Chapter Seven: Leaving It all Behind

Slowly, time began to move again. Mary felt her chest heaving, and she noticed how damp her cheeks were. She attempted to pull the stake out of what used to be her best friend, but she couldn't. The sounds, the blood . . . It was too much. Mary knew she couldn't stand there forever though; the cops were on their way, and it would only be a matter of time before she heard sirens.

Mary gently lay Li down in the center of the main room. It took every ounce of strength she had in her body to leave Li there. While she was packing what little possessions she could take with her and storing the emergency money she had saved somewhere safe, Mary called her boss and explained the situation.

“I already know. Hurry up and get out of here! We’ll clean up the mess so no one knows you did it.” This was why Mary had joined the Criminal career; she would have backup if anything went wrong. She had intended to use that privilege at another time, but now it was too late. The two talked urgently to each other. Mary’s boss said he would send a good sum of money to her when she arrived in Sunset Valley, and he wished her luck because she was going to need a lot of it.

Everything was packed and ready. Mary heard a loud honk outside. Her boss had arranged for someone to take her to Sunset Valley. She was glad she had worked so hard up until now; things probably would have been harder otherwise. She stuffed her luggage into the backseat and then ran back inside to get Vincent. After he was safe in her arms and they were both safe in the car, the driver sped off. In the distance, she heard the sirens, but they were too late to serve justice.

The drive to Sunset Valley was quiet. The man who was driving didn’t utter a word, Vincent was sleeping peacefully, and Mary didn’t feel like talking. She rested her head against the cold glass and looked out at the night sky. They had traveled all day, and day had turned to night. Throughout the whole trip, previous events haunted Mary. She saw Kanoa with that object in his hands—she thought it may have been a thick stick—and she felt the horror wash over her like an icy wave all over again. She thought of Li . . . poor Li. She was only trying to protect herself, but from what? She knew Mary had had connections and that they would have been able to escape smoothly . . . perhaps there was more to Li than Mary knew. Paranoia makes people do unreasonable things; Mary knew that much.

Next Mary thought of Amary. She was still alive . . . somewhere out there, there was a person who knew what had really happened, but would Amary really tell the truth? She hated Mary. Hate . . . Why did she hate me? Nothing was adding up anymore. Whenever Mary found the answer to one question, another question brought itself forward. Would she always live in a labyrinth of questions?

* * *

Although she didn’t remember falling asleep, Mary awoke to someone gently nudging her shoulder. “I think this is where we part,” Mary looked over at the man who had driven her from Appaloosa Plains all the way to Sunset Valley. She looked around and found that they were back on the empty lot she had once lived on.

“Yes . . . um, thank you for the ride,” the man nodded and simply waited for her to get all of her things out. After she had all of her items out of the vehicle, the man drove off. Mary simply waved at him and then sighed. Now all she had to do was wait.

Mary hid with Vincent in the shadows of the trees for what seemed like hours. She was paranoid—extremely paranoid. There were several cruisers around town, and from what she had heard on the little radio she had taken with her, there was an all-out manhunt. She was scared. The person who had saw her had good memory—he or she described what Mary looked like flawlessly, and with her appearance, she wouldn’t be hard to pick out. Mary sighed—she hated her white hair. She hated her black, beady eyes. She hated how abnormal she looked. At the moment, she hated everything about her.

* * *

Finally, a shady looking individual put a package in her mailbox. Mary knew just from the clothes he was wearing that her boss had sent him to deliver the money. After making sure the package was safely in the mailbox, he sauntered off into the shadows. Mary looked around and then carefully walked from her hiding place and retrieved the package. She opened in and found enough money to build a small house. With her savings and the money combined, she would have enough to start a decent life.

* * *

Mary’s home was built. It had her bedroom, a bedroom for Vincent, a bathroom, and a kitchen that also served as the living room. All of the rooms were decently sized and fully furnished.

Mary walked slowly through her new home with Vincent in her arms. She was so proud to actually have a place should could proudly call home. The walls were all covered with either premiere paint or quality wallpaper, and smooth, wooden planks were laid down on the floor. In the bedrooms, a soft carpet replaced wood.

The furniture was . . . fair. It wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst. Everything was new and fully functional, at least.

Mary entered Vincent’s room and then gently placed him in his crib. She then stroked his little head and looked around his room. The walls were covered in turquoise wallpaper that had a dinosaur theme. The toys and crib were also colored in turquoise, and some things had wood parts to them to match the borders around the room. In her opinion, it was perfect for a little boy.

After making sure everything in Vincent’s room was nice and safe, Mary went to her own dark room. Most of it was gray and black, but it did have a reasonable amount of wood as well. Mary wasn’t in her room to inspect it, though. She walked slowly over to the fullsize mirror in the corner and looked over herself. She knew that for her own sake and Vincent’s, she would have to go through a complete makeover. Mary sighed and then made her way to the shower.

Mary took a long, hot shower. She ran her fingers through her long, silky hair and enjoyed it while she still had it. After she was done with her shower, Mary went to the kitchen and grabbed some scissors. She then went into her bedroom and took one last good look at her hair. She then began to slowly cut it off.

While waiting for her hair to dry, Mary cleaned up the globs of hair and then took them to the bathroom and flushed them. She could almost say she felt heartbroken, but she knew very well that this wasn’t anything like heartbreak. After that, she began to dig through her boxes of clothing. She pulled out a few modest outfits and then changed. After she finished dressing, Mary put in a pair of gray color-contacts that she ordered earlier and then changed her makeup.

When she was finished and her hair was dry, Mary took a step back and looked at herself. She almost didn’t recognize herself. She didn’t really like how she looked now—too housewife-like—but she knew that this wasn’t just for her. She had to protect her son as well. “Well . . . if I can’t recognize myself, how could anyone else?”