Bernadette's eyes blinked open under a heavy blanket of exhaustion. A tinge of panic running down her tired body as she realized the environment around her had changed from the mellow living room that she remembered dozing off in. She forced her tired body to sit up, the brain sending waves of nausea through her.
The room around her differed than any room she visited in the last forty-eight hours; it’s walls painted pastel blue and the inside holding much more clutter than the room Melina had assigned her. The trait that best described such a room the best must be ‘cramped’ even if the bunch of papers tucked into it's corners more described it as messy. Aside from the couch and bed, over which hung thin blankets, the study table across the room and every other empty bout of space in the room not jammed by papers found itself instead covered by dirty clothing.
Even with the discomfort the clutter brought, Bernadette felt relieved; her muscles relaxed as she saw Melina laying on her side at the bed. She faced the corner of the room that the bed stood in, and by the lack of tension on her face the older assumed her to be asleep.
Bernadette stood up, nearing the study table. She grazed her fingers over the stack of papers, squinting to see their contents through the blur of just having awakened. The warm yellow light from the lamp on the desk didn’t prove much help, as the bulb had half-died already.
The words inscribed with scratchy handwriting on the paper felt incomprehensible, but from the abundance of arrows and sketches she guessed they were notes for some sort of plan. Moving a paper aside, she noticed a black and write print of a map of Harlem. On the map stood out a few scribbled words and ticks and a circled stray alley.
Hearing stirring on the bed, Bernadette put the papers back and headed towards the door. A grumble caught up to her, her shoulders tensing up while she reached for the doorknob, “Hey, what’cha goin’ to do?”
The younger propped herself up on her elbow on the bed, looking up at Bernadette standing at the threshold. The ravenette turned around and flashed a forced smile, “Going to the bathroom, I’ll be back quick.”
Melina rolled her eyes, “Yeah, sure. Is tha left when ya get in the kitchen,” Bernadette prepared to leave but the other continued, “Ya gonna go back to snoozin’ later or was two days ‘nuff to recover?”
Bernadette laughed, unease leaving in the same breath. “I’m fine now. Thank you.”
She heard the other grumble to herself after leaving, sounding quite unconvinced. Following the directions, she reached the bathroom and knocked to signify her presence. After finding it unoccupied, she locked herself in.
The place was like the rest of the house's rooms, clean, tiled walls surrounded the room. The sink, tub and toilet stood out with their well-kept ceramic, and the room looked more of a family bathroom than a gang hideout. Same went for the entire house, which seemed like an ordinary home if not in a depraved, crumbling building that greeted the guest with glass shards and cracked windows upon first glance.
She walked to the nearest mirror, attached to the cabinet above the sink. Bernadette looked at herself: hair disheveled, green eyes sunken in and graying, her lips dry and her face starting to break out. It all took her back to her fourteenth year, Anette and a muddled face of a person making her head throb.
Bernadette shouldn’t delve on that, on mistakes that won’t happen again. The gang will find her useless and chase her out, she’ll go back to writing blogs and taking pictures. The spark to take them had been reignited and she thought that maybe she’ll find someone again and revisit Europe. Maybe Japan (if she felt more daring)?
Melina’s words flashed through her mind and a pang hit her chest:
“Like it or not, ya did us a big favor. Woulda shanked ya afterward if ya were ya sis.”
A new worry had found its home inside her chest, ‘Would they simply kill me if they didn’t need me?’
She heaved loud whilst she tried to even out her breathing. Gripping onto the sink she shook her head and tried to remember of the various images that forced her to concentrate on her breathing. Curling vines and spinning lotuses that relaxed and contracted with inhales and exhales.
The urgency to calm down increased with the knocks on the bathroom door, deep voice asking if anyone occupied the room. Bernadette pulled the flush on the toilet, hurrying out of the room with pin-prick pupils. She stopped in place when she ran into Antonio on the way out, wincing at the collision between his chest and her injured wrist. He only grumbled, walking around the woman and closing the door behind him.
‘He’s quite angry with me, isn’t he?’ she shook her head at the thought, sighing before heading back the way she came. To her misfortune, she soon came face to face with Melina standing in the living room.
“Thought ya decided ta crawl outta the window over dere,” a shallow laugh escaped her lips before she frowned, “I think ya should be aware that we’re ‘bout five stories up now.”
Not letting it sink in to the other, she instead pointed at the multiple papers scattered over the coffee table. Bernadette sat down on the couch on reflex as she peered at the incomprehensible writing.
“Ya’re goin’ spyin’ with Nadra ‘morrow night, tonight ya’re tagging along to a club wit’ us. Welcome party of sorts,” the shorter used a sheepish smile to lessen the tension of the assignment given. This didn’t lessen Bernadette’s anxiety as she struggled to lessen her heavy breathing.
Great, Nadra doesn’t even like her. She’ll bury Bernadette as soon as she gets the chance.
Seeming to notice her tension, Melina inched closer and pet her head as if taking care of a kicked puppy, “I’ll break all ‘er fingers this time if she comes back without ya, she got no choice.”
Weirdly comforting, Bernadette sighed in relief, “Alright, thank you.”
The other grumbled under her breath, “Yeah, yeah. Stop thankin’ me. Gets on my nerves,” she rolled her eyes as she sat beside the older. The shorter collected the papers, Bernadette peering at them, maybe she could decrypt it if she looked hard enough.
“These are jus’ notes fo’ Nad’. She’ll explain what ya’re doin’ on spot.”
As the ravenette watched, she felt a burning glare crawling up her scalp. It didn’t take her twice to figure out the perpetrator behind it. Especially after Melina called them over and the seat by Bernadette sunk quite a bit. She resumed staring down, even after the younger girl had cleared her throat.
Bernadette only jerked up after the shorter girl jabbed her on her wrist, glaring at her as the room stayed silent as a graveyard. She took a few deep breaths, bracing herself for whatever she was to meet. The ravenette had to do it now or never, and she’d rather the other doesn’t abandon her if they’re the only ones left.
“Hey, uh… I’m very thankful for you saving me the other day. Very, very thankful,” she took another deep breath before continuing, “And, I’m very sorry if I ruined the car interior. Probably should’ve stopped the bleeding better or something, seeing as I only stopped it enough for myself to stop panicking.”
She turned her head back to look at Melina as she heard a strangled sound come out of her, only to see the other cover her mouth with her sleeve. The man behind her let out an amused snort, before sighing.
“It’s fine I guess,” his voice husky, he sounded like the typical charmer one would hear in a soap opera. The ginger gave Bernadette a thumbs up when she removed her hand from her mouth, before tilting to look at Antonio.
“We’re goin’ to Jie tonight, bringin’ ’er wit’ us.”
The man hummed in response, crossing his arms.
Just like that, hours later, Bernadette found herself in the middle of an unknown dancefloor.
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