Just Pawns

CHAPTER ONE Mrs. Crawford was just stepping out of her office preparing to go and pick up her kids from school when she noticed that Elaine was not done with cleaning before locking the shop up. She hadn't ever liked the girl even after all these years and she didn't even know why. Elaine, she called out in disdain as she looked around the store, tea cups and bread plates on tables, some stains here and there, she diverted her attention to the young girl in an apron. "Yes ma'am", Elaine answered. I thought you'd be done with cleaning so we can lock up, but I guess that's not the case. You'll just have to find your way home today once you're done, lock up and don't forget to turn off the lights, Mrs Crawford said, as she walked out of the door and went into her car, then off she drove. Just opposite the bakery where Elaine was working in a four-storey building, a few men gathered, one seated by the window, hands on the trigger of a sniper which was directly aimed at Elaine's head as she moved around the bakery wiping off some coffee stains. As he pulled the trigger ready to let loose, just as he fired the bullet, the doors burst open, startling him, and in came a few men different from the others who were already residing in the room. An all out brawl began while the man with the sniper checked to see if his bullet hit the target, he found out he had missed as he hadn't seen anybody on the floor of the store. Groaning, he moved away from the window and joined the fight. Elaine had already run out through the back of the bakery as she pulled out her phone to try to call the cops. She finally, with so much time wasted, was able to dial the number. "Hello 911, what's your emergency?" From the other end of the phone the 911 operator responded, "Hello….. is anyone there, what's your emergency?" The operator kept asking. At some point he stopped asking when he began to hear snippets of little chattering and then a soft shaky voice. "G..g…..gg..gguuu…..n sss….sshot", Elaine could not make a full sentence without stuttering. "Ma'am I need you to tell me your location okay," the operator continued, at that moment Elaine looked around her and realized she was bleeding and then fainted. Back at the building the fight had subsided and the first group of men had all escaped. "You're sure we should let them get away?" One of them asked the one who had just walked into the room. Our job was to get those guys out of here, he said while he pushed a broken chair out of the way making his way towards the window. "Go and confirm if the girl is alright, then we can get out of here" as he peered down the window towards the bakery. The one who had left , had returned swiftly "the cops are already with her sir, she got shot but it wasn't deadly, just a bruise, but she'll be alright" "Good, move out, I'll report to our client later" as they all retreated. As Elaine regained consciousness, she was rather puzzled. She looked around to get a feel of where she was, which was a little van. She felt a sharp pain on her ears as she placed her hand on them when the memory of what happened rushed back to her, of how she was almost murdered. The attendant on the ambulance had already been alerted of her slow recovery so she noticed the panic that was surfacing and tried her best to calm her down. "Hey hey hey…… it's okay it's okay, you're okay sweetheart" she said as she patted Elaine on the back. "I need to go home," Elaine muttered to the lady beside her. "You will dear, we just want to get a statement from you of what happened, that's all" "I don't know what happened, I just want to go home,please." The attendant was understanding as she knew the ordeal she went through and knew how much she was in shock. "Okay" she sighed, where do you live then so we can drop you off? Elaine knew that the time had passed when she would arrive home. She wondered what her foster mom might say or do this time. "No, that's okay, I can get home by myself" she answered. The attendant looked at her for a few seconds longer before she finally agreed. "Frank, pull over" she yelled at the driver. The vehicle swerved to the side coming to a stop. "Okay then……you're free to go" the attendant uttered as she pushed the doors to the back of the van open. Elaine slowly stepped down from the van and moved to the curb of the road. "We'll come by the bakery later to get our statement. But for now you can go" she said as she entered back into the van and shut the doors. A little while later, the van zoomed off. Elaine didn't wait until the van was out of sight before she began to make her way home. She first looked around and identified her surroundings before she moved towards the left of that street. It was only a few blacks and within a few minutes she arrived at the house she and her foster parents lived in. She had only lived with them for about three years as she had been moved from one foster care unit to another. Most foster parents didn't really take a liking to her as she was too quiet, and not lively enough. As she crossed the pavement to the door, she noticed Mrs. Crawford's car in the widely opened garage. She knew she was in for a lot of shouting. She stood at the door for a while before she twisted the knob and strolled into the apartment. CHAPTER TWO "Where have you been?" Mrs. Crawford asked, as she stepped into the house. "You were supposed to be here a few hours ago after locking up." "There was an accident at the shop ma'am," Elaine answered quietly with her head facing downwards. At this time, Mrs. Crawford's husband Eric decided to join the conversation. "What kind of accident?" he asked, almost sounding concerned. "There was a gunshot at the shop," she said, as she placed her hands on her ears where a small plaster wrapped, reminiscing. "What happened to the shop, is it okay?" Mrs. Crawford didn't bother herself with this child as she wasn't even hers to begin with. Her attention was on the shop she owned. "I really don't know, I was unconscious the whole time" her voice getting fainter and fainter. When I woke up, I was with the police. "This is why I shouldn't have left you in charge of the shop, even for one second" Mrs. Crawford was about to burst. "I told you something like this would happen," she turned and faced her husband fuming. "Elaine, there are some leftovers in the freezer, have 'em and go to your room" Eric said, as he walked over to the kitchen to pick up the coffee he had prepared just before Elaine got home. "Yes sir," she marched in response to the order, scared to offend anyone again that evening. Elaine took the leftovers and then waltzed towards the stairs up to her room in the attic. Mr Eric waited until she was out of sight before he dropped the cup of coffee in his hands on the counter and turned towards his wife "what is wrong with you, why would you say that in front of her?" He asked angrily as he looked around a bit before going to the windows to shut them. "It's not her fault someone tried to rob the store". "I don't care anymore, we can't be training her and then she does this to us. For all we know she might have caused the accident" still fuming. "Why do we even still need to keep her here?" She asked. "You and I both know why we need to keep her here." He countered "you think that shop just happened, huh, my job promotion, this house we live in" he said quietly so as not to wake his own kids as well as not to be overheard by anyone. "We just have to wait until she's old enough, then we don't have to be indebted to anyone regardless of what they have offered" he said, as he cuddled his wife, "it won't be long" he said, as Elaine was almost old enough to leave the system and take care of herself. About three years ago, someone offered them a huge amount of money just to adopt a fifteen year old girl. At the time they had two children already but they were not living too well so when the offer came they had to take it. It turned their life around and the only condition was just to take care of the girl. They were provided all the resources to do so but rather, they didn't really offer Elaine any of it other than the roof over her head, the clothes on her back and the food on her table. If she needed any other thing, then she had to work for it. They didn't see why they couldn't do such a simple task. That was how they ended up with Elaine. Apparently, they couldn't even take it for that long, as it had only been three years. Within the walls of the attic, Elaine sat on her bed, the food abandoned on her table as thoughts of the incident that had happened earlier streamed through her mind. Why me though, or was it actually me they were after? Who are THEY anyway, what could they possibly want from me, could they have wanted to actually rob the store? No, if they wanted to, they wouldn't have shot at me, she pondered. She thanked her Stars that she was still even alive, but that didn't stop the different scenarios that played in her head as she thought of the reasons why that happened, but all of those reasons were refuted, but one, they wanted her dead. Someone wanted her dead. She got up to go to the bathroom when she faced towards the window and caught a glimpse of a little yellow light, before she could blink her eyes, it was gone. She thought she was seeing things, was feeling paranoid at this point, she tapped her face lightly and looked closely outwards but couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary. She heard a hurried movement downstairs, at this time of the night, something was definitely wrong. She wanted to cradle herself by the ends of her bed because she was scared. But she ran downstairs to where she found her foster parents, Eric by the door while Rose was by the phone. "What's happening?" Elaine asked in a very quiet voice. No one answered as Rose dialed a number to the cops. Eric had a gun in hand as he opened the doors slowly, he swerved it looking from left to right. All of a sudden, he was tackled to the ground by something really fast. He did not have time to comprehend before he was knocked out cold. Elaine and Rose both screamed but were too scared to go and check what had happened to Eric. Rose mustered a bit of courage, placing the phone back on the receiver, she walked up to the door. "Oh my God" were the words she muttered as she looked upon the biggest wolf she had ever seen standing over her husband. It was as tall as a human, maybe even more. She was frozen in place until another wolf tackled the previous wolf off her husband before she snapped back to her senses. She rushed to her husband and with a lot of struggle pulled him back into the house bolting the doors. "What was that?" Elaine muttered. CHAPTER THREE Told you they'll attack again, Micheal said, as the rest of his team readied in position to attack. "What exactly do they even want from her to make them go after her like this?" One of Michael's men asked. "I don't know," he sighed. All we need to do is to make sure she gets past this night. Once I report back probably he'll take serious actions, the answer unsure with his hand signaling to get ready. They all saw when a man had opened the doors with a gun in his hand and how he was dragged to the ground by a large wolf. They were not bewildered by the size of the wolf as they had seen something of the sort before. Once they saw this, they knew it was time to move out. Another wolf came out of nowhere and tackled the previous wolf to the ground. At this moment, a lady, probably the man's wife, came out and struggled to drag the man back in as he looked a bit heavy or perhaps, the woman was not that strong. The air crackled with tension as the two parties faced off, each fueled by their own motives and hidden agenda. On one side stood a group of highly skilled humans, trained in various martial arts and armed with an array of weapons. They were led by the enigmatic martial arts master, they were the same squad who had prevented Elaine's death back at the bakery who were hired by a strange old man. Opposing them was an unconventional alliance consisting of humans and a pack of formidable, large-sized wolves. Their only job was to eliminate Elaine with no traces that will lead back to them. The clash erupted with a thunderous intensity, as the skilled humans launched a coordinated assault against their opponents. Blows were exchanged, weapons clashed, and the night echoed with the primal howls of the wolves. The battle was fierce and evenly matched, each side displaying their own unique strengths and strategies. As the fight progressed, casualties began to accumulate. Two members from the alliance fell, their bodies still and lifeless amidst the chaos. On the other side, a skilled human warrior sustained a grave injury, his determination shining through the pain. The alliance began to back down but Michael's team were not making the same mistake again by letting them go. "Bring them down……all of them" he ordered. The team chased the alliance, each and everyone of them until there were no ones left. Elaine had run up to her room trying to process what she had seen downstairs, her back pressed against the very corner of her room as she was deep in thought. "That was a dog, a very big dog," she remembered. Those yellow eyes she had caught a glimpse of before were not just her mind playing tricks on her. She knew her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. She contemplated if all this might be connected to the same attack that had happened at the bakery. She was so scared of the fact that perhaps, they were after her and wanted her dead. Knees to her chest and head bent over, she cried. She has never been targeted before because she was always alone. This was all new to her. Inside the house was real quiet, Rose at the door of the bathroom while Eric was by the phone. He had called the cops a couple of times and they were to arrive soon. Placing the phone back on the receiver, he joined his wife in the bathroom and they waited. Time passed by. When Eric noticed the environment was a bit quiet, he stood up, wanting to confirm what was happening now when Rose pulled him backwards. "Do you want to die?" She silently shouted, doubting if her husband was using his brains in this situation. You were almost killed by a big… a very big dog, making emphasis on the dog, now you want to go back out there? No, we're just gonna wait for the cops to show up first, she finished pulling Eric back to his original position. They waited a little more before they began to hear sirens from the distance."Do you hear that?" they both quietened down so they could listen. "Sirens," Rose said as a smile graced her lips. "Thank God….. finally" sighing as she jumped up from her crouching position and out of the bathroom with her husband in tow. The sirens had also alerted Elaine as she stepped out of her room, the beat of her heart only normalizing with every step she took down the stairs towards the living room. Relief was over her as she saw the blue and red lights of the cops' car in front of the house. She walked towards the door and saw her foster parents already conversing with one of the policemen while the other one surveyed the area with a torchlight. "Yes sir, i know, i know, it sounds absurd but it's the truth, there were wolves with them" Rose said sounding exasperated. "One of them even jumped over me when I came out to see what was happening," Eric added. "Did you see anything else other than these wolves? Maybe a face or anything you recognize?" The officer asked. "Well, not really cause my husband was already unconscious. All I did was pull him in and then locked the doors. That was when we called you guys" she said, now realizing she had not seen any faces at all. "Okay" writing something down in his pad "….. and you said the size of these wolves were……." He tried not believing what he was hearing. "Very big officer, very big probably as tall as.. scratch that, they WERE as tall as you are right now" Rose answered. "Oh, and also there were gunshots, it was like a clash between two different groups right here in our backyard," Rose was so frightened. "Sir, there seems to be signs of struggling in a few areas but nothing more," the officer surveyed the environment and reported back to his senior officer. "Okay, we've gotten your statement and we'll start investigating immediately, there's nothing to worry about," the officer reassured them. The officers got more details from the Crawfords as well as Elaine before they decided to leave. All three of them stood right in front of the doors as they watched as the cops car grew further and further away. "They're not gonna do anything about it," Eric said. Finally, "the look on their faces is one, they normally don't venture into this neighborhood," he sighed, as he walked back into his house with his wife and Elaine in tow. CHAPTER FOUR What are we going to do now, I mean what if those people, whoever they were, came back? Rose began to tear up, "and our kids, realization dawned on her, our kids" pushing Eric to the side, she rushed up the stairs to their bedroom. Sighing on entering their room, she wondered how they were still asleep with all the noise from a while ago, but she was still thankful, they were alright. She kissed both of them by the side of their heads before making her way to the doors. She gazed at them for a little while before turning the lights off and making her way back to her husband. Both Elaine and Eric were seated around the kitchen counter. "They're still asleep" Rose informed, as she walked down the stairs and joined them in the kitchen. "What do you think it's about?" Rose asked, feeling worried. First, it was the shop, now our home. I mean it's not like we have jewels and gold here, she said, not believing it was a coincidence. I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's not money, Eric answered, coming to sit closer to her, wrapping his arms around her, rubbing her shoulders to comfort her. "And how do you know that?" Rose asked. We don't even know if they had searched the store and also they might have not gotten the chance to enter our home because they were engaged outside by possibly another group of thugs or something. Well, if that's the case, I dare say we were lucky then, Eric said, not feeling really lucky. Elaine stood up and excused herself as she couldn't take any of it. She walked up the stairs towards her room as she couldn't help but think that it was all her fault, feel it was on her. She's putting everyone around her at risk and she doesn't even know for what exactly. "I need to leave," as she was seated on her bed, she pondered on how she was going to accomplish that, when she remembered the attendant from the shooting incident who had offered to help her out. She made a decision to seek her help. She made a plan that after work, if there was work tomorrow, she'd visit the station. Everyone went to sleep but no one really got any sleep as morning came rolling in. Mrs. Crawford was in the kitchen preparing breakfast when her daughters entered. "Morning sweetnesses, how were your nights?" She asked as they both sat around the counter. Kaylee and Kendal were twins of twelve years old in middle school, though they looked identical, their personalities were very opposite. Simply put, one was an introvert while the other was all about being out there. "Mom, sweetnesses isn't a word," Kendal uttered quietly. "Sweetness is though" "Well, it's my word for you both so ……I'm gonna stick with it" Rose said, smiling at her. Don't you like it? She asked, sounding a bit hurt. Kendall looked up when she heard the tone in which her mother had asked her the question, "I like it," she said, smiling as her cheeks were tainted a light pink. "Mom, i had the weirdest dream last night" Kaylee said as a plate filled with bacon and egg was placed in front of her and her sister. "Oh yeah?, what was it about?" She inquired, always trying to humor her. "Werewolves ma, they were so cute.. and big… and fluffy" as she dug into her breakfast not noticing the look on her mother's face. Rose almost dropped the plate of food she had prepared for Elaine on the floor. Her husband had almost spat out the little coffee he had sipped as Kaylee had uttered those words. He folded up the newspaper as he was done with his meal. "Alright guys, I'll see you later," he kissed both of his daughters at the side of their heads and went over to his wife and kissed her too with a weird smile on his face, before he walked out of the door. "Eat up, let's get going," she instructed as she noticed Elaine was not down yet. She was about to yell out Elaine's name when Elaine came into view. "Sorry, i overslept," she lied and it didn't take much to tell. "Eat up, we're gonna be late for work," she dropped the food in front of her ignoring her statement about sleep. Once everyone had had their breakfast, they were all prepared and ready to go. Mrs. Crawford dropped Kaylee and Kendall off at their school before going over to the shop. She wasn't surprised to see a line in front of her shop already placing orders, the shop looking busy as always. She parked her car by the side of the road,turning the engine off, let's go, she said to Elaine as they both got down from the car. Mrs. Crawford, after observing that everything was going well until she saw the shattered glass on the side of the front windows, stormed into the shop and walked straight into her office, shutting the doors with a loud bang. Elaine, feeling guilty but couldn't do anything about it, went over to the other side of the counter, "Good morning," she greeted as she took an apron and wore it. She had always wanted to work with the bakers indoors. It would have kept her away from talking to people. But she never got a chance to learn, so she opted for serving tables instead. They all responded with words of greetings as well. When Mr Peters placed a tray on her hands, it contained a cherry cupcake and a coffee with a note saying "table six". She walked over to table six, placing the content in front of a lady. She didn't think she'd be seeing this lady now but later, so she was quite surprised. Hello dear, she greeted with a smile. It was the officer from before, the day she was almost shot. CHAPTER FIVE Can I get my order? She asked, as Elaine stared for a few seconds longer than needed. "Oh ... .umm... .sorry, here you go," she said as she placed the contents in her hand on the table. Can we talk, just for a little while? The officer inquired as she blew on her coffee as it was too hot for her before taking a few sips before setting the cup down. "Yeah… yeah …sure… i was actually gonna come down to the station at some point anyway," smiling, Elaine sat down. "I'm going to get down to it," the officer said as there was a clicking sound under the table. Elaine c****d her head under the table, there was a shotgun pointed directly at her. She froze, and then slowly lifted her head back to its original position. "What are you doing?" she asked as the fear slowly creeped in. "Who are you and what do you want from me?" She asked as she placed her hands on the table for the officer to see. She tried to sound unafraid, but her voice gave her away. "Don't take this personal sweetheart," she said, actually acting worried. Looks like you've offended the wrong group of people, or was it an act. "And they are willing to pay for it". She sounded almost desperate and continued to sip her tea in the process. "They are willing to pay,......... For me" Elaine said as disbelief coated her voice. "Someone would go that far, just to get to her,'' she thought. "Aren't you supposed to be a cop?" She asked, trying to reason with her. "I don't really know what they want from you dear, all I know is that they want you dead. And my job is to deliver you to them." Elaine saw Peters walking over to their table and attempted to stand and stop his advances "ah ah," she felt a tap twice on her knee. "Don't make sudden movements" the officer warned. No one suspected anything as the officer wasn't even in her uniform. It looked like a normal conversation between two ladies. Peter had already arrived at the table when he asked "everything goo..ere?" he asked in a very thick Irish accent. After the officer, Anna had given Elaine enough signal for her to shut her mouth off if not, there would be consequences. "Yes sir, everything's good," she smiled at the old man. "Alrighty then," he looked between Anna and Elaine "Do you need anything?" "No, don't worry," Anna reassured. "Elaine's got it" he received a response from Anna before slowly walking away. "What do you want from me now?" Elaine asked when she was sure Peter was out of earshot to speak. "All you gotta do is meet them, that's all" Anna said, dropping the fake smile she once had. "They've tried to kill me once," she stated, "they attacked my house, where I live" getting kinda angry, "if I'm meeting them, i don't think I'm coming back at all" "You really think you have a choice?" Anna snickered "here's the thing, my job is to keep you here until they arrive to get you," the words were already out of her mouth before she knew it. She didn't know what had come over her as she spoke secrets that shouldn't be shared. "Wait, they're coming here?" She asked, rather shocked as she tried to stand when she felt a tap on her knees. "Don't make this harder than it needs to be" Anna begged, when suddenly a phone rang. She picked up the phone and answered "hello!" "We are at the back" came a voice from the other end of the phone. Without waiting for an answer, they hung up. "Let me just make this very clear" Anna said as she began packing her purse "think about running away…. And the lives of these people,'' pointing a finger at everyone in the shop, won't escape it. "It'll be your fault if something happens to them," she said standing up. Placing a five dollar bill on the table for the coffee and cupcake she had ordered which she never really Finished. "Let's go," she urged Elaine. They couldn't really go out through the back, so they had to move through the front doors and go all the way to the alleyway which led to the back of the bakery. She had tucked the shotgun in her purse as they moved. At that moment Mrs. Crawford came out of her office, her phone placed at her ears as she spoke to someone on the other end. "No no no no …. It's not that bad but it doesn't look good for my bakery". I mean what would people say when they see a possible after shot where they eat huh? "Elaine," she called "why aren't you working?" sounding annoyed as she had been feeling since she got into the shop. "Ma'am, i asked her to help me with something outside" Anna a