Shadows of Dusk

Leaving

Chapter Nine

-Maria-

Around eleven in the morning, Cas began to shove some things into a miniature backpack.

"I'm gonna go see Kayden, see if he can get my car fixed up," she tells me.

"Kayden?"

"Oh, right, Grace's brother who is the mechanic,"

"Ah,"

"I'm hoping to be in and out within the hour, since the map says it's about ten minute drive," she set down the bag. "I feel really bad for leaving you here, especially since it's Sunday and both my parents are home,"

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine," I assure her, even though I wasn't exactly sure about it myself.

She throws a smile over her shoulder as she went to her bedroom door. "Bye! Love you!" her face quickly turned red from embarrassment. "I am so sorry, I'm in such a habit of saying that to my cats,"

"It's fine," I cut her off, attempting to contain my laughter. "Love you too," I say in joking manner.

She laughs, then leaves.

I let out a sigh once she closed the door. I had no idea what I was going to do for an hour. And that's the least amount of time Cas was hoping for.

Leaving now would be dangerous, and cruel. I couldn't do that to Cas, she had been way to nice and kind to me for me to leave while she was gone. And then of course, the danger since her parents were home, and plus the entire neighborhood could potentially see me.

I walked over to her window, taking in how the neighborhood was set up for when the time came for me to leave. Sure, I was hoping when that time came it was later and Cas could aid me, but I knew deep down that was most likely not going to be the case.

As I was looking out the window, I notice a police car drive down the street, parking in front of a house down the ways. I stiffen at the sight. Why were they here? There could only be one answer: Me.

A single cop got out of the car, and approached the house he had parked outside of. He knocked on the door, and I watched him speak to the person that answered. After a minute, he walked away, going to the next house. He repeated this, going house to house, speaking with whoever answered. After about seven houses, he finally came to this one.

My heart's rate began to escalate, and I finally had regained the ability to force myself away from the window. I went to the bedroom door, opening it just a tad, straining myself to hear what the officer had to say to all the houses on the block.

The brown and white cat came into the room, meowing contently, all the while wrapping herself around my ankle.

"Shh!" I hush it, lightly scooting it into Cas's room with my foot.

"Good day, officer, how may I help you?" I assumed it was Cas's dad.

"Good day to you sir, I've been asking the residents of this neighbor if anyone of them have seen this girl, Maria Luca. She's Latina, has dark wavy hair down to her shoulders, about five foot five, and has honey colored eyes,"

I sucked in a breath. So the officer was going around because of me.

"We haven't seen anyone fitting this description, why is it that you are looking for her?" this time it was Cas's mom, or who I assumed it was.

What the officer said next wasn't completely clear, but I did hear "She's a criminal," "Someone spotted her in this general area," and "Here is one of our best and recent pictures of her,"

My heart skipped a beat. They had a picture of me, and how he said it meant they had many. And recent. How recent would that be? And who would have seen me over here? I was no longer safe here, I needed to leave. As I shut the door, I did hear another bit, "Illegal immigrant," which made me scoff. My grandparents, my parents, and myself were all born here in Nevada.

I paced the room, and the cat continued to meow every other step. What was her name? I couldn't remember. Maybe it was something like Mocha? Who knew, but right now that didn't matter. What mattered was how I was getting out.

Sure, this was probably one of the worse scenarios to leave. I told Cas I'd stay. I promised to myself I'd stay. But I couldn't. Not now, when the police were looking for me in the same place I was at.

I grabbed a loose piece of paper, and searched for a pen, so I could scribble out a note to her. I tried to keep it clear and precise, not over doing it. Once I was satisfied with it, I glance down at my fingers where I had multiple rings. I took off one of them, it was thick and made of pure troy silver, with no gems. On it, was engraved 'Eu vou te amar por toda a eternidade', which was Portuguese for 'I will love you for all eternity'. Sure, it was an engagement ring from my aunt, and meant romantic love, but in this situation I meant it as I would care about her forever. She was kind to me, and I will always owe her.

I go back over to the window, glancing out. The cop had left. His car was gone, it was safe to go.

Going through Cas's window would be dangerous, since everyone was probably on the lookout for me, and no way could I go downstairs to go through the door.

I go back over to the bedroom door, cracking it open just a smidge. I couldn't see or hear her parents up here. I glance around, looking for doors on the backside of the house. There was three, and the middle one seemed to be laundry room. I sprint for there, and shove the window open. There was a back porch roof that could catch my fall. I jump, landing on that roof, then slid down, darting off, as far from the house as I could possibly hope.

I ran, and ran, never stopping, never looking back. Never once did I have so much heartache leaving a place that I was never meant to get attached too.