Page 16 of Flame True

Her brain short-fired, and she wasn’t in the beautiful bedroom with plushy linens, but on a cold packed dirt floor, rough hands grabbing her.

“No, no,” Mulberry whispered. It wasn’t going to happen again.

Quickly, she threw on a pair of her mom’s shoes from the closet, grabbed her phone and ran out through the patio doors. Out back, her mom had left a motorcycle with the key in the ignition. Mulberry jumped on it, grateful Stewart, her dad’s partner, had shown her how to ride the summer before.

She rode the motorcycle on the patio path that led to the door in the back fence and out in the night, sweating and shivering the whole time. She pressed down on the handlebars so tightly that her hands slipped off. Breathe, she told herself, breathe.

Cassie had shown her where her friend’s house was on a map on her phone, but Mulberry couldn’t remember the street. She stopped the motorcycle, realized nobody was chasing her, just light traffic in the early morning hour and brought up the map on her phone.

Relieved that she was only one block off, she made a hard right, the engine purring under her, giving her some relief as she tried to focus on the small details.

Turning left, two houses down, at an A-frame house, she saw her aunt’s car.

Tears flowed down her cheeks.

She turned off the bike and ran to the front door, knocking on it so hard the storm door bounced.

A light came on. “Hello?”

A woman with her hair pulled back into a bun peered at her through thick glasses.

“Hi…I’m looking for my aunt.”

“Mulberry? What is it?” Aunt Cassie came forward. Cassie took in her tear-streaked face, then threw her arms around her.

She held on to her aunt’s arm, her face and hair so like her mom’s.

People had mistaken them for twins over the years.

She hugged her aunt hard and cried.

“Come in, come on this way,” her aunt’s friend said.

Her aunt guided her into a living room with overstuffed furniture. “Mulberry, sit down. Tell us what’s wrong.”

Mulberry sat on the couch, gulped for air and couldn’t find the words. “Cynthia, can you get a glass of water?”

“Of course.”

A moment later, Cynthia came back with a glass of water. “Here. Take your time.”

“Thanks,” Mulberry whispered. She closed her eyes and, for a second, wondered if it had happened.

But the sound of glass and heavy footsteps played through in her mind. “They came back. And tired to take me again.”

“Mulberry, it’s okay,” her aunt rubbed her back in small circles. Mulberry tried to take deep breaths but couldn’t. Her body trembled.

“Poor thing,” Cynthia said. She squeezed Mulberry’s hand, her cool touch grounding, and Mulberry opened her eyes to find her aunt frowning, worry lines clear on her face.

“They broke into the house. I was in mom’s room watching a movie and fell asleep. I heard glass breaking, things being thrown, I don’t know. I ran outside and jumped on the motorcycle.”

A sob broke from her throat, and a new wave of tears fell on her hot cheeks.

“You did the right thing, Mulberry,” Cassie said.

But Mulberry couldn’t form any more words. She nodded at Cassie and closed her eyes as if she could make the memory leave her if she didn’t open her eyes, just kept them closed to the world.

CHAPTER SIX – MULBERRY

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