Living With Dee

Fourty-seven

The map that showed where my daughter may be hidden, was within my reach. At the tip of my fingers, I would be able to find her. If I'm not careful, I could also loose her.

I waited to hear word from Raven if he had reached the area we sent him to. All the while my heart was racing and anxiety filled me up almost completely. The worry and torture of possibly never seeing Diana or LizAnnie again, ate me alive.

Marissa stood at the edge of the table with her eyes focused clearly on the map before us. She fingered her ear piece several times since she had gotten it, but otherwise she was calm. The words between us seemed to be frozen, so we do not speak.

"Kenzie?" Raven's husky voice puffs into my ear. In reaction, I take out my ear piece and itch my ear. "Hello?"

I place it back. "Yeah, I hear ya. You there?"

Raven shuffles his ear piece as well. "We entered at the east part of the town and are slowly tightening the group. Check in the other parts."

I look up to the computers across from me, watching the small blue and red lights push together. The area where my daughter could be was beginning to get smaller and I started to worry. "Stop! No more moving," I command quickly. "They will start to get tense and do something irrational."

"Well than what are we suppose to do?!" Raven angrily raises his voice.

"Raven!" I overtop him, feeling the frustration seep through my tone. "Listen to me, for once in your life, and realize that you're wrong! Stop using your thick head and let me find my daughter."

Marissa finally looks up at me. "Whoa."

The guy controlling the computers and trackers turned in his seat to look at me. He grinned widely at me and nodded his head. "Nice job," he laughs.

Raven huffs. "Then tell me what to do."

I thought about it for a moment. "Raven, let's make a deal," I mumble. I take a pencil and circle the area I believed my daughter was. "If they are where I think they are, you let us go."

"What?!"

He started to angrily speak in Italian and I just tuned him out until he was finished. "It isn't as if you have a reason to keep us here. Let us go. You can still protect Diana from afar, but you are the reason we got into this mess."

Raven's voice suddenly got weak. "Tesoro," he calls, his voice cracking. My eyes widen in shock as he sounded close to crying.

"Don't start, Raven. Find my daughter."

With that, I take out the ear piece and sigh heavily. Marissa looks at me, her features soften and her mouth smiling. "I think he will let you go."

I fold my arms across my chest, hugging myself. I couldn't believe I had made a bet like that, but it wasn't as if I had anything to loose. I just randomly guessed an area that she could be staying at.

"That took guts, little lady," said the guy. He swivels in his chair and stands up. "I'm Drayden, Raven's tracker."

"Mackenzie," I sigh, not looking at him. "His slave."

He sucked in a sharp breath. "That was bitter." Drayden takes a step forward but Marissa holds an arm out.

"Not now. Obviously, not now." Her face turns stone cold like the time I first met her as a receptionist. "More precisely, not ever."

Drayden pulls back with his arms up in surrender. I steadily lean agaisnt the wooden table for support as I think over my plan. It was definitely a quick decision, but I had nothing to loose.

Slowly, I felt my body slipping. At first I was confused but then the air started to get thick. It was becoming much harder to breath. My body collapsed to the floor as the small, familiar wheeze filled my ear drums. I leaned my head onto the leg of the table and waited for Marissa to notice me.

"Mackenzie?! What happened?"

I looked at her lazily, with droopy eyes. My mouth dropped to respond but instead I just continued to where. I hope she would get the hint that I was have an asthma attack and find a way to help me.

"Drayden, what's happening?" She cried, holding me close to her.

My wheezing became louder as she did that, making me use all my strength to push her away. My vision started to go cloudy and I rapidly tried to suck in breaths with no success.

"Inhaler..." I chocked out, gripping her arm tightly so I could push her. Marissa stared down at me with a lost expression before it seemed like a light bulb went off.

"Drayden! We need an inhaler!"

There was a slight pause. "We don't have one."

I slammed my eyes shut forcefully before popping them quickly back open. The longer and harder it took for me to breath, the more I panicked. I was in and out of consciousness several times before I heard a familiar shaking sound.

"Here. Take this."

A soft puff noise overlapped my gasps, coating the inner part of my mouth. I pulled the plastic piece from my mouth and held it there before taking another puff. I sat down, my head placed against the leg of the table once more.

"What was that all about? I've never seen that happen to you before," Marissa questions worriedly.

I swallowed. "It happens when I'm too overwhelmed," I pause to take in deep breaths. "Or whenever."

My head was spinning. I tried to keep the flow of my breathing normal, but my pants continued. "Mackenzie?! What's happening? Cory just gave you..."

"No," Cory's voice snaps. "She needs a machine. She was far too panicked for the inhaler to work."

My hand slips from the table leg. I reach for the inhaler so I could take it again but I couldn't feel it. Slowly my body dropped onto the wooden floor. I place my hand near my neck as I begin to cough widely.

For some reason, though, I refused to ask for help. I would sit there and take help, but I wouldn't ask for it. Instead, I let the darkness take over for just a second. When I tried to open my eyes again, I couldn't.

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Yup, I know I suck.

But hopefully you guys will continue to read even with the long wait. Until next chapter...