The Illusion of Us

Chapter 33

"Mina!" The little girl's parents yelled after her as she sprinted as fast as her small leg would carry her.

"Mina Joyce!" The voices continued, but the girl ignored them, her attention focused on the little boy sat on the curb a few feet away, his legs pulled to his chest and his shoulders shaking rhythmically.

"Mina Joyce come back!"

"Are you ok?" She asked, taking a seat beside the boy. She knew her parents would be angry with her for soiling her clothes but, at the moment, she didn't quite care.

"Those were your parents weren't they?" She asked, referring to the ambulance in the distance. The little girl knew the answer even before the boy had nodded in confirmation, finally lifting his head from his knees to meet her soft gaze.

"Do you have any other family?" She asked nosily and the boy, seemingly regaining a small amount of courage, shook his head, "No," an onslaught of tears on the edges of his vision.

"Don't worry." She told him in reassurance, folding her small hand into his own. "Everything's going to be ok." She promised assuredly. "My parents can help you."

"Mom!" Mina yelled, throwing her car keys into the ceramic bowl on the table by the front door.

"Dad!" She called, slamming the front door closed behind her before making her way into the living room where her backpack was deposited next.

"Mom!" She continued calling, images of her newest memory plaguing her thoughts as she searched, hoping that her parents hadn't once again left without a word.

"Dad!"

"Why are you yelling?" The annoyance in Mrs. Mendes' tone was evident as she padded her way into the living room, her slippers noiseless against the polished hardwood floors.

"I want to know about the estate fire." Mina blurted.

"The estate fire?"

"Don't play dumb." Mina advised her mother. "I found a thousand local news articles about what happened." She said, quoting the most recent one she had scanned on the drive home from Khalil's house, "Mendes Estate Hospital Goes Up in Flames: Arson or Accident. Does that title ring a bell?"

Mrs. Mendes crossed her arms over her chest. "If you already know what happened, then why are you asking me?" She prompted.

"So it's true then? The hospital you and dad talked about owning burned down because of a faulty gas line?" She asked, regurgitating the facts that she had read from the news article she had briefly skimmed.

"Yes." Mrs. Mendes nodded in confirmation. "Mina Joyce, it's true." The words had barely drifted into the air between them before Mina was demanding, "How many people died?"

Crossing her arms firmly over her chest, Mina's mom narrowed her eyes hesitantly at her daughter, her brows practically touching her hairline, her lips pursed into a tight line. She looked to be preparing her next words extremely carefully, too carefully in Mina's opinion and, she began to wonder, if Khalil wasn't the only one who had managed to put two and two together.

"May I ask why you're so curious about your father's and I's past all of a sudden?" Her mother questioned, her head extended in her daughter's direction, chin up expectantly but Mina shrugged her question off, feigning nonchalance.

"Just wondering." Mina shrugged, her shoulders reaching her ears as she frowned, her lips turned upwards. "That's all." She said with a shake of her head as she resolved to end the conversation and walk away, but her mother's voice permeating the air once more rooted the soles of her shoes to her spot in the middle of the expansive living room. She could feel her feet practically sinking into the threads of the large Persian rug beneath her.