Marked By Shadows

Chapter 4

 "Sorry! I guess." Aspen shrugged as she rammed her shoulder into a man as she darted around the people in the crowd. She looked back at the two men chasing her. Her brain was full of anxieties, realizing that she might end up being caught and going to jail and have to get bailed out by her brothers. Her mind went a thousand miles per hour, making her fail at focusing on dodging the people in front of her. Aspen's heart was pounding, her palms sweaty, and it felt like she was choking with fear; the smell of the city and the sound of her shoes beating against the concrete were the only things she noticed.

She slammed into Georgia, and Owen clutched her hand.

"I am sorry!" Aspen gasped

"Are you ok?" Georgia asked, rather concerned.

"Yeah, yeah, for sure," Aspen murmured.

The men chasing Aspen grabbed her arm and glared at Georgia. "You are under arrest!" The soldier pointed at Georgia and grabbed Owen as some kind of leverage, in case his mother resisted.

"No!" his mother yelled and knocked down both soldiers, which only made them angrier and, in their minds, have more reason for the arrest.

"Run Owen!" Georgia screamed and her son immediately tore through the crowds of people. The soldiers gave up on him and focused on the two women, grabbing them both and dragging them into their car, which took a while because Aspen bit one of the soldiers' fingers so hard he bled and punched the other soldier in the nose so hard she broke his nose. Georgia kept looking around frantically for Owen, that was the only thought on her mind, that her son was safe and away from this moment in time.

...

"She's normally late.... right?" Zeke stood by the subway. He tapped his foot to the rhythm of his worry while he stared at his watch as if that would make Aspen appear. He tried calling her but went straight to voicemail. The music of his anxiety intensified, so he called Aspen's brother Mike, thinking maybe she was with him. Zeke scrolled through his contacts till he found Mike's number and hesitantly called him. Zeke had always been intimidated by the looming man with his permanent look of disapproval and mass of muscle that looked so much like Aspen. Even when he would play with Aspen he always tried to avoid Mike, scared he would beat his brains out if he looked at him the wrong way. As the phone rang his phobia of Mike slowly evaporated as he worried for Aspen. He felt overwhelmingly guilty, the streets were never safe, and he should have never left her alone, but Aspen refused to have someone protect her.

"Hello?" Mike's deep voice came on the line saturated in grogginess

"Uh hey, Mike- umm this is Zeke, Aspen's friend." Zeke stammered, clutching the phone so tightly his knuckles turned white.

"What do you want?" Mike asked

"I- well I wondered if Aspen was with you?"

"No."

"Oh umm ok" Zeke swallowed trying to submerge his concerns in his constant stream of logic.

"Is that all?"

"Do you know where Aspen might be?"

"Nope," came the even reply. Not a drop of compassion rang in the monosyllable.

"Could- well if you see her can you call me, we are in New York, and-" Mike cut Zeke off.

"Why are you here?" Mike asked, slightly aggravated.

"Well you are engaged and we thought we would say congrats and-"

"I have not seen Aspen," he was lying but didn't have the energy to tell Zeke about his meeting with his sister, "and when you find her, both of you leave." With that, the line went dead.