A Place in this WorldRated T for Swearing, and Violence

A Place in This World

You cannot quit me so quickly
Is no hope in you for me
No corner you could squeeze me
But I got all the time for you, love
The Space Between
The tears we cry
Is the laughter keeps us coming back for more
The Space Between
The wicked lies we tell
And hope to keep us safe from the pain

But will I hold you again?
These fickle, fuddled words confuse me
Like 'Will it rain today?'
Waste the hours with talking, talking
These twisted game we play

We're strange allies
With warring hearts
What wild-eyed beast you be
The Space Between
The wicked lies we tell
And hope to keep us safe from the pain

Will I hold you again?
Will I hold...

Look at us spinning out in
The madness of a roller coaster
You know you went off like a devil
In a church in the middle of a crowded room
All we can do, my love
Is hope we don't take this ship down

The Space Between
Where you're smiling high
Is where you'll find me if I get tickled
The Space Between
The bullets in our firefight
Is where I'll be hiding, waiting for you
The rain that falls
Splash in your heart
Ran like sadness down the window into...
The Space Between
Our wicked lies
Is where we hope to keep safe from pain

Take my hand
'Cause we're walking out of here
Oh, right out of here
Love is all we need here
The Space Between
What's wrong and right
Is where you'll find me hiding, waiting for you
The Space Between
Your heart and mine
Is the space we'll fill with time
The Space Between...

The Space Between Dave Mathews Band

All Alexis could do was run. She was running, to where she didn’t know. Her feet and legs would carry her there.

24 hours ago…..

Alexis came home from studying at her friend’s house.

“Laura? David? You guys home?” There was no answer. Her hungry cat, Astraea . Astraea was a stray that followed Alexis, eventually she just adopted her, and the two became quick friends. Astraea was a gray and white cat.

“Where is everyone huh kitty?” she crooned at her

Astraea purred as Alexis petted her.

Sensing that something was wrong, she wandered around the house, eventually ending up in the living room. She gasped at what she saw. Laura and David were sprawled on the living room floor, lying in a pool of blood.

“No…No…” she whimpered

Images of their deaths entered her mind. They were fighting…with their son, Brian.

They were Alexis’s foster parents. Alexis’s mother was killed when she was ten. Ever since, she was placed from one home to the next. They couldn’t deal with her psychic visions and her constant nightmares.

Not wanting to go to another foster home again, dealing with abusing parents she ran up stairs and gathered some clothes and money and put it all in her black backpack. Next she went downstairs and picked up her cat. “Sorry baby, I can’t take you with.”

When she was done she headed out the door and ran as fast as she could.


CRIMESCENE DO NOT CROSS CRIMESCENE DO NOT CROSS CRIMESCENE DO NOT CROSS CRIMESCENE DO NOT CROSS DO NOT CROSS CRIMESCENE

Mac, Danny and Aiden entered the house, it wasn’t fancy, just a simple middle class home.

“What do we have Flack?” asked Mac

Flack flipped open his memo book.

“David and Laura Crawford, both have a single gunshot wound to the chest, Mr. Crawford has two. Married, one son, Brian, he’s 19. They’re fostering a girl, 14 year old Alexis Castillos.”

“Any witnesses?” asked Mac
Neighbors heard arguing, and then the shots. The neighbor saw Brian fleeing the scene around 4:10.”

“Where’s he now?” asked Mac

“Don’t know. I’ve got Unit’s looking for him.”

“What about Alexis?” asked Aiden

“She was gone all night and all day, studying at a friend’s house. Checked with her friend and said she went home around 4:20. I’ve got my guys looking for her now.”

He sneezed. “There’s a cat here.”

He sneezed again. Flack hated cats. He was allergic to them, runny nose, teary eyes the works. Just then a gray and white cat came from a bedroom.

Flack sneezed harder.

“Stop sneezing on my crime scene Flack.” Danny teased

Flack grumbled something about hating cats and walked outside.

“I’m going to check the bed rooms.” Aiden announced.

“I found shell casings. Looks like it’s a .38” said Danny

“And I have a bloody shoe print. Looks like a male tennis shoe. ” said Mac

Aiden epopped out from around the corner. “Hey Mac, you might wanna come look at this.”

Mac and Danny followed Aiden into Alexis’s bedroom.

The room was large; the walls were painted light blue, having a calming sense to it. Glow in the dark stars were on ceiling, in the shape of the zodiac. Drawings and articles were tapped to the walls above her desk. Most of them were of 9/11 and the war in the Middle East. There was one that caught his eye. It was an article of him. He frowned. Why would she keep an article of him?

“Meow.”

Aiden jumped. “Just the damn cat.”

The cat jumped on Alexis’s desk and rubbed against Aiden. She smiled as she rubbed its head.

“What’s your name fella?”

Mac checked its purple collar. “Astraea.”

“That’s an odd name.”

“It’s from Greek mythology. Astraea is the goddess of justice and of strength and purity. Mac explained

“Stella rubbing off of ya huh Mac?” Danny teased

Astraea jumped from the desk to the bedroom window and purred as it lay in the sun.

“A drawer is jammed in the desk, I can’t get it open.” said AidenMac wiggled the drawer and grabbed his pen’s ink cartridge he placed it in the key hole and opened it up, the drawer opened up. The bottom of the desk drawer opened up. He found a small box inside, and a lighter.

Mac smirked. “Clever.”

“What?” asked Danny

“She hid the box underneath the desk drawer. If the drawer isn’t opened by an ink cartridge the lighter ignites and sets the information on fire.”

“That is smart.” Danny replied Mac opens the box. Inside it was pictures, notes, and more articles.

“The Boston Reaper strikes again.” Aiden read out loud

“The Boston Reaper? Never heard of him.” said Danny

“The Boston Reaper, killed five people, all stabbed multiple times, some were shot with a desert eagle gun.”

“Whoa. Sounds like a nasty serial killer.” said Aiden

Mac continued to read the article. “FBI agent is the newest victim of the Boston Reaper. Samantha Castillos.” He paused…he’s heard of that name before. But where?

“Castillos? Isn’t that Alexis’s last name?” asked Danny

“Maybe that was her mother.” Aiden suggested

“Samantha Castillos was stabbed multiple times in her home while Alexis Castillos, her ten year old daughter hid in the closet. Alexis was found alive.”

“What about her father?” asked Aiden

Mac dug through the box and found a birth certificate.

“Mother Samantha Castillos. No mention of the father.”

Danny went through the pictures. “Cute kid. And her mom was hot too.”

Aiden smacked him upside the head. Mac took a look at the photos. Alexis had long wavy brown hair, and hazel colored eyes. His heart stopped when he saw the picture of her mother. He knew her. That’s how he knew her name…they met before he was married to Claire.

“She has tons of journals, and folders. She’s a good artist.” Said Danny, flipping through a sketch book.
“She has a good eye for people.”

Mac looked over his shoulder. A lot of them were of some buildings around New York City, Little Italy, The Twin Towers before they collapsed, and a lot of them were people.

“She is good.”

Mac reads through her journals, mostly it was about dreams she had or past troubles with foster homes. “She was abused.” said Mac, after reading a few entries

“By who?” asked Aiden

“Her foster father.” Mac said in disgust

“Physically or…”

“Physically.” said Mac “No wonder the kid ran off.” Aiden murmured.

“We still need to find her. Brian may very well be after her.”

Just then Flack entered the room. “Hey guys, we just found Brian. We’re bringing him in now.”

“Maybe he knows where Alexis is.” Meanwhile……

Alexis arrived at the one place she knew she would be safe.

“Alexis! Long time no see.” Greeted a man with a thick Italian accent

“Sonny. I need some help.”

Sonny nodded. “Come on in.”

Alexis was now in the Tanglewood boy’s domain. They were her only friends, and people she knew she could trust.