Chapter 20: Fagua

It was as if I’d never left and the last two weeks in Vegas had never happened. Well, it had been a little over two weeks. Vegas had been the most adventurous thing I’d ever done in my life, everything else had become insignificant.

I’d been back home for two days. I had expected to be grilled, but Pa said I could tell him and Ma what happened in time. Apart from asking why I came back, she hasn’t said a word to me.

Every morning she left before breakfast. Pa said she’s hurting and to give her time. Apparently according to him, Ma was so upset when I left, which seemed weird since she asked me why I had come back when she first saw me again. There was nothing sympathetic in her tone, let alone her attitude.

She never asked me how I was feeling or if I was okay. Normal things I’d expect her to say, but she was harsh as if she were disappointed to see me. I wanted us to stop playing this game.

I cleaned the dinner dishes, wishing for the millionth time my folks would invest in a dishwasher like everyone else. Pa read the paper and drank his coffee.

“Um...Pa, I’d like to work in the diner today.” I scrubbed at the frying pan coated with a thin, but stubborn, layer of cooked eggs. I wanted the nightmare in Vegas to go away.

“Best check with your Ma, too, but I don’t see no reason not to.” He cleared his throat, putting aside the paper. “When you disappeared, we told everyone you’d left to visit a sick aunt.”

I looked up from the sink. “And they believed you?” It was only us three. I had no aunts, uncles, or even grandparents.

A scowl hardened his face. “I’m the Alpha, why wouldn’t they believe me?”

“Of course. Right.” I swallowed and returned to the skillet soaking in sudsy water. Even so, part of me was disappointed about no one caring, but then relieved about not having to answer all the questions about leaving, marrying a human, or the three wolves who had nearly turned my world upside down.

After I finished the dishes, I showered and dressed in my uniform. Ma would be at the diner already, and I didn’t want to give her any excuse not to allow me to work again. I had to do something with my time or my mind would torment me about Winter. Did he miss me? Was he okay? And I worried about Sky and if he really was as sick as Husk had acted. I missed them, but not Husk. I was happy to be free from him.

I braided my hair to keep it out of my face and tied the white apron around my waist. My clothes, worn so many years, felt both familiar, yet foreign at the same time.

The walk to the diner took less time than I remembered. Probably because of my nerves and Ma’s attitude toward me since I’d returned. I pushed open the glass door, the bell chimed, and I felt like everyone in the whole place turned and stared at me.

With my head high, I continued straight back to the kitchen when I didn’t see Ma anywhere.

“Hey, girl!” Ted whooped and squeezed me into a giant hug, making my feet leave the floor for a few seconds. “Welcome back.”

“Thank you.” I laughed, hugging him back.

The burgers on the grill sizzled, and he set me down before flipping the meat over. His thick, black hair was tucked under a hairnet and made him look like a badass rather than our city’s wrestling champ. His tats covered his arms, and if I hadn’t seen his wolf form, I’d have sworn he was a bear shifter as big as he was. But I thought of him more like the older brother I never had.

“You staying?” He motioned to me with the metal spatula.

“Yup.” Didn’t want to get into how the longer I was back the more I felt like I was betraying Winter and possibly Sky. I squared my shoulders. They’d lied to me, and I couldn’t trust them. “Have you seen Ma?”

“She’s cleaning the restrooms.”

“Thanks.”

He jerked up the basket of fries from the greasier. “Good to have you back, Fagua.”

I hurried back to the main area of the diner before I started crying. Like Ted had said, I found Ma scrubbing a toilet.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, not even looking at me.

“I-I want to work, is that okay?”

Instead of answering, she stood and handed me the toilet brush. The bathroom door swung closed. I rolled my shoulders back and bent over the porcelain and cleaned. She hadn’t said no or to leave, so I took it as a yes.

Half an hour later, I was about to pour some coffee for ole man Harold, when the glass filled up.

“Fuck!”

I couldn’t control myself, it was as if I suddenly was having a vision of an old man Harold being beaten nearly to death. Russ, one of the guys working in the factory, showed no mercy. Harold was trying to escape by trying to change to his wolf form. Every time he tried to shift, he was met with Russ’s fists. The crazy part was they were not alone. Not only was Pa there, witnessing it, but other guys from the factory, too.

Harold was our regular, and one of the older members of SmallHeath. Harold did everything on the regular, like come into the diner for his morning coffee. He was a creature of comfort, but this dream I had of him the one with my eyes wide open, I didn’t understand or control it. Then it was as if a bolt of lightning had hit me, because I fell to the floor.

Ma rushed to me. “What happened?”

It was the first time she’d spoken to me directly since I’d gotten back. I shook my head as I tried to stand, and she stretched her hand over me.

“Maybe starting work was too soon for you, go to the employee lounge and get some rest or even better go home.”

I shook my head. “No, I’ll just go out back for a second.”

As I stood up, she was already tidying up the mess, and telling everyone to go about their business. Everyone did just as they soon forgot about the breakage and focused on whatever they were doing before I did the mess.

“Ma. Thanks. When Harold comes, would you please give his coffee to him? He doesn’t like it cold.”

She furrowed her brow, and she said, “Maybe it’s better if you go home.”

I didn’t understand what she was talking about as she drew closer.

“Harold’s dead. Fagua, don’t you remember?”

I shook my head, wondering if what I’d felt was a dream, or really was the reality. I didn’t answer as I rushed to my parents’ office and locked the door.

What the hell was going on?

I didn’t even know what I was still doing here. Everything felt as if it was all out of control. I could have gone home, but Ma was finally talking to me, and I had questions for her. Like why she clearly didn’t want me home, and why she made out she did, when it wasn’t the case.

I lay down on the sofa at the corner of the office, and someone jiggled the handle to get in.

“Fuck, the door’s locked!” someone shouted from the other side of the door.

“We don’t need to go in there. Just get rid of the damn body, before Fagua finds out. Just get the shovel from the factory, and I’ll wait for you at the back.”

“What do I do with the body in the meantime? I don’t want it stinking up my trunk.”

“We’ll leave in the back. I need a fucking smoke, waiting for you to come back.”

“Just make sure Afi doesn’t see you. He doesn’t like smokers. Sign of weakness.”

Who was speaking?

I wanted to know who they were on the other side of the door, but I couldn’t let them know what I’d just heard, but something was clear, my time here wasn’t like before.

Usually, I would go to work in the diner, eat, sleep, catch up on some Netflix and would be it. Now, it was as if I was here with my eyes wide open. I’d completely changed and I couldn’t believe in what I’d seen while pouring the coffee. It couldn’t have been real, could it? There had to be some reasonable explanation.

Or did I have a real vision? But Ma had said Harold was dead like it had happened before today.

I had no memory of him being dead. No funeral. No service. Nothing which would make me think he was dead.

As the men’s voices faded away, I did one thing. I had to find out what was going on. Who was the person they had at the back of the car? And what did it have to do with me?

I moved to the door, opened it, and no one was here. Luckily, it was the lunch rush, and everyone would be busy out front. This meant going to the back would be easy. I moved to the side like I was in some kind of spy movie.

My heart beat was beating so loud I worried it echoed in the hallway. I took a deep breath and headed to the backdoor. I pushed it slowly, hoping the other guy who was smoking would hide. He was right about one thing, Pa hated smokers. He didn’t care about strangers coming and smoking outside the diner. That was fine. He didn’t know them, but for people he knew, he preferred to not see them smoke. Sure, he could smell it; he was a wolf after all.

None of what I had overheard made sense. The guys had to have been talking about Pa. They accepted the rules, not because they respected Pa, but merely because they feared him.

As I made it outside, there was only one car parked outside I didn’t recognize. It was a beat-up old Ford. Nearly everyone in town had jeeps or trucks, especially for the rough roads.

I hesitated as I got near the car, then wondered how I would get the trunk open. After looking around to make sure I wasn’t spotted, I leaned close to the driver’s side door. With my back to it, I tried the handle. It was unlocked. I let out a breath and ducked inside, searching for a key. There wasn’t one. But there had to be a lever somewhere. I looked around and found them partially hidden between the driver’s seat and window.

Yes!

I pulled the switch to open the trunk, and it popped open. Carefully, I slid out of the car, trying to avoid detection. My breath caught as I made my way to the trunk. Sweat coated the back of my neck.

Inside, there was a body. A man was all bloody and tied up.

I rushed to the side of the diner as my stomach retched. I vomited into the bushes. Everything I’d eaten this morning rushed out. When I finally finished, I backed away and leaned against the brick wall. I had to find out why those wolves, whoever they were, thought there was some connection with me.

I took a deep breath as I moved back to the trunk, trying to get a better look at the man in the trunk and see if I could identify him. But when I took a step closer to the car, I couldn’t move. It was as if I were stuck. I couldn’t even open my mouth, but then as I did, I felt a hand over it.

I froze.

Fuck. I’d been caught, but then as I could move, the trunk closed on its own in front of me. There was only one person, I knew who could move things, and it was Ma. Her floral scent filled the air, which she’d worn every day ever since I’d been born, and it had never changed. The body’s face turned to show me, who I suspected was in the back. It was the same suit he had worn last time I saw him.

Keith.

One eye was wide open, his dark eye dull, and the other missing. His face was bloody, but I didn’t need to see his face to know it was him. He reeked of death.

I couldn’t scream or cry as Ma’s hand still covered my mouth. I had nothing left inside me to make me feel sick. No. All I wanted to do was cry. As she slowly removed her hand, she smiled with sadness. Her smile empathized with me, as if to say, I know, I know…

She squeezed her eyes shut briefly and whispered, “I didn’t want you to come back. I didn’t want you to see what Pa had done.”

“Pa,” I said. I could hardly speak.

Everything about the past flashed in front of my eyes. Ma wanted to protect me. She needed me to stay as far away from here as possible, or learn the truth. Now, I’d seen what my father had done to Keith and how he never wanted me to leave, I had no intention of ever turning back.