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IMANI
Ana fell asleep on the couch in record time, curled up into my lap. Staying up late the other night must’ve really been hitting her hard today, or maybe she unconsciously knew that something terrible had happened. Kids could always tell when something was wrong.
Once I knew she wouldn’t wake up, I placed her head down on a pillow and walked over to the room that the guys had disappeared into a few moments ago. I opened the door and crept in, spotting Kai holding something.
“What the hell is that?!” I whisper-yelled, staring at the boys with wide eyes.
Kai held the package that the officer had given me in one hand and a finger in the other. A drop of dried blood ran vertically down the length of the finger, the stench almost unbearable. It looked like it must’ve been rotting for a couple days now.
“Whose finger is that?!” I asked, closing the door behind me so Ana wouldn’t wake up.
While I would’ve thought that Poison had cut the finger off someone, I knew that this had come in that package, which meant that this was meant for me. Akio’s family had been bothering me lately, especially his father.
They wanted to show me what would happen.
“We don’t know,” Landon said. “It could be anyone’s.”
I reached for the small yellow package that the finger had come in, opened it up, and turned it upside down, not daring to reach inside of it. I didn’t know what kind of diseases might’ve been trapped up there, waiting for me. Akio’s parents were psychos.
A slip of paper floated down to the ground and landed at my feet. I swallowed hard, unsure if I even wanted to pick it up, and then—to show Poison that I wasn’t afraid, to show that I was now one of them—I reached down and grabbed it.
It was crumpled and looked as if it had gotten wet with water or bodily liquid or something but had recently dried. I flipped the paper upside down and stared in horror at the note on the opposite side.
“Your family is next,” I read, my mouth drying. “We’ll do worse.”
My fingers trembled, the paper slipping from my hands. I stared at the ground and shook my head, trying to moisten my dry lips. This couldn’t be happening. This … this was my worst fear. I might’ve hated Mom and Dad at times, but I didn’t want to lose them. Nor did I want to lose my guys.
If Akio’s family was coming for my family, they were coming for Poison and me too.
I refused to let them … to let them kill any of us. I wanted to be able to protect us all. I wanted everyone to survive. We wouldn’t be another Redwood statistic that got lost in the sea of unexplainable events that unfolded here.
“I want to practice,” I said, glancing up at Kai. “Please.”
While Landon stared at me in confusion, Kai knew exactly what I was talking about, and he nodded. João stared at the finger in Kai’s hand, then grabbed it. And Landon took the paper from the ground.
“What do you mean, you want to practice?” Landon asked.
“Shooting a gun,” Kai said, staring at me for confirmation. “When we figure out whose finger this is, I’ll bring you back to my place and let you practice some more.”
“I need to,” I whispered, swallowing hard. “I don’t want my family to die.”
“I know.”
Tears welled up in my eyes at the mere thought of it. These past few days had been so emotional, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I would be able to keep myself together. After João’s mother’s suicide, our worlds had seemed to turn upside down.
Deciding that I needed to call my parents to make sure they were okay, I pulled out my phone and paced the room. The phone rang and rang. Every second that went by felt like a fucking eternity. And when Mom’s voice mail message played, my heart dropped.
Without leaving a message, I turned off the call and dialed Dad’s number. It rang once. Then twice. Then, finally, he picked up the damn phone.
“Sweetheart, what’s up? Where are you? Your mother has been worried.”
“I’m with Poison,” I said, hearing people chat in the background. “Where are you?”
“We’re out at dinner with Akio’s family.”
My face paled, and my mouth went dry. “What?” I asked, my voice barely even a whisper.
“Are you there?” he asked after a few moments.
