Mae

Chapter 25: Mae Kazimi

Chapter 25: Mae Kazimi

The rain has seemed to get harder as we walk through the streets of New York, the rain rolling down our skin and soaking into our hair. Alek's hair sticks to his forehead, droplets slipping down his cheek and he blinks to keep his sight clear. It's like a storm is brewing, identical to the one inside the pits of my stomach. I walk ahead of him, dragging my feet as the rain manages to wash out some of the blood that clings to me like a shadow, unwavering and forever staining the space between my nails.

"Walk faster," he snaps, pressing a gun into the centre of my back. When I open my mouth to reply, I hear a click, "Shhh, Mae."

I lick my lips, wrapping my arms around myself. We stop at a crossroad, waiting for the lights to turn red before passing. No one seems to notice anything. It's New York after all, and it's raining. No one dares to look below the small curves of their dark umbrella's and waste two precious seconds of their day.

They keep on moving.

I am taking a long route to my favourite juice shop. It's all I can do to waste some time and live a few moments longer. The small bottle weighs heavily in my pocket, an idea knitting itself together inside my head.

I can't let Alek kill me. I owe it to him to bring his memories back and I owe it to Hale to avenge him. I owe it to Hale to live and make sure his legacy lives on. I owe so much to so many people.

I can't die.

No, but it's more than that.

I don't want to die.

I swallow thickly.

I'm scared to die.

The rain hides my tears, my only friend in The City That Never Sleeps. The citizens are moulded from places and experiences one could never tell by just looking, but we are all human. And though I have powers beyond what any of them have, it's been hard for me to understand that at the end of the day, we're all the same.

I'm just another casualty of New York. Another casualty no one sees. An invisible victim.

Am I the victim?

No. I am not the victim. I am the villain in most people's stories. I am the thorns on the rose's stem. The darkest spot in the night. The deepest part of the water.

I deserve this. I've had it long coming anyway.

I sigh, my shoes filling with water as Alek pushes me into a puddle, and I wince. The cold stinging of the water makes me grit my teeth and the chilly breeze makes my wet shirt stick to my skin, wrapping around me like a shroud, ready for my death.

"If this shop doesn't show up in the next five minutes," Alek's breath is the only warm thing against my skin as he comes close to my ear, "Then I will blow out your brains on the street. Do we agree?"

I only nod, not bothering to look at him. If I do, I think I might just go insane. Not that I already haven't.

It's hard to think about anything anymore, not when I am counting the seconds in my head as we get closer to the shop with every step.

Walk slower walk slower walk slower walk slower walk slower walk slower.

My teeth are chattering, I think.

Fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine...

I no longer feel the gun against my back. Either Alek has put it away...or I've gone numb.

My fingers shake by my side as I stop in front of a small shop. There is a purple header, yellow writing in bold printed on the top.

JuiceLord. My favourite juice store.