Mafially Yours

13

The car passed me. I breathed out, confident that I was safe. I started moving between the bushes, trying to find a hideout, but scared to go deeper into the forest and the long trees on both sides of the street. I kept running and refused to look behind me. I refused to hesitate, but I didn't succeed.

"Elena," his voice screamed from behind me, making me gasp like I had been underwater for hours and finally pulled my head above it. I froze. I closed my eyes and wondered if stopping breathing would make me invisible.

I wasn't sure why I was terrified the way I was. The only sound I could hear at that moment was the sound of my heart pounding loudly in my ears like the insistent heavy drumming of rain beating upon a windowpane.

I could hear his steps get closer to me as they stepped on the dead leaves on the ground. All I wanted to do was start running, but I was paralyzed. I needed to regain my confidence. I needed to push my head high and fight for my freedom. I knew that no matter what happened, I wouldn't want to go back to that place, the place where my father used to stay, telling me he was at work. The place where he creates drugs and sells them. The place where he built a whole gang to help him and be under him. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got, so by the time Huncho made it close to me, I was fuming.

"Why are you following me?" I yelled. He was surprised, and so was I. I knew we were both thinking that I got some nerves being the one at fault and the one firing first, "Didn't you tell me that I can leave if I want?" I tried to push his buttons even more, but he was so calm about it, so cold.

"Look around you, Elena," he waved his arm and let his eyes slowly scan the darkness and the surrounding quietness, while I kept my eyes fixed on his every move, still trying to catch my breath. "Do you honestly think that right here, right now, is safe for you?"

I wanted to answer, I tried so hard to find something to say, but I couldn't find anything to say to defend myself. He also had nothing more to say. He shook his head and looked away. I stayed silent. If he was waiting for me to admit that I was wrong, then he would be waiting forever.

After a few seconds, he grabbed his phone, typed on its screen, then placed it to his ear. I watched him carefully.

"Fred, drive back." The silence between us was loud, echoing between the long trees and my heartbeat in my ears. "Yes," his eyes moved to mine, "I found her way closer than we thought," he didn't blink or look away. His eyes held an emotion I couldn't understand. Did he want to find me? Why? How will that matter to him? He moved to the concrete to be seen and kept his attention on anything but me. He put his hands into his coat pocket, the coat he has been wearing every day since the day I met him. At home, he dressed a bit differently, but it wasn't like he knew how to use colours. Everything he wore outside the house was black, and the brightest colour I saw on him was a grey sweater at home.

"Tell him to drive me to anything close where I can go home," I coldly said as soon as he slid his phone back in his pocket. His face turned to me faster than thunder. His eyes widened and his eyebrows raised. For some reason, my heart skipped a beat.

"You're coming back home," his tone was orderly and aggressive.

"No, I'm not. I want to go home tonight," I yelled, but he stayed calm. He looked away and scratched his nose. Before he could open his mouth to say whatever he wanted to say, a jeep stopped right where we were standing. He opened the black door and looked at me, "Go". He ordered.

"Excuse me?" I raised my eyebrows and stepped closer to him, getting my guards up, ready to fight.

"Elena, you heard me loud and clear, and I won't say it again."

"I am not going home with you."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I will not." I looked at him in between my watery and exhausted eyes, blurry and not clear. I stepped back, "I hate it. I hate being stuck in a room with his picture-taking the whole day."

"You can't leave, Elena, it's for your damn safety," He yelled. He let out a long breath and stepped closer to me, placing his hand around my forearm, trying to pull me to the car. That was when I broke down.

"No. I won't. I am not going to come with you. You're kidnapping me! You kidnapped me, Huncho!" I yelled.

"Calm down," he stepped closer, but I stepped back.

"Let me go! I want nothing to do with him, nothing." I yelled, "Let me go, Huncho. Please, let me go."

"Elena, just calm down. You have to be here; you are safer here." His voice was soft for once, but I was too angry to care.

"No, no, no, no," I sobbed, whimpered and whined. I shut my eyes, letting the tears rush down my cheeks as I continually kept saying "no". I place my hands on my ears, not wanting to hear him, not wanting him to tell me I will be safe in that house, not wanting to hear his voice. But instead, I felt warm arms form around my body. For some reason, I didn't resist it. I enjoyed the warmth. In between my sobs, my heart developed a feeling of peace, as if somehow these arms were powerful enough to grant me the peace I kept looking for.

I stayed in his arms for a couple of minutes, as I calmed myself and caught my breath. As soon as I opened my eyes, I pulled away from his hug. I sniffed and looked straight into his eyes.

"Why do you even care? Hein? Why do you care if I'm safe or not?" I softly said, and he stood there, silent, and his expressions were not understandable. His expressions were unclear.

His eyes were fixed on me as if he had a deep conversation with my eyes that I didn't know about. Just when I blinked, he finally broke his gaze and, with the softest voice, he said, "Can we just go home?" He tilted his head, keeping his eyes connected with mine as if I would disappear if he blinked, "It's not safe for us to be outside the house right now. Plus, you're cold."

I didn't realize I was shivering until he pointed it out. I was exhausted from running and crying and everything I had gone through these past three days. Who would have thought my life could turn upside down in just three days?

I didn't answer him. I didn't accept, but I didn't deny it either. This was his cue to step closer to me, hold my hand, and lead me to the car that had been parked behind him all along. I got in the car, then he shut the door behind me before opening the passenger seat and telling Fred to start driving. I could feel his eyes scan me from the side-view mirror, but I chose to ignore it. I leaned my head on the window, closed my eyes, and let my tears break free.

"How much more will I have to cry for things to get better?" I thought.