Brave This Storm

Over the next few weeks, Mariana found herself getting to know Paul better. For the first week of days, whenever she came home after dropping Donovan at pre-K, Paul was helping her grandma out by doing work around the house. One day he put up a new set of shelves in the kitchen for them. Over three days he painted the outside of the house a new colour of paint with Mariana’s help. One day he mowed the lawn. Other days he just came to hang out with Mariana, the two of them just talking and laughing. Some days she hung out with Jacob and his friends all together, which obviously included Paul. Other days she saw him in town, running errands for his mom. She didn’t know what it was about Paul, but now he’d stopped hitting on her every 5 seconds, she found herself relaxing around him. Mariana hadn’t felt this at ease with anyone since Juan. And that’s exactly what kept her barriers from falling down completely – Juan. She couldn’t betray him like that.

It was a Friday morning when Mariana was out posting some letters for Amelia, and she bumped into Paul in the post office. Literally bumped into Paul.

“Shit, sorry Mariana,” Paul apologised, crouching down to help Mariana pick up the letters she’d dropped.

“It’s okay, it was my fault for not looking where I was going,” Mariana replied with a small smile, shaking her head.

As they stood up, Paul handed Mariana back her grandma’s letter, and their fingers brushed. Mariana couldn’t ignore how her skin tingled at how warm his skin was, and her cheeks flushed slightly without warning.

“You’re really hot,” Mariana murmured.

“Most people don’t think that’s a bad thing,” Paul grinned.

Mariana just raised an eyebrow, making Paul laugh.

“I’m joking! I’ve just got warm blood. A lot of the guys do around here,” Paul shrugged with an easy smile.

Mariana found herself smiling back, falling into easy conversation as they waited in line to be served. When Mariana had sent the letters, and Paul had picked up his mom’s delivery, they headed outside together into the rare sunshine.

“Mariana, I was thinking about something the other day,” Paul started.

“Woah now, don’t hurt yourself,” Mariana teased.

Paul laughed and nudged her with his hip, receiving a hip nudge back. He couldn’t believe how much Mariana had relaxed around him, and he wasn’t going to miss any opportunity to get to know her better.

“I was actually thinking about wanting to get to know you better,” Paul said, smiling to hide his nerves.

“Oh?” Mariana said uncertainly, biting her bottom lip.

“I want to take you out to dinner. Just the two of us. If you’d like,” Paul asked, looking down at her.

Mariana’s breath hitched in her throat. She knew he would ask her out at some point, but she didn’t expect to not be able to think of a reason to turn him down other than…no. She just couldn’t.

“Paul, I…”

Mariana trailed off, and Paul clenched his jaw, trying to keep himself calm. She was going to turn him down. He knew she was. But what had he done wrong now?!

“I can’t. I can’t. I’m sorry,” Mariana mumbled.

She didn’t even wait for his reply before she jogged away. Mariana felt guilty tears pricking at her eyes, but she refused to let them fall, not knowing if she felt guilty about Juan or guilty about Paul. All she wanted to do was sit in her room and find some way to calm down. But that wasn’t to be the case. As she reached the front porch of her grandma’s house, Jacob pulled up in his car with Amelia in the passenger’s seat.

“Ana! I didn’t think you’d be back so soon,” Amelia said cheerfully.

“Yeah, well, I ran into Paul,” Mariana muttered.

“That didn’t sound good,” Jacob chuckled.

The three of them entered the house, Amelia shutting the door before placing a hand on Mariana’s shoulder.

“Is everything okay?” Amelia frowned.

“Everything’s freaking peachy,” Mariana grumbled.

“I think I’ll go watch the news,” Jacob mused, leaving the room.

“What’s wrong, Ana?” Amelia asked softly, as soon as Jacob was out of sight.

“Nothing, okay! Stop asking me!” Mariana exasperated.

“But…”

“Uh…Mariana? You might want to see this!” Jacob called from the living room, interrupting Amelia.

Mariana frowned and walked into the living room, only to freeze when she saw a picture of herself and Donovan on the screen.

“What the hell?” Amelia gasped.

“Oh God. Oh God,” Mariana whimpered, sitting down.

Jacob turned the volume up louder so they could all hear.

“I repeat, these are the pictures of Mariana and Donovan Ramirez, the two remaining missing residents of the Youngland Court massacre in Compton, Los Angeles which happened just over two months ago. Nothing has been heard of from the young woman and her son, but as there is no evidence of either of their deaths the search is still ongoing. Mariana’s long-term boyfriend, Juan Peterson, was one of the attacked and had tried to save the other residents, including Mariana and Donovan. Only one of the residents of Youngland Court survived by hiding in her closet, and she told us that Juan screamed for Mariana to run as he lay in his own blood. Juan’s body is also missing, although due to the account from the eye-witness, it is assumed Juan Peterson is dead. The only information anyone has about Mariana is Juan’s father, Big El Peterson, who Mariana left a phone message with on the night of the murders. We advise you that this message is disturbing,”

‘El! El, you’ve got to get over here. Something…something horrible is out there. All I can hear is screaming! Juan went down to help but he hasn’t come back and he…’

‘MARIANA! MARIANA, RUN!’

‘Juan? JUAN! NO!’

The message stopped.

“This is the last contact Mariana had with anyone. If there is any information that anyone can give, please call your nearest police station. Thank you,”

Jacob switched off the television, him and Amelia turning to face Mariana. What shocked them were the tears running down Mariana’s face, and how violently her body was shaking as she rocked back and forth.

“Hey, hey, calm down. Why didn’t you tell us this?” Amelia asked softly.

“Because I didn’t think I’d need to! But…Juan’s body is missing! It’s missing, damn it!” Mariana sobbed.

“What happened that night, Ana?” Jacob asked worriedly.

“I can’t…I can’t…” Mariana choked, shaking her head.

“You can’t keep it bottled up. It’s not healthy. And you and Donny are listed as missing people!” Jacob exasperated.

“I know, I just…”

Mariana trailed off, pain spreading across her chest. Already the memories of that fateful night were flooding her mind, that horrible night she wished she could forget.

“Please Ana. We care about you,” Amelia urged.

Mariana thought about it for a few seconds, before nodding. Jacob quickly ran to the bathroom and brought back a few tissues, handing them to the distraught girl as he and Amelia sat on either side of her.

“It was just a normal night. Juan had just got back from work and I was laying dinner out on the table. Donovan and Juan were talking about the cars Juan worked on that day, when we heard a loud scream from outside.

“What was that?” Mariana whispered.

“I don’t know. Stay in here,” Juan frowned, standing up.

“But…”

“Please, stay in here. For Donny’s sake,” Juan said seriously, nodding at the young boy sitting innocently at the table.

Mariana pressed her lips together but nodded, watching Juan leave the small apartment in silence.

“Where did Juan go, mommy?” Donovan asked, putting a piece of potato in his mouth.

“He went to see what the scream was. But he’ll be back,” Mariana said soothingly, not believing her own words.

Only two minutes later did Juan return. But he was panting heavily, with fear in his eyes. Juan wasn’t scared of anything.

“Ana, pack your stuff. Pack anything important and get ready to run,” Juan ordered, glancing out the window into the courtyard.

“What’s going on? What’s out there?” Mariana panicked.

Juan swallowed heavily, his eyes flicking to Donovan before he looked back at Mariana. This was when she knew something was really wrong.

“I don’t know what it is, but god damn, it’s strong. It looks human but…but it’s just attacking anything in it’s path. There’s blood everywhere, Ana. Men, women, children…I can’t have you dying too,”

“But Juan! I’m not leaving you!” Mariana whimpered.

Juan pressed a firm kiss to his lips, only leaving Mariana with tears in her eyes as he pulled away. That kiss felt like goodbye. She didn’t want it to be goodbye.

“I’ll find you, my darling. This is about Donovan. I won’t let him die, and I won’t let you die either,” Juan said firmly.

“Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me,” Mariana begged.

“I’ll find you, I promise. Get away from here. Now. Promise me!,” Juan said firmly.

“I can’t!” Mariana choked.

“Promise me,” Juan repeated.

Mariana hesitated before nodding, fear spreading throughout her body.

“I promise,” Mariana whispered.

“Good girl. I love you, okay?” Juan smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.

All Mariana could do was mumble ‘I love you too’ helplessly as Juan left the apartment.

“Mommy, what’s wrong?” Donovan asked.

Mariana sniffed and looked down at her son, who was now by her side.

“Something bad is outside. We’ve got to leave through mommy and Juan’s window. Can you please bring mommy my special box?” Mariana asked.

Donovan looked worried for a second before running into Mariana’s bedroom. ‘Her special box’ was the small shoebox she kept the documents of Donovan’s trust fund in, as well as his birth certificate and her birth certificate, and the documents of her normal bank account. While Donovan was looking for the box, Mariana pulled out her cellphone and dialled the one number she knew would help. Big El’s. But it went straight to voicemail, which only made her panic more.

“El! El, you’ve got to get over here. Something…something horrible is out there. All I can hear is screaming! Juan went down to help but he hasn’t come back and he…”

“MARIANA! MARIANA, RUN!”

Mariana froze at Juan’s scream, and looked out the window. He was lying on the floor of the courtyard, his head surrounded by blood, and he was writhing in agony. No!

“Juan? JUAN! NO!” she screamed.

Mariana was about to run outside when she remembered her promise to Juan. She had to save Donovan. Mariana put the dead bolt across the door and closed all the curtains before running into her bedroom. Donovan beamed at her in triumph, holding out her box, and Mariana took it silently, emptying the contents into a drawstring bag.

“Go put on two sweaters, your strongest shoes and your thick coat,”

“Where are we going, mommy?” Donovan frowned.

Mariana took a deep breath and looked at her son sadly.

“We’re going to find your grandma,”

Mariana looked up at Amelia with tears in her eyes, taking a pause before continuing.

“It killed me inside to leave Juan to die, but I made him a promise. I shoved the money from my purse into my jeans, which was about $50, and I put the drawstring bag on Donny’s back before leaving. I climbed out my bedroom window with Donovan on my back and started running away from the apartments. All I could hear was screaming, and it made me feel sick. I ran and walked from Compton to Sacramento. That took 5 days. Then a truck driver gave us a ride from Sacramento to Medford, Oregon. That took 6 hours. I walked to Salem, which took 3 days, and then got a ride with another truck driver to Portland, which took 1 hour. Then I walked from Portland to La Push, which took three days. I spent all the money I had in my pockets on food and water for Donovan, and I think I only ate twice in those 11 days. I’ve never been more scared in my life, but I knew I had to find you. For Donovan’s sake, even if I died from the journey,” Mariana finished.

“Oh Ana,” Jacob whispered.

“I deserted my boyfriend and left him to die. And now his body is missing! If I had stayed and helped, he wouldn’t be missing. He might not even be dead,” Mariana whimpered.

“But you probably would be dead too. And so would Donovan,” Amelia said seriously.

“I know, I just…I wish I’d done something to help. I bet they won’t ever even find the killer. Who comes into a courtyard of apartments and slaughters innocent people like that?” Mariana cried out.

“Someone bloodthirsty, that’s who,” Jacob scowled.

Amelia’s eyes widened at Jacob, and he nodded, confirming her thoughts. Mariana was oblivious to this, and just continued to cry into her hands.

“Look, I’d better go and leave you guys alone. If you want me to pick Donovan up from pre-K, just give me a call, alright?” Jacob announced.

“Thanks Jake. You’re a good friend,” Mariana sniffed.

Jacob smiled and nodded, before leaving the house. He needed to speak to Sam.