Chapter 18

With half a pack of cigarettes and little more than a hundred dollars in her pocket, Mila began her journey back to Jasmine Falls. She didn’t quite know what to expect when she got there, but it felt good to have a purpose. She walked along the dusty highway, cars whizzing past her, choking her lungs with their exhaust. Still she walked with a smile on her face. She fretted internally that ShayAnne might hate her, but her heart didn’t know enough to have a shield yet. She couldn’t help but love her friend freely, whatever that meant. It was different certainly than the way she felt about her mother. She loved her mother, but it was mixed with a painful resentment for her sheltered upbringing. She had loved her father dearly, but he had died when she was so small that she could hardly remember him. She had loved her brother fiercely, but he had disappeared when she was six, and her heart still hurt when she thought of him. He was the only friend she had ever had until ShayAnne, and it was hard not to wish for him to come back. Even though she knew he was dead, she still found herself thinking of Michael in wistful moments. She supposed it was natural to carry around that kind of pain inside oneself; it probably gave her the proper appreciation for having people like ShayAnne in the world.

Mila walked in the heat and dirt until lunchtime. She came upon a dingy truck stop along the highway and bought herself a stale sandwich and a bottle of water. She drank it, filled it again from the tap in the bathroom, and carried it out when she’d had a little rest. Her feet were filling with blisters already and she found herself squinting at the highway in hopes of finding a familiar face.

No one stopped and the sun was dipping low on the horizon when Mila decided to stop for the night. She hoped she was going in the right direction. The highway curved on this part of the road and the storm clouds gathering overhead made her think that maybe she wouldn’t be able to sleep outdoors tonight. She worried as she walked, quickening her pace when thunder clapped above her. Fat raindrops began to pelt her as she ran for cover. There were no trees on this stretch of the highway, except for those inside the grounds of a large estate set out in the middle of nowhere. There was absolutely nothing else around, and so, forced by the weather, Mila raced against the wind and rain to the door of the imposing manor.

Abandoning her fears, Mila pounded on the wide front door and waited, sopping wet, for her call to be answered.

A shock worse than a bucket of icy water greeted her when the great door swung open.

“May I help you?”

“M-Mei?” Mila stuttered in a hushed voice, shivering through her wet clothes.

The short, Asian woman peered at her suspiciously and Mila realized she must look nothing like the housekeeper remembered.

“I’m sorry,” Mila muttered, trying to figure out what she should do next.

Suspicious, the woman held the door open wider and came toward Mila. “Who are you?”

Mila shook her head, her voice clogged in her throat.

Recognition dawned on the woman’s face and she said in a tone of intense hush, “Michael?”

“No,” Mila said, shaking her head. “Michael’s... sibling.”

She scratched the scruffy beard on her face and hung her head.

“Come in, quickly,” the woman said, grabbing Mila’s arm and dragging her through the doorway. She shut the massive door and began shunting Mila down the hallway to the kitchen.

“Sit,” she ordered, bustling about the kitchen. She served Mila a cup of hot coffee and told her, “Sit there. One minute. I’ll be right back.”

She disappeared around the corner and Mila, grateful to be out of the storm, sipped the coffee and waited for her return.

A moment later she reappeared, and she wasn’t alone. Startled at seeing double, Mila sloshed coffee into her saucer and gaped at the two identical women in the kitchen. She sneezed, feeling suddenly lightheaded. She moved to stand up, her hand slipping on the polished granite countertop.

“Missy Mila?” one of them said as she struggled to her feet. Her eyes closed and Mila felt herself sinking.

The voices swam in the darkness, and Mila was once again at their mercy.