My Mafia Guardian Angel

Exhausted, Echo slowly made her way up the stairs to her apartment. She pulled her raven black hair out of the pony tail it was up in, looking forward to a shower. Work today hadn't been horrible. However, since it was a Tuesday, it was slow. She was the nightly closer for the bar that was below her apartment. Han's Tap was a hole in the wall bar that was extremely popular with the old drunks in town who were set on touting how wonderful life was in their glory days. The clientele didn't cause too many troubles, like the area clubs can bring in. She unlocked the door to the apartment and quietly went inside. She went into the bathroom and began to comb her waist length hair. She walked to the single bedroom and peeked inside. Her 10 year old daughter lay sleeping like starfish. Small snores came from the room. Echo chuckled quietly and closed the bedroom door again. Placing her brush back, she began to hum quietly. She turned to the shower and let the water heat up while she removed her clothes. She walked in and allowed the heat to wash away the stress and stink of the day. She felt her muscles relax as she lathered her shampoo into her hair and carefully rinsed it out. Once she felt the beer smell and gross men smell off her body, she turned the water off and quietly stepped out of the shower. Wrapping the towel around her, she tip toed into the bedroom to find her nightgown. She quickly dried off and wrapped the towel around her hair before throwing her nightgown on. Echo tip toed back out of the bedroom before shutting the door behind her. She picked up her humming as she towel dried her hair before grabbing her brush to comb through the long hair once again. After she felt the hair was dry enough, she walked into the dining area, poured herself a cup of water, and sat on the couch. She pulled an afgan over her and laid down. Turning the TV on, she listened to infomercials until she fell asleep. Echo woke up to her alarm blaring. She groaned, feeling the late night in her bones. For being 28, she felt older due to the lack of sleep, the overabundance of stress, and the leftover remnants of injuries healing. It had not been a long time since she took her daughter, Nikki from their home in Pittsburg, and ran to Dallas. She had been nearly dead on her feet when she made it to the city. Her daughter was as traumatized she she was. An elderly couple took pity on the two and took them in. Echo couldn't put them in danger, so she stayed long enough to find a job and a short-term hotel to stay out of. She was never willing to tell the older couple what happened to her, but she knew the could guess some of it based on her injuries. She had taken a severe beating. Echo had even given them fake names so no one could ask about her and follow her. The elderly couple knew her and Nikki as Marie and Susan. If anyone comes looking for them, even with their descriptions, the elderly couple would be able to truthfully say they took in a Marie and Susan. The short-term hotel was seedy at best. Bugs crawled everywhere, and Echo was pretty sure they were bitten in places she didn't know existed. It did force her hand in looking for a semi permanent place to stay. When she found this job at the bar, she happened to ask the manager if he knew of any affordable places to live? She needed something close by so her daughter could be safe while she worked. The manager said he would talk to the owner, but there was an apartment upstairs. It may only be a single bedroom, but they at the time only had the clothes on their backs. It had furniture in it, so they could be comfortable. To Echo's surprise, not only was the owner willing to allow them to stay in the apartment, but he also wasn't going to charge rent. He just asked that she pay for the utilities of the apartment and never work on a Thursday. Paying for utilities was an expectation for most places, so Echo had no issues with this. The never working on a Thursday surprised her. She didn't question it; however, the manager seemed to understand why she wouldn't be working on Thursdays. She had to trust the manager enough to get some fake credentials for her and her daughter. She knew she was dealing with dangerous people, but at the present moment, it was safer to be above this bar than with her ex-husband. Thus, Echo and Nikki Newton were born. Echo homeschooled Nikki for now, as she was not sure if they would need to run again. She didn't need any schools or governments digging into their personal affairs. Wednesday morning meant laundry, math, and groceries. At least Nikki was good at math, so today's lessons wouldn't take too long. Nikki, her daughter, was a hard-working young girl. She grew up way faster than she needed to because of her father. Her black hair, emerald eyes, and olive complexion made her look almost identical to her mother. When they were together, people would know instantly they were related. Nikki understood the need to run from her father; however, it did not stop her from yearning for friends. She was, after all, 10. Echo cooked a couple of eggs and threw some bread in the toaster for both Nikki and herself. She may not be able to afford a lot, but she ensured her daughter did not go without. "Morning baby," Echo greated Nikki. "Morning, Mama," Nikki yawned as she rubbed her eyes. "Did you have a good night at work?" Echo smiled softly at her kind-hearted daughter as she dished the eggs onto a plate. "It was a little slow, but it was still a good night. Did you have a good night?" "Yeah, Mama, I just read and got some history done." "Thank you for working ahead, baby." Echo had found online schooling for the homeschooling, so she didn't have to develop the lesson plans for her daughter. She wouldn't have known where to start seeing as she was not allowed to finish high school. Nikki smiled as she took a piece of toast from the toaster and put the other one on her mother's plate. They ate in relative silence before working together to wash the dishes. Echo gathered the laundry needed to be brought to the laundromat, and Nikki dug out their wagon. Echo had purchased a little wagon to pull their laundry baskets in on laundry days to avoid sore backs. Together, they carried everything downstairs. After Echo locked the doors, she and Nikki walked together to the laundromat. Echo felt as if she was being watched the whole time they were at the laundromat. She really hoped it was just paranoia as it was the one day a week she left the house. Groceries could easily be delivered, but without any washer or dryer at her apartment, she had no choice on how to clean clothes. Echo kept glancing down the street and back the other way, looking for any indication of someone following them. She couldn't see anything. Previous experience told her that just because she didn't see anything, did not mean there was not a problem. "Comeon baby, let's take a different route home," she said to Nikki as they left the laundromat. Nikki skipped beside her mother, oblivous to her mother's intuition, going haywire. They made it back to the apartment without anyone approaching them, Echo hurriedly unlocked the door and lifted the cart into the building. She slammed the door shut, locked it and sank down beside it. Her nerves were finally catching up as she began to shake. Her daughter was too busy putting her laundry away to realize her mom was having a meltdown.