Part Eight: She's so Heavy

"This is some heavy s**t..." Travis sighed and leaned back in the uncomfortable office chair.

"You think?" Will crossed his arms over his chest and leaned a little further back into the white wall.

"I don't really trust Jesse with her..." Brendan mumbled as he leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees.

"Why not?" Travis raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know." He shrugged in response.

"Yeah, well..." Will looked down at his shoes.

A dark silence hit the room hard for a few moments. Each boy was deep in their own thoughts, and Brendan was the first to speak up.

"What do you think she'll do?"

"What do you mean?" Will turned to him.

"I mean, I didn't get that she had any siblings, and if she had a father he would've come and gotten her." He said in thought.

"So, you think she's... alone?" Will sat on the desk.

"I don't know..." He sighed and buried his face in his hands.

"If she is..." Travis left it hanging.

 

"Hey guys..." I said as I slowly opened the door to see their gloomy faces.

Brendan was sitting down in the chair closest to the door. He had his head down and his face in his hands, but he slowly looked up and smiled weakly. Will was leaning against to the wall farthest from me eyeing, and Travis was sitting next to Brendan leaned back and slumped over. Jesse and I slowly made our way over to the two empty seats next to the desk and the messenger slowly walked over to his desk.

"So, are you ready to fill out the paperwork?" He sat down.

"W-What does the paperwork in tell?" I took a deep breath.

"Oh, its just signatures to prove you are really Donna Rosen's daughter and to hand over all possessions and guardian ship to yourself or someone close to you." He nodded reassuringly. "That brings something up. Do you have any siblings or family you can stay with?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm an only child and my father-... well my father isnt around."

"Well, do you have any family? You're not legally an adult yet, are you?"

"No, I'm 17 but my birthdays in a few weeks and I'll be turning 18. My- My mom was all I really had..." I looked down at my hands that sat in my lap as I felt the tense air and heard the uncomfortable shifts in the room.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that..." He suddenly felt sorry for me, and that little sentiment made me not want to lean over and kill the messenger. "Well, none the less... Here it is."

He skid a small stack of inked out paper to me.

"Just sign here- and here- and here- and here." He pointed to a few lines.

I nodded and signed my name on each one. That signature my mom helped me with. She use to say that my cursive signature was so good it looked like a movie stars. She would save everything I signed my name on telling me that it was a good investment for when I was famous. That each signature with that magic ink would win her millions. And we laughed.

"Done." I took a deep breath and handed his pen and the papers back.

"Good." He nodded curtly. "Here are the possessions that were on her at the time of death."

The messenger, or Mr. Remade Stewart, grabbed a small box from underneath his desk and handed it to me. I took its soft cold exterior in my hands and put it on my lap. Slowly I opened the lid and looked inside. There were car keys, her wallet, a scrunchy, and a few other little charms and bracelets. All was there but her clothes.

"If I may ask... how did she die?" I swallowed not knowing if I wanted the answer or not.

"I'm not sure I'm aloud to tell you that..." He replied.

"She deserves to know." Jesse piped up sternly.

"Fine... Your mother was sort of caught in between a murder that happened to be going on. She stopped the girl from being killed, but in the battle she got killed herself."

"Who was committing the murder?" Brendan looked up.

"The same psycho killer we've been trying to capture."

Will raised an eyebrow. "Psycho killer?"

"Yes. He calls himself The Marker. He'll pick a victim at random and learn everything there is to know about them. Then hell start stalking them slowly just to give them a scare. Then, when they're alone, he'll rape and kill them, and afterwards he takes on their family."

"Why do they call him The Marker?" Travis asked curiously.

"Because, wouldn't that kind of killing leave a mark?" the messenger raised an eyebrow. "We caught him, thanks to your mother. He was in the process of his next victim... but she got there in time."

"In time to get killed." I mumbled.

I didn't even know it came out. I didnt know what I was feeling. If I was mad or sad or... or happy that my mother went out the way she wanted to- saving people.

"Look, do you need someone to stay with you or-?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm just going to go home... or... I don't know..." I bit my lower lip. "Thank you for everything." I stood up and shook the messenger's hand. Oh, how I loathed this man at the moment.

"Don't kill the messenger."

"I'm sorry we couldn't meet on happier circumstances, Miss Rosen." He gave a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah..."

I slowly walked out. I barely even felt my legs moving. All I know is I was slowly floating out into the hallway of the hospital and somehow Travis, Will, Brendan, and Jesse were following me. They didn't say a word. I didn't say a word. I just clutched the box with the reminisce of my mother and her things in it. The things she wore when she died.

"Are you Mia?" A small shaky voice came from aside me.

I turned to see a girl not even one year older than me. She looked tired and warn out and frail. Her dark hair fell down in straight stringy waves and her pale skin looked even paler against her green eyes as she looked at me. She looked at me like she knew me.

"Are you... Donna Rosen's daughter?" She asked this carefully. Like if she where to say the wrong word I'd blow up, or worse, break down. "I'm Kelsey Daniels... the girl your mother saved."

"Sh-she saved you?" I looked at her almost falling back, but Jesse held onto me.

"Yes." She gave a small smile. "She did."

"Why are you-?"

"Oh!" Suddenly she reached down in the pocket of her big baby blue sweater. It was a wrap around robe sort of. "Here."

She handed me a locket. I knew that locket. It was my mothers. She wore it every day of her life and never took it off. It was a silver heart like locket that had a small chain. It was always so special to her. I remember once...

"When you're older and when Im gone I'll give you this as my mother gave it to me. It holds a clue to one of the biggest mysteries. A secret to a womans heart. One of the biggest."

"When she saved me and before she died." She put the locket in my hand and closed my fingers over it. "She said to give it to her daughter Mia."

"She did?" A small smile touched the tips of my lips.

"You know, your mother died a hero."

I looked up at her.

"She saved my life. I could never thank her enough, and you should know." Kelsey put her hands over mine and looked at me. "That she fought till the end. She was a great woman."

"Yes... she was..." I nodded.

"Thank you." She smiled and suddenly hugged me half way pushing Jesse back. As this girl I've never known began to cry on my shoulder and hugged me tightly I couldn't help but feel some tears slip from my own eyes. "Thank you so much."

"I didn't do anything." I cried. "I didn't do... anything..."