Gwendolyn,Get Your Gun🚬

Chapter 4-Escape

   The bathroom was the closest to her, so she fled there. The door opened easily in her palm, and she slammed it shut, locking it the moment she entered. She stopped dead when she saw the bathroom. It was large and highly sophisticated. The floors gleamed and the basins sparkled. The gold-rimmed bathtub was as large as a swimming pool.
 
She was caught off guard for a few seconds, until her mission flashed through her mind again. She scanned the room for an escape route. The windows were too high, and she was much too small. She bent to look beneath the sinks, and smiled when she saw an air vent. She grabbed it fiercely and pulled at it. It didn't budge. She studied it and groaned quietly when she saw that it was screwed to the wall.
  
She sat on the floor, it was cool against her skin. The bathroom was a sharp contrast to the bedroom. Cocking her head, she wondered if she could move in there instead. She saw a small cushioned stool nearby,and an idea struck her. She quickly grabbed the stool and placed it near the window. She placed her feet firmly on the stool and stretched on the tip of her toes. Her head was almost out of the windows when she heard voices.

"Gwyn!" a soft voice called. "Gwyneth, where are you?"

She sighed heavily, and stepped down. She opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out.

"Gwyn!Are you in there?" the voice was calling from directly outside the bathroom. She hurriedly put the stool where it belonged and flushed the toilet.
Then she walked to the door an opened it.
Asunción's beautiful face was staring back at her.

"Are you alright, my darling?"

Gwen nodded slowly,but she'd begun to feel terribly uneasy. She did not like being called endearments so affectionately by someone she was barely acquainted with. In fact, they'd met just a few minutes ago Why was she being so nice?

Did she have an ulterior motive?Wasn't she working for the man she'd claimed had saved her?
But then Asunción smiled and all of Gwen's doubts vanished.
She was indeed beautiful, and her smile seemed so sincere. She can't be two-faced,Gwen thought, so she smiled back. Which gladdened Asunción even more.

"Come on,"she said,placing a hand gently on Gwen's back. "I brought you something to eat."

She led Gwen to the bed and helped her sit.Then she took a wide tray from the table and placed it in front if her.There was only one food on the tray.

Pie.

Pie.

Thursday nights were for pie.

Pie was the last thing Mommy had made before she died.

That was when Gwendolyn broke.

She dropped to the floor, her body heaving with the nerve wracking sobs. Asunción bent down slowly and cuddled Gwendolyn up in her arms. Gwendolyn cried noiselessly , taking sudden, sharp breaths. After a while,she looked up at Asunción.
Asunción didn't look distressed by her sudden outburst.S he was surprisingly calm, and there was a certain look in her eyes, like she understood her pain.
Gwendolyn sniffed and sat up. She let out a shaky breath.

Asunción gave a wry smile."I figure you don't like pies very much."

Gwendolyn smiled a little and shook her head.

"You know,Gwyneth, I've lost someone I loved very much before."

Gwen sat up straight and frowned.

"My twin brother."

Gwendolyn's heart lurched. A twin brother was much closer than a stepbrother. Someone you shared a room with couldn't compare to someone you shared a womb with.

She touched Asunción's arm gently.

"His name was Visitación,"Asunción said, and smiled at Gwen's confused expression."Our mother was very religious. Asunción is a Spanish word that means ascension or assumption. It refers to the Assumption Of Mary,the mother of Jesus. Visitación refers to visita de la Virgen Maria. "

Gwendolyn nodded in understanding.

"I lost my entire family in a fire accident. Our car caught fire at a gas station...I was the only one who wasn't in the car. We were going to Florida for a vacation. We'd planned it for months. Visitación and I were the most excited about it. We'd been in boarding school for a year, so this was the first time we got to spend time with our family." Her face took on a dazed expression, like her body was present but her mind was far away.
"I had three other siblings. Phillip, Pamela and our baby, Paula. They always called me Frankie...short for Francesca,which is my other name. We were having such a good time. When we got to the interstate highway, Mom asked me to get some snacks for us while dad refilled the gas tank. I still remember everyone's orders. Paula wanted Skittles. Visitación loved Reeses,just like me. Phillip and Pamela..Kit Kats. Mom,a diet coke. She was always watching her weight," Asunción added,laughing. "There was nothing to watch,though,she was in perfect shape. Dad always told her that, but she still insisted. She said he only said that because he loved her and would never tell her if she was fat. This was true. My parents loved each other deeply. Twenty-two years of marriage and they still made googly eyes at each other .It was admirable. A lot of people envied them. Francis and I were so proud of them."She sighed."Anyway,I got down from the minivan,and went to get the snacks inside the store near the station. A few seconds later, I heard a loud explosion that shook the ground. I was flat on my face before I even knew what was going on. I looked outside and...and I saw them...wriggling in the flames, twisting and burning and wailing...Oh their wails. I can never forget it. It haunts me still. I... I... I... " Her face turned ice blue and she began to hyperventilate. Gwendolyn gasped and hurriedly grabbed her shoulders, shaking her profusely.

That didn't work.

She rushed to the bathroom, cupped water from a basin and rushed back. She splashed it on Asunción's face and waited while her quick breathing reduced to calm breaths.

Gwendolyn sighed.She felt for this girl.She'd lost an entire family. Though she couldn't compare their losses,she was sure Asunción had suffered more pain than she could imagine. Had she been saved too? By who?

She held her hand, and they sat together, bonding in the comfortable silence.
Meanwhile,high above them,a secret camera moved like an eye,watching their interplay.