Ryan leant against the cracked, blistering wall beside his bed. He picked up the bottle he had finished from next to him and threw it onto the floor and watched as it escaped into the 'bathroom' connected to his room. He hated where he lived, it was appauling, a hobo wouldn't live here. He reasserted his gaze towards the picture on his beside cabinet and looked into the eyes of his one true love. It was the one possession he carried with him when he moved, which he happened to do alot, he didn't exactly have a choice. He took a deep long drag on the splif he was subconsciously rolling between him fingers and rubbed his eyes with grubby fingers as he felt a tear roll down his cheek. He picked a fresh bottle from beside him and opened it with a bit of plaster from the wall before downing half the contents.



Ryan awoke to the sound of wary, yet assertive knocks upon his door. He dragged himself up and walked around throwing all his beer bottles and drugs underneath 'his' bed before opening the door to a surprise, whether it was a good or bad surprise, Ryan wasn't certain.

Ryan thought he heard his name in the wind but ignored it and tapped the doorframe impatiently as 'Senior constable stone' introduced herself, She looked uncomfortable standing in front of him, and Ryan thought he knew why. "What's your name, Miss Stone." He watched her hair dance across her jaw line and was tempted to brush a stray piece away from her eyes. He walked back towards his bed as he waited for her to answer his question. He grabbed the photoframe and put it under his pillow, hoping she wouldn't find it. "Shut the door."

He collapsed into his bed, looking at Miss Stone. Ryan looked into the familiarity of her eyes, trying to piece the puzzle together. It wasn't her, She would never become a copper, Andi has beautiful, long hair that flowed down her back and he would stroke it as she rested her head against his chest. She has beautiful, misty eyes that seemed to entrap him in their depths. Miss stone has short hair and everything about her simply screamed 'I am a neat freak!!!'. She stood tall and almost sickeningly proud. Her eyes pierced into Ryans skin as she examined him. He needed to know her name, he needed to know that Andi wasn't back. The last words he uttered in her direction before he left;

'I don't love you'

Ryan smiled and reached out for Andi as she walked into the apartment, promising her everything would be alright.

"My name is not of concern,"

It was cruel how Ryan was dragged, kicking and screaming back to reality, but necessary, he listened half heartedly to what Miss Stone said, Scoffing irritatedly when she said her name wasn't important. It was important, Maybe if he knew her name, everything would be alright. Life plays tricks like that.

"What you should be asking, is whether I will answer your questions." He paused for effect, that and to see her expression, checking, double checking, absorbing her features. "Yes, No, Yes, Yes, No." He stopped again, contemplation masking his face "Yes, the receptionist will tell you, my name's Michael Jackson. Cruel parents. No, I won't tell you what I’ve been up to, I've been here for a fair few weeks and..." He stopped to look at the picture hiding beneath his pillow, apologising, feeling the lie choke up his throat "And I’m not planning on staying long, I’ve always been a traveller, never once regretted it." of course he had regretted it, if he hadn't left everything would be alright. If she hadn't gotten upset about the idiots calling her a druggie...

Everything would be alright.

Ryan watched as curiously as the police officer excused herself and he reached down to a bottle sitting on his carpet. He opened it on a piece of wood sticking out from the edge of the old creaky bed and then took a long drink from it.

He grabbed the bag of weed with one hand and watched as she sat straight in the chair. "I have answered your questions... sufficiently” he murmered be he went back to take another sip from the bottle, brushing the slender neck across his stubble covered chin, but paused to look at a small, shiny object sitting contentedly on his beer stained carpet, staring at him, cruelly telling him 'it' was true.

Ryan watched Andi walk through the door having been down to reception to ask for an extra blanket, she dropped it on the floor and she was fiddling with her union jack decorated Zippo. She dropped it on the floor, her long hair covering her shamed face as she bent to pick it up, it was clear something was wrong... something had happened, something was going to happen.

He jumped up from the bed, grabbing a bag from under his bed along with bags of weed and bottles of beer which he stuffed haphazardly into the bag, the bottles tinkling as they fought one another for space. He speed walked towards the chair placed inconveniently in the far corner of his apartment room and grabbed his pile of clothes which he moved to place on his bed beside his pillow. Ryan pulled the picture frame from under his pillow and wrapped it in the clothes to make sure it wasn't about to break before putting it into his bag on top of his drugs.

Ryan turned to face Miss Stone before tossing the weed back to her. "I know drugs are illegal, you do to, you always have haven't you Andi." Ryan paused, considering what he had said. "Andi... Why did you come back?! Why did you change Andi?! I love you... This, this is not you" He moved towards her, leaning with his hand resting on the door handle, ready to push down and leave the room.

Ryan squeezed his hand tightly around the door handle, his knuckles paling to a sickly white as he considered his words. "You know what, I’m not about to lie to you," His words had been getting louder but his voice suddenly fell to a harsh, scolding whisper "Yes Andi, I did kill them". Ryan paused, regretting having said that, but somehow... He trusted her. "If was almost as fun as breaking your heart" He added with a sarcastic laugh that could freeze the heart of most men.

He threw his bag at the wall behind his bed, half expecting it to go straight through, but instead of a bang he got the sound of glass splintering. He ran across the room tearing his bag open and pulled his clothes out, throwing them across the room, cutting his hands on glass in the process. He slumped against the wall beside his bed, his bloodstained fingers running across the fractured surface of her face, along the smooth outlines of her features, along her long, dark hair... “It was my dealer... He had threatened me because I couldn’t pay... I... It was self-defence.... And somebody saw me; I didn’t have a choice Andi... I’m sorry... I’m so sorry.”

Ryan was grateful for Andis comforting, it was just like before, before he had left and before those idiots called her a...
Ryan ran the base of his hand over the picture, wiping his blood from it, he didn't care if Andi saw it, the picture was so distorted from the cuts and the liquid soaking into it, it would probably take her a while to work it out. Probably.

"I want Andi back" Ryan said, after a while of relishing the warmth of her comforting embrace. "I want the real Andi back... I want my Andi." Ryan didn't care about him sounding like a child, it was how he felt at that moment. "Hang on, wait, what?" Ryan paused, trying to compute her previous words. "You'll help me?... How?" Ryan paused, attempting to piece the parts together, maybe she was going to get his a good lawyer or something, not that it would help...

Ryan sat, leaning against the bed as Andi sped around his dirty motel room, collecting the clothes he had strewn over the floor in his panic. "We're gonna run away...?" Ryan laughed quietly, before looking at up the girl speeding around his room. She clearly hadn't heard him. Ryan didn't know what he had expected but he had certainly never expected a police officer to help him run away from... Well, the police.

He caught the bag by the strap as she threw it to him and he folded the photo into quarters. It was ruined but still it had sentimental... "Ryan? This doesn't mean we're together." Ryan stopped himself to look up at her, he didn't care if she saw how much what she just said had hurt him, because it had. Before he could reply she had left the room to go downstairs.



Ryan dropped his bag behind the door of their new, temporary, motel room. It was not bad though obviously long overdue a clean, better than the old one at least. Ryan looked over at Andi, she was standing beside the hastily made bed. He could see it, this was really Andi. He walked over to her and ran his fingers down her neck , he could see her long hair trailing delicately over her shoulders and her eyes were the beautiful misty grey that captivated him every time he looked into them. Ryan ran his hands over her shoulders and leant forwards to brush his lips across hers but stepped back hastily. The long hair faded and the eyes cleared, it wasn't Andi, not even close. "I'm so sorry A... I'm sorry."

Ryan jumped as he felt someone nudging him, the only visitors he had in night were usually gone by the morning, but as his foggy mind clear he remembered having Andi back and he let a smile spread across his face. He lay where he was, listening to the water rush through the pipes and through the shower head to hit against Andis skin before he pulled his self off the dilapidated mattress avoiding the rusted spring that had punctured his thigh when he had sat down the night before. He sat still on the edge of the bed, gathering his thoughts before walking towards his belongings in the corner of the room and changed from the jogging bottoms he wore to bed to his faded denim jeans and black band tee. He stopped before deciding it might be a good idea to put some shoes on and walked to the door to slip on his converses.

Ryan walked towards the window and wiped some of the grime from the glass with his hand. He looked out and saw the sun shining down on the world and trees stretching up to tickle the sky. He smiled softly before turning round as he heard the bathroom door creaking open and saw Andi creeping out, her smile reached her eyes and some of her hair was caught under the towel she was clutching around her torso. He stepped forwards and brushed the hair out from the collar of the police officers t-shirt before walking around her towards the bathroom. He stopped and turned "I hope you have a plan Andrea". He dodged the reply by locking himself in the bathroom.

The car ride was far from enjoyable, they had sat with only the sound of the crackling of stones catching the tires as the vehicle made its way along the road. It had been interrupted only once before they had stopped, by Andi, she had turned on the radio, as it happened they had been playing 'their song', fantastic.

Andi pulled the car over and Ryan had to suppress the gasp that wanted to choke his throat, why choose this place? Didn't she recognise it? They used to go there for... well, he still did. He watched silently as she got to get up from the drivers seat before asking her to get him a beer, once she had left, and he was sure she couldn't see him, he stood up out of the car, and went round to the boot of the car before flicking it open, he had to look briefly before grabbing Andis bag and taking all the money she had gotten earlier, she never said he couldn't, and she wouldn't mind. Hopefully.

Ryan stuffed the money in his pants pocket before looking around to check she hadn't seen anything, she hadn't. He walked round to the back before pausing; he looked past a bin at a pair of ragged shoes. He walked up to them before dropping the bag of money on to the mans lap. '250 grams, heroin,' his harsh whisper sounded loud as it bounced against the hard brick wall.

He looked at the cracks winding up and down the walls in front of him, twirling the bag of heroin between his fingers, his drive to take it had dwindled, but he still wanted to, and Andi wouldn't mind, she'd probably join him.

Ryan stayed around the back for at least ten minutes, trying to sort himself out so he at least looked alright. Eventually he stood up, grabbed the bag of what was left of the heroin which he stuffed into his jeans pockets before walking back around to the car, smiling at Andis converse.

He sat, slouching in the car seat, ignoring the figure sitting beside him, he couldn't tell what she was thinking, but he was sure she was alright, Andi did take heroin after all. He put the bag into the glove compartment in front of him, and sat trying to figure out what was missing. After about a minute, he could feel his sight darkening, and his eyelids falling, he was falling down through the bottom of the car, through the ground.

'Shit'

Ryan felt his hand knock against something as consciousness abandoned him, then nothing.