Little Red

TWENTY FOUR

Somehow Dani had managed to park her car in the villa's parking lot since it wasn't that far from her family's house, and she still needed to calm herself down from her blowout at the Police Station. Taking the keys out of the ignition, Dani laid her head against the steering wheel and closed her eyes tightly as she tried to control her breathing.

Had it always been like this? Since she was ten years old. The slightest thing would always send her back to her grandmother, and she would have to squeeze her eyes shut and count to twenty in her head to make it go away. It got better as she got older, but only now had it started to act up again.

And only Henry could take the blame.

Of course, it'd be him. He was what had started it all, and though it may have gone against everything her mother and grandma Neenie had taught her, Dani wished to God that she could just-

A vibration from her pocket caused the girl's eyes to snap open as she removed her head from the steering wheel and looked at her phone after taking it out to see her boyfriend's name on the screen. With a soft breath, Dani slid her finger over and held the phone up to her ear.

"Hello?" she questioned and cringed at the shakiness in her voice.

"Dani?! Baby, where are you?!"

"I...I don't know," Dani lied as she looked around the empty parking lot.

Her eyes narrowed at a bush that had suddenly moved.

"You don't know?" Mikey's voice snapped her out of her trance. "This town's only-... Can you tell me what you see?"

"No," she answered as her eyes went back to the bush. "I want to be alone, Mikey...Can I please just be alone?"

And it was like Dani could feel his hurt through the phone as he said, "Baby, please... Please just tell me where you are, okay? I just need to know that you're safe."

"I'm talking to you right now, aren't I? I'm pretty sure that deems me safe," she mumbled as her mind was half distracted by that same, eerie bush.

Mikey sighed in frustration. "Damn it, Dani, you know that's not what I meant. Just tell me where you-"

"I'm going to go. I'll see you later," she cut him off. "I love you."

"Dani don't you dare-"

Mikey's voice was cut off as Dani hung up the phone and placed it in her pocket before she opened the door and got out of her car. There was no way she could drive back home in the state that she was in...which she couldn't exactly figure out what it was. She just knew it wasn't exactly stable enough for her to drive any further.

"You'll be alright, Dani," she told herself as she tightened her coat and took off in the right direction.

It was dark out, but she knew her way home like the back of her hand.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine," Dani softly sang while making her way down the street.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine," Janine Barnes sang as she rocked her three-year-old granddaughter to sleep.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine," Dani continued.

"Let it shine, Let it shine," Janine sang softly, gazing down at her sleeping granddaughter with a loving smile.

"Let it shine," Dani finished with a small smile on her face as memories of her grandmother singing to her as a child played in her mind.

"You always did have such a lovely singing voice," a male voice suddenly said from behind her.