Riddles on Napkins // E.Nygma

Chapter 30

My holiday had come to an abrupt halt midway through the eighth day, I had gone to visit a smaller part of the city that gave off a very relaxing and artistic vibe. The high rise buildings were covered with beautifully spray painted masterpieces and photogenic cafes littered the Main Street. I had felt great all morning, donating to all the street musicians, admiring how everyone was so uniquely dressed and had even treated myself to a lovely lunch in a modern cafe.

It wasn't until I was strolling down the street after finishing my lunch that I received the phone call from Harmony. I'd called her every day including this morning when it was late afternoon in Gotham and all had seemed completely fine, she'd been on the couch watching my Netflix with Query snuggled on her lap.

I'd answered the video call with a casual 'hello' as I assumed she'd been calling to ask me about Query's diet or something of the thought but the image I was met with made my eyes widen and whip around behind me to ensure that no passers-by caught sight of it. I found a small alleyway that was empty so I quickly ducked into it in an attempt to gain some privacy.

"Alice please help-" Harmony was sitting on the other side of the call, tears falling down her face and Edward standing behind her. As the words escaped her lips his gun was pressed harder against the back of her head.

"Edward leave her be, she has nothing to do with anything." I tried to reason with him but tears brimmed my own eyes as the innocent teenager sobbed.

"Come now Alice darling, you and I both know that I'm far from an unreasonable man. I am terribly sorry it came to such extreme circumstances but I'm afraid that leaving voicemails on the phone that obviously hasn't been disconnected it seemed I had to contact you another way. Seems to me that this young lady has been breaking and entering your apartment for eight days, I'd say you should change your locks but if you did I wouldn't have been able to use this helpful little gift." He held up the key I'd given to him a month ago.

"I didn't receive any voicemails from you." I lied, of course, I'd received them but I deleted all of them before listening to them.

"Don't lie to me, Alice." He speaks sweetly. "I know very well you received and deleted them all, I hacked into your phone to make sure I hadn't made a wrong assumption about you. So I decided to give you a weeks warning, that if you didn't come home to settle our differences I'd be forced to do something I didn't particularly want to do." Harmony begins to sob harder and I feel tears in my eyes.

"I will get on the next flight to Gotham if you leave her unharmed." I barter and he laughs.

"And let her run and tell the GCPD? You don't take me for a fool do you?" He continues to chuckle. "I'll strike a deal... I'll keep her for the next forty-eight hours and if you aren't here by then I'll take matters into my own hands." I nod my head in understanding, plans running through my head.

"I'll be there," I spoke wiping a tear from my face.

"Don't cry darling, we will be together just as we were before." With that he hung up the call and I hurried my way back to the hotel, booking the quickest flight on my phone that happened to leave in two hours, something I'm sure Edward had taken into account purposely. I took all the luggage from my room, paid the fee for my room and was already hailing a cab outside.

My body was shaking tremendously, giving the driver his money was quite a task but I ignored his inquiries about my wellbeing and gave him his tip before leaving for the doors of the airport. My feet moved without hesitation as they all but ran to the front desk to collect my pre-purchased tickets and waiting in the lobby. My foot was bouncing up and down with complete anxiety as the plethora of terrible consequences circled through my mind like a chaotic hurricane.