Leave a Trace

Chapter Thirty One: Leaving

Chapter Thirty One: Leaving

Zane and James spring to their feet at the same time, standing up from the table.

"Alice, stay here with Tank. If you need something, go to L-" Zane cuts off. "Go across the street."

I stand up too, pushing back from the table.

James leads the way out of my house. Zane darts in front of him though, and walks right up to the front door.

Instead of knocking, he just throws it open.

Leanne or Madison is standing in the living room.

She has a handful of blonde hair fisted in her right hand. There's a white hairnet on her head, and instead of blonde hair resting there, it's dark brown, the exact same shade as Alice's. She turns around when we walk in, shooting daggers at James. She reaches up and rips the hairnet off of her head, running her fingers through her hair until it flows in brown waves that is identical to Alice's. She points at James with her right hand, her eyes still a piercing blue. Zane is completely frozen, staring at his mother. His face is pale.

"Mom." Zane whispers.

"You know," she begins at James, incredible pissed off. "I have been trying to fucking piece together why the hell Alex got custody of Alice, but I couldn't figure it out! Until now! He was protecting her from you and your little whore!"

"Mom." Zane repeats.

She walks over to the TV stand and rips open a drawer. She pulls out a contact case and a pair of glasses.

"But you let that little bitch touch her! How bad was it, hmm? How bad was the abuse? Was there hospital time?"

"Mom!" Zane exclaims.

"What, Alexander?" She throws her hands up.

At her responding to him calling her Mom, her eyes widen slightly. She looks at the three of us, and then down to the blonde hair in her hand. She shuts her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose, and then she unscrews the contact case and removes blue contacts, revealing chocolate brown eyes that match Alice's. She puts the glasses on her face and tosses the wig, the hairnet, and the contact case on the couch.

Now as I stand in front of her, well, I feel like a fucking idiot.

The resemblance is uncanny. While Zane has his fathers hair, he has his Mom's face shape, her nose, her mouth, and her smile. She has the exact same hair and eye color as Alice, which obviously I didn't know, and the same nose as Alice. Zane has the same hollowed cheeks as his mother, but Alice has her Dad's face shape and his lips and smile.

How did a wig and a set of contacts throw us off?

Zane runs his fingers through his hair and takes a step back.

"You're alive!" He cries out.

She just sighs softly.

"I'm calling Mia."

"Mia?" I repeat.

She looks at me. "Yes. Marissa. I told you that her name was Marissa, but it's not Marissa, it's Mia, and she is my sister."

"Wait, she knows? She knew?" Zane exclaims.

"Yes Ducky, she knows."

"B-but I got into a fight with her over what to do with your ashes! Oh god, who is in my closet?"

"Those are just some ashes from a fire." She waves her hand dismissively and grabs her cell phone. She dials quickly and waits.

"They know, Mia." She says the moment her sister picks up. "Everyone. James is here. Alice knows, Alex knows, and Belle knows. Yes. Okay, bye."