Page 101 of Havoc's Fox
“I had to! They wouldn’t give me the money I needed to leave if I didn’t. And besides, the money they gave me ran out a long time ago. Kind of makes the agreement null and void.”
“No, Marie-Claire, it doesn’t. A legal document is a legal document. If you signed it, it’s still very much in effect. And if Analise loves the child, why is it a bad thing for her to be around her?”
“Don’t fucking say her name!” Marie-Claire shrieked. “You know what? Just mind your own business. I’ll do me and you do you, alright?”
“If the police come here, I’m telling them everything I know.”
“You do that! Then you’ll be an accomplice,” Marie-Claire snapped, doing her best to slam the door of Beryl’s apartment on her way out, but stumbling against the door jamb instead. She managed to get her balance, then very carefully step outside before slamming door on her second try.
Beryl sipped her coffee, wondering why she’d ever invited her old friend to stay with her. If she wasn’t drunk, she was high on something all the time. Her life had turned to crap and she blamed everyone but herself for it. But, still, Beryl didn’t have it in her heart to turn the woman who was one of her best friends in high-school out into the cold with nowhere to live. “Lord, please find her somewhere else to be,” Beryl prayed aloud.
~~~
Marie-Claire maneuvered the old 1972 four-door Pontiac sedan through town and back onto the two-lane highway Havoc and his family lived off of. She scowled when she thought of them all living on the same property like some kind of damn doomsday cult or something. “Something’s wrong with these damn people. Same as his sister and her people. They’re all fucked up,” she grumbled as she did her best to keep the wide car between the lanes painted on the road. She drove slowly past the driveway that she knew led to Havoc’s parents’ home, then about half a mile further before she finally found a place she could turn around, then headed back in the opposite direction, going slower than she had before. She was determined to locate her kid and drive away with her. It wasn’t that she wanted her, she just didn’t want Analise to have her. And a little extra money to have her sign away her rights again wouldn’t hurt.
She pulled over to the side of the road before she got to the driveway this time, and turned off the engine. She knew exactly what she was doing. It was just a repeat of the same thing she’d done for the last three days. Ever since that first day she’d happened to see the bitch walking with her kid along the side of the road, she’d been back daily. “I’ll show you what’s what,” Marie-Claire said. Marie-Claire got out of the car and started down the road, determined to get eyes on the little girl again. She’d seen her twice more, and it was at about this time, and in this area. She staggered down the road, her head on swivel, looking for any indication that the kid or Analise was about.
She walked up and down the road a couple of times, irritated that neither of them was there. “Stupid little bitch! Can’t even fucking be where you’re supposed to be,” she snapped, looking over her shoulder when she heard a vehicle approaching. Marie-Claire thinking she was being slick, just happened to reach the mail box up ahead as a log truck came into view. She leaned on the mailbox and opened it, peeking inside like she was checking her own mail. After the truck was gone, she straightened up and looked down the highway in the direction the truck had gone. It was then that she saw Harley. The child had crossed the road right behind the truck and was just stepping into the tree line.
“Hey! Hey, little girl!”
Harley hesitated and looked toward the lady calling her.
“Harley! That’s you, right? Come here!”
Harley recognized the woman as the same one who’d been mean to her the night her daddy had left her in the truck. Instead of waiting for the woman who was stumbling toward her, Harley darted into the woods.
“No! Come here! Come right back here right now!” Marie-Claire shrieked. “You are in so much trouble! I’m going to beat your ass when I catch you!”
Harley didn’t stop running, she just kept going. Problem was, paying more attention to the woman following her than to where she was going, she ended up losing her way. Instead of running into Kaid’s property, she entered on Kaid’s property line, but ended up running parallel to the highway instead of straight into the property itself.
“Come here! Harley! That’s you right? Why would I know your name if I didn’t know who you are? Come back here right now!”
“No! You’re that mean lady!”
“I am your mother! I will come find you any time I want to and you will do what I tell you or I’ll whip your ass so bad you’ll never run away again!” Marie-Claire shouted angrily.
Harley didn’t stop running, but she started crying.
“What kind of people raised you that you don’t respect your own mother?!” Marie-Claire shrieked. High as she was, trying to catch a six-year-old little girl as they both ran through the mud and woods, Marie-Claire screamed in pain and surprise as her ankle twisted, snapping as it took her down hard onto the cold damp ground. “My leg! I broke my leg!” Marie-Claire screamed, sobbing. “You stupid little brat! This is all your fault! All you had to do was stop running! I hate you! I hate you more now than I did then! I hate you!” she shrieked.
Harley stopped running and looked back toward the angry, screaming woman. She was lying on the ground quite a distance away and her foot was flopping around every time she tried to lift it.
“Help meeeeee!” Marie-Claire screamed. “You stupid, stupid brat! I hate you!”
Harley looked around herself and realized that she wasn’t anywhere on a path that looked familiar to her. In fact, nothing at all looked familiar. Harley moved further away from the still shrieking woman, but not so far away that she’d be totally alone, then sat down under some low branches and quietly cried, waiting for someone, anyone to come find her.
~~~
“Hey, sleepy head. You ready to wake up and come help me make some cookies?” Valerie asked, walking quietly into Harley’s bedroom. Valerie stopped when she was almost to the bed, realizing that Harley wasn’t there.
“Harley, honey? You in the bathroom?” Valerie called out. There was no answer. Valerie started toward Harley’s bathroom, and realized on her way there that one of the French double doors was standing slightly ajar. “Harley?” Valerie called, opening the doors and stepping out on the porch. “Harley?!” Valerie shouted. “Oh, no! No, no, no!”
Breaking into a full out run, Valerie ran back inside, then downstairs. She grabbed her cell phone and dialed Havoc’s number.
“Hey, Mom,” Havoc said into the phone, laughing lightly as he joked with Ronan.
“She’s gone!”