Red Hood (Book One)

Chapter Sixteen

 Axel parked his red Ford truck in front of Maula's apartment. I searched the address from the manila envelope on Google. The first result that came up was a photo of an orange house. I took a screenshot of of it before I got out of the truck.

Maula walked with me to the front door. For some reason, Axel caught up with us. We stopped in our tracks, since he blocked the door. Maula rolled her eyes. Why won't he move? I had a blood vial to steal, and a friend to show it to.

"Stop right there. I want to apologize for our dad's weird ass behaviour. Now, you can go inside," Axel said.

I crossed my arms. "Apology accepted. Can you move?"

"Yeah."

Axel moved out of our way, and hugged me. We shared a glance before Maula opened the door. For a moment, my face was on his chest. The pine forest smell on his shirt gave me goosebumps. Oh my God, what is wrong with me? I took a deep breath and pulled away from him.

"Bye, Candy," Axel said, walking back to his truck.

I waved at him. "Bye, Axel."

Maula and I went inside the building to the second floor. I put my cardigan back on, just to cover up the goosebumps. The door opened, and Beverly was standing in front of us. She was breathing heavily. Maula raised her eyebrows. I couldn't blame her.

Beverly opened the door wider and let us in. Maula walked past us down the hallway, holding the manila envelope to her chest. The minute I heard a door close, I snuck into that bedroom and swiped a vial of blood. When I went back to the living room, Beverly was smirking at me.

"What?" I asked.

Beverly put her hands on her hips. "Damn, Crimson. I didn't know you had it in you."

"You barely know me."

"I know. But I always wanted to say that."

We laughed. This made me forget about the goosebumps. Just then, Maula came back, empty handed. She seemed a lot more relaxed.

Beverly looked at her suspiciously. I glanced at the hallway, imagining what was in the envelope. Was it a secret file? It could be wolf hair or something. I shuddered at the thought of a bald wolf. Beverly and Maula stared at me in concern.

"What's on your mind, sis?" Maula asked, leaning on the couch. 

  I put my hands in my pockets. "Um...nothing. Just a disturbing scene from a movie."

"I found a movie that will make you forget about that."

"For real?"

"Yeah. Let's watch it."

Maula turned the tv on and sat on the couch. Beverly and I sat on the couch too. Some animated movie called 'Unspoken' came on. Only fifteen minutes into the movie, I almost forgot about the weird image I thought of.

My phone vibrated inside purse. While Maula was focused on the movie, I checked it. Beverly stared at her french tips nonchalantly. The message that appeared on the screen caught me off guard.

'Tell me what you were actually thinking about.'

I typed out my suspicions and pressed 'send'. Beverly's jaw dropped. My suspicions were a little shocking, but they made sense. If the Woods family were selliing wolf blood, they probably wouldn't have any problem selling wolf hair. I turned my attention back to the movie while waiting for a reply.

My phone vibrated again. The scene where the lead character had her voice flow out of her like white steam unsettled me. No wonder it was called 'Unspoken'. Maula gasped dramatically and turned to face me.

"Girl, did you see that?"

"Yeah. I can't believe it took this kind of turn."

"I can't either. Damn."

Maula went on watching the movie. The lead character is woke up crying and tried to scream, but no sound came out. The shadowy figure that stole her voice disappeared from the room. It reminded me of that one situation from ten years ago.

My daddy dropped me off at Alice's light blue house. It was bigger than I thought. The sunlight shining on it made it more beautiful. I was smiling and bouncing in my seat. He laughed.

"You're excited, huh?" he asked.

I squealed. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"You're practically bouncing out of your seat, baby."

"Alice said her house is the best and I can't wait to see it."

"Have fun, Candace."

"I will, daddy."

He kissed me on the cheek before I got out of the car. I waved at him as he drive down the street. Alice's mom answered the door after I rang the doorbell. She moved aside to let me in.

"Hi, Candace. Did you bring a gift?"

"Yes I did, Ms. Little."

 I unzipped my pink backpack and handed her a colorful gift bag. Ms. Little hugged me. I giggled and hugged her back. Alice walked in, playing with her purple pom poms. She smiled when she saw me.

She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the living room. All the other girls in the room were playing dress up. We stood in front of a rack of clothes. I grabbed a red cloak.

As soon as I put it on, Alice clapped and beamed. Some of the other girls stared at me in awe. I swayed the cloak back and forth. It was perfect. I felt like the cutest girl in the room.

Alice grabbed my hands. "You look so pretty in that cape."

"Thank you. I love that cheer outfit," I said sweetly.

"All you need is a wolf to match."

"I don't know about that. What if I get attacked like my mama did?"

"Oh come on, Candy. That's different. You're not crazy like her."

That comment stung more than rubbing alcohol on an open wound. I blinked back tears when I sat with Alice on the floor. She pretended to pour tea in tiny white teacups. The other girls drank their 'tea' and I did the same. They all sang 'Happy Unbirthday', but I stayed quiet. As if everything was fine.

"Candy! Wake up!" Beverly yelled, waving her hand in front of my face.

I looked up at her. "Put your hand down, Bev. I'm not asleep."

"We need to talk."

"Are you dumping me?"

"Come on, don't play with me."

Beverly and I walked into one of the bedrooms. I closed the door behind me. Beverly looked at me with concern. She paced back and forth.

I leaned against the door and touched my face. It was wet with tears. Good thing my makeup was waterproof. Beverly took a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

I sniffled. "I'm fine. I just zoned out."

"What did you think about?"

I told her about the memory I didn't expect to relive. Beverly stopped pacing and pulled me in for a hug. I hugged her back. More tears spilled down my face.

We both let go of eachother and sat on the black bed. Something crumpled under my ass. Without thinking, I picked it up. It was the manila envelope from earlier. Beverly and I stared at it in surprise. Then, Maula knocked on the door.