For What It's Worth

CHAPTER FOUR; THE PALE RIDER'S BIDDING

"You sent for me" she began in a low voice, silently trying to fathom if she was responsible for the expression on his face.

"I see" he steepled his fingers on the table before proceeding,"Your mum insisted that you joined us in shopping for her mother" It was a tradition Ava had grown to accept when she learnt of it, her mother's tragic loss of her biological parents in a plane crash during one of their business trips and her shuttling from one foster home to another until she was finally accepted by a couple who had also lost their daughter the same age to cystic fibrosis. Her foster father passed away after the twins clocked fifteen and then she took it upon herself to oversee every affair concerning her foster mother, comforting her and spending time whenever she could.

"When are we leaving?" She asked

" In about an hour, I have somewhere else to be by noon". When Ava left, Hunter rummaged through his drawers and picked out a small labelled bottle, throwing two of its contents into his mouth, he bit and swallowed it. He shut his eyes tight hoping the despair he sought to chase would finally take on its heels under the effect of the pills, his heart throbbed painfully as he recalled the text that jolted him to full consciousness that morning. Beads of perspiration rolled down his forehead, he stole a distressed glance in the direction of his phone not daring to turn it on. For weeks he had fought to keep the threats from the dealer a secret from his family but things were escalating, the ultimatum to ship in the drugs or refund the money had expired and thence came the pouring in of threats. Refunding the money would not have been difficult if he had been in custody of it and redeeming the situation with his own money would catapult him into bankruptcy at once. Everything was currently at a standstill as his partner had been strangely out of contact for weeks.

He buried his face in his palms and muttered something to himself, in the silence he could hear the door creak open as Rachel strode in, her bathrobe hung loosely on her pale skinned petite frame, dabbing smartly at her wet hair.

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The air was filled with sounds of door slamming and horns honking as they pulled over in the bustling grocery's parking lot. Navigating through the crowded sidewalks, they passed by the park attendant who was controlling the traffic and some hurrying shoppers pushing trolleys to and fro. Inside the store, the sounds were that of conversation murmurs and beeping of cash registers.

Ava and her parents traversed through the aisles, selecting the desired items with Ava trailing behind them eyes glued to the screen of her phone, munching away absent mindedly on a bubble gum.

"Baby girl" Rachel called,"please check the store across the street for the tools on this list. I'd hate to forget them".

"Ava stay here with your mum, I'll check them myself" Hunter spoke up almost immediately, a slight feeling of apprehension cascading down his spine.

"No honey, I'll need your help greatly when we move to the other section. She should go, she's quite familiar with the process" Rachel insisted and to Ava who had started to walk away, her headphones clasped lightly round her neck,

"And if you'd keep your eyes off your phone for a moment, young lady" Hunter said, looking at his daughter.

Still mindlessly chewing she tucked her hair behind her ears and took the zebra crossing when the red traffic lights came on. The home improvement store, a rather small building with a plain exterior of whitewashed walls and a signpost with an inscription of the address and service type, was flanked by a bank on the left and a restaurant on the right. Sweeping an uninterested glance across its width, she disappeared into the building. She mumbled a half hearted greeting to the sales boy before proceeding to pick the listed items. Cramming them into a portable basket, Ava ambled out into the busy street.

A woman fruitlessly trying to calm her wailing child bumped into her and passed on wordlessly her attention entirely on the child, shrugging it off she continued on across the street just before the green light switched to red. She sighted her mother stepping out of the grocery shop, waving frantically to grab her attention. Suddenly a car revved against the traffic weaving its way neatly between other cars. Several gunshots fired simultaneously into the air halted Ava in her tracks, an uproar ensued as people scampered for safety but not Ava. Panic stricken with a mind absolutely out of its owner's control, she turned with imperial slowness in the direction of the unceasing gunshots. A black tinted station wagon pulled up metres away from her, one of the windows was partly down and a masked face appeared above it with an aimed pistol and a tattooed neck.

"Everybody down! Get down!" she could hear people scream as they scurried into their hideouts amidst the spontaneous firing but there was a distinct and louder one: her mother's voice.

"Ava, get down!" her mother's hysterical voice drifted to her," get down or you'll get hurt!" It came again. But in a state of panic attack, she lacked the will to command herself to obey her survival instincts. She stood completely frozen, eyes glued to the chaos before her and ears drumming from the bangs and terrified screams. A sudden jerk on her shoulder jolted her back to reality the same time another shot rented the air. Rachel had shoved the trolley aside and ran towards Ava with Hunter trailing further behind her. Initially when he heard the commotion from outside, he decided against going out hoping that Ava was still in the store, completely oblivious that Rachel was already outside. Realization accompanied by fear the next moment is what transformed his quickened pace to a run as he burst out through the exit.

"Mum......" Ava opened her mouth to speak when she recognized the hands cradling her face. They were kneeling behind one of the delivery trucks that belonged to the grocery shop, the sound of a siren blaring drawing closer.

"Are you okay?" Rachel's voice was shaking as well as her hands “where’s all this blood from?" She asked visibly shaken when she noticed the blood stains on Ava's shirt but Ava wasn't listening. A new wave of shock and horror shook through her, hot tears clouding her vision. Rachel followed Ava's line of sight to the blood that pooled beneath her: her blood.

“Mum! No!" the words trembled on her lips as she sunk down under the weight of Rachel's limp body. The last image on her mind before she gave into the vanquishing unconsciousness was her father's pain wrecked contorted face.