The Mafia Wives

The cold, frosty wind slapped me harshly in the face- relentless in its mission to make me even more desperate and depressed than I already was.

My tattered hoodie, that had seen better days with so many holes you could play 4-in-a-row, did very little against the battle of nature and the outdoors as I wrapped myself better to try and keep myself warm- losing the war before it had even begun.

Rubbing my hands together, I blow on them as much as I can to radiate as much heat as I can and crouched down under the dingy bridge that smelt of piss and human gunk.

This was going to be home for me until the rain stopped and I was grateful for it.

Leaning my head against the dirty wall I distract myself and concentrate on the graffiti drawings that infected the wall in front of me tracing the lines with my eyes- I found this method of drawing in my head tends to help me forget about my sad miserable life.

As much as I could forget anyways.

'Lana!' I heard a familiar voice call out vaguely in the rain.

Tiff approached me, shaking the pouring rain of her body. She was scrawny, like me, and had dark brown hair that was usually in a tangled ponytail on her head. She was my companion, my only 'buddy' I could say. Even though it was rare to travel in twos in the streets we bonded so easily that it was effortless.

I don't remember when I started trusting Tiff, but it had happened, and she had done nothing to ever betray me since I met her- but I couldn't help feel like she was hiding something from me.

Something big.

I nod to the white bag, as she removed the contents handing it to me. "What's this?"

"Food!" She beams.

"Food? Where did you get it?" I ask looking her up and down.

"And what's with those clothes...where did you get that jacket?" I asked with a frown.

She's been like this for a while now.

Coming with expensive food, nice clothes and money that could last us a week. I'm worried for her because I don't know where she could be getting this help from...I looked her deep in her light brown eyes.

"Tiff...what have you been doing to get this stuff?"

"Nothing!... it's not like your thinking I swear." She assures me.

I take the food from her, feeling the warm contents of the chicken and chips warm my finger and open for the two of us to share.

"Here, have some." I offer her first.

"I already ate. It's for you." She adds, with a smile.

I stared at her a little longer. Genuinely concerned.

"Tiff..."

"My brother found me and asked me back..." she blurts out, looking closely at my expression. I sucked in breath fast, shocked at her revelation, before nodding slow.

"That's good."

"Come with me?"

"What?"

"I told him about you. I'm suppose to meet him later. He can take us out of here Lana." She tells me with a soft smile while I'm shaking my head in dismay.

"I can't go with you." I whisper.

I knew this would happen eventually.

That's what happens on the streets.

You can never trust anyone but yourself.

"Why not! Lana I can't go without you, I need you." She begs.

"Go with your brother, Tiff. I don't even know your family..." I start.

Seriously, what family would want a homeless wreck leeching off their daughter? It would cause drama that I very much did not need.

Thunder seemed to slap right above us, the rain somehow splashing down harder than before against the tough bridge.

"But...your my family too. I wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for you-"

"Its ok Tiff. I'm going to be okay." I tell her, turning back to chewing the warm food in my hands.

"Can't you at least meet him with me?" She asks bending down to sit next to me.

"Are you scared?" I ask her softly.

"No...my brother would never hurt me- I know that. But..."

"You ran away for a reason...dont forget that Tiff..." I remind her.

"Yes I know...I just. He needs me now, more than ever..." Her eyes look away, as she gets lost in her thoughts and feelings. I turn to her.

"I'll go with you if you-" I stop in the middle of my sentence, as Tiff eyes grow big in fright as she looks behind me.

"Tiff...?" I ask worried. I turn and look outside the other side of the bridge, it was dark but the thunder roared again, giving a small amount of light to let us see an outline of people approaching us.

'Lana, we need to run.' She says in a whisper.

"What?" I ask confused.

They were probably hooligans wanting to take the bridge for shelter. We were outnumbered so they could have it.

"Calm down we can just leave-" she stands fast pulling me up with her.

"No, you don't understand. We need to leave!" Shes dragging me out into the rain, as she held her tiny hands in mine as we ran as fast as our legs could carry us- which wasn't very fast. We came out from under the bridge; now battling not only the wind whipping against our faces but the rain, falling so hard and painful as if it was metal nails drenching us.

When we couldn't hear the footsteps we took deep breaths against a near by apple tree. I looked at Tiff she had her dirty blonde head against the trunk of the tree.

'Tiff, who were those people. What happened.' I shouted over the loud rain.

"Quiet, they could hear us." She says, trying to cover her eyes from the rain.

This was dangerous.

That bridge was the closest shelter we had. And this rain didn't look like it was stopping anytime soon. With the way it was pouring- we wouldn't even make it a day before we got sick with the cold.

"Lana, I need you to find my brother?" She says, pulling me again in another direction.

"What?"

"I'm suppose to meet him at the entrance of the park in 10 minutes. He can help us..."

"What! Where are you going!?"

"They aren't after you, just me- find him as fast as you can. It's not far from here."

U

"Who's after you? Tiff don't be stupid, we gotta try and find sh-" I stopped speaking as a man came, walking towards us with an umbrella leading another group of people behind him.

'Well, well, well. Aren't you two a sight for sore eyes.' His voice was gruff with a clean English accent. Sort of posh- but not quite there yet.

The man came closer.

He looked my age, so around 21? He had a grey hoodie and a black trench coat over some dark jeans. Somehow he had air of power about him- but you could also tell her was extremely laid back. That was the scariest thing about him. He didn't look like he could be laidback at all. He looked like he was hiding, playing a character.

Men like that did that when they had stuff to hide.

My lessons from being in the streets told me to get as far away from him as possible.

'Look we don't want trouble. We gave you that shelter under the bridge, let us go.' I replied as Tiff seemed so scared she had frozen in one place.

I couldn't see his face as his hoodie had covered the most of it. He stepped closer towards me.

'You don't want trouble you say?'

I pulled Tiff behind me- pushing her further back by the park trees, showing her a signal to run.

Tiff understood immediately. I heard her sprint into the park. As soon as she did several men behind hoodie guy came forward. Some of them chasing her and some staying behind with the leader.

The rain suddenly stopped. As if I was in a suspenseful movie scene everything went quiet and still. The man before me put his umbrella down and closed it. I still couldn't make out his face.

All of a sudden I heard a scream and turned towards the park. A smack rang out in the air and I fell to the ground. I turned on my back. Everything was blurry and foggy.

'Please...' I tried to let out but I just felt tired. Weightless. The last thing I heard the man say before I passed out chilled me to the bone.

'Now...this is going to be fun'