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“Good, you’re dismissed.” Pierce waved me off, returning his attention to the paperwork before him.
The drive home was quiet even as the streets of Miami roared with life outside my vehicle. Merely a shade of gold painted the sky as the dark claimed the end of a day.
While I waited under the red light, I watched as people walked by in crowds, groups, or couples. Smiles and laughter bounced around one another, and it mesmerized me how so much light walked around, when all I’ve experienced and knew was pain, danger, and death.
I’d lived for my brothers, but even when we were together, we weren’t able to let go of our demons, or the humans we were becoming, and had become. Always tense, always looking for the next strike coming our way.
Oh, how easy life could be if I walked around oblivious to the world I lived in. Even before I was born, my life was already set for corruption. All mapped out to where I now sat. Looking in from the outside, I like to think this was how it all was supposed to be. Dangerous games and cheating death. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have the brother who raised me or my other two who had a hand in my upbringings. We were all just kids trying to survive in a world with no options.
In the end, the world needed balance, good and evil, and I was at the verge of crossing a line I couldn’t come back from. I could feel it closing in, creeping with each day that passed by.
But now that Davina had been assigned into my life, the line of evil stalked my every second.
Parking my car in the driveway of my home, I took a deep breath to ease my head, but the thoughts only grew stronger. That was until I opened the front door and was greeted by Bo's nose and paws on my chest.
“I missed you too, asshole,” I cooed as my hands ran over his face and sides. “Come on, it’s been too long since you’ve been let out.” Boris agreed as he whined and sat before me, waiting to be leashed.
The night brought cooling temperatures as the sea breeze traveled around the city with welcomed chilling winds. Boris sniffed and walked calmly next to me, enjoying the night as I was.
Then she came into my mind like the traveling winds of tonight, without consent. Davina’s fearful eyes bore deep inside me, and all I wondered was how she was.
Assignments weren’t meant to be taken personal, and that was why I’d tried to stay as far as possible from such tasks. But how could I not, now that I’d met her?
“Let’s go, Bo. It’s been a long day.”
Seven
Davina
As time passed, and the days rolled by without a trace, my time in Miami started to blend together. I couldn’t tell the difference between the days of the week, nor did I care.
There was no use for my phone. I had no one to call, no family or friends to speak to or check on. I had no work, not one reason to leave the house aside from a quick run to the convenience store. I didn’t try to make friends or get too close to anyone. I learned quickly what it could mean for them. Death. So, I stood inside this house, day after day watching how everyday mirrored the next.
One thing I had noticed every morning was the black car parked across the street, sometimes farther, sometimes too close, but never parked the same spot it had the day before. Even the black car became a pattern, the new normal.
He became part of my normal, even from a distance.
Still in bed, I rolled onto my side toward the digital clock with the bold red numbers. It was five till seven. Ilias would be here any minute.
At times, the sun’s rays penetrating the sheer curtains from the window would shimmer in different colors and hues. Like a routine, I stared up to the ceiling in search of the light and faded blue color to call me out of bed. But it was later than the usual time it would happen. The sun was now higher in the sky, brighter, and gold had taken over the blue hues.
Closing my eyes, I tried to picture my favorite color, but my mind could never get it right. Nothing compared to that blue hue color that only appeared early in the morning. It may seem silly how a color could affect the rest of my day, but as a creature of habit, it’d become something that helped me hold onto hope after my mother’s passing. But hope had left too.
I kicked the covers off my body and sat. The walls of the room were bare, like the bookshelves and every piece of furniture inside this house. An empty journal sat on top of the small, chipped desk that faced the window. Even the bedding was bland and simple in beige tones, and whites.
I lived here, yet, the place looked stripped of life.
The two-story cottage vibrated as the sound of two knocks flew up the stairs and into my room. My eyes widened, wondering if I’d really heard correctly. Then the sound became louder.
My heart beat unsteadily, my mind trying to comfort me with the hope of seeing a familiar face.
No one would knock on your front door to attack you first thing in the morning, right? I shook my head. Anything was possible. Walking toward the window barefoot, I peered out but couldn’t find Ilias’ black car parked anywhere. I checked the time. It was shortly after seven.
Where was he? He was never late.
The knocks continued, and I slipped a hoodie over my head and quickly slid into my Converse shoes, not caring about socks. Spinning around the room, I headed back to the bed and plucked my abandoned cell phone from under my pillow. The battery life was at ten percent. Great.
The front door knob rattled again, and a creeping chill flooded through my veins. Whoever it was, was trying to come inside.
