He squinted his eyes as he looked up at the sky, rain pouring down from the dark clouds.

He slowly lowered his head and his eyes went straight to his trembling hands... the blood... the cold rain... the life of the person he loved more than anything being washed away, while all he could do was watch.

Furious at how he could have let it happen, he rose to his feet. His now, cold hands, clenched into fists. They wanted to kill... Murder... Liberate... His breathing changed into a desprate fight for control over himself from the monster inside him... clawing, eating, pounding on him to be set free.. again....

His fists collided with the worn brick wall, attempting to calm the blood rushing through his veins. The plaster slowly fell, covering his black boots in a white blanket. Just as it had settled, the rain swept it away, leaving them dark and cold... just like his heart.

He remained still, his feet planted firmly on the rusty surface of the fire escape. His chest heaving, hands on each side of the dirty, broken window to where she lay.. where she was taken away from him... where his world crumbled before him... leaving him feeling helpless and just as filthy as the window he was hiding behind.

His eyes, that were closed, opened slowly as he heard her name spoken... her birthname... a small smile crept up on his lips as he remembered the first time he called her that.. it ended in him feeling the sting of her fury on his cheek.

She hated that name...

There was only one occasion, where he could get away with whispering it to her... The only time he felt her love and appreciation at his breath of that beautiful name, was when he held her in his arms, protecting her, sheltering her from the beast she knew was lurking... and yet she loved him... Made him feel human.

His mind reluctantly forced itself back to reality as the sound of a zipper caught his attention. He tilted his head and leaned closer to the window seeing her fragile body now covered in a black body bag... His gaze shifted to the detective, who was holding a stack of pictures in his hands. He was gazing at them. And he couldn't comprehend the expression on his face... 'Was it... Despair? Sorrow?' They slipped over each other, in his fingers. One at a time. Showing their short life together.... Caught in moments of time.

His heart broke for the second time that night and he slid a cold, wet hand down his back pocket, retrieving the only physical memory he had of her... a photograph, taken from the stack, moments before the cops arrived... forcing him to leave her... lying there. He bit down on his lip, almost drawing blood as his eyes roamed over the precious memory. Her, smiling, lying under the old oak tree in the park. She was holding *her*... In her arms... the spring flowers surrounding them were nothing compared to their stunning beauty. He ran a shaky finger over their trusting eyes, as he was closing them, preventing them from seeing his tears.

"Jack... I'm sorry..."

*************

Chapter: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 (Incomplete)