Bulletproof Kisses (COMPLETED)

11| Mirror Image



She recognized the caller ID. She recognized the special ring tone she had set for that one particular person.
Maria swallowed hard, glancing at Leon from the corners of her eye, as she hesitatingly swiped the screen to answer. She couldn't ignore the call as it may be important and she couldn't excuse herself to talk.

She was trapped.

"Hello," she answered and after hearing the tone of her voice, she cleared her throat.

She listened to the other end, realizing that muffled breathing was all she could hear. Maria bit her jaw, her heartbeat increasing with every moment of silence that she received from the other end.

"Hello," she croaked again, but this time stronger. Leon concernedly glanced in her direction to see what was wrong; the lines of curiosity on his face, visible.

"Hi sis," a voice finally came, filling Maria's ears with a sudden panic and bitterness.

Chills ran down her body, she used a hand to hug a shoulder. "Wh- where's mom?" she asked with a firmer voice, tilting her head further away from Leon and lowering her voice.

"Mommy's here, can't I talk to you for a little while?"

Maria bit her lips to stop them from trembling and tightly closed her eyes to stop the tears from falling. "What do you want?" She asked, noticing how fast Leon's head snapped round. The car came to a screeching halt.

"Is that Sam?" He demanded abruptly, his face going hard with the thought of the wretched man.

Maria swallowed and quickly shook her head. "No" she mouthed, then cleared her throat. "I've gotta take this call privately, excuse me," she explained, happy that the car had stopped.

She saw the look of curious gaze Leon threw at her, but she was happy he didn't act on it.

Quickly, Maria slid from the car and went to a far corner to continue her conversation. "Where's my mother?" She asked now, a bit sharply.

A giggle emanated from the caller. "Is that how you talk to your sister Maria?" She teased gratingly.

Maria clenched her teeth. "Why the hell are you calling me from mom's phone?"

"Mine's kinda broken," she said lazily. "Well anyway, mom is in the shower and I'm here bored so I decided to give sissy a call. I just came back from Tennessee," she provided dully.

"Good for you," Maria retorted flatly, not liking the news one bit. If her sister was back - calling from her mom's phone - it meant she was in New York, and not very far away from her. The thought alone made Maria's stomach turn.

"I'm thinking of paying you a visit as soon as I'm settled in the big Apple. We can hang out... It will be like old times," she laughed, and Maria paled, hugging her shoulder.

"I don't want to see you. I don't want you near me," she hissed sharply.

Marianne scoffed. "Well I wonder how you feel each time you look at yourself in the mirror."

Maria was left speechless to that for some moments. "Just stay the hell away from me!"

A hearty laugh came from the other line. "Such a bitter woman," Marianne exclaimed distastefully, a slight tinge of mockery present. "An oh...did you get hurt today?" She asked. "I had a feeling that something happened to you"

Maria suddenly grew pale, abruptly disconnecting the call and breathing heavily.

Leaning against the wall, she raked her hand through her hair and closed her eyes, allowing calm to enter her body. Her thoughts had gone haywire as memories of the conversation she had- memories of her sister overwhelmed her.