MERCEDES | SEBASTIAN STAN

FIFTY

STATION

050.
❝I am here because I am Lexus Coleman.❞

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

Mercedes sat across from the officer and held Sebastian's hand tightly under the table. After a lot of consideration, she had decided that it was the right thing to do and come forward. She was going to identify all the missing children who were captured with her as well as the men who did it.

"So," The man paused as he was unsure on what to call her. "Mercedes?" He said questionly, earning a nod from the girl. He allowed a triumpant smile to form on his face before continuing, "We can move as slow or fast as you'd like, I understand that you're a very busy woman."

"It's okay officer, I'm not leaving until I have looked at every one of these photos." Mercedes responded adamantly.

She knew that everyone who she was going to identify were going to be either dead or sold. The brunette hated the memories that flooded her head, she knew that this was going to be hard, but it was something that needed to be done.

Sebastian looked across to the girl, he could tell how much pain she was in whilst doing this. He couldn't imagine what she was going through. He leant across and pressed his lips to her temple, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and holding her tightly.

The officer pulled out a file of photos and slowly slid it over to the girl. Mercedes let go of a shaky breath before opening the file. She was instantly met with an abundance of photos of children smiling and it broke her heart.

"If you don't mind, please would you seperate them into piles of, deceased, seen but last seen alive and never seen before?" The officer requested, earning a nod from Mercedes.

"Deceased." Mercedes spoke as she picked up a photo of a little boy. "Deceased." She continued, tears forming in her eyes as she got vivid flashbacks of their bodies.

Some weren't even killed, some died from the beatings, others hunger and a few from the harsh cold nights. The conditions that they were kept in, the things that they went through, no child should ever have to go through that.

"Never seen." Mercedes started a new pile, she felt the officer and Sebastain watching her every move carefully. "Seen, but last saw alive." She placed down a photo of an older girl, who helped comfort her whilst they were held captive.

She didn't mean to but she allowed a stray tear to roll freely down her cheeks. She wished that she could save them. That she had done more when she was younger, but she wasn't sure how to help them at that age. She was just a child herself. Her family wanted to move away from the incident as fast as possible.

An hour had gone by and most of the photo's were seperated into piles, majorty were in deceased. The least were never seen before, which was what she was expecting.

Sebastian hadn't left her side, which she was extremly thankful for. She didn't think that she would be able to do this without him. His support meant everything to her.

"Thank you for doing this Mercedes, you're bringing a lot of closure to a lot of people." The officer spoke as Mercedes finished seperating the photos.

"It is something that I should have done year's ago." Mercedes shakily stood up with the help of Sebastian. His arm snaked around her waist and pulled her into his chest.

The officer didn't respond, instead he lead Mercedes and Sebastian through the station where all the officer's were waiting for Mercedes to show up. Once they saw her, all of them began to clap for her.

They understood that what she just did must have brought back some traumatic memories, but she stll did it.

Mercedes tried to smile, but she didn't exactly feel like she was doing something right, it was just something that needed to be done.

Instead of sticking around, she walked out of the station followed by Sebastian. The last thing that she was expecting was to be cornered by the paparazi. She let out a small sigh as they began to ask her questions.

"Why are you here Mercedes?" One woman asked repeatedly.

The brunette grew frustarted of the constant questions and turned on her heel to face them. She shook her head and angrily ran her hand over her face.

"I am here because I was just identifing hundred of photos of children who may be dead. I am here in order to bring the closure to the families of those children because it is what they deserve." Mercedes paused, linking her hand with Sebastian before finally saying, "I am here because I am Lexus Coleman."