Chapter Twenty-Five
"Tag! You're it!"
The little girl could feel the blood racing through her body at those two words: you're it.
One of her brothers screamed and barrelled away from the group of four, shoving his brothers aside to escape his sister. The rest were all soon to follow, clambering their way out the front door and sloppily closing it behind themselves. It creaked back open when the latch didn't slide shut, and when Rannia turned to sprint after them, her mother's voice caught her in place.
"You know what to do, Rannia."
Rannia's rush slowly faded. Her small eyes watched as the figures of her three brothers raced off into the distance, disappearing behind the lines of trees and brush. The girl scuffed her foot across the ground and pouted.
Her mother gave her a warning look. "Get your jacket and mask, dear."
Her brothers were already far off in the distance. Eons away, really, to Rannia's small little body. Her feet ached to run out, to be free, to follow, but she couldn't.
Her mother's soft fingers helped the little girl into her Spiderman jacket, and after a little reluctance, the mask was placed over her mouth and nose as well. Rannia tugged her pudgy little fingers at the bottom of her jacket.
"It's hot outside, mom," the little girl whined. "Why can they run around without all this?"
"You know why." Her mom crouched so she was eye-to-eye with the seven year old. Lithe fingers adjusted the front zipper. "You're special, baby. Oh, come here."
Rannia burst into tears and fell into her mom's arms, shoving her wet and snotty face deep into her mom's chest to stifle most of her cries. Her mom hated doing this. Every time her little girl had to go outside it wasn't simply a matter of leaving, it was about not being seen.
June Romero ran her fingers through her girl's tangled hair, cut short to the bottom of Rannia's ears. When they pulled back from each other, June's eyes began to water. "I love you," she confessed tearily, staring deep into the red and puffy eyes of her daughter, each framed by thick black lashes. June wiped a tear aside before it had time to soak into the mask. "You know that."
"It's not fair," Rannia whined again, a little softer this time. Inside, Rannia's life wasn't that different from her brothers. It was play time, exercise time, food time, and nap time. But it was when they left the walls of their home that their difference became clear, and it could not have been more glaringly obvious. Head low, Rannia. Don't speak, sweetheart. Just say you're your brother. Please. Baby, don't cry. Sweetie. Please. I love you. Just one more time. Baby, I love you.
"Can you just be our little secret for one more day?" Her mom whispered quietly, begging a little.
Rannia kicked her foot into the ground. "I don't wanna."
"Baby, it's to keep you safe, to not let those bad men find you, right?"
"Why?"
"They're bad men, baby. Bad-bad men."
"Why?" Little Nia repeated insistently.
"Nia." June delivered a stern look.
"Why?"
I can't tell you why.
"That's for mommy and daddy to know." June cast a look to her left and saw her husband standing in the corridor. She sent him a quick glare as he watched the scene play out. "Now go, Nia. Go play."
"Okay, mommy." Nia leaned in to kiss her mother's cheek, but her little lips didn't touch her mother's skin through the mask. So instead she leaned in with all her little body's might to show just how much she loved her momma.
"Love you forever and ever," the little girl recited.
June kissed her daughter's cheeks right back. "Forever and ever."
With a small smile hidden behind the little girl's mask, Nia ran off to find her brothers in the woods. It wasn't the same with a big heavy jacket, and it wasn't easy to run with a mask on her mouth and nose, but it was because she was special and because she was her mommy's little secret.
Away from the woods and back in the clearing, the young couple stood in silence for a moment.
"I don't want to do this anymore, Vee," June admitted quietly to her husband. She turned to him with teary eyes—like mother like daughter—and fell into the man's awaiting arms. She cried away into his chest until all was dried, and until the tears stopped.
"We can't have our little girl grow up like this."
"I know," Vee replied.
To keep from crying further, June took a step back and shuddered in a breath.
"I'm tired."
Vee checked his watch and saw three new texts. His brow creased. "June, I know.
We all are."