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Chapter Four
Iwas breathing heavily as I ran. My legs pumped and my muscles seized, but I kept going. I had to have run for miles, and though I was sure that no one was chasing me, I hadn’t stopped.
I was a block from home, and for a minute, I contemplated not going home. That man could have followed me and been laying in wait at home.
If he’s even alive.
The thought stopped me short. I looked at my hand which was covered in blood from the bottle I smashed across the man’s face. The glass split as it made impact, slicing my hand open. I didn’t wait around to see if he was still breathing. I didn’t know if I should hope he was dead or alive.
I swallowed heavily and wrapped my arms around myself as I walked through the neighborhood. It was late, and luckily, no one was out. If they were, I was certain they would have called the cops on me.
My house came into view and I nearly sobbed in relief as I walked up the steps into the brownstone. I walked gingerly, my feet sore from running. I’d ditched my heels miles back.
As I reached the front door, I leaned against it slightly. My body fell against the door as I realized that I left my house keys at the club. I hadn’t been willing to go back inside. I was sure if I did, I wasn’t coming out alive again.
A sob reached my throat, but I choked it down and knocked lightly. I prayed my mother would be the one to answer the door, and not Mikey. I didn’t want my thirteen year old brother to see me like this—dirty and barely dressed.
I knocked again this time slightly louder before I pressed my face to the door. I could hear my mother on the other side, and I released a sigh of relief. She was awake, which meant that I could get in the house.
“Ivy?” My mother’s mouth opened in shock as she looked at me.
“Hey,” I said, walking inside of the house. My shoulders were slumped as my exhaustion hit me.
“Ivy? Are you alright?”
I said nothing as I grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around my shoulders. My teeth chattered slightly as my adrenaline left my body.
“Ivy!” My mother’s loud voice broke me out of my stupor. “What happened?”
I looked up at her surprised to see her green eyes, which matched my own, wide with fear.
“I’m fine,” I told her. I wrapped the blanket around my body. “I’m fine.” I wasn’t fine, but I figured if I repeated the words enough they would be true.
“You aren’t fine.” She was standing before me looking at me with concern. It was concern that she normally reserved for my brother. “And where are your clothes?”
I closed my eyes for a minute, but as I did, I saw that man kill the bouncer, and I my eyes immediately flew open. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.” I got up from the couch and pulled the blanket as tight as I could.
“Ivy?” my mother hissed. “Don’t walk away from me.”
I stopped and turned to look at her.
“Why are you awake?” I asked. I looked at the clock. It was three in the morning. I’d run for hours. Last I had looked at the clock, it had been one in the morning.
“I couldn’t sleep.” I looked at her closely. Her skin was paler than normal, and her cheeks were sunken in. We had never been a family that had much, but at least, before Mikey’s illness, we had enough to cover groceries. These days, most everything went towards his treatment.
“You should try and get some rest before work.” I continued walking towards my room, not stopping to see how my mother reacted to my words.
And she didn’t follow.
I wasn’t surprised. My mother and I had never had a good relationship. I would have left the house a long time ago if it weren’t for my brother. He was the glue that held our family together, and as I shut the door to my bedroom I realized that I had put myself into a situation that would potentially get me taken away from him.
The realization sent me to my knees. I started hyperventilating as I recalled what happened.
I stepped outside to smoke a joint hoping that it would help calm my nerves when the club’s newest bouncer, I think his name was Adrian, came storming out. I’d hid behind a dumpster worried that he would see me with the joint and tell Johnny.
I should have rushed back inside, but when another man came out brandishing a gun. I froze at the sight of it. The two men exchanged words that I couldn’t understand before the shooting began.
My body shook uncontrollably as I recalled the bullet entering Adrian’s body, and the callous way the man had looked at me. My life didn’t matter to him, and I knew that he would take it.
