rubbing the back of her neck with a little satisfactory mumble from the soothing of the muscles, she hoped that diana would be able to sleep through her nap and make it for a couple more hours. she didnât really care for her sleep pattern, but simply that she got sleep. rest was one of the best things for the body and for the soul. just the same way that this tea was the best thing for her stress. she blew softly on the steaming liquid and then gave it a short sip to check the temperature, then smiled as she took another long sip.Â
then there was a knock at the door. who would even be knocking at this time of night? she looked over at the clock and then quickly checked her phone to see if there was something that sheâd missed like lawrence coming over to see her or some kind of news from dianaâs doctor. but there was nothing. she placed the cup of tea onto the coffee table and then carefully made her way towards the door. against her gut instinct, she opened the door.
zep hindle was the last person she ever expected to see at the door and was definitely the last person she ever wanted to see. her throat dried out and she seemed to almost be frozen to the spot. she was angry to the point of it being so searing that she couldnât express it. the memories of the night she was terrified for everything that would happen to her came flooding back and she couldnât understand what he would even be doing here. what did he want? almost instinctively, she held onto either side of the door frame to try and stop him from getting in. âwhat do you want?â she almost sneered, her voice completely different from what it usually was.
