"Why're you hiding from me, baby?" Rafaela gulped and whispered a prayer to the gun she held with both hands. The only sounds she could hear was the thumping of her heart. Jean's dead. She killed him. And now she's next. She needed to escape,but she could feel her mother's presence in the woods all around her. "You killed daddy, didn't you?"
There was no response, and Rafaela knew she had made a horrible mistake. She'd find her now, and her body would most likely be buried here. "Yeah. I did, but that's only because he was a bad man". The tears flowed as she remembered her father's body in a pool of blood. "That's not true. Daddy loved you. Daddy loved me. He's not bad, you are!"
Rafaela counted up to thirty Mississippi and then her mother replied, " Is that so?" She gasped as her mother's cold fingers wrapped around her neck. "Why don't you say that again? To my face this time". Rafaela hit the butt of the gun across her face. " Bitch", her mother cursed and used her free hand to wipe at her bloody face. She pinned her to the tree and she gasped for air.
"I should kill you,but I want to make it slow and very painful". " I'm only 10!", she wailed, " If you wanna kill me, make it snappy. What's life without daddy?" She choked on her sobs because of her mother's grip on her neck. " Shut up!", she squeezed the sides of her face together and her eyes blazed fury.
"You and your father ruined my life! And now I'm gonna make you pay". " I…I…", she choked, "I didn't do anything. You'll be the one to pay for this". " Oh…", a little beeping sound from her communicator distracted her.
Rafaela took it as her chance. She kicked her injured knee and her mother stumbled. She let go of her and gripped her knee.
Rafaela fled, not looking back. "Shit!", her mother swore loudly into the woods and ran after her. She shot at her frantically, desperately hoping a bullet would make its mark.
Rafaela got to the end of the woods, steps away from six feet drop. "I can't do this. It's too high", she whispered tearfully to herself. She turned around and as soon as she did, her mother rained a hail of bullets on her. She whimpered as she hunkered down and watched as her mother's limping figure advanced toward her.
Sighing,she stood up and ran down the inclined slope. Halfway down,she missed her step and tumbled down. She groaned as her body hit the valley and stopped rolling. She quickly got to her feet and dusted her denim overalls. The white tee-shirt she wore underneath was stained with blood,dirt and grass. She huffed and started running again as she heard her mom get to the drop-off.
She watched the highway, still busy as ever even at that time. She stared up at her mother as she leveled the gun at her. Thinking fast and hard, she dashed into the highway.
Hoooooonnnnnkkk!
Rafaela stood dazed as the headlights of a truck blinded her. She tried to run but her limbs were frozen in place.
She didn't feel the truck hit her. She didn't feel her head hit the road. She stared up at her mother still on the embankment.
"Little girl?" She only heard him faintly.
"I love you daddy", she said and smiled and then everything went black.
****
Beep. Beep.
Her eyes fluttered open. She heard the sound of the heart rate monitor and turned to stare at it. I'm in the hospital. She thought, but she couldn't remember why.
She opened her eyes fully and was blinded by the fluorescent lights. Then she remembered the accident. She tried to sit up but the sharp pain in her head made her think twice about it.
A cute black nurse opened the door. She gasped on seeing her. "Hey sweetie. Thank goodness you're awake". "Why am I in the hospital?" " You were hit by a truck. The driver brought you in". " Oh", she said and stared at the nurse.
" My name's Ava Hilton. What's yours?" Name? What's my name? A name is something you call something, what am I called? "I can't remember".
Ava's brows crinkled. "You don't remember your name?" "No". Ava put down her tray and rushed to sit beside her. " Uhmm. Okay. You remember your daddy right? You always mumbled daddy while you were unconscious".
She stared at her blankly.
" You..don't?" She shook her head.
Ava chewed on her bottom lip. "This is serious. Ooh!…", she exclaimed and took out a piece of paper from her pocket, "This was found in your pocket. Does the numbers mean anything to you?"
She stared at the numbers intently. " It looks like a date".
" Yeah. Maybe your birthday?"
She turned up her lips and shook her head.She winced and rubbed the sides of her throbbing head.
"Well I checked the date. It shows your ten".
"That can't be my date".
" Let's put it at that, okay?"
She huffed and eased herself fully into the hospital bed.
" Listen,I'll help you okay? You'll get your memory back. It might just be the shock from the accident".
She sighed.
" I'll go see the doctor in charge".
She nodded and her eyes all at once became heavy and she drifted off to sleep.
****
"Hello, Miss?"
She frowned at the doctor obstructing the view of the television screen. Ava strolled in and she smiled. She quickly turned off the TV and made to sit up. Ava helped her and she smiled gratefully at her.
"Ava told me…."
" Doctor…", she peered at his tag, "Morris. Doctor Morris, everything from before the accident is dark. Like there's a thick fog behind the accident. I can't go in". Her lips trembled and big balls of tears rolled down her face and onto the blanket.
Ava wrapped her arms around her shoulders and kissed her hair. "It's okay. You'll be fine".
She sniffed and wiped her tears. " Crying means you're weak". Dr. Morris chuckled softly. " And who told you that?" She shrugged. " Come on, sweetie,get some rest. You need it to recover fully. I'm working an afternoon shift tomorrow". She nodded.
Ava and Dr. Morris made to leave.
"How long have I been unconscious?"
"Two weeks".
She nodded and they left.
" Ava, this is much".
"You can't handle it?"
"I mean, I can… but this is new. Her speech doesn't seem to be affected. She seems okay. No internal injuries detected".
"Jack", she said softly and palmed his upper arm, " Don't jump to conclusions".
Jack glanced at her hand on his arm and smiled. "Have dinner with me?"
Ava chuckled and shook her head.
"Oh come on".
She walked away from him. "I've got work to do".
"Your shift's over".
"Says who?"
He let out an exasperated groan, to which she laughed at.