Guarded

Chapter 5

5. Soul Searching

The floor boards of the vintage home squeaked as Shane's authentic Timberland boots made contact. The air smelled of vanilla air freshener, giving the home a very warm feel. Shane's eyes roamed his new set-up, instantly lighting up as he took notice of the secret button within the array of antique paintings that littered the walls. This particular button lead to his vault of money.

Shane's fingers tenderly ran over the all white leather couches and he sighed in content. If a cop were to bust in here right this moment, he would never guess that this was Shane's new trap house.

Shane moved towards the only two bedrooms within the home and he nodded in appreciation as his eyes took note of the line of tables and chairs and storage containers within both rooms. As he entered one, he gingerly picked up a fallen coat and placed it back on it's hook, dusting it off slightly. Unlike his former trap house in the grimiest part of London, he had decided to take a better turn, setting up his work shop in one of the wealthiest suburbs but also, one of the most isolated.

The vibration of his phone, the one merely for business distracted him from his thoughts and he sighed. What now? 

"Speak," he answered gruffly, addressing one of his employees. 

"Ayo boss man," Sheldon greeted, "we got a lead on your boy."

*****

Jhene Aiko's 'Living Room Flow' blared through the speaker's of Freedom's home as she carelessly picked out an outfit to wear. She was exhausted. After a long shift at a local convenience store, she had tossed and turned throughout the night, failing to find sleep. As she huffed in annoyance, exhaustion taking over her body, she questioned whether or not she really needed to go to college today. Yet still, she settled for her trusty black high waisted jeans that could never do her wrong, a warm black turtle neck and her khaki long trench coat, placing her feet in her black Chelsea boots. Grabbing her handbag, she sped down the stairs, stopping to look at herself in the mirror.

Her defined and perfectly threaded eyebrows creased in frustration, giving her a permanent expression of a mean mug. Her button nose, strategically contoured to appear slim sat in the centre of her face above her full lips, lined with a nude lip pencil, allowing her lips to appear even fuller. Her flawless skin, courtesy of Mac Cosmetics, glowed beautifully, allowing the hollows of her contoured cheeks to seem extremely defined with different colour eyes. One of her eyes was a dark brown with small specks of green and the other also brown but with small specks of blue. To this day, she still failed to see what everyone else did.

Shaking her head to erase her wandering thoughts, she sighed and reached for her locket. In her locket, a small image of her smiling sister lay. Simply touching it would remind her of where her motivation was.

She needed to do this.

Visiting her sister's grave was a part of her every day routine. Each morning, waking up earlier than usual, Freedom made sure to stop at the local florist for a fresh bouquet of flowers. Although she was accustomed to Shane always keeping her company, she had slowly noticed his drifting and stand-offish behaviour, merely weeks before her sister's unveiling. She knew it would be hard but she had hoped that they could get through this very difficult time together.

As she entered the cemetery, she couldn't help but feel a burning sensation within the deepest core of her heart. She was so used to this feeling, so used to feeling like her heart would explode any minute. Sometimes, Freedom wondered whether or not this feeling would stop any time soon and constantly questioned when she'd stop missing her sister.

Taking a deep breathe, Freedom replaced her flowers from yesterday with her fresh white roses that she had just bought. She sighed inwardly, thoughts already rushing through her mind. Each time she came, she always asked herself the same question that she knew would never be answered: why?