So confused

We arrived where
we were supposed
to be, outside a
small, detached
suburban house.


It was difficult, 
the car broke down
half way, and so we
had to get it fixed.

Hence the delay.

Just outside of 
Springfield, Illinois

It looked decrepit,
tired even, like it
had been abandoned
for a long time.

As we walked
across the cobblestone
path, Salome held
her arm out before me.

She had spotted a tripwire.

She stepped over it,
drawing her gun.
I did the same,
safety off, finger
off the trigger.

I knelt by the tripwire,
there was a flash bang,
with the pin connected
to the wire.

Salome had trained me
how to use them.

An early warning system?

They were prepared for us.
Salome knocked on the door,
glancing through the eyehole as
I heard a shout. "Go away!"

"Listen! FBI. We just want to
talk to you." She called after.
She is a good liar.

I was right near the door when a hole
splintered away from a shotgun
blast on the other side.
Salome caught splinters along her side.

But she did not seem hurt, but
she let me kick the door open.
I took the lead,
I saw him with a shotgun.

Running into a room to the left.

"When you do this,
you need to find a calm.
You cannot allow adrenaline
to control you."

That was what Salome told me.

Either way, it was like
everything was in slow
motion. Especially when
survival is my priority.

He had it shouldered,
and as soon as I poked
my head around the corner.

BANG.

The wall above me exploded.
I was showered in plaster.
I brought myself into the doorway
as he pumped it and gave
him two shots to his chest.

He fell with a sickening thud.

I moved toward him, salome clearing
the other half of the ground floor.
I picked up his shotgun.
Shouldering it like he did.

He was older, greying, maybe
forty or fifty. He wore a
wedding band.

Salome went upstairs.
I heard a single shot
and then nothing else.

I ran up after her,
she was standing there.

Then I saw her, a little girl.
She had a gun, fit for her hands.
A little two shot derringer.
It was smoking.

She was only about nine or ten.
Long blonde hair and a blue dress.
Her smile... Her smile is still with me.
The malice she showed...

She was pointing at Salome,
then at me, then back again.
Her mother, I presume, was on the 
floor. She had been shot in the back.

It then dawned on me that
she had killed her, not Salome.
"Thankyou." She spoke quietly.

"Mister Smiles will be pleased."

"Oh! And are you Ember Fay?"
I blinked from behind the mask.
"Yes. That is me."

"I have a note for you.
"He called himself
"Felix Felidae."

She walked casually
toward the bed,
tugging a note from
under her pillow.

She handed it to me.
I pocketed it and she
smiled wide at me.

"I'll be off then.

"I need to see 

"Mister Smiles again."  

She practically
skipped past us
out of the house.

Salome ran after her.

"Hey! Wait!"

I gave chase.

She was stood outside.

Looking around like a

woman possessed.

The little girl was gone.

Salome took off her mask.
Staring at me.
Her left arm was full of
splinters from the door.

You could see the specks of
blood on her shirt sleeve.
She said it wasn't life 
threatening though.
She said she was fine.

Either way we left quickly.
Hopefully no one called the police.

I read the note
on the way back.
I cannot drive, and
Salome is having
issues with driving
due to her injuries.

But the message.
It was short.

"Why focus on David when you
can have all of your memories back?
Really, you could do far better.
In fact, you have done.

The Ember I knew would have
never given up on the best part.

Me. :3

Felix Felidae."

Salome says she knows someone
who may be able to help.
Though it may take a while to
locate him. 


It is worth a try.