DEAD WOMAN WALKING (THE BLOOD IN MY VEINS #1)

THE BASEMENT

THE WIND BLEW AGAINST MIA'S SOFT SKIN, tickling goosebumps to trail across the surface. It was a beautiful day. The sun streamed through the fluffy clouds in a heavenly way, and the smell of freshly made cookies infiltrated her nose. Mia looked up to her mother. She was the most beautiful woman in the whole wild world! The older woman was in her late thirties, but her age seemed to add to her elegance. The woman had bone straight, long, brown hair that stopped at her waist. Her eyes were of the same color, maternity and kindness sparkling in them. Her mother was humming a tune, which Mia had grown to love. The older woman held a butter knife in between her slender fingers and spread icing on the cake.

Mia grinned and ran to the table. "Oh boy, we're having pound cake for lunch, ma?" She asked as she practically drooled at the mouth. She glanced up at her mother before sneakily reaching her fingers towards the cake, only to get bopped on her hand. Mia pulled back like her mother hand burned her. The older woman gave the child a look. "Patience, Mia. We have been through this." The young girl grumbled. Never in her twelve years of living could she just take a tiny bite! It was just a piece anyways. After receiving a glare from her mother for rolling her eyes, she stared into the pound cake.

"Is daddy going to eat with us today?" She asked softly, knowing that the topic of her father was delicate. Her mother faltered while spreading icing. A sigh left the woman's pink lips before she set down the knife. She rubbed her pale hands against her apron before squatting down to her daughter's height. "Mia... you know better than to ask these types of questions."

"But he never eats with us! It's not right!"

"He's at work right now." The older woman bit her lip. "What he does is very dangerous." Mia knew her mother wasn't bluffing. When they thought she was asleep, her father would come home covered in blood splatters. Something told her not a drop of it was his own. "Then how can he do it?" She countered. The older woman looked her daughter straight in the eyes.

"He can't show fear."

A loud gasp left Mia's lips. What the hell was going on? Her throat felt dry and scratchy, like she hadn't had an ounce of water in days. Her lungs felt like they were collapsing by the second, and her head! It felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to her temple. A dull ache made itself know in her lower back and cheek. What the hell? She tried to open her eyes, but the world remained black. Was she... blindfolded? The tight feeling that wrapped around her head confirmed this thought. Mia moves her arms up to take off the damn thing when she realized her limbs were tied to the armrests of the chair she was sitting in. What? No, that couldn't be right. She tried to move her legs, but they, too, were tied to the legs of the chair. Mia felt herself starting to hyperventilate. It was like she couldn't get enough oxygen. What the fuck was going on?

"Oh merda, la puttana è sveglia," (oh shit, the bitch is awake,) she heard a deep sounding voice to the left of her. The language was definitely foreign. Italian? It had to have been. The voice was close, maybe to to three feet away from her. Mia gulped thickly. "Chiamiamo il capo?" (Do we call the boss?) Another voice said, coming from around the same source. Mia quickly shook her head. Panicking was going to get her no where. She needed to calm down and focus. She had to find out where she was. Ignoring the brittleness of her throat, she took in a deep breath. Focus. Focus. Focus! She frowned out the Italian conversation the two men were having.

The room was cold, unnaturally cold. Either she was in a freezer, or somewhere where the AC had dropped a few degrees too low. 'Hot air rises and cool air sinks.. am I in a basement?' She asked herself. She forced the soles of her bare feet into the freezing floor below her. It was concrete, and very hard concrete at that. Definitely a basement. Snapping her out of her thoughts was a grumble coming from one of the men, she wouldn't tell which one. She heard footsteps and strained her ears. She struggled to listen all because of the excruciatingly painful headache she had. Stairs! She sat straight up in her seat. She heard stairs, however, she couldn't tell which direction they led to. Damn.