I remained on the floor clutching the necklace in my hand long after my father had left the room.
The scene that just occurred ran through my mind and one word kept cutting through.
Goodbye
Flashes of that dreadful night brought tears to my eyes. I saw my mother's terrified eyes as she screamed at me.
"Promise me, Sephora. Promise me!"
A promise I had yet to complete.
I sprang up so suddenly that I startled those working around me.
I thanked Maddy and Steve for organizing the party and apologized for the mess before walking out.
I hurried to my room as fast as my feet would take me.
As soon as I got in, I shut the door behind me and leaned against it breathing heavily.
I reached up to turn on the light but let my hand fall instead. It had been a while since I had a moment to myself. I looked around the dark room. The shine from the moon gave it an ethereal feel.
I inherited a lot of my looks from him. I got his blond hair and tall build. People said I looked just like him except for one thing.
I brushed away a couple of tears from my eyes. The night had left me feeling drained, physically and mentally. The darkness was actually a relief to me. It had a numbing effect, momentarily allowing me to get lost in it.
I stood there allowing it to seep into my bones, just thinking.
I realized that I couldn't stay in this house anymore. It was suffocating me. My only sanity came from Steve and Maddy but I knew they would eventually retire.
I needed to start a new life. A life without my father.
I shook my head, remembering the reason I came here.
I hurried to the closet and I ripped off the floorboard, grasping the brown package underneath. I reached for the opening but my hand froze in midair. This was the moment I'd been waiting for. I'd held on, albeit unconsciously, just for this moment and now I was sitting there, scared to open it.
I took in a deep breath and tore open the package. Inside was a white envelope along with several wads of cash.
I picked up the envelope and ripped off the flap, bringing out a folded sheet of paper. I opened the letter and read it.
My dear Sephora, 30-03-03 i love you. Trust your instincts. i will always be with Her. Follow your Destiny, be careful at all times. You will always be highest in my heart
That's it? That's what I've waited for.
I tossed the paper away in frustration and slumped to the ground.
I always held out on the hope that this letter would reveal everything to me. I thought it would unlock the secrets as to what happened to my mother. But all I saw here was evidence that my mother was a quack.
I dragged myself off the floor, still lost in my thoughts, when a hand wrapped around my mouth, jerking me back against a hardchest.
"Don't scream."
A thousand possible reactions ran through my mind. I could hear my martial arts instructor screaming different escapes at me but at the end only one force was guiding me.
Panic.
I bit down hard on the hand against my mouth causing the person to pull back, putting space between us.
I took advantage of this and twisted my upper body while simultaneously lifting my leg into a roundhouse kick.
The person flew back and the baseball cap he was wearing fell off revealing long, wavy hair. I used this opportunity to switch on the lights and turned to him.
The person standing in front of me was dressed in black from top to bottom and wore a protective vest.
My attacker brushed away long auburn strands, revealing soft brown eyes. I looked at the person for a long time before my mind registered what I was seeing.
"You're not a man," I blurted out.
My attacker snarled at me. She walked up to me and got right in my face. She was extremely tall, forcing me to tilt my head backwards to meet her eyes. I immediately got into the defensive stance.
"Well done, you figured out my secret. I am, in fact, not man," she spat out.
She turned away so suddenly that I jerked back, slamming my head against the door.
"Stop slamming your head against the door. It's going to hurt after a while," she said going over to my drawers and emptying them one at a time.
"Really, I didn't know that. Thanks for the help, Sherlock," I spat.
"Huh, so you're a smartass. That is going to make this a whole thing lot more annoying. " She moved on, apparently done with the drawers.
She opened up a box and began to rifle through my underwear.
"What the hell are you doing? Get out of there."
I rushed at her, channelling every ounce of skill I had.
She expertly swatted my flailing arms and threw my legs from under me. I fell to the ground as she carried on with what she was doing.
A lot of good five years of martial arts training did.
"Be careful. I can't bring you back broken," she said.
That made me pause.
"Bring me back where?"
"Headquarters," she said as if it was obvious.
"Look, I don't know who you think you are but if you believe that I am going anywhere with you then you've another thing coming."
I was quite pleased with how I sounded.
"Mhmm," she said ignoring me.
She went to my closest and threw open the doors coming few moments later with a pink backpack. She began to throw items of clothing into the bag.
At that point, my brain finally seemed to register that a strange woman was going through my things and threatening to kidnap me and I was sitting on my butt doing nothing.
"Don't even think about getting up, " she said like she had read my mind.
I shot up and made a break for the door only to have a shoe slammed behind my knees, causing me fall back to the ground. I felt the vibrations of her boots on the wooden floor against my cheek.
From my point of view she looked imposing and intimidating. She reached down her hand, pulling me up onto my feet with no effort and glared.
"Look, I don't like you. I don't want to like you but I have been told to get you to the headquarters with minimal damage. If I don't I will be the laughing stock of the HQ and I hate amusing people. So, I am not above breaking a few rules to get you there with 'minimal damage'," she said calmly.
"Who are you?" I asked in shock.
"Des," she replied, rolling her eyes.
"Okay Des, why do you think I'm going to follow you willingly?" I said with genuine curiosity.
"Well, I was told to tell you to read the letter. Oops, probably should've said that first but you decide to amputate my hand."
"You snuck up on me," I pointed out, "Wait, what letter?"
"I don't know they told me it would help you trust me or something," Des said. She picked up two bags and tossed them out of the window.
A letter, no one's given me a letter.
The only letter I had gotten in a while was mom's whack letter.
I went to the closet and picked up the letter from the floor. I handed the letter to Des.
"Ah, HQ Code. Classic," Des said smiling.
"Okay. Do you know what it means?" I said.
"Duh."