1

Riding with strangers to hell knows where

I pressed my forehead against the cold glass of a black tinted car. Outside the window, blurring into one indistinct picture, the trees of an unfamiliar dense forest flashed by. “I was taught not to get into a car with strangers, so where are they taking me now?” I thought belatedly. Despair mingled with fear, making her heart race.

The day before…

Cold drops of autumn rain fall on your face. I am lying on a bench at the entrance to the cemetery. My eyes are closed. Tears slowly trickle down your cheeks, mixing with raindrops. The head is completely blank. And only my heart shrinks from unbearable pain and despair, proving that I am still alive. And it would be better to die. Together with her. I looked at the small pendant in my hand - the only thing left of it - and tears began to fall with renewed vigor.

- Fox!

I squeezed my eyes shut even more irritably. No one wanted to hear or see.

- Fox! Damian was breathing hard from the fast run. - It's good that I found you.

Of course I found it, as if I didn’t know where to look! This bench has almost become my home. For a week now I have been lying on it, like another corpse that they forgot to bury in the ground, returning to the hated father only to spend the night and eat. Mom died two weeks ago from a long illness that had haunted her since I was born. Doctors said that childbirth took too much strength from her, and this undermined her health. For this I hated myself. But even more I hated my father. I don’t know how my mother married him at all, only in my memory I never saw her happy with this man. My father liked to take a drink, earned little, and harassed my mother with his difficult character.

For the first three days after the funeral, I just cried, lying on my bed in the dark. Then my father, rolling the whites of his alcohol-clouded eyes and splashing saliva, yelled at me to immediately start doing household chores and stop skipping school. When he raised his hand to persuade me with a good slap to obey his order, I ran away. I jumped out of the house in what I was and wandered for a long time around the deserted outskirts of our small town. Finally, my feet carried me to the cemetery. I didn't want to see my mother's grave. I just lay down on the bench at the entrance and lay there until the evening, until the stars lit up one after another in the night sky. A cold piercing wind ruffled my thick black hair and climbed under a thin blouse. But I wasn't cold. I did not care.

At night, while my father slept, I crept through the attic window to my room, and in the morning I was again lying on the cemetery bench. In the afternoon I came back to eat. The father was at work. He didn't even look for me, didn't ask if I was alive. But today was a day off, and I didn’t want to go home.

- Lisa, get up immediately and come home! Damian leaned over the bench.

I sat up and sighed in exasperation.

- Domi! Are you running errands for my father? I don't want to see him.

- Yes, he is not looking for you! I didn’t come at his request, for sure, - Damian grunted, - there are five black armored Mercs near your house!

I furrowed my brows in disbelief. Has dad crossed the path of some big shot? No, it's impossible. Where is he and where are the big shots. They won't even cross paths on this planet. I shrugged my shoulders indifferently and lay down on my couch again.

- They came for you, Lisa!

- Domi! - Irritation accumulated. - Do not talk nonsense, and do not bother me to die. I don't care who they are or what they want.

- Alicia! “Damian was pretty damn stubborn if he wanted something. Since childhood, we lived in the neighborhood and knew each other as flaky. Together we went to school and to the aikido section. If Damian set himself a goal, even a bulldozer would not turn him off the path. I still won't let you die. And anyway, I already told those people that I know you, and promised to bring you home.

I sat up abruptly.

- You're a traitor! Surrendered his childhood friend to strangers in armored cars?!

Damian lowered his eyes guiltily. I got up with a sigh. What difference does it make where and how to die. You can also at home from the hands of unknown bandits. Damian followed.

Father nervously tapped his fingers on the table. The sight of the bullies frightened him, but he stubbornly argued with the men in black suits (there were four of them). They filled half the room with their huge, muscular figures, making it seem tiny. As soon as I crossed the threshold, my father gave me an evil look. He still smelled of fumes.

- My daughter! She must stay with me. Who will work around the house? And yes, she can make money. I can't give it away! “Here, steam is coming out of his ears.” It suddenly seemed to me that I was a product on the market, for which two buyers were arguing.

- This is not discussed, we have all the documents confirming that you are not the father of Alicia Kedano. And now, when she turned sixteen two months ago, she herself has the right to choose in whose family she lives.

The man in black stood up and turned to me.

- Alicia, I'm here to take you home. I hope you will not refuse my offer immediately. I know that this is too unexpected, you will have time to find out everything. Think until tomorrow. I'll drop by in the morning. I hope the answer is positive.

So this is official? On you? My eyebrows went up. The black cabinets left the house, and the room became more spacious again.

- Listen carefully! Just try to agree to go with them! - Father, breathing furiously, jumped up to me and grabbed my hand. - It was I who raised you, paid for clothes and food! It's your turn to repay the debt. You stay here and get a job! The disgusting smell of alcohol wafted into my face.

- Let go! Tears welled up in my eyes.

“Sit in your room and think carefully about who you owe for everything you have!”

He dragged me, twisting my wrist painfully, into my room. The key clanged in the door.

I lay on the bed, swallowing the tears rising to my throat. Why is all this happening to me. His whole body was shaking with fear. While my mother was alive, my father, although he shouted, did not dare to raise his hand against me. But now his anger, swelling, threatened to turn into physical violence. I was scared.

Alicia Kedano. The name came to mind unexpectedly. Why Kedano? I'm Alicia Dixon. And what a strange surname - Kedano? The thought that my father was not my own at all, for some reason, calmed and pleased. Do I really have another family somewhere? And can I get away from here, from this hated man? Hands shook with excitement. Determination slowly filled every cell of the body. I already knew my choice. The only thing that bothered me was who would take care of my mother's grave? However, I can come to the cemetery. Nobody will stop me from doing this. My heart felt better for the first time in two weeks.

In the morning I woke up from a roar. After a couple of minutes, heavy steps accompanied by the indignant cries of my father proceeded to my room. The roar repeated, but this time the door of my bedroom flew out.

“This man,” the man in black did not even look at his father, “claims that you refused my offer. But I would like to hear it in person.

I, standing on the bed in pajamas and with disheveled hair, slowly shifted my gaze from the man to my father. There was a clear threat in his eyes.

"We were talking about this yesterday," he warned in no uncertain terms.

And then I made up my mind.

- I'm going! I'm going with you!

The father turned pale, his eyes were filled with blood. But in front of a stranger, he restrained himself, allowing himself only to hiss furiously: “Well, thank you, daughter!”

I didn’t have much to pack: all my clothes fit into a small suitcase. I did this in ten minutes. The father did not leave the house to see him off. I chuckled. The man in black loaded my small luggage into the car and politely opened the door for me.

- Fox! - a friend jumped out of a neighboring yard. Damian was surprisingly cheerful. Not even sorry that I'm leaving?! And will not take an interest in what is happening and where they are taking me?! Me too, friend. - Bon Voyage! - he waved his hand and, stumbling upon the frown of one of my escorts, suddenly made a slight bow. What?! Did Damian go crazy with fear? I must say that the cortege of five expensive black Mercedes, which, as I noticed, were stuffed with closet-like bodyguards, caused shivers. But not to the point of bowing down to them. Let them be at least thrice as rich as Arab sheikhs. I shook my head in puzzlement and climbed into the luxurious leather interior. Damian waved after the departing cars for a long time. There was a strange smile on his lips.