Julian
260 Words
Two days passed. Dante didn't show up at the school, but his presence was everywhere.
Leo sat in the back of her classroom, his hood pulled up, staring at his textbook with a hollowed-out expression. When Elena tried to pull him aside after the bell, he just shook his head, his voice a whisper.
“Don't, Miss Vance. Just... don't. He’s in a bad way. Confusing….. but okay.
The “bad way” arrived at Elena’s door at 11:00 PM.
A frantic pounding woke her. She grabbed the heavy flashlight she kept by the bed, a poor excuse for a weapon, and looked through the peephole.
It was her younger brother, Julian. He was shivering, his nose bleeding, his expensive leather jacket torn at the shoulder.
“Elena, please,” he choked out. “I messed up. I thought I had it covered, but the guys at the club... said I owe the Morettis. They said they’re coming to collect tonight.”
Elena’s blood went cold. She didn't think of the police; the police couldn't stop a man like Dante Moretti. She thought of the obsidian eyes and the scarred knuckles in her classroom.
She opened the door, pulled Julian inside, and barely had time to lock it before a heavy, rhythmic thud echoed from the hallway.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
It wasn't the frantic kicking of a thug. It was calm and measured.
Elena looked at Julian, then at the door. She realized then that her “fire” hadn't just attracted Dante’s attention, it had
given him a target.
- Writer
