A Mythichaotic 90s Tale

XVI. The Search

The sun was so bright, my eyes feel like they're burning. I only see a dull light instead of the blue sky. The bird flew above me as fast as it could but it was still slow enough for me to watch it.

But my eyes were nothing compared to my body. They're unexplicably aching.

I looked at my trembling hand and saw an unusual visible veins and my nails, claws slowly growing.

"Ow-oooo...."

It's the last thing I heard before immediately sitting from lying on the bed, breathing heavily.

I had another nightmare. And those nightmares won't soon be a dream anymore. I have to find the necklace.

"Breakfast?" Carla asked when she saw me go out of my room.

"Sure." I simply answered before walking to the telephone and dialing Meg's number.

"Hello?" She said on the other line.

"It's me."

"Soleil! I'm really sorry for last night." She apologized.

"No. It's fine, really. I kinda need your help." I said.

"Gladly but I'm not really in the mood to go out today." She reasoned.

"That's alright. I just need you to...." I lowered down my voice before continuing, "....locate the necklace."

It took her seconds before answering, "Come by my house." And she recited her address.

"Carla." I called, "Where were you last night?" I curiously asked.

"I was with some friends." Her answer made me look at her and raise my brow. As I recalled, I found her wandering around the streets.

She approached me when I first came to LA, telling me it wasn't safe for a kid to walk alone and she insisted on going with me until I trusted her and knew that she didn't have a home.

"Alright, fine. I was looking for a job." The second answer satisfied me.

"Did you find one?" I asked just to start a conversation.

"I haven't found one that will balance the time to watch over you." She explained after a few seconds of thinking.

"I'm old enough, you know that right?" I laughed a bit before eating the waffle.

"I know, hija." That title made me look at her. It's the second time.

"You really have to stop calling me that." I demanded.

"What?" She asked as if she said nothing wrong.

"Nevermind. I'm going out today." I said before standing up to go take a bath and dress up.

I used my bike to go to the address that Megan gave me and it lead me to a series of similar looking apartments.

Once I spotted her car on the driveway, I parked my bike near it rang the doorbell.

"Come in." She opened the door for me widely and I was greeted by a man in his late fifties.

The first thing that came into my mind was the conversation that I overheard last night.

"Sol, this is my granddad. And Papa, she's the new student I was talking about." She introduced us to each other.

"You seem friendlier than what Meg described." He said which made me look at Meg who's smiling guiltily.

She held my hand and dragged my to the stairs at the near corner of the house that's dividing the kitchen and the living room of the house.

When we arrived at the door located in the far end, she opened it revealing a light and cozy bedroom.

"So, I really don't know the addresses of the people in our school." She started.

"I was thinking of a different method." I said, staring at the only book lying on her bed.

"Good. Because I don't have the mood to enumerate all of Stan's latest girlfriends." And she chuckled.

She grabbed the book and sat on the floor so I followed her.

"It's a jewelry so the store it came from must have entitled it hopefully to you." She said, questioning.

"The chain was bought by my parents so it was named to them. But the pendant, though was made especially for me." I shortly explained.

"That's all we need plus," She smiled before getting a knife of her cabinet.

"This will hurt." She warned.

I just nodded in response she twisted my arm to see my wrist and started to press the blade against it.

I saw blood dripping off my own hand before I heard her say, "Please be calm."

"I am." I honestly said.

"Your eyes don't look like it." She said, staring right into my eyes.

I closed it for a second and when I opened it, I saw a much clearer view of her and the blood on the city map.

She said some words and it moved to an exact spot before her door opened and it revealed her Papa.

"What are you doing?"