Chapter 6 Run

ADRIANA

The whistling sound in the kitchen got me looking up from the book I was reading. I stood up and shuffled into the kitchen, swinging my head around until I caught sight of the kettle set on a stove on the large counter.

“Ma'am Felicia, the water has boiled," I called out, but got silence as a response.

“What could she be doing?" I whispered as I trudged closer and turned off the stove, and the whistling stopped.

I sighed loudly and brushed my hair back before heading back to the living room, where I was waiting for my colleague at the mini mart I worked in.

Ma'am Felicia and I had been like family since the day I stepped into Detroit.

I had gone to the mini mart to get snacks that I would cry on the night I arrived in the city when I met her. Her comforting words and kindness left me wondering if such people still existed. I didn't trust her then, and always pulled a cold shoulder, but that didn't stop her from coming closer and lending a hand when I needed one.

I opened up to her after some months of being around her warm presence, and since then, she has treated me like her daughter and always promised that she would keep me happy and make me forget about my past, and she did.

She was also able to convince her boss to let me work at the mart with her.

Ma'am Felicia was a family I never had, a family I would stick to for the rest of my life.

I laugh whenever I hear the proverb that blood is thicker than water. That shit had been proven wrong several times in my life.

After five years of being away from the pack and everyone in it, I'd forgotten about Miles and Arlene. My life had become way better without them in it.

I raised my head from the book again and swung my head back, wondering why Ma'am Felicia hadn't come out to meet me.

It was almost time for my shift, and she was yet to appear after calling me over for a conversation.

“Ma'am Felicia, I'm running late for my shift! What do you want to talk about?" I yelled while facing the door that led to her bedroom.

I would have suspected that she stepped out of the house if her car wasn't parked outside. Besides, Ma'am Felicia has never left her door open, even if she was going to get her garden tended to.

“Ma'am Felicia!" I called out, but as usual got a wave of sickening silence in return.

I groaned loudly and got up, then dragged my feet towards the bedroom door.

Ma'am Felicia was a lover of art, so she had many art pieces and painted canvases on her walls and counters. The nauseous scent of lavender never ceased to waft past my nose when I neared the bedroom.

I raised my hand and knocked on the door lightly, leaning closer to catch any sound from within.

I knocked again, harder than the first, but still got no response.

I looked at the wall clock across the room and watched the short hand of the clock hit three. My shift had begun, and I was still here.

I leaned on the door and began to speak, not sure if she was in there or not.

“Ma'am Felicia, I'm leaving for work now. The boss will have my head chopped if I stay a minute longer," I muttered.

My delusional self expected to hear a chuckle from within, but to my disappointment, I was met by silence again.

I sighed and took a step back from the door, battling with my conscience about whether it was right to leave the old lady without seeing her or hearing what urgent matter she wanted to discuss.

“I'm sorry, ma'am Felicia, I really gotta go," I whispered and spun around to leave.

But the moment I turned, my eyes flickered to the knob on the door, and I felt a spark run through my body.

I spun around in shock and reached for the knob, and to my surprise, it turned out to be broken.

Panic set in, and I didn't waste a minute more before slamming my foot on the door.

The door broke open and pulled out, hanging lazily onto a single knot still able to hold it from falling off.

I cared less about the door or how Ma'am Felicia would feel, and rushed in.

“Ma'am–"

My heart stopped, my breath ceased, and my body froze when I stumbled upon a body in a pool of dark blood.

The dress that covered up the body was a dress I made for Ma'am Felicia last December while working at a dressmaker's shop as a volunteer. I would recognize that dress and design anywhere because I made it. I stayed up all night making it to see that happy smile on her face on the night of Christmas!

“Ma'am… ma'am Felicia…” My voice was barely audible as horror squashed my heart into tiny pieces.

I slumped down into the pool of blood and slowly reached for the knife stuck in her back with trembling hands.

I knew it was stupid to do so with bare hands, but at that moment, I was too grieved to think clearly. I wanted to save her, I thought I could save her.

I gripped the handle of the knife and pulled it out. My heart clenched when I heard a wheezing sound from her.

"Ma'am Felicia!” I gasped and grabbed her shoulders, then turned her around, placing her hand on my lap.

She stared at me, her honey brown eyes filled with tears and warmth. Blood trailed down her chin from her mouth, and she had a stab wound on her belly, too.

"Who did this to you?!” I cried, hating myself for not coming in sooner.

She was in here all along, fighting for her life and hoping she would answer my calls.

She groaned again and touched my cheeks.

Her hands were so cold that it made shivers break out on my body.

“Hold on, I'll call the police," I whispered and made to stand and get my phone, but she gripped my wrist, shaking her head.

“No, ma'am Felicia, you're going to live, don't say anything, save your strength," I muttered, but her grip on my wrist didn't falter.

I watched her trembling lips part, and she whispered words that made my heart sink.

“Run."

“What?"

“Run… from them.”

"I'll take you to the hospital first, then we'll run together…” The rest of the words got stuck in my throat when her body turned white and the warmth in her eyes disappeared.

“Ma'am Felicia?" I called out but got no response. She was still staring at me, but with eyes that had no life in them.

She was gone. I needed no one to tell me that.

My heart was crushed at the realization, and my body broke down.

I parted my trembling lips and howled loudly, drenched in pain and agony.

I held onto her, crying my heart out. Nothing aside from my mother's death had hurt me the way she did.

The pain and anger I had tried to keep buried in me resurrected, crushing me to pieces and leaving me wrecked.

Why? Why do bad things always happen to me? Why do I lose everyone I love?

Her last words suddenly hit me, and I dropped her head down, then staggered back.

The sounds of a siren were in the air, and so were her last words.

My body froze when I swung my head to the side and noticed the drawing on her wall. Anyone would think it was just an art, but I knew it wasn't.

It was that dreadful mark, the same mark that had always haunted my dreams.

I looked at her body, bewildered and wondering what Ma'am Felicia had to do with those ruthless souls.

“Don't worry, ma'am Felicia, I will find whoever did this to you," I whispered.

I wiped the tears on my face with my blood-soaked hands, then turned to run out.

But as I reached the door, a cop stepped in, blocking my path.

“You're under arrest," the man said and reached for my hands.

“No, I… I…” I stammered, but he didn't even spare me a glance.

More cops trooped into the house, shaking their heads at the scene in the bedroom.

"You killed her? She took you in as a daughter, you ungrateful brat!” Her nosy neighbor spat as the cop led me out in handcuffs.

I would have tried to defend myself, but I couldn't. I was the prime suspect, and no matter what I said, no one would believe me.

But one thing stuck in my mind…someone had killed Ma'am Felicia, and that person was related to the mark on her wall. The mark the person who kidnapped me years ago had.