The Mafias Little

17 years before... 'This isn't what was supposed to happen. This can not be happening!' All the woman could think as her husband drove in the pouring rain was how they ended up in this very situation. The rain was so heavy she could barely see anything in front of her, finding herself zoning out, watching the patterns the rain drops formed on the windshield. She couldn't hear the loud gushes of wind smashing against the car doors, neither the thunder making the sky rumble with anger. All she could hear was her own thoughts asking herself how she let this situation happen. How did she let her life lead her to this very moment? She knew her life choices would follow with consequences, but how could she go through with this? "Darling, you need to pay attention, you need to focus, I can't see a god-damn thing!" She heard her husband's voice but did not give any mind to it, all she wanted to do was see where the delicate drops would end up falling as they raced to the bottom of the glass. "Look at them Richard. Look how they fall, they're so very eager to get to the bottom, aren't they." He looked at his wife with utter confusion. Here they were driving through a storm, only suicidal people would be caught in trying to escape death, yet his wife was calmly sitting there watching the rain like a small child. The woman's thoughts were interrupted as a small screaming sound seemed to be getting louder and closer the longer it went on. She tried to ignore it, she tried to focus harder on the rain drops, but that horrible scream was getting louder. "What is wrong with you?! Calm her!" Richard raised his voice to his wife, something he had never done in their 20 years of marriage. Yes, they argued, every couple does, but raising his voice was something he never thought he'd found himself doing to his wife. She looked at her husband with a blank expression, but as she turned her head she saw where the screaming was coming from. Her sweet little girl, Isabella. All the surrounding sounds suddenly became very loud, the world around her sped up as if someone had pressed fast-forward. Those little screams coming from her sweet angel had snapped her back to reality. "Don't cry my darling, everything will be okay, mummy will never let anything bad happen to you." She brushed her thumb against her little girl's cheek. How could something so small, so innocent, be brought into a world such as this one? Her loving gaze over her daughter's innocent face was broken by the car swerving dangerously to the side of the road. It was as if time slowed again as she watched her husband's hands squeeze hold of the steering wheel, his teeth gritting together, the high-pitched squeal coming from the tires desperately trying to grip onto the road. The car came to a sudden halt, nothing but silence and heavy breathing could be heard. "The baby?" Richard quickly turned his head to his daughter. She was completely unaware of what had just happened, staring at her little hands trying to tug the socks off her feet, happy in her own little world. That world, however, was about to be brought down. He stepped out of the car to see how far down the ditch they had landed while his wife was cooing at their baby girl getting frustrated at her socks not doing as she wanted them to. "Grab her, NOW!" Richard shouted from outside the car, his voice filled with fear and urgency. "It's still raining, she'll freeze if we take her out in this" she knew they needed to keep moving but how would taking her out in this be a smart move. "If we stay she will die, that was no accident, the side of the tire has been shot. Grab her now and stop arguing!!" Without another word, she wrapped Isabella up in all the blankets on the back seat and covered her with Richards' coat. "The village is only a couple of minutes away straight up this road, if we run we should make it before they..." He couldn't finish his sentence, as she held the baby close to her chest, she slowly turned around to see her husband had dropped to his knees, blood dribbling out of his mouth. "Richard? RICHARD!" she stepped forward to try to reach out to her husband, but his words stopped her. "Run, please run". Those were the only words he could get out before falling to the floor, the blood from his mouth mixing in with the water his wife was so fascinated by just moments earlier. She saw the headlights in the distance drawing closer. She knew she had to be smart if she wanted to get far away enough in time to save her daughter at least. Instead of running down the road, she decided to carefully jump down the bank, hoping the bushes would hide her from sight. The little bundle in her arms is fast asleep, having no sense of what has just happened and how her life will change because of it. "Nearly there babygirl, keep having those happy dreams for mummy". She never thought for a moment that this would happen to her family. Yes, she always knew it was a risk, but to actually happen? She would never have believed it till now. The car came to a halt beside the bushes, her heart started to pound through her chest, worried they had been spotted. "Check he's dead, so we can get out of here" the man's voice was emotionless. You could tell this was an everyday occurrence for him. Peaking through the bushes, she saw the face of the man that belonged to her husband's potential killer. This man had light tanned skin, a thick beard that you could see was neatly groomed, a small scar cutting through his eyebrow and soulless gray eyes. She knew his face would be burnt into her memory like a hot iron rod burning a bull's ass, forever imprinted. "He's dead boss", she heard one of his brutes call. He didn't say anything she didn't already know, but it still shook her as if there was the tiny possibility he wasn't. "Alright then lads, let's get out of here." As he turned away back towards the car she released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Carefully and quietly she placed one foot in front of the other, hoping to move away from these thugs as much as possible. "Hold up, you need to look at this boss" someone else shouted. She didn't bother to see who. All she wanted to do was get out of there, get her little girl out of there. "F*CK!! Alright, men spread out, this bastard wasn't alone, and they couldn't have got far". Her heart sunk further down, she couldn't get caught, not when she was so close to getting them to safety. She needed to move faster than she had before, the streetlamps from the village ahead were in sight. Taking a deep breath and one last glance back at where her husband had been taken from them, she squeezed her baby tightly to her chest and made a run for it. Her hidden route had come to an end. She had no choice but to climb up onto the road even if it meant risking being seen. Isabella started to stir in her mother's chest, the cold and hunger obviously getting to her. "Hush my darling, we're nearly there" she tried to sooth her daughter so the men behind her wouldn't hear. She knew the moment she stepped onto the road she would be seen, but she couldn't stay in this ditch any longer. The air was frozen, her baby was wet and cold. This was it, this was the moment that would count. She forced herself up the bank and onto the road. Without looking back, she ran straight into the village, but she could hear the men behind her. "Over there! Get in the damn car!" she heard the main goon instruct the others. She didn't dare look over her shoulder, she just squeezed her baby tighter. Turning down an alley hoping to lose her hunters, she stopped to catch her breath only to realize she didn't actually know where she was supposed to be going. Richard never gave her the address, and now she's been spotted. These men won't stop looking until they find her and that's when the horrible truth struck her. Her baby, her sweet angel, will never be safe with her. She heard the tires screech to a halt and the car doors swing open. "Down there!" the bearded man pointed straight to her. Fleeing from the spot, she made a heartbreaking decision. Turning the corner, she saw a house tucked away at the end of the street. This was it, this was the 30-second window she had to make sure her baby would be safe from harm. Approaching the front porch, forcing herself to follow through with the decision she made, she raised her hand and knocked on the strong wooden door. The porch light beamed down on her and Isabella, and she heard heavy footsteps coming down what she could make out as stairs. This was it, this was the moment she had to say goodbye to her little girl. "Goodbye my darling, I will find you" and with those last words she kissed her on the forehead before placing her down on the front step. She heard the door being unlocked and ran before the person behind it could see her running away.