10-. Reaching my Destination
Almost as if it was an action scene from a movie, and after managing to spin the skateboard twice in the air, Lana landed with both feet inside the board and without slowing down but evidently happy, she continued gliding fast and agile over the lonely street while celebrating with a strange dance of her arms. Sitting on the sidewalk in front of the house, Lola jumped up and down in glee before letting out an uncharacteristic exclamation for a "pretty, perfect girl" in celebration; Ronnie just smiled, partly for having managed to teach the little blonde such a complicated skateboard trick in a single afternoon and partly for the strange scene the Loud twins were starring together.
"See, I told you the secret was to use your ankles and loosen your knees!" The little plumber skidded to the side of the Latina and her sister, her smile couldn't have been bigger. "Tell me Lans, how does it feel to master the Nightmare Flip?"
"I guess my knees and I will seriously regret it in the morning," Lola rushed up to her sister and gave her a big kiss on the cheek but quickly regretted it as she tasted the mixture of sweat and dirt that covered Lana's skin, "but for now... I feel great, yes sir! You should try it too, girl!" Unaffected by the fit of disgust the model girl was going through, Lana innocently trapped Lola's face between her armpit and her dirty t-shirt as she playfully gave her a little noogie.
Knowing that it took very little for the two blondes to go from playing happily ever after to kicking and screaming at each other, Ronnie started to walk away from the pair of sisters towards the Loud house; managing to get into her boyfriend's home before the conflict between the twins really started. She closed the door behind her seconds before Lola's retching and Lana's laughter could be heard.
The inside of the house looked exactly as she remembered it, not that she visited the Louds often enough to notice a change; family photos and old, torn and tattered wallpaper adorned the walls, the green carpet with the perpetual musty scent and the pair of dingy colored armchairs that were never empty. This time only Luan and Lynn were occupying them, barely paying attention to the sports accident show on TV.
Seeing her enter, sooner than they thought she would, the faces of both sisters were adorned with a slight anxiousness and discomfort.
"Hey, Santiago, what do you say we go out to the backyard and shoot some hoops?" A smile, extremely feigned, graced the athlete's face as she hurriedly approached her unofficial sister-in-law. "Or maybe you'd like to kick the ball around a bit before dinner? I might even let you have a head start this time."
"Not now, Loud… I mean, don't take this the wrong way but today is your brother's birthday and we're here to see him, and it turns out that during the whole visit I haven't been able to do more than say good morning to him and I was planning, I don't know, maybe spend some time alone with him" the scarce light that still managed to sneak through the thick curtains of the windows was proof that it was already dark outside, "besides, I'm a bit tired of always kicking your ass at football, although maybe another time I'll try my luck at basketball."
Ronnie was about to finish off her mocking comment with a little joke about the apparently absent puberty in Lynn's body when a dry, angry scream from Lori echoed throughout the downstairs of the house; rendering all three of them momentarily mute. That scream was answered by an even more violent scream, a scream that rattled the windows and immediately put Ronnie on alert.
"Wait... that was Lincoln?!" Without waiting for an answer from the sisters, Ronalda marched through the dark dining room without bothering to turn on the lights; the kitchen was the only place that had them on.
She was about to enter it when a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and gently stopped her. Figuring it was Lynn trying to restrain her, Anne violently shook off the hands and turned around with clenched fists ready to put the jock in her place by any means necessary; great was her surprise to find another brunette, a taller one whose freckled face was adorned only with violet eye shadow.
"Don't even try to intervene right now, love," Luna took Ronnie's hands between hers so the Latina could relax her fists, "separating them by force won't be nice for anyone... first we must wait for them to calm down a little bit and then we can talk to them like reasonable people."
"I don't remember ever hearing Lincoln yell at anyone like that, ever...! I don't think... I don't think I've even seen him get angry with someone to this degree," behind the rocker, Ronnie could make out the silhouette of her big brother and the other Louds, "How can you tell me that we should just stand around and do nothing! I know Lincoln very well and I have a good image of Lori, I know that if they would at least talk things out instead of yelling at each other..."
"Luna already said it; they're not going to listen to reason right now. They've been fighting like Hades against the enlightened deities all afternoon..." In other circumstances, hearing Lucy's monotonous voice sounding seemingly out of nowhere might have frightened everyone present, but this time it barely generated a reaction in Bobby, in the background.
"What do you mean they've been like this all afternoon?! Lucy, are you telling me that you and your sisters have been driving me around so I wouldn't find out about the fight?!"
"Actually yes, we did do all that so you wouldn't try to interfere in this brawl," Luan commented, barely approaching her sisters, "but like all the other plans in the family, it didn't turn out as we expected."
Ignoring the comedienne's irreverent comment, Ronnie walked over to the shadow on her right hoping that the black lump against the wall was the goth "Lucy how could you do this to me, I thought we were friends!"
"Hey Santiago, don't take it so personally against "miss spooky" here" Hugging her roommate by the shoulders, Lynn also joined the discussion after making sure her TV show was being recorded, "we went through all this trouble trying to help things work out. They may be the most focused people in the whole house but I assure you that if we meddle in this we'll only make it worse, please believe us... we learned that lesson the hard way a while ago," staring into Lynn's earth-colored eyes, Ronnie managed to discern certainty. Reluctantly, she stopped tensing her body and stayed out of the kitchen and out of the fight.
"And what makes you think that doing nothing will solve things? With nine people in the house aware of the fight I would think at least one would come up with a better way to stop all this crap."
"The ones who used to intervene to settle the quarrels and placate the vengeful spirits in this house are the same ones who are yelling at each other right now," Lisa's voice was heard from an undetectable spot in the shadows. "Besides, this is something that had to happen sooner or later between those two; it's no scientific secret that you can't have two leaders together in the same group."
Unable to do more than simply watch in silence, Ronnie began to pay more attention to what she could see of the argument as a few loose exclamations and expletives managed to reach her ears intelligibly; both siblings were in opposite corners of the kitchen like bristling beasts with the small plastic table for the children of the household as their only separation. Lori's face was uncrossed in a rude grimace and her chest puffed out with arrogance with each reproachful exclamation, Lincoln's flushed face on the other hand was hard to decipher between fury and wounded pride.
The words and curses came and went so loud and so fast that for about ten minutes, Ronnie didn't understand any of the shouts the siblings directed at each other. The situation continued in a similar fashion until Lori had to stop for a moment to breathe and catch her breath; then, although she continued to scream, the words came out with the rhythm necessary to be understandable.
"I just don't understand how the fuck you were planning on getting a fucking job at the mall!"
"That it wasn't a formal job, Lori, please understand, you misunderstood everything...I only spend so much time there because I'm looking for something part time!"
"Then it's lucky I was here! Lincoln, remember the doctor said you can't exert yourself, much less do your homework and work at the same time! You're not as smart as you think you are!" Hearing those derogatory words, the albino's face reddened even more and his voice began to take on a tone different from fury.
"Of course I can! The indication to "rest" was only for the month after my hospitalization! Understand, damn it!"
"No Lincoln, I don't understand "damnit", I don't understand how you insist on being such a stupid brat!"
"So I'm the brat! You're the one who doesn't understand reason and closes herself up in her own bubble!"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, and a thousand times yes!" Pushing the light plastic table aside with a kick of one of her legs, Lori stride forward until she ended up right in front of the albino, "You can't even open both eyes properly anymore because of those horrible scars and you still want to work to help 'your family'?!" Lori accompanied that last word with quotation marks made with her hands and as soon as she made the gesture, Lincoln's back suddenly straightened up, "Well guess what, kid! YOU THINK YOU CAN MAKE A CHANGE FOR THE GOOD BUT IT'S TOO LATE FOR THAT! DO YOU FINALLY UNDERSTAND ME, DOE?!"
After spitting out those words, and after letting a few seconds pass, Lori realized what she had said and after taking a couple of steps back, with both hands she covered her mouth almost as if she had said something horrible. Luna's right hand, the same one that had never left Ronnie's left shoulder, instantly tensed and began to transform into a fist. For his part, the one who seemed most affected by that strange word "Doe" was Lincoln, who remained stunned in his place, just like a deer dazzled by the lights of a car about to run him over. The pale-skinned boy was trembling on the verge of tears, his gaze still fixed on Lori's prevented Ronnie from realizing that quickly.
Something serious had happened in front of her, Ronnie Anne could guess it, as well as surely everyone present, just by looking at the reactions of the two older sisters and the only male in the family. But before the first-born could leap towards her brother apologetically, before the albino could finally react, or even before Luna's fist could hit Lori's face, a pair of still chubby little feet propelled a little blonde girl, about to turn three in December, towards Lincoln.
Lily stood between Lincoln and Lori as if she was defending the boy from a terrible monster with her older sister's face, unconsciously stopping Luna from hurting the older blonde as well, and with both hands twisting her lilac-colored blouse, the girl barked.
"Stop it, Loli!" Lily raised one hand in a clear "stop!" sign and with the other one she hugged one of Lincoln's legs. "I won't let you keep bothe'ing my daddy! Stop being such a bish!"
Unable to meet Lincoln's eyes, who despite still being fixed in place picked up and began to coo at the youngest in the house to soothe her, and feeling trapped between the kitchen walls and Luna's reproachful gaze, Lori sobbed her way out the back door as soon as the twins entered through it.
Trying to calm his girlfriend, Bobby followed Lori into the backyard. Luna came out third, whipping her feet after the young Latino and although the rest of the sisters, including Ronnie, were still in doubt as to what had happened, none dared to follow or spy on the older ones.
The scene of Lily defending her "daddy" which in other circumstances would have been cute or even funny, this time went unnoticed by the Louds who, a little uncomfortable, began to head one by one to the living room, preparing a sisters' meeting to decide how they would act during the rest of their big sister's visit and trying to find out what had happened at the end of the argument.
"Lily, tell me what did you call Lori?" The little girl who was starting to tear up because of her barely contained anger didn't answer Lincoln, instead, the baby girl hugged her brother's neck with all her strength. "Insulting your sister isn't right, Lily! As soon as they come back I want you to apologize to Lori for calling her "bitch"! Did you hear me, miss?!"
Ronnie Anne, the only one who had remained in the dining room, watched as despite speaking to her little sister in a firm, authoritative tone, Lincoln kept crying. «Happy Fourth of July and congratulations on turning fourteen,» she thought quietly.
-o-
With her head down and walking forward in big, fast strides, Ronnie headed northwest out of town again approaching the great lakes and thus entering the wealthiest area of Great Lakes city. With every step the girl took, garbage bags and dirty bodies lying amidst makeshift beds of cardboard and tarp ceased to adorn the sidewalks and alleys and were gradually replaced by barbershops and vegan restaurants.
Without raising her sweaty face but finally slowing down, Ronnie sneaked as quietly as she could into a corner shop to buy with the little money that Nikki's pants had in their pockets a small bottle of Toc Toc mints. As soon as she left the store, she opened the plastic bottle and emptied the contents into the front pocket of her sweatshirt. Without paying much attention to her surroundings Anne threw the now empty bottle into a nearby planter and continued walking towards her goal.
"Excuse me, miss," a strong hand closed over her shoulder, stopping her almost instantly. "Maybe no one has told you before, but it's not right to litter in public spaces, do you understand?"
Ronnie's mind froze as soon as her terrified gaze met the red-haired face of the police officer holding her; all the horrifying things she'd had to survive since Friday came flooding into her mind. With a knot in her throat, and even though she knew what she was about to do was risky, for a brief moment she couldn't help but act like any frightened civilian with a police officer so close.
"They want to kill me!" She had spoken without thinking and the words came out in desperation, however the reaction she got from the officer was not what she expected; instead of rushing to help her or taking her to headquarters for questioning, the officer made a face of disgust and pushed her away with a hard shove causing Anne to land on her backside on the planter.
"Damn beaners, it's not enough for them to take our jobs, now they're also sending their crazies to take our taxes!" And without saying more, the officer shook his hands as if he had touched something disgusting before entering with a frown the same store that Ronnie had left a few moments ago.
Now more clueless than scared, Ronnie picked herself up off the ground and shook the dirt off her backside «what had happened?» A quick glance at the few pedestrians around her confirmed that her disguise was still effective in getting most eyes to avoid her... but not all of them did. If she really wanted to go unnoticed, she would have to improve her technique.
Resuming her hurried gait, Anne mentally reviewed all her options for keeping people away. One by one her ideas were dismissed until Casey's stories of his aimless strolls through the streets of Great Lakes echoed in her head like a distant memory:
"And by continuing to do that I soon discovered that I was invisible to everyone."
She knew that "being invisible" was just what she needed so ducking her head a little more and hunching her back, Ronnie walked into one of the most crowded streets she could find on the fly.
"All right... let's practice a little bit."
As she intentionally collided with one or another of the pedestrians who were moving in the opposite direction, strange phrases like "mutant nurses", "government agency" and her favorite: "blood is chasing me" flowed freely and half-voiced from her lips. After the fifth collision with one of the pedestrians who like the others didn't even bother to stare at her Ronnie was sure that anyone who heard what she was muttering would shy away from physical contact or avoid making eye contact with her.
She went forward then, in the middle of the early morning on Monday, a hopeless and crazy girl, almost blindly trusting that by living so long with real street kids she could at least make a convincing enough impression not to arouse suspicion in any of the people who might notice her.
In the whole duration of her trip, only one person wanted to approach her and because of the flashy and extravagant clothes he was wearing, Anne didn't trust that the disguised pimp had good intentions. A little nervous to see that sick man approaching her without hesitation, Ronnie added to her lunatic chant the words "I'm still shitting flies", those simple words managed to keep the asshole away for good.
Without any more unwanted surprises and after crossing almost half the city on foot, just at noon on that first Monday of December, Ronalda managed to reach her destination on Fifth Avenue; her safe place, the place where she knew her pursuers would never look for her.
A hotel unlike any other in the city.
A civil institution for children in vulnerable situations that instead of asking for money for a room and a hot meal, asked for community work and the desire to get ahead.
"The Hive" a building that spanned the entire block with its barely four floors and that from the outside looked very imposing, almost intimidating, with its white and gold painted facade almost untouched by time and the elements outside. A sanctuary of well-being for all those children who had lost everything and the only one in the state to offer, apart from food and security, a new beginning for that growing percentage of the child population that needed it.
In conclusion; it was one of the most altruistic organizations in town... and it was also the headquarters of the cult that hunted her, so as soon as she crossed the gates of the youth center she entered enemy territory. She didn't know what to expect as soon as she crossed those walls, except that her pursuers would never think to look for her there... so close to them.
After pushing open the glass doors, a large hallway opened up to meet her. On one wall was a display of drawings and paintings that the resident children of The Hive had done. Almost all of the images were grim reflections of the harsh life on the streets, others were simple twisted doodles that somehow managed to illustrate everyday objects. Even so, among all the chaos that made up the improvised exhibition, Ronnie managed to distinguish a strange pattern in the distribution of the lines and brushstrokes of all the works... she just couldn't make out the figure that was formed as a whole.
To one side of that strange wall was a simple reception desk behind which sat a couple of women; one was quite young and the other was about to leave middle age, both wore rather sour expressions.
With a hesitant step Ronalda approached the volunteers who served as receptionists and not knowing what to say or do, she chose to simply stand in front of them. The three remained silent for about five minutes until finally one of the women, the youngest, spoke.
"Hello girl, what's your name?" The soft and kind tone with which she spoke to her, very different from the one she thought someone with that expression would use, surprised Ronnie. "Tell me, do you have any identification we can use?"
Instantly she noticed how the older woman was scrutinizing her with her gaze, trying to see her face through the double hood. Ronalda averted her gaze sharply to the ceiling, as if there was something interesting to see there. She mumbled something in a half-voice and shoved her hand awkwardly into the only pocket of her sweatshirt, she was ready to pull out her empty hand and apologize for not carrying any credentials when a plastic object got tangled in her sleeve and came out along with her hand; a small card from the arcade Corcholis which fell on the counter.
Neither short nor lazy, the mature woman took it between her fingers and read out loud
"What does "RS" mean?" «It meant Ronalda Santiago,» the Latin girl thought but said nothing. How long had Nikki been using her membership to the arcade? When had she taken it? A sly cough from the receptionists told her that this wasn't the best time to be lost in thought.
"Those are from Rafaela Sandoval," she looked up at the ceiling again and then at the glass doors, as if to make sure she was safe. "We don't want to go back to living on the street... not with everything he's done to us... we... we'd like a safe bed... one where daddy can't touch us..."
The younger woman nodded slowly as her expression softened to match her voice, The older woman put a hand to her mouth as she checked a log book about to be filled.
"Tell me Rafaela, have you been here before?" the younger one asked, this time revealing true empathy and not just polite patience.
Ronalda shook her head and looked at the door again before answering.
"We've walked past... we even came close to getting in... this is the first time we've made it without Dad stopping us."
"We can help you," the old woman said without hesitation, a smile of solidarity beginning to creep across her lips. "Tell us, child, do you take any medicine?"
Ronalda smiled to herself that her tactic by which was almost getting caught in the store had paid off; reaching her right hand exaggeratedly into her pocket, Anne soon pulled out her palm full of mints. She popped one into her mouth and swallowed it, the others she placed on the desk table.
"Dad says I need to take my medicine," her face lost what little emotion it showed until it was almost completely gone, "although sometimes I forget and Dad has to punish me..."
The older woman took one of the pills that rested in front of her, smelled it and tasted it a little; realizing immediately that it was a candy, however instead of believing that who wanted to deceive them was "Rafaela Sandoval" by giving them some candy instead of medicine, she believed that who was telling lies was the "father" of that poor girl in front of her.
"Are you hungry, Rafaela?"
"Right! Tell us, have you eaten anything?"
"Maybe we can find you a bed after lunch. Don't worry, it'll be a warm bed..."
"And you'll be safe!"
"And perhaps in the evening you can see our dear Brother Sebastian so that you can begin to work out a new plan for your life."
Finding it a little difficult to keep the thread of the conversation going because of the constant interruptions between the receptionists, Ronalda smiled as she understood what they were offering her «meet Brother Sebastian to plan my life... just what I was looking for.»
"Yes... we would like to have some food and rest before we meet that man..."
"Then come with me," said the young woman as she got up. The mature woman only hurried to write down the newcomer's name in the register book.
"You'll see how everything will start to get better for you, Rafaela," the old woman said as the two young women walked through a door that took them into The Hive. Looking back from her new perspective, Ronalda not only saw the veteran receptionist waving goodbye, but she was also able to decipher the reason for the mysterious arrangement of the drawings; the lines together formed a macabre portrait... they formed the face of Brother Blood.
-o-
After eating a plate of sloppy oatmeal, and drinking plenty of water, Ronnie advanced, or rather, followed, the young receptionist through The Hive's extensive network of corridors and rooms.
"We only have a little more to go and we'll get to your new room, Rafaela; it's just around…" It seemed to Ronnie that the more time the volunteer spent with her, more affable she became. Now, after spending almost half an hour together, she always wore a big smile on her face. She was so kind to Ronnie that at times she felt the need to warn her about what was about to happen "... it's on the top floor if I remember correctly."
The smile, now almost affectionate, returned to the volunteer's face and Ronnie couldn't bear to see it any longer. Concentrating more on her surroundings, she heard the commotion of the streets surrounding the building almost overflowing with vehicles being overshadowed by the constant noise of ambulance and police sirens, all the din of the chaotic exterior of the building was transformed into a comfortable background hum, a distant sound just loud enough to contrast completely with the sound emanating from every room and chamber of The Hive; noises of a building full of deprived children... but to Ronnie's surprise they were happy, pleasant noises.
And yet, despite everything, that building had a horrible, hidden, well-kept secret. From the truly altruistic attitude of those who had crossed her path since she entered, Ronnie guessed that most of the volunteers didn't know the true identity of the cult that organized the orphanage; The Hive weren't looking to help anyone, even though that's what they advertise to the public, proclaim to their "beneficiaries" and the volunteers dream of.
A third girl followed them slowly through the corridors of the building, keeping a certain distance even if she couldn't always stay far enough away to not be seen by the Latina. However, Ronnie didn't notice her, didn't think to pay attention to anything: thanks to her disguise it was so strange for her to be noticed that the idea that she could be followed inside her "safe place" was almost inconceivable to her.
When the clock in the chapel of worship struck two o'clock in the afternoon both women finally entered a room on the fourth floor, the narrow room was furnished to accommodate two people; each in her own bed.
"Well, what do you think of your new home, Rafaela?" The sparse disco décor, though it would have fallen out of fashion thirty years ago, managed to liven up the room quite a bit. "You'll have to share it with another girl, but knowing her I'm sure you'll have nothing to worry about."
"Another girl?! No...! I mean... we can't have a partner" she had thought that, once she managed to infiltrate The Hive, she would have time alone to think about the best way to confront the cult's leader. This changed everything... "We don't want to sleep with anyone..."
"Oh no! Don't worry, nothing bad will happen to you here," the young woman's expression changed again into a polite and patient smile for a moment, but then immediately became genuinely empathetic and pitying. "We promised you that you would be safe here, so, do you trust me?"
"What... what's her name?" Ronnie asked as the volunteer made her way to the door, finally leaving and returning to her post. The sounds of the other residents of the facility together continued the same as when they entered. She even heard laughter and friendly shouts from boys who were coming of age. Anne imagined that there were some homeless boys who never left the institution, who entered through the same door she had entered, went to the reception area and stayed there, in the long corridors and spacious halls of the building, caught up in the altruistic jobs and activities that The Hive organized weekly, and continued that way until they came of age, then without wanting a life different from the one they had led since they were young, they would take their things, walk out the door and come back in... this time as volunteers or teachers.
Then she realized that she had been distracted just as the volunteer had told her the name of her roommate.
"... and besides, I assure you, you won't find a better friend than her, really. You hit the jackpot with your new roommate."
The woman finished exiting and gripped the door firmly by the knob before turning one last time.
"Our dear Brother is busy attending to a special request right now, so he may not be able to see you to discuss your future plans... you wouldn't mind waiting for him, would you?" As if afraid to startle her with a quick movement, the volunteer began to close the door slowly. "This will be a good opportunity for you to get to know your partner beforehand..."
Without another word and without saying goodbye, the woman closed the door with a quick jerk and locked it from the outside; locking Ronalda in the room.