Miranda [Watty Awards 2013]

Chapter 29

He saw us coming before we could get to him.

            Whipping around, his eyes widened before I was blinded by a white light, causing me to stumble in my steps and throw a hand over my eyes. Mimi did not hesitate; she pinned him to the wall with strength I did not know she had, and the light faded.

            I was still momentarily blind, squeezing my eyes shut and then blinking rapidly to make the bright spots go away. As the room slowly came into vision, I felt my heart freeze, an unbearable cold.

           It was a cement room, but the walls were hardly bare. Taking up every inch, even overlapping other drawings, there was graffiti dirtying the walls, and the sight of their images made me shiver.

            Drawings of monsters, of families being torn apart, of tears, desperate cries for help.

            John Walters had been taking children here for a long time. Of that much, I was sure.

            My motivation was only fueled, and I scanned the large room for my baby, only to find her inches from the feet of Walters himself. She was limp, pale, lifeless on the floor with her curls stuck to the sweat on her face. I couldn’t see her chest moving.

            I panicked, feeling my blood run cold. Lunging for her, I snatched her away, Walters held back by Mimi’s arm at his neck. His eyes glared daggers at me, but I did not grace him with even a glance.

            Rushing her back to the doorway near Jack, not having enough time to be able to wait until we’d gotten out of the building, I collapsed onto the floor with her on my lap. Heart racing so quickly I thought I’d have a heart attack, I leaned my ear down to her lips, waiting to hear a breath, to feel humid air on my skin.

            I didn’t.

            With a gasp, I felt the tears start to roll, but I did not bother taking the time to wipe them away. Instead I laid her gently on the floor, pinching her nose and tilting her head back, blowing air into her mouth twice.

            Pressing two fingers to her neck, I did not feel a pulse.

            Using both my hands, I pushed on her chest, barely able to count to thirty before I breathed into her once again. This time I didn’t bother checking for a pulse. I just continued to push on her little chest, breathe into her pale lips, waiting desperately for her to breathe on her own.

            She did not.

            “Come on!” I screamed, and in my desperation I lifted my fist and pounded on her chest. “Lacy! Wake up! Ashleigh!”

            No, no, no. She couldn’t be—I couldn’t have been too late. I refused to accept that. I refused to believe that Mimi had been right, that she’d proven me wrong. She couldn’t be. She couldn’t.

            And as if she’d heard my prayers, a gasp escaped from her lips, and she coughed.

            Letting out a sigh of relief, I started to sob.

            “You’re not supposed to be here!”

            Taking short, sharp breaths, I felt the anger start to well up inside of me at the sound of Walters’ voice. Slowly turning my head to face him, I bared my teeth, an animalistic urge to kill overtaking me.

            He had hurt my baby.

            He tried to push Mimi away, but she casually held him back. He turned his attention to her. “And you! We had a truce! You’ve violated it, and you are going to pay.”