Crash and Burn (1)

everything he does, i do better

♚ ♛

NOTHING.

After clawing out of the safe house, there was nothing.

New York City had never seemed so big. Millions of people and I was searching for the one that could make himself fucking disappear. I was searching for the one that had been an expert at living in the shadows for two years.

He obviously knew that I'd come after him. He'd nailed the wooden board on the window shut. My teeth ground at the memory. It had taken hours to get out, but once I had, it was even worse. I had no idea where to go.

Soren didn't want to be found. Just like Seth didn't want to be found.

"Everything he does, I do better."

If Soren didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. He'd survived long enough on the run from an entire army of men. He could hide.

So for two days, I'd wrestled with what to do. It was inevitable that I'd ended up on the F train, riding it from one end to the other, wishing that Soren would stumble on somewhere in the middle of Brooklyn and tell me he was okay.

But two days passed and there was nothing.

No attacks, no new plans, no Soren.

I was struck by the situation. I waltzed right through Brooklyn for two days, stealing food and sleeping on the train. Not once had someone tried to attack me.

But that didn't solve my predicament. I had no idea where to go, what to do. Soren was the one who made plans, he was the one who was always dragging me to a hideout, who was always fighting.

No, I was the one who ran. That's what I'd done for 7 months before I'd met Soren. While Soren was the one that chased, I was always the one that ran.

I couldn't run anymore. I couldn't run from someone that wasn't chasing me.

A light drizzle brushed in front of me as I rounded the corner at a swift pace. Brownstones blurred together in a mesh of dark shadows.

When I finally came to a stop, I was breathing heavily. The fluorescent sign in front of me glittered in the rain. Shifting on the balls of my feet, I stared at it for a long moment before I decided to move forward.

I'd come all the way here.

I had no plan, I was alone. Soren had left me.

And I really missed my mom.

Maybe that's why I'd ended up here.

As soon as I slid into the dimly lit laundromat, her head perked up from whatever she was looking at behind the desk. She wavered for a long second, tucking dark strayaways behind her ear as she blinked.

And then, quicker than I could process, she was swiveling around the desk and meeting me halfway up the narrow walkway.

"Mija."

Daughter.

"Morena."

Her palms brushed against my cheeks, and the warm smile she gave me only made me crack. I let her pull me into her arms, swallowing the lump in my throat. Mija. She didn't even know me. How could she possibly care enough to call me a daughter? How could I have felt the need to come to her first?

"I'm so sorry," I mumbled lowly, as she tucked my chin into her shoulder.

"Never apologize."