18

There was a storm raging outside.

Carmen always found comfort in the rain, especially thunder storms. She believed that it was tied to a specific memory of when her and Ainsley were children. Their parents decided to spend a weekend at the house their father owned in Monroe. The storm had begun soon after lunch and instead of staying inside to play board games like their mother suggested, the two girls ran outside and played in the rain and mud. Stella was furious when she ordered them back inside only to see that their outfits were filthy. But their father laughed. He laughed, the twins laughed and soon enough, their mother couldn't help but laugh either.

They were a laughing, smiling and happy family.

Although things change, that memory will never falter for Carmen and it will always be one that she tucked away deep in her mind. Only to remember when she needed to feel the peace that it typically brought her.

She was watching out the bay window as the raindrops trickled down the glass, and the thunder rattled the room every few minutes.

If it weren't for the fact that she promised Kendra that she would work on coding trials, she would have stayed there for as long as possible. But she didn't want to face Kendras wrath of disobeying direct orders so Carmen pushed herself off the wall and left the front room to go into the screening room.

Irritation struck Carmen when the door opened and she immediately saw Clayton sitting at one of the computers clicking the keyboard loudly as he typed away. She usually liked to work in peace and without company, let alone his company.

She was slowly descending the steps when he threw his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fuck." He silently blew a breath from his mouth.

Carmen didn't even realize that her legs deterred from the computer she planned on going on, across the room from him, and made their way over to where he sat. "What's your problem?" she asked.

He moved his hand from his line of vision and his jaw set when he saw her. "If you're here to gloat, don't bother. I'm too tired for you right now."

She leaned her hip into the computer table and folded her arms over her chest. "What would I gloat about?"

"About the fact that I'm about as technologically challenged as an eighty-year-old grandpa." He propped his elbow on the arm rest of his chair, resting his head in his hand and glared at his screen.

A small smile tugged at her lips. "Maybe I'll just gloat a little bit then." She nodded to the computer. "What are you trying to do?"

Clayton sighed. "I accidentally deleted this stupid file from one of our old mission records and I can't figure out how to get it back."

"Yeah," she agreed as it took all her power to keep the grin off her face. "That sucks. If only there was a way to retrieve it."

Clayton clenched his jaw. "Don't make me ask."

She tilted her head in fake confusion. "Ask for what? I have no idea what you mean."

His eyes shot up to give her a hard stare. "Don't make me ask for your help."

Carmen put a hand to her chest and drew back. "Are you admitting that you might need my criminal skills? I don't know, Clay. I might infect your computer with my felon viruses."

Clayton rose from his chair and pulled it out for her. "Just get the file back."

She grinned. "What's the magic word?"

"Now." He blinked at her.

She withheld her laughter. "Fine. Lucky for you, I'm feeling extra charitable today."

Carmen took a seat at the computer and began typing away.

She felt Clayton watching her go to work over her shoulder and tried not to falter at the goosebumps that prickled her skin.

She wouldn't let him see that he had any effect on her at the moment. Not when she feels she just won this round by him admitting that he needed her help after weeks of deeming her nothing more than a criminal.

It didn't take Carmen long to retrieve the file that he'd managed to delete. Nothing was truly deleted from a computer unless you did it properly. And judging by the fact that he still had the cap locks on when she sat down, she knew that he had no idea how to do that.

The moment Carmen got the file back, it opened, and Clayton didn't have time to urge her away from the computer before she read the words on the screen, "The Serpent Kings? What's that?"

"That's none of your beeswax, that's what it is."

She rolled her eyes and stood from the chair.  She faced him with a smile, only to find him standing less than a foot from her. "You're welcome."

Clayton stared her down, unmoving.

Carmen knew what they were doing. It was the same thing they did constantly. Their test of dominance. Carmen may have won this small battle, but she couldn't help but wonder who would win the war? Lord knows there was always one waging between them.

She was still waiting for him to say thank you when she took a deep breath, all her thoughts paused. His scent was filling her nose, it threw her off. She told herself to take a step back to escape how strong it was, but the back of her legs were pressed into the table already. She willed herself to step to the side and bolt for the door, but a part of her didn't want to.

She liked the smell of his cologne, she liked that he wasn't talking, and she even liked the feeling that began to hit the pit of her stomach.

"How do you know how to do all that?" His voice broke her thoughts.

She blinked a few times, readjusting her focus. "Huh?"

"How did you get so good at all of this stuff?"

Carmen couldn't decide whether or not to answer, because she didn't really want to hear the part where he made a snide comment or mocked her for her choices.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Practice, I guess."

She watched as his eyes narrowed ever so slightly at her response before firing another question. "What made you decide to start selling this stuff?"

She liked it better when he wasn't asking questions.

Even though she knew that she wouldn't answer his question honestly, her brain couldn't help but push the image of a feminine face to the front of her mind. Carmen pushed her shoulders back. "I had my reasons."

He took a step back, and just like that, the smell of his cologne and soap vanished. Leaving Carmen both disappointed and surprised.

The moment she felt those two things, she decided to leave the room.

Without another word, she subtly hurried for the door. While she waited for it to slide open, Clayton spoke from across the room, "Thanks."

She knitted her eyebrows together and looked over her shoulder to see him watching her leave. There wasn't much to read from his tone, but for once there wasn't disdain written all over his face. Carmen finally caught a glimpse of what he looked like when he wasn't full of hatred towards her. She almost wanted to snap a picture of it so that she didn't forget it in the future, because something told her that there would be more incidents of them butting heads.

The door opened and redirected her attention completely, she hurried to the elevators to put as much distance between them as possible.

Once she made it back to her room, her thoughts went back to the face that Claytons questions had brought to mind.

She didn't even know her name, yet she changed Carmens life forever.

A memory floated to the surface.

May 16 2016

"I can't believe my baby is growing up." Stella dabbed at the corner of her eyes with a tissue.

Carmen smiled and shook her head. "I'm not a baby anymore, mom. I haven't been for a while."

"She'll be eighteen by the end of the year, Stella." Carmens father, Kent, laid a hand on his wife's shoulder.

She shrugged his hand off and glared at him. "She's graduating high school! I'm allowed to be emotional." She turned back to her daughter. "It feels like just yesterday I was teaching you how to walk and talk for the first time."

Stella sniffled again and blinked away her tears.

Kent looked back to his daughter, who was wearing her graduation cap and long gown. Carmen insisted on taking pictures in front of her locker that she had for the past four years one last time before the ceremony started. The hallways had been empty when they finished taking pictures.

"Sweetheart, I hope that you know how proud we are of you." Her father smiled at her.

Carmen forced her own grateful smile. "Thanks, dad."

Stella turned to her husband. "We should find seats before the ceremony starts."

Kent nodded in agreement and took Stellas hand in her own. "We'll see you in there, kiddo. Don't trip."

Carmen chuckled. "I'll try not to."

When her parents disappeared down the hallway and rounded a corner to head towards the auditorium, Carmen let the fake smile she'd been wearing all day finally fall.

Carmen lied about why she wanted to come to these lockers.

She didn't want pictures in front of it.

She looked at the locker that had been beside her own, the one that had belonged to her twin up until her disappearance.

Carmen felt like she needed to say goodbye to this.

She knew in her heart and soul that Ainsley was alive. She had to be.

But still, Carmen had no idea whether or not she would ever see her again. So she felt as if she was saying goodbye to this part of Ainsley that she still carried with her.

The memories that Stella remembered were all major events that Carmen didn't do in her life alone, Ainsley was always right there beside her learning all of those things with her.

This was the first big event that Carmen would have to do alone.

She couldn't stop the tears that spilled over when she laid a hand on Ainsley's locker and began crying.

At this point, she didn't care about smudging her makeup. She didn't care about any of it.

She just wanted her sister to come home.

"Are you okay?" a voice suddenly asked from behind her.

Carmen nearly jumped out of her skin as she whirled around to see a girl standing behind her. She was wearing a dark blue romper with a black leather jacket thrown over it. Her hair was as dark as Carmens and reached the middle of her back. She had lightly tanned skin and Carmen caught green hue in her eyes reflecting off the ceiling light. She couldn't have been too much older than Carmen.

Carmen instantly used her sleeve to dab at her wet eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I just get over emotional."

The girl offered a kind smile. "Reminiscent on how much you'll miss high school?"

Carmen jerked her head back, vigorously shaking it. "Oh god, no. I hate this place. It's just," She trailed off and looked at the locker sadly. "There's someone that I wish could be here."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." The girl frowned. "I'm sure they wish they could be here too."

"I doubt that." Carmen sniffled and blinked away any remaining tears.

To this, the girl wore a questioning look. "Why do you say that?"

Carmen pressed her lips into a hard line and rocked back and forth on her feet, wondering if she's said too much already.

"Look," The girl began with a soft voice. "I get that it's weird to pour your heart out to a stranger. But a lot of people have told me that I'm a good listener. And you kinda look like you need to talk."

Carmen didn't feel like giving the same explanation she's had to give several people over the past couple years: She had a twin who she loved more than anyone else in the world, that twin ran away and has been missing ever since.

But Carmen didn't want to blow off someone who'd been nice enough to stop and see if she was okay, so she decided to shave off 90% of the truth.

"Well," Carmen began. "This person decided to leave my life a while ago. But ever since, I can't shake this feeling that there's something I should be doing to get them back."

The girl shrugged. "If you feel like that's what you should be doing then why not try it? Maybe this person wouldn't mind hearing from you?"

"Wouldn't they have tried to reach out to me if they wanted me to find them?"

"Maybe they're scared of  what you'll say." The girl twisted her mouth to the side, looking Carmen up and down. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Well, I'm twenty. I can definitely say that no one should be making you cry at graduation. You only get so much time in your life that you can actually step back and enjoy the things going on around you. Graduation is one of those times. Regardless of this person leaving, don't let them distract you from that. Especially in such a crucial time like this when you will start to find yourself."

The girl smiled sweetly and spoke words that would alter the course of Carmens life, "The sun will set tonight and rise tomorrow. But who you are when it does, that's for no one else to decide but yourself."

Carmen took in these words and then took a deep breath. "That's actually really beautiful."

"Thanks." The girl grinned. "Came up with it all on my own."

Despite the sadness in Carmens chest, she laughed at this, which only made the stranger before her laugh as well.

"Thank you," Carmen said genuinely. "I actually feel better."

"No problem."

Carmen signed and wiped at her eyes once more. "I don't look like an emotional wreck, do I?"

The girl laughed. "No. You look like a rockstar."

Carmen couldn't help but smile at her with gratitude. Who would've thought that a complete stranger could turn Carmens whole day around?

"I should find a seat." The girl motioned towards the direction of the auditorium. "But remember, there are things that are waiting out there for you, Carmen. You just have to start looking for them."

Carmen nodded and the girl patted her on the shoulder as she stepped around her to head towards the auditorium. Carmen took a few steps in the opposite direction to meet with the rest of the graduates when she stopped dead in her tracks.

She spun around just in time to see the girl rounding the corner. "Wait! How do you know my name?!"

The moment the sentence was finished, the girl disappeared from her line of sight.

Sadness was then replaced by curiosity and Carmen couldn't shake the odd feeling growing in her stomach.

But she knew that the stranger was right. As those beautiful words echoed in her mind, Carmen closed a chapter in her life.

**

Present Day

Carmen finished the last of her coding trials with ease. Kendra said she wanted Carmen to work on programming more, but for now Carmen had no place to actually make tech so she was stuck to basic computer work.

Carmen waited a good hour before going back down the screening room to see if Clayton had left. But to her surprise, she walked back in to see everyone else already in there. Kendra was briefing them on a mission that they were already dressed and ready to head out to.

Colton explained that it was an emergency mission, and they only had half an hour to prepare. Carmen vaguely remembered him saying something about busting a group of drug dealers that were selling their own chemically engineered version of molly. Kendra thought it may have some correlation to a side task that the McGuire boys had been working on for weeks. So, they seized the opportunity to arrest them while they had the chance.

Unfortunately, Carmen was still too at risk to bring along. Which had Kendra telling her to finish the coding trials while the group was away for the next few hours.

She had decided to head to the kitchen to raid the pantry for some of the food that she picked out at the grocery store with Colton.

Carmen had just grabbed an apple from her fruit bin when Kendra came rushing into the kitchen at full speed. "Carmen!"

Carmens head snapped up. Kendra's eyes were wide and alert.

"I need your help, right now!" Kendra said urgently.

It was the pure panic in her face that made Carmen hesitate. "What's wrong?"

"Just come with me." Kendra ran out of the kitchen and Carmen plopped the apple on the counter before chasing after her.

Kendra was standing at the elevator door, pressing the button to go down dozens of times and silently cursing to herself at how slow it was being. Carmen stared at her the entire time they waited, as well as the entire ride down the basement.

Carmen remembered being on this floor the first time she was brought in The Compound the night she was arrested. But as Carmen followed Kendra down the long hall, she realized that they were rushing towards a room that she'd never been to before.

Kendra pushed open the doors to the infirmary and Carmen didn't even get a chance to fully register how large the room was before Kendra was throwing an order to her. She pointed to the glass cabinet across the room. "Go into that cabinet and grab as much gauze and towels as you can carry."

Carmen obliged, at this point her mind was racing.

While Carmen did that, Kendra was disabling the side control brake on the closest gurney to the door and dropping the side bars on it. Carmen finished grabbing as much as she could and ran back to Kendra, dropping the contents onto the white mattress as Kendra began wheeling it out of the room. Carmen followed closely behind her, now feeling fear and nothing else.

Kendra led them to the garage and pushed open the doors, shoving the gurney through.

"Kendra!" Carmen finally said with a frightened voice. "What happened?"

Kendra didn't answer at first, but she took a deep breath and stared at the large garage door, still closed and awaiting the groups arrival. "It's a gunshot wound. We need to be here when they get back any second."

Carmen's mouth fell open.

And Kendra won't look at her.

She. Won't. Look. At. Her.

"Who is it?" Carmen's voice barely came out a whisper.

No response.

"Kendra," Carmen snapped. "Who is it?"

Kendra finally looks to her, and the answer lies in those eyes. Kendra's expression alone gave Carmen the answer she needed.

Her stomach dropped and her bones felt like concrete.

"Carmen," Kendra started slowly. "I need you to help me right now. Okay? I need you to stay on your feet."

Carmen couldn't reply. Her vocal cord wouldn't allow her. She could only stare. Carmen felt nothing besides the heaviness of her own body.

The garage door began opening and two cars raced in, braking so quickly that the squeal of the tires filled the echo of the room.

That was when time slowed for Carmen.

It was like everything was in slow motion for her.

Doors on both the cars were opening. Clayton climbed out of the drivers seat on the car to Carmen's right and she watched as Colton climbed out of the backseat on the drivers side of the car.

His grey shirt was covered in a dark liquid that she remembered all too well from the night that Marcus died.

Blood.

He was covered in blood.

He ran to the other side of the car, yelling something as he went, but Carmen couldn't hear anything else besides ringing in her own head.

He opened the backseat on the other side and stepped back as Luke struggled to get out.

But he did, and he was carrying a pale and unconscious Ainsley in his arms.

Her hands, which were hanging limp, were covered in her own blood, and blood oozed from her abdomen.

Luke's eyes were full of terror as he placed Ainsley on the gurney.

Carmen couldn't move.

She couldn't breathe.

She couldn't even think.

She could only watch.

Everyone was surrounding Ainsley and pressing the gauze and towels to Ainsley's wound.

They began to wheel her to the infirmary, and suddenly Carmen could move as she followed behind them. She stared at her sister's face. Ainsley's eyes were closed and her lips were not their normal shade of pink.

When they were finally in the infirmary, they wheeled her over to where the gurney once was sitting. Alexa, Colton, and his mother were now working frantically over Ainsley.

Carmen saw Alexa insert a needle into Ainsley's arm, the line connected to a bag of blood that Luke was securing to a stand beside the gurney.

Carmen's bones were concrete.

And then they're liquid.

Her knees buckled, but she never hit the ground. Strong arms were suddenly wrapped around her, keeping her up. Because this person had been walking beside her and standing beside her since the moment he got out of the car. He'd been speaking to her, but Carmen couldn't hear him.

Clayton was keeping her standing.

This fact couldn't even register properly because all Carmen could do was stare in horror as everyone else tried to save Ainsley's life.

Realization slammed into Carmen.

She said in the hotel that Ainsley was a stranger.

That was a lie.

This was not a stranger.

This was Ainsley. Her sister, her twin and the other half of herself that she'd searched for over the course of 5 years.

Ainsley was on that bed right now, dying.

Carmen stood upright and stepped out of Clayton's touch. She still couldn't hear what they were saying as she walked over to the gurney where Ainsley lay flat and almost lifeless.

Alexa paused and watched as Carmen climbed onto the bed and curled up beside Ainsley, she slipped her arm under Ainsley's head and pulled her sister to her, throwing her other arm over Ainsley's shoulder and closing her eyes. She repeated the same words over and over again, "Please work. Please work. Please work."

Kendra redirected Alexas attention and everyone got back to work as Carmen stayed where she was, holding Ainsley and not letting go.