I am the righteous hand of God.
And I am the devil that you forgot.
"Dinner." I hear the doors being pushed open when the body jumps on me. Choking down, my hand flies to rub my eyes when I see Cailtin in the hallway and my hand is holding Leah. Blinking away a couple of times, I notice the darkness from the outside, meaning I have probably slept through all day.
"Oh my God." I drag my hands over my face to shake the dizziness and headache.
I hear Leah and Caitlin plotting into doing the same thing for Lilah down in her room. Well not quite hers, but during this storm she has agreed to stay here and help me with Leah, which wasn't even the first time, so her having a permanent room here isn't surprising.
The clothes and towels are in my hand as I ignore the mild pain of cramps in my legs and arms when I head into shower. As soon as the air hits my bare body, and the odd shakiness doesn't stop, I understand that I have not escaped fever this time.
Nevertheless I let steaming hot water drip down my bath while I have my hands buried in my hair, trying to wake me up further. My wound is mostly covered when I walk down stairs, greeting all of them shortly before taking the plate with food and returning back. Water is almost filled in when I drop in whatever Caitlin said would make the foaming soap on the surface.
Dipping my feet, then the rest of the body inside felt like heaven on earth. There is a propped up surface where a plate filled with the past lies along with my phone. I make sure not to push it down when I let my elbows rest on the sides. My eyes are closed while the music enchants my ears into a false sense of peacefulness.
The smell of food is luring me in, but I feel no desire to eat it. In all honesty, I feel no desire for anything as I let my body slide over the bath porcelain steel. When my face dives down, my ears are buzzing, the words from above are heard through muffles. The warmth of the body, the sweat in which I woke up in here with me, making my body tremble but my mind is at peace.
It's rarely at peace, so I ignore the rest while I let myself fight with air for lungs rather than answer to doom.
Whichever peace there was, it shattered along with the mirror across me as I dived out from water, brushing away the water and soap as I stared at it. Hundreds of pieces on the floor, bigger ones still in the frame with sharp edges. I am out of the bath mere seconds after, slowly walking around it while footsteps follow from outside.
"What the hell was that?"
"Winter, are you okay?"
"Dad?" the yell from Leah is what snaps me back to reality.
"Yeah." I add, stepping back to wrap the towel around me. "A mirror broke, but I am fine."
Grabbing my phone and tiptoeing over the shattered glass is harder when I feel myself being lightheaded, the situation bringing in more headache for me. Stepping outside of the room, Leah is wrapping herself around my leg before I properly pick her up, still staring inside.
"What did you do?" Caitlin asks.
My lips are parted as I rub Leah's back and I shake my head. Never once in my life have I had a mirror break on its own. "Nothing."
After I hand her to Lilah, I am in my room to grab a pair of new clothes while my sister stays back to pick up the broken pieces. Pulling a sweatshirt over my head and looking at the closet mirror brings up the strange shiver in me as I close it, not wanting another incident.
Lilah and Leah are playing in the living room with some notebooks about drawing while I walk past them, entering the kitchen and eating whatever was on that plate as I observe the outside world. It was calmer, less lighting over the sky which was like a Christmas tree last night.
The kettle was buzzing to my left as I glanced down at it, before taking it and sipping it in the mug, preparing the tea when Lilah walked in.
"That to calm your nerves?"
The water was flooding the mint tea bags as the honey dripped down from the spoon down into it. "To calm my fever."
She hums, suddenly standing beside me when she takes the rest of the boiled water, repeating the same actions with me. "If it doesn't help, I will blame you."
I laugh, glancing back at her, only now seeing her hair in the usual style. She noticed my furrowed brows and answered with raised one when I tilt my head to her hair. Her eyes are up for a moment, before the realization settles as she nods, taking a spoon of honey between her lips.
When the spoon clangs down in the sink, I am sitting on the stool and she is soon to follow. "I remember when I had my first white boyfriend. Mom told me I can only marry him if he learns to deal with my hair."
I smile, licking my lips before taking a slow sip of the tea. My mom is a British woman that spent most of her life in America, until she decided to return back home a couple of years ago after divorce and reopen the psychiatrist's office. I suppose my liking for the tea is genes coming from her.
I was always more similar to her than dad. Although Micheal is an orthodontist, Caitlin is a surgeon and mom's job is more related to theirs than mine. Dad is a commercial pilot, so far away from any of our branches, yet as successful as the rest of us.
"Does that mean you will marry my sister, considering that she knows how?"
The temperature on her face heightens at that, with a roll of her eyes and wave of hand used to cover it up, she mutters. "Let me drink this in peace."
I hum to cover the snicker as I place the mug down on the counter. "You should know, my sister would rather die than change her last name. If I were you, I would prepare myself to give up the name Turner."
I catch the plastic toy, belonging to Leah, which she throws at me with an annoyed scoff, only on the surface when she adds. "I almost forgot how egoistic your family is."
I twist my lips in a funny way as I shake my head. "We are a successful family."
"Yes, we are." my sister appears into the room in an unexplainable rush, searching the drawers for something while she continues. "And the extremely successful member of this family has been called to remove a brain tumor. Obviously the fucking disease can't wait for nice weather or an hour."
I can somewhat sympathize with her, because the criminals aren't much different from diseases. They don't seem to sleep, always ready to destroy things, like my sleep schedule.
I don't ask her what she was looking for when she leaves the drawer alone, slamming it back before walking around to Lilah. As soon as she cups her face and presses her lips on her, she is pulling back with a concerned expression. Her hand slid over her face, resting on her forehead. "You are burning up."
"Yeah, it will be fine."
"No." we both raised our eyebrows at her denying a reply. She is grabbing her wrist, pulling her up. "You are coming with me. I will leave you with some nurses while I perform surgery."
"What-" she tries, but Caitlin is already pulling her out with ease. There is a smirk on my face that is not as slick as I imagined, when she catches a glimpse of it.
Her own creation on her face, when she turns back to Caitlin and I am too late to stop her from saying. "Winter also has a fever."
I lower my hand, exhaling slowly when she pauses, glancing back at me and the tea.
Needless to say, Leah is sitting in the backseat, completely away from her aunt's requests as the four of us drove to the nearest hospital.
Once we are inside, Sonya, her best friend who works as a nurse is calling me and Lilah inside as Leah plays with them. I see familiar faces to which I can place names. I don't come here often. mostly all the time I do is for Caitlin.
Her overreactions are a reason why everyone around her avoids telling her they are sick.
At least she is the one paying for it.
Medicine is poured down our throats when they practically steal our phones, announcing what they call incapability to work for at least two days. I hope Jackson sleeps over my messages once again so that I can calmly show up at work next morning as if nothing happened.
It doesn't go according to my plan. He answers with kind words and wishes for my well being.
After the first couple of hours pass, Leah walks over to me, asking for food. After I am denied leave, one of the nurses runs over to a chinese restaurant close to and brings us all the food as we sit amongst them and eat. Helping her with chopsticks was mostly hilarius to everybody but her. After the seventh try she ripped it out of my hand and snapped in half.
"You can't do that Leah." I grab the broken chopstick, placing it on the table.
"Why not? The ghost did it to the mirror."
Her imagination never ceases to amaze me. The day I returned back to DC, after being completely cut off from the old world, Caitlin waited for me at the door, next to a stroller for children. After pulling away from her embrace, my world didn't know where to stand anymore.
The first thing I noticed were her eyes, having the same shade as Mila. Two months before I was sent for the mission me and her ended our four years long relationship, only neither of us were aware of her pregnancy. When she found out, it was already too late to let me know.
Mila, being herself and more focused on her job as a flight attendant than anything else, she spared nine months of her life, then left the child on Caitlin's doorstep as if she was some sort of disposing trash.
My supervisors refused to let my team know of the situation, afraid that I might retire from my mission too soon. I don't think they are wrong, because at the end of it all, I have. They told me when it was all over and I have not let her out of my sight for longer than two days.
"The ghost didn't break the mirror." I tell her, lifting my own chopstick for her to bite down.
With food still in her mouth, I use my thumb to remove food from her chin, she asks. "Who did it then?"
I sigh, looking back at the food as I whirl them around in it. "Don't talk with food in your mouth, it's rude. And nobody did. It broke on its own."
"How?" she asks, taking another bite while sitting sideways in my lap. Most of the nurses already left, Lilah went to sit in the waiting room in hope that my sister would finish soon. Knowing her delicacy of perfection, especially for this I doubt she would be out at least next ten hours.
"I don't know."
"Ghosts do!"
Minutes before the midnight ticks on the clock, she is sleeping in my arms.
Despite the frustrating exhaustion of raising her, I wouldn't change for a thing in the world. I know I am not alone, Caitlin is always there to help when she can, the rest of my family and team as well, but it's not the same. Only a child that grew up with one parent could understand all the things that will come into her life later on.
My heart aches for her, but I can only hope for life to be gentle for her.
"Sir." I turn my head to Maria, a nurse in training that almost passed out on the spot when she found out I was an FBI agent after she spent half an hour explaining all the things her and her friend have done in college. Maybe if I have not lived through the same thing as her, as every other student has, I would do something about it. But some high and drunk barely pass teens are not anyone's priority.
My phone is in her hand. "Someone is trying to reach you."
I straighten my back, keeping Leah's head on my shoulder when I take the phone. "Thank you, Maria."
She is nodding her head and leaving when I glance down to see seven missed calls from Jackson, four from Daniel and at least fifty unopened messages from them all together. Before I have the chance to call any of them back, a new name pops up.
Alena Brooks, the director of our division.
Chills rush through my body on the name. Over the years I have known her, the first time this number has been used is tonight.
My blood is still, zoning out the rest of the noises when I click the button, resting the phone on my ear. "Ma'am?"
"Haden."
It's clean, simple, stren, and serious. "Yes?"
"Where are you?"
I swallow down the empty air. "Hospital where my sister works."
The line is silent for a while, then I hear orders being said by her, sending a large number of agents in my direction. One of two SWAT teams are prepared just in case, those are her exact words.
In case of what?
My grip tightens around Leah, sudden fear or God knows what surrounds me and I regret not carrying my gun. I know better than to interrupt her, but the sweat drops are sipping down my face when I hear doors being open.
The creak of them is slow, revealing Lilah. Her grip is on the doorframe, another hnd having the phone on her ear while she looks at me. She looks at me as if she was just thrown into a haunted prison, or had to relive her first killing. It's horrific.
I can barely breathe when I hear the diretor speak again. "Haden is Turner with you."
"She is."
The next silence isn't planned, it's a reaction from my voice. The edge of it while I feel sick.
I was never superstitious neither have I known anything about them, but I know who did. I don't think he ever believed in them, but he knew all about it. Broken mirror was a seven years bad omen, he would say. That's if you break it, but if it breaks on its own... I suppose even those fanatics never thought that far ahead.
"Did she tell you anything?"
"Tell me what?" My voice is louder, stirring my daughter in her sleep, but I can't even focus on it. I am not only asking her, my eyes are on Lilah, asking her, begging her, to deny it. Even make up a new scenario where this won't happen.
But her eyes are distant and full of pity.
I have my answer even before it reaches my ears.
It's still raining outside, but only barely.
He hated rain.
Always claimed it to be the worst omen for bad luck. Almost fifteen days ago this endless storm started, now the sky is squeezed out of its liquid and I think he was wrong. I think rain protects us from bad omens, but when it leaves, we are all alone.
"Landon Thorne escaped prison."