#Maynia Day20 -- Don't You Cry No More
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Maynia -- Day Twenty -- 1,366 words
It was funny to get in my car just to drive the short distance back to my house. Just when I had turned the corner road down my street, I spotted Z from my rearview mirror, he was running after my car in a mid-jog sprint and I could only shake my head at his antics. That man could really find new ways to get himself hurt..
I was already in the process of unlocking the door to my house when Z had now managed to catch up to me, “Shiela!” He panted out on my driveway as he slowly walked towards me, stopping and leaning by the porch steps instead, “Damn!.. I can’t remember the last time—I ran like that! Not since back at camp training! Woo!” He huffed out and I could only smile at him in amusement as I shook my head before I started to get inside. “Woah, hold up there!”
Z took hold of the door and put his foot in between the doorway as I was just about to shut it, I looked up at him in annoyance and was about to protest on whatever crazy idea he had come up with just to support Jack’s, but he had already started talking, “I don’t agree too alright!—” He stared at me with a pleading look in his hazel-brown eyes as he still kept me from shutting the door on him; not that I was still trying to at this point.. “—just hear me out on this!.. Please!”
I hesitated for a moment before I pulled the door a little wider but kept myself between the doorway, not really giving him an invitation to come inside, Z backed away a little at this and he rubbed his nape as he tried to look at anywhere other than me, “I—know you’re not a fragile little thing, Shiela. It’s just that.. you can’t keep me—I mean us—from worrying ‘bout you, ya know?” He looked at me then with such sincerity that for a moment, I briefly pictured living with the three of them.
But I then frowned at what that would imply, and maybe Z took my expression the wrong way because he was now grasping for words, “Uh what I mean is—you should drop by more often! Fuck! That didn’t come out right.. uh—” I watched Z as he muttered that last one to himself, before I decided to save him from the mess he was about to make of himself, “How about I find the time to see you guys just to let you know I’m still alive and kicking in this big ole’ house?”
He grinned at my suggestion and nodded his head in agreement and I could only return his smile and was planning to excuse myself when a familiar white car drove up and stopped just outside my driveway, it was Luke who came rushing out as he called out in a rush, “Z! We need to follow Jack, he’s heading for the hospital!”
Something gnawed at the back of my mind at what Luke said and I couldn’t have stopped myself from asking him, “What's wrong? Did something happen to Jack?”
Luke then turned his attention on me, his usually clear grey eyes were now a stormy grey, as he spoke in a grim tone, “It’s Mayor Heins. They found him dead in the mines this morning.”
“What’s your take on this, Deputy?” I waited for Diana to speak up as I took out a pad and pen, only to see her regard me with an apprehensive look.
“I don’t think you should take on this case, Jack. It’s all pretty personal to you.. and for me..” I looked at Diana then, before my eyes drifted to where my mother sat in the hospital’s waiting area, a dazed look on her tear-stained face. I couldn’t blame mother nor Diana, at this point, for being emotional—imagine having your husband, said to have died of natural circumstances such as a heart attack, but being found in an unconventional place such as the mines, and at such an ungodly hour at that.. As for Uncle Derek..
My eyes drifted back to Diana as I watched her make her way towards my mother, not really prioritizing the report I asked of her, I narrowed my eyes and frowned at that—it wasn’t as if it was her father who was found dead—Uncle Derek may have been at the mines along with my father, but he now lay in a coma in one of the hospital’s rooms.
After finding no injuries to his head, medics concluded it was a stroke-induced coma. But the truth was still left unsaid, and I had to make Diana accept the fact that until her father woke up to recount what really happened at the mines—Uncle Derek would be my primary suspect on Mayor Heins’ death. No matter the natural circumstances of his death, a fight may have ensued between them which could have very well been the trigger he needed.
I was lost in my thoughts then, unconsciously rubbing the signet ring hidden in my pocket, when I heard the sound of fast approaching footsteps before I saw my mother snap out of her dazed state then start to come rushing towards the source of the footsteps, “You! You witch! Why couldn’t you have left our town alone?!” I had blocked mother’s offending hand as Diana even held her by her shoulders, before she could swipe at the person who had approached from behind me.
I briefly glanced Shiela, protectively surrounded by Luke and Z before I turned my focus on Diana, telling her to take my mother out for breather. Diana did as I asked, wistfully looking at Luke, before she started leading mother out the hall with effort as she kept struggling and calling Shiela a witch.
I gave out an exasperated sigh as the shouts lessened in intensity down the hall, before I focused on Shiela with an apologetic look on my face then I shook my head, “You shouldn’t have brought her here.” Aiming that statement at the guys but still keeping my gaze locked on Shiela.
“I insisted. I feel I have a right to pay respects to the man I was supposed to do business with.” She stared at me evenly before she pulled out her phone and showed me a text, it was from my father. I briefly took note of the time the message was received on her phone before Shiela pulled it back as she said, “Have you tried searching his phone? Has there been foul-play involved?”
I asked that too to myself but—“Luke, Z.. thanks for coming along. If you’re here for Uncle Derek, he’s at Room 420. I need to get going, I actually remembered something back at mom’s place..” I glanced away from Shiela then and clapped them both on the shoulder as I headed out.
Father must have cleaned something out from the room him and mother shared.
“Ms. Lancaster. There’s something you need to know.. about who wanted the Telecom Tower built in the first place..”
“You must not trust her! She held me by that ring she guised as a gift! It feeds on your darkest desires.. the greed.. the need for power—it all felt amplified! You must destroy it before she finds out I have come to my senses!”
“The mines—you must throw it in the mines, towards the light! That unholy light that sucked in my soul..”
I clicked the audio recorder to a pause as I started to take in what father left in his home office, the sudden sparseness of the room made me think that he was truly planning to come clean this time, but then again…
I pulled out the signet ring from my pocket and gazed into the engravings made in the inside, avaritia et animam tuam aeternam.
“I was hoping I would get to that recorder first.”
I tensed as I heard the voice that spoke up, turning from the chair, I faced the perpetrator who started this all.
to be continued...
Image from Pixabay, by Phan Minh Cuong An: https://pixabay.com/users/minanfotos-9565064/ (edited with dreamscopeapp)