farfalla

VIII.

I'm found in the back of a car, legs hanging from a car seat that I stared down at. My feet were small and bare with nothing to protect them for when I would have to walk. The sky was dark something I still to this day have despised. Looking out the window I see the moon greet me along with the other cars trailing at the same speeds as our own. I turn my gaze to the front of me to where I see the outline of a man driving, he is familiar.

"You don't need to be scared anymore baby," he spoke letting me hear his voice that I can tell was cracked. I heard a sniffle shortly afterward giving me the clues that he has or is crying.

"I want mummy," I spoke with no control over my speech. My voice was little and higher pitched than normal which I figured was because I was seeing through my four-year-old eyes with more clarity.

I remember this now. I knew why my dad was crying and where we were going. I didn't understand this at the tender young age of four but now sitting here in my mind I gained more clarity over the situation. I could feel myself start to silently cry once again even though I haven't fully stopped, to begin with.

It wasn't long before we arrived at an airport on the tarmac of one to be precise. My father pulled toward a cluster of cars that crowded towards the plane that had open doors. I leaned up out of my seat to better see what was waiting outside. People in black suits cover the premises which I had associated myself with safety from a young age.

I was unbuckled from the seat I sat in only to be picked up and perched on my father's hip. I laid my head on his shoulder tired from all the crying that had brought me to the brink of exhaustion. I didn't fully understand what the group of adults were talking about at the time and tried to decipher their words but now I listened with ease.

"He went into my house!" My father became angry when met with the group consisting of both men and women.

"James-" A women spoke but was cut off shortly by my father's angry outburst.

"Don't do that Veronica! He killed Ophelia! I told you I wanted out and you wouldn't listen! I told you that it was only a matter of time before this happened!" The sadness that I saw had now melted into a boiling hot of anger.

"This is no one's fault, James." The women my father addressed as Veronica said.

"You insisted on one more mission and I like an idiot I believed that something like this wouldn't happen! You said you would secure my family and now here we are! God Damn it!" He swore putting his hand against my ear as if to guard the last part. "And now she is gone!"

The others said nothing but put their heads down in despair. There was nothing any of them could say to make this man feel any better. I didn't fully put together the puzzle pieces of this conversation since I needed more context as to what they were talking about. I didn't know all the details of this so-called last mission and everything following it.

"We did as you requested. Mia will be transported to somewhere safer until things cool down." Veronica spoke after a long silence and rubbing of my back from my father's hand. It was too dark to really make any of the people out, I could not see many features under the darkened night sky.

At the mention of my name, I perked up. I didn't know at the time what the word "transported" meant but now I understood it perfectly. That word had been the story of my life.

"Can I have a minute alone?" Father asked glancing up at the group of superiors.

"Take as much time as you need." Veronica stepped away along with the rest of the group of people I had no clue as to who they were.