DANIEL HERON: BECOMING

14 - Like I said, I am not yet sure about you.

The cold was spreading through Daniel's body, caused by a touch of the woman with long brown hair. She was inviting him to come with her to the cabin.

Eventually, his legs obeyed, even though his mind objected. He walked after her as if he were half-asleep. He climbed the stairs and let her take him into the cabin. Although, what he thought was a cabin, turned out to be a brick house. The boards on the outside were nothing but a cover.

On the other side of the heavy door, a cozy living room welcomed him. Bathed in the warm light from the pendant light above it, a dark green sofa with soft cushions was inviting him to sit. On the opposite side stood two matching armchairs, and in between a massive wooden coffee table.

On the right side, an arched doorway led to the kitchen far tidier than the one in his mother's apartment. There were no dirty dishes on the counters, and through the glass on the kitchen cabinet doors you could see crystal clean glasses.

Daniel's eyes were searching for the signs that might reveal something about the identity of the two women, but other than a few empty vases and porcelain figurines, they found no personal belongings. He didn't notice a single photo, not on the wall or the shelf against the wall.

He found lack of photos unusually strange. Even his mother kept photographs of her children in the apartment. On one of them was Barbara, with her curly hair and freckles on the nose and cheeks. She was smiling. That was a rare sight, Daniel always thought to himself when he looked at that picture.

The other one was a photo of Robert in his army uniform, and on the third one was Daniel as a schoolboy. A few days before the picture was taken, he lost one of the front baby teeth, and the void that was left in its place was forever captured by a photographer.

"Sit," the dark-haired woman broke his thoughts.

Daniel sat on the edge of an armchair closest to him, not daring to relax. He rubbed the palm of his hand to return some warmth into it.

"You are the one they call Daniel, aren't you'" she asked. The eyes that were looking at him were blue, nothing like those he saw earlier that evening.

He opened his mouth, trying to speak, but it was too difficult to utter a single word. Therefore, he simply nodded.

She smiled slightly. "I am Anastasia. And my sister's name is Teresa."

He tried to return the smile, but without much success.

"Those young men you were with, they were embodiment of malice," the other one said, stepping up to him, towering above. Teresa, that was her name. "Are you like the rest of them?"

He vigorously shook his head left to right. That time he did manage to speak. "No," he said. "I am not like them."

"Funny you should say so." Teresa stood up straight and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You know what they say - Birds of a feather flock together. Yet you say that you aren't like the rest. Then how come you ended up with them?"

Coincidence! A series of unfortunate events and a life that didn't turn out the way I thought it would.

That was what he wanted to say, but once more, his throat closed. So he just shrugged his shoulders and quietly said, "I don't even know."

"They deserved what was coming," Teresa said coldly. "When it comes to you, I'm not quite sure yet."

Daniel saw no remorse in her eyes. She meant what she said.

"Does that mean that you are going to..." He didn't finish the sentence. He couldn't force himself to say the last two words out loud. Not after everything that had happened to his friends at the factory. Yes, Lucio and his gang were ruthless. They were no strangers to violence. Daniel was sure they wouldn't even shy away from murder.