Chapter 4
The Clearwood Mall was ten minutes away from my house. On a Wednesday night, it was relatively quiet. I was relieved. There was a store that specialized in coats. I dragged him there, and Ryan, Calim, and Rowan trailed behind us. Calim pleaded for her to go with us because he didn’t want to traipse around a mall with a bunch of teenagers. She agreed and was chatting amiably with him. Ryan didn’t seem particularly bothered to be the odd man out.
“What do you recommend?” Elias asked as we walked deeper into the racks. I scanned the coats and smirked when I saw a trench coat.
“One of those.” He glared at me.
“Seriously? If I were to run away from someone, the bottom of it might catch on a fence.” His outrageous argument made me laugh.
“Okay, what about one of those.” I gestured to a rack of leather jackets, and he shook his head.
“Slugger, would that keep you warm?”
“It might,” I hedged. He walked over to the rack and chose a leather jacket at random.
“Go on. Take off your coat,” Elias encouraged. I reluctantly slipped out of my coat and draped it across the top of a rack. He helped me into the jacket, which made me feel like a child.
“What do you think?” The thing was so big that my hands were lost in the sleeves. I had no idea what to think. “Lena, your opinion is important. Think about it. If you were cold and I offered you that jacket, would it keep you warm?” The intensity in his expressive eyes made me shudder.
“Maybe?”
“I’ll take it,” He announced, before holding out his hand. I handed him back the jacket and shrugged into my own. He surprised me when he walked over to a rack of fleeces and selected a black one.
“Is black your favorite color?” I asked. He faced me and shook his head.
“Midnight blue is my favorite color. I use to have a Mercedes that color. But black is a sensible color. If it stains, no one will notice.”
“I don’t care about that. Pink is my favorite color and I wear it.” Elias laughed.
“Why Pink?”
“Because Pink is a happy color,” I explained. He smiled.
“You look beautiful in pink,” he softly told me before walking over to the thicker coats. I had no choice but to follow him. After he was finished selecting, he had a total of eleven itums. I guess when you were rich, you can spend money on everything.
The cashier was Jerome, the quarterback that made fun of Daisy. He smiled at me, and I saw the apology in his eyes. He looked at Elias and sighed.
“Couldn’t make up your mind?” Jerome asked as he began ringing up Elias’ purchases.
“Nope. And I didn’t feel like coming back if I regretted my choices,” Elias explained.
“Lena, I heard you went home sick. How are you feeling?”
“All right. A good nap did wonders for me,” I responded, feeling fortunate that Jerome didn’t know that I had gotten sick in front of Elias. I was pretty sure that my new friend wasn’t going to tell anyone. I knew him for a little more than a day and knew that he had a good heart.
“ Five hundred and twenty-six,” Jerome reported. Elias didn’t even blink twice. He handed the quarterback a bank card, and it was swiped and his many purchases were bagged.
“Hey, Lena,” Jerome called as we were turning to leave. I spun around and saw that his expression was nervous. “I was a jackass. I shouldn’t have said what I did to Daisy. She’s a nice girl.”
“Make sure you apologize,” I said before following Elias out of the store. Ryan startled me when he appeared out of nowhere. He took my burden and said, “The grownups are at the smoothie place. Let me take these to the car, Elias.” Elias didn’t have the chance to reply, Ryan snatched up the bags and rushed toward the exit.
“What did Jerome say to Daisy?”
“Did you hear the rumors?” I asked as we began walking to the food court.
“Yes. Daisy kissed Pat at some party. Cora told me the sob story during lunch.” My heart stopped when he mentioned Cora.
“What do you think of her?” Elias shook his head.
“I only sat with her because she invited herself to my table. I’m not remotely interested in her. She’s too insecure for my liking.” I raised a brow at Elias.
“Insecure? Cora is confident.” He laughed at me.
“No, Lena, your friend Daisy is confident. Cora is afraid that no one’s going to like her. So she’s defensive and does mean things to others. Trust me, I understand girls like her. Back at home, they are a dime in a dozen. I’m not impressed,” he declared.
“She’s into you.”
“I don’t feel the same way. I made that perfectly clear when she invited me to get some Mexican food, tonight.”
“You came with me to get coats?” I couldn’t believe his response.
“I needed a coat, and you are good company,” Elias said, just as Daisy ran toward me. Jose was following behind her, which made me groan. The guy thought that he was Casanova reincarnated.
“Hello, beautiful mommy,” Jose said, his eyes twinkling with pleasure.
“She’s seventeen,” Elias snapped as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I was shocked by his protectiveness. Being close to him felt so comfortable. Daisy’s brother, a muscular man with curly brown hair and a mustache, frowned.
“Oh, it’s okay bro, you don’t have to feel threatened by me. I don’t date girls like Lena.” Jose’s comment was playful, but something about it made Elias’ arm tighten. “Sick ones are too troublesome. They might die if they get me between the sheets, if you know what I mean.” Then, he laughed and Daisy punched his arm.
“Bye Jose,” Daisy snapped and the guy went into the candy store and began flirting with the blond at the register.
“Hi Elias”. Daisy batted her eyelashes as if Elias didn’t have his arm wrapped around me. I stiffened, feeling insulted. Okay, Elias and I were just friends. But still. Daisy didn’t even ask first.
“Elias and I were just leaving,” I announced. Daisy frowned at me.
“Elias, you can let go of her now. My brother was only kidding. He doesn’t see her like that,” Daisy assured. Elias didn’t move.
“We have to meet Rowan and Calim at the smoothie…” Elias stopped speaking and he closed his eyes, his head tilting at an angle, as if he were trying to hear something.
“Give me my money,” a man shouted. It was coming from the dress shop beside the candy store. I stiffened, and Daisy pulled out her cell phone.
“Sir.” That voice sounded so scared that it made my heart rate spike. When it did, the sound of roaring wind filled my right ear. It was so loud that I couldn’t even hear what Elias was trying to tell me. His lips were at my ear. I shook my head and tapped it, as if he would understand. He nodded, released me and switched sides.
“I’m going to see if I can help. Go find Calim and Rowan,” Elias urged. My feet took off in the direction of the smoothie shop, because I’d rather not see a robbery. Maybe Calim could help. I nearly ran into Calim, who was heading in my direction. He steadied me, and I placed my hands on my knees, gasping.
“What happened?” Rowan asked, as she approached me.
“Robbery. Elias went to help. It’s at Jane’s dress shop,” I breathlessly reported.
“That’s not his job,” Calim snarled before taking off like a mad man. I was about to suggest that he wait in the car, when a man who was six feet tall, with a shaved head nearly plowed into me on his way to the smoothie shop. He didn’t apologize. Instead, he cursed and shouted, “Give me all of your money. Now!” Oh, this was just perfect. These thugs were robbing more than one store. I pulled out my cell phone and was about to call 911 when another bald guy snatched it away.
“Give it back,” I hissed. He laughed.
“You aren’t in a position to give me orders, stupid human.” He wasn’t as attractive as the last guy. His skin was pasty white, and he had a bit of a belly. He wore blue jeans an
d a button down shirt, with a jean jacket that was open.
“Hurry up Pam. I’m hungry,” he shouted as if his friend wasn’t trying to rob a store. Rowan looked hesitant. She wanted to call the cops, but she also didn’t want her phone taken away. I dove at the man and was quickly stopped by Ryan, who wrapped his arms around my stomach.
“Easy, Lena. If I let anything happen to you, Elias would kill me.”
“How cute,” the bald idiot with a pot belly laughed. “Your friend is trying to protect you. That’s what you all do, protect the weak.” He pulled out what looked like a knife and tossed it. Ryan shoved me to the ground, and I heard nothing more than Rowan’s screams. I had no idea what was going on, but my head ached. I sat up, trying not to wince at the fact that I was on the floor of a mall for goodness sakes and looked up. Ryan had the pot belly on the ground, his foot on the man’s chest. The knife that he had thrown was in Rowan’s hand. My cousin was shaking from fear and rage. She was one of those people that detested violence of any kind. I wanted to award her for managing to grab a weapon.
“Let’s go, Mike,” the man that robbed the smoothie shop yelled. “Let’s meet up with the others. As he said that, He tried to attack Ryan from behind, but the boy hopped off potbellies’ chest and blocked his advances. The weasel ran off, and after the robber delivered a swift blow to Ryan’s jaw, he was on his way too. Ryan was flattened by the blow, and I crawled over to him and checked his pulse. He was still breathing. After sending up a prayer of thanks to heaven, I took a deep breath and attempted to get to my feet. I had every intention of doing so, but my body cramped up, and it hurt to move. I opened my mouth and tried to call out for Rowan, but that was no use. She was three feet away, but she could have been miles away from me.
“He dropped your phone,” Rowan noted. She jogged over to the door where the robbers had gone through and returned, waving something in front of my face. But I couldn’t see it.
“Lena,” Elias called. I couldn’t answer him. He rushed over to me and plucked me off the ground as if I weighed nothing. My scream of pain was sharp enough to shatter glass. And the agony was so overwhelming that I passed out.
“I should take her to the hospital, but they will say the same thing,” Rowan softly said.
“What do you mean?” Calim asked.
“I mean that the doctors are stumped. They have no idea what she has. Lena is in constant pain, and she can’t keep anything down. I wish that I could help her,” she said. “My parents are doing everything they can. We’re getting desperate. My father knows a doctor in Florida that may know something. He’s checking the lead out,” Rowan reported.
“Do you want tea?” Ryan asked, though his voice sounded far away.
“Why not,” Rowan said before saying, “give me coffee instead.” I forced my heavy eyes open and slowly sat up. I was tucked in bed. Elias sat beside me in my desk chair reading “Gone with the Wind.” Rowan and Calim were in folding chairs.
“What happened?” I yawned. Elias closed the book and sighed.
“You screamed about something hurting then passed out,” he summarized.
“You picked me up like I weighed nothing,” I said, amazed.
“I’ve lifted heavier. How are you feeling, slugger?”
“Thirsty. Can I have some water?” Rowan rushed to go get the water and Calim followed, discreetly closing the door behind him. I frowned, but then Elias closed the book and smiled.
“Do you mind if I borrow the book. It’s kind of interesting,” he admitted.
“No. Do you like to read?”
“No. But I started the book. I might as well finish it.” I chuckled.
“Sure, Elias, you can borrow the book.” He smirked and said, “I hope that there’s action in it.”
“Action?”
“It is called Gone with the Wind. Does the heroin have some sort of ability to control the wind?” His puzzlement caused laughter to crawl up my throat, but I smothered it.
“Sure, Elias. She can control the wind all right.” Okay, so it wasn’t kind of me to torture Elias, not after what he had done tonight. But I couldn’t help it. I briefly wondered if he would assume that “Little Women” told the story of dwarfs. I had to rip off the back cover of that novel as well.
“So, did you catch the robber?” My question made Elias frown.
“No. As soon as I showed up, the guy turned tail and ran.”
“What store did the other robber try to rob?”
“A jewelry store. Unfortunately, they got away with a lot of merchandise. My guess is that the other two robberies were only distractions.”
“They picked a relatively quiet night to do something like this. Many people don’t go to the mall on a Wednesday night.”
“Are you going to school tomorrow?” His question caught me off guard.
“Um, I guess so. Why?”
“Do you need a ride tomorrow? I don’t live too far from here. You’re on the way.”
“Really?” I couldn’t contain the shock.
“Really.”
“Sure. Rowan’s shift at the dentist office starts early. That would be wonderful.” Elias smiled at me before placing a gentle kiss on my forehead. Before I could comment on it, he rushed from the room.
That night, I dreamed of a basement. The walls were cement, and the floors were covered with a thread bear brown carpet. The man that held me captive in the nightmaire I had while at the community center loomed over me. I sat in a metal chair, my hands bound with zip-ties. My movements were hindered by something soothing that was traveling through my veins. My eyelids were starting to droop, and I could barely feel my legs.
“How interesting. This is the strongest drug, and yet, you can still move.” He drew his hand back and slapped me across the face. The pain never followed his blow. My body was too numb to feel a thing. “You know, I’m a doctor. Did I ever tell you that?” In this dream, my tongue was thick and my mouth was extremely dry. I hadn’t drunk water for days and before the drug had been pumped through me, I had been cramping. Though my clothes were clean, the scientist hadn’t allowed me to shower for days. “I hope you know that if you don’t tell me anything, I’ll experiment by chopping off her fingers, one by one.” I know that she’s one of your weaknesses. You won’t be able to watch as I…”
The dream cut off as if a channel had been changed. Now, I was awake and sweating. The aches and pains that I felt weren’t present. But, my mouth was dry. Maybe it was the residual sensations left over from the dream, but I needed a glass of water, desperately. So I crept out of bed and slid my bare feet into my fluffy house shoes and walked into the hallway.
The hallway light was on, which was fortunate, because the dream left me rattled. The unfamiliar man threatened to chop off one of my fingers. I was apparently being held to intimidate someone into explaining something. I was about to take my first step down the stairs when I heard them.
“I’m telling you, Rowan. I want you to marry me. After what happened tonight, I decided to turn over a new leaf. No playing around,” Jose Sanchez begged. Nausea filled my gut and my pulse pounded. No, this couldn’t be happening.
“Jose, I…”
“Rowan, say yes.” He was begging for his life that was clear.
“Jose. I…”
“I only want to hear the word yes, coming out of your mouth, Mami.” Oh, now that was it. Hearing that idiot call Rowan what he just called me a few hours ago did it. I was going to march downstairs and demand that he left immediately.
“Yes.” What? Rowan said yes? “I’ll marry you. But we have to do it soon. I don’t think that Lena has much time left. She’s getting worse. She had a seizure tonight. I…”
“I understand,” Jose assured her. Then, Trumpets by Jason Derulo traveled up to me. “That’s my phone.” As Jose talked on the phone, I heard some shuffling.
“While you’re on the phone, I’m going to check on Lena.” Before she could spot me, I rushed back to bed.
I laid facing away from the door and closed my eyes. Moments later, a gentle hand brushed my hair back from my forehead.
“Lena, how are you feeling?””
Thirsty,” I croaked.
“I’ll get you some water,” she said before rushing from the room.